What Final Fantasy Should I Start With?

[RJ 17]

I've tried mulitiple times to get into these games and beat it, but I'm wondering - which one should I try to play first. The good ones, the ones where you run in a straight line, or the MMORPGs. Which one is your favorite?

Here's what you do: get yourself an NES and get Final Fantasy. Play that for about 6 years, then pick up an SNES and get FFII (which is actually IV), play that for a good 3 or 4 years, then pick up FFIII (actually VI) and play that for another handful of years. Then you're ready to move onto the Playstation with 7, 8, and 9.

If you want to get into FF, you must first understand FF's history, that way you can fully appreciate the Hindenburg-style crash-in-flames downfall of the series as each game past 7 gets a little worse than the one before it, until you inevitably arrive at XIII and literally say "Oh, the humanity!!!" in a soul-crushing cry of woe unlike anything you've ever heard yourself utter before.

That's how you should enjoy the Final Fantasy series.

 

[CaitSeith]

I've tried mulitiple times to get into these games and beat it, but I'm wondering - which one should I try to play first. The good ones, the ones where you run in a straight line, or the MMORPGs. Which one is your favorite?

What other games have you played? Do you like retro graphics? If you do, I highly recommend you to start with FF VI (my personal favorite) and FF VII. Otherwise start with FF X.

 

[Dr. Crawver]

I'd say XII because it's not a final fantasy.

XII is a phenomenal game, but so many people hate it because it's "not a final fantasy". I've actually on 2 separate occasions in the last year done a playthrough of the game with friends who thought that. They both hated XII. After that, neither of them shifted on their positions that it shouldn't be a final fantasy game, but as a game? They both enjoyed it a lot, one saying it was "Good", and the other "great".

These were people who said it was awful before I did this.

So I say XII not because it's the best final fantasy (it's my favorite, but then I don't seem to like what makes a final fantasy a final fantasy game), but because apparently playing it as an FF game only taints your opinion of it as a game, which is a huge shame.

 

[Foolery]

I'd say XII because it's not a final fantasy.

They honestly could have called it Vagrant Story 2, because that's not a far stretch from what it is. No surprise that it was directed by the same guy who made FF Tactics, Tactics Ogre, and Vagrant Story. Yasumi Matsuno does excellent work.

Anywho, I heartily recommend XII out of the newer Final Fantasies and IV, if you're wanting something retro.

 

[FalloutJack]

I would recommend Final Fantasy 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, and 13. And the order doesn't matter, only the kind of gameplay you prefer.

I also do not recommend FF8 if you enjoy the play-styles of the above games, or even period. I also can't say I was entirely okay with FF4. It's functional, but I found it bland and counter-intuitive at points.

All the ones I did not mention, I just have too little experience with.