Top 5 Friday: Top 5 Final Fantasy Games

[wulfy42]

Ok i'm not sure what happened, but for years I have listed 6 as #1 on my list....while the majority have listed 7 or 9 or sometimes even 10. I always felt I was in the minority with just a few other big fans of 6 (3).

Now suddenly everyone is listing 6 as #1? Did they do a remake of 6 recently or something? I mean 6 is INCREDIBLE, and I have played it over more times then any other FF game (or any other RPG).....but it never seemed like everyone else felt that way.

What happened?

 

[linforcer]

I would have put 8 at no.6, and 9 would have made it into my top 5, pretty much agree on the rest.

 

[HoneyVision]

I've never understood the immense hate Final Fantasy VIII always received. I thought it was perfect. The developers paid so much attention to the characters. Just because they're adolescents it doesn't mean they're any less worthy of a good story. Once you filter past the school playground rubbish the story is superb. I personally thought the plot was really interesting.

 

[uchytjes]

I'm sorry but WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN BY NO GOOD FF GAMES AFTER 8!?

The only REALLY bad one after that (at least in the main series) would have to be 13. I've heard only good things about 9 and I also hear that 11, the MMO, is actually pretty good as well. I KNOW that 10 and 12 are ALSO good and in my opinion better than 8. 8 is probably one of my favorites but even I can see that it is terrible.

 

[babinro]

Note: I've never played FF8, FF9, or FF 13-2.

5) Final Fantasy 13:
Best combat system in the entire series.
I love the devotion to plot over needless grinding and backtracking. I understand this is exactly why so many people loathe the game but in my opinion it was a strength. The game starts slow but builds into something really fun to play.
Unfortunately, the story is forgettable and the villains are weak.

4) Final Fantasy 12:
Great combat system aside from having to buy your attack triggers.
IE) cast x when health <30% has to be bought? Really?
I loved the combat and some of the characters were quite interesting.
They completely dropped the ball with Vaan and Penelo which hurts an otherwise great entry.

3) Final Fantasy:
The ability to create any party and play the way you want puts this very high on my list.
I only wish that the combat was less of a grind otherwise it would stand the test of time a little better.

2) Final Fantasy 2 (SNES) (5 elsewhere I think?):
Best overall story although I wished the game ended before going to the moon. Great variety in the characters as well.

1) Final Fantasy 6:
Best music of the franchise. Favorite characters and most memorable moments.

 

[Random Argument Man]

Problems I had with his list... I can see why he chose FF V, but the characters in that game never grabbed me. As for FF Tactics... I love the game, but it really shouldn't count since it isn't really a Final Fantasy game; it's a Tactics Ogre sequel wearing a Final Fantasy wig. No seriously... check out these screenshots of the Playstation version of Tactics Ogre and tell me it anything looks familiar:

You do know that the creator of Tactic Ogre was part of the team that made FF tactics right?

Just saying that makes me miss Ogre battle 64...

 

[Pots]

Still hate this show but I'm glad 6 was named first place
If anyone who loves FF6 or is curious about it, http://thegamedesignforum.com/features/reverse_design_ff6_1.html
has an awesome breakdown of the design behind the game.
Also make sure to check out http://www.horizonsend.com/ for an upcoming game similar to FF6.

 

[The Great JT]

Yeah, stand back, junior, let the man show you how the Top 5 FF Games list should go:

5: Final Fantasy VIII (I admit, I'm not a fanatic and played every one of the games and I do have a lot to dislike about FF8, but I do think there's a lot to like. Fantastic graphics for the Playstation era, it was quite challenging, it had an expansive story that lasts a long time, cool summons, it's just the Drawing magic system annoyed me, the characters got on my nerves (especially Squall's emo crap and Selphie being pants-on-head insane) and the sudden plot turns often feeling like Deus Ex Machina.)
4: Final Fantasy I (The one that started it all. Yeah it's downright primitive by today's standards, but that's part of the charm.)
3: Final Fantasy VII (Aside from some minor plot and character annoyances (mostly coming from Cloud going through his emo phase) and the fact that people have greatly overblown Sephiroth's badass factor, VII's combat was solid, it had enjoyable characters, an interesting world and the materia system was relatively straightforward and not the think-you're-getting-customization of today's character kitting.)
2: Final Fantasy IX (To me, one of my major complaints about the more recent Final Fantasy games is that it was never set in stone what a one character could do, that everyone was a jack-of-all-trades. It was like rolling in with a party of bards in a D&D game. This is one of the reasons why I love FF9. Add in loveable characters (Squeenix, want to make a shitload of money? VIVI PLUSHIES. Search your feelings, you know it to be true!), the combat and ability-learning system was solid and the world, again, was fascinating.)
1: Final Fantasy VI (Best Final Fantasy Game ever. Great characters, great magic-learning system, great world, BEST VILLAIN IN FINAL FANTASY HISTORY. Screw the HD 7, let's see an HD re-up of this.

 

[johnnyLupine]

I'm both dissapointed and filled with seething RAGE because eight got a mention but nine was neglected. It's not that eight is a terrible game, I actually quite enjoy it when im in the mood, my main, perhaps only issue, is that for much of the begining of the game the main character is completely insufferable. It could just be me but it feels as though the character designers were just going through the motions when it came to Squall, ticking boxes on a checklist. I don't actually mind the magic system too much because its not difficult to keep on top of once you get going and having to check how useful various magics are for stats and the like is only a very minor nuisance.

Nine is a game with a decent story line, interesting characters, including the villan and whatever you would class Beatrix as. Not only that but I actually cared about the destruction that went on throughout the game, less so in recent playthroughs but surely there can only be so many times you can see something before it becomes routine. It tried to tackle big questions, is created life equal to that of someone born natually, Vivi's issues may perhaps even go as far as to ask wheather real artificial inteligance could be considered a form of life. I like that by the end of the game you as a player and probably even the hero come to understand how lucky the hero was for being able to live the life they had and it has some of the best music of the series as a whole.

 

[Professor James]

Who is that woman on the main page when you click this video?

 

[equalplatinum]

IMO

5 - ff10
4 - ff6
3 - ff9
2 - ff8
1 - ff7

 

[XavierPrice]

Now, Final Fantasy 9 is my personal favorite. I love the music, the characters (<3 Freya), and the battle system. However, on the whole, I don't disagree with this list. I wouldn't have ranked 7 quite as high, but it does deserve to be on the list purely because it did introduce Final Fantasy to a huge new audience and basically revitalize the JRPG in North America single handedly.

That said, yes. 6 deserves to be number 1. While not my personal favorite, it is still the best of the franchise to date. The largest roster of playable characters (Tactics doesn't count for this), yet almost all of them have a detailed story behind them. And while it had been done before, the way FF6 pulled the rug out from under you again and again was amazing. Main character's really a demon? Check. Think party members are dead? Check. Relationship between characters? Check. Surprise previous relationship with characters? Check. Blow up the world! Check!

For FF big bads, Kefka takes the cake. He sets out to become a god. AND DOES IT!
Sephiroth is just a brute with mother issues. He's anger and force with no real direction. He's no worse than a school yard bully, just with a big sword. All wrapped up in a girly man.
Even Kuja is a better villain than Sephy, because Kuja plays strategy for the whole game. You don't even see him until the end of the first act, and you only find out who he is and just how many strings he's pulling until mid-way through the second. AND HIS FINAL BATTLE THEME! Although Necron was kind of a bullshit final final end out of the blue. (Fan reason: True form of the Iifa tree demon.)

So my list, since everyone's doing that sort of thing:

5: FF 7 (For revitalizing the franchise and genre)
4: FF 4 (For bringing how to actually tell a story to FF)
3: FF Tactics (For being the lovechild of Final Fantasy, Tactics Ogre, and Fire Emblem)
2: FF 9 (For detailed characters, intricate story, and a combat system that worked superbly well. And the music!)
1: FF 6 (For being the best Final Fantasy at being Final Fantasy. Characters, System, Story, Bad Guys, Music, etc.)

 

[cerebreturns]

1-6
2-7
3-Tactics
4-4
5-9 or 10

The only final fantasy games I just hated were mystic quest, any of the sequels like 10 2, and 8 I feel was a just horrible game. Mechanically it was crap, the draw system was stupid, the story just wasn't very interesting or emotional to me & so on.

Even the gameboy games that had almost nothing in common (gameboy not gba) seemed better then 8 to me.

 

[Arcane Azmadi]

Interesting list. FF Tactics took me by surprise because I expected you were only doing main series games. I was also surprised -but pleased- to see you acknowledge FFVIII, which I think is one of the most underrated games in the series- it was radically experimental, but unlike FFII it didn't suck as a result. Most importantly, its setting and story were really the most unique in the series. I still hold the FFVIII setting up as one of the best fantasy gameworlds ever created.

I think the post-VIII games can get a bit of a bad rap as well. I actually think IX is somewhat overrated- as a retro throwback to the earlier games of the series it was an excellent and well-polished game, but it lacks the "oomph" to really stand out as more than a very solid JRPG. X was a revelation for the new generation on the PS2, much like FFVII was on the PS1, but I REALLY think it's poor FFXII that has received the most bad press. Some people have called it the worst FF of all, while others have lauded it as almost perfect. I haven't finished it yet (so sue me, I have a JRPG backlog a hundred games long), but I think it's pretty amazing. XIII on the other hand is a pretentious, gameplay-deficient mess which SquareEnix should be ashamed of. As Yahtzee put it, it's a game that makes itself perfectly clear that it doesn't want you to play it. If Squeenix ever get past making unwanted spin-offs to it, hopefully FFXV will actually be willing to settle for being a really great GAME.

Oh and I STILL insist that FFXI should never have been called FFXI. It screwed up the series numbering. It should have been Final Fantasy Online, XII should have been XI, XIII should have been XII and XIV should have been FF Online II. They weren't willing to make FF Tactics part of the main series, even though it's more like an actual FF game than FFXI ever was.

 

[MDSnowman]

5: FFX
4: Crisis Core
3: FFVII
2: Tactics
1: FFVI

 

[Raioken18]

I'm not for FF7 best game of all time... I'd go LoZ:MM,
but... I'd probably agree with it for best FF game...
I'd never played 6 so I can't really comment on it, but I find it hard to believe that all these people had played 6...

Anyway there is also a distinct lack of love for FF10 in this topic as well.

Oh and Tactics totally deserved to be on the list, not including spin offs... I think that is counterproductive to attempts at innovation, at least in this series.

 

[scorptatious]

FFIX is nowhere on the list.

You probably can't tell, but Vivi is very saddened by this.

Ah well. It's still my most favorite of the series.

 

[Mr C]

I've played every FF except 12 (it's looking at me from a dusty shelf) and of course we all have strong feelings about what is the best.

I found 8 to be the worst, I had to force myself to finish it. I'd definitely put 6 in that list, but 4 was great and my personal favourite is 9.

EDIT: My dislike for 8 was mainly down to an interesting combat system having almost no tutorial leading to a horrendous level of compulsory grinding once I knew what the heck was going on.

Also I couldn't get past how much of a prick the main character is, he doesn't even change, the worst emo nipple-face in the multi-verse. I still can't work out what that silly bint saw in him?