What is the BEST Final Fantasu?

[Hairless Mammoth]

I'm gonna get some flak for this (*casting shield now*), but I think both VI and VII are overrated by those that favor one over the other. Both have flaws that the other generally makes up for. They are great, but their flaws always stand out to me when I go back to them.

I, II, and III are for those that like the series enough to see its roots. IV and V are where the series started to shine. FFVIII requires being really invested in either the story (which is a mess, but sorta passable) or the game mechanics. XI and XIV are only for MMO fans who what to run around in the red mage's fancy outfit. X and XII are the, otherwise decent, games where the red flags started waving that Square was likely to drop the ball. The spinoffs are generally only for die hard FF fanatics (Tactics, Tactics Advance and A2, and maybe X-2, if your really like III and Vs job systems and Charles Angles, are exceptions.) Anything past XII should be approached with discount coupons, after the price drops significantly and while wearing a hazmat suit.

Spoiler: Now Final Fantasy IX, that's probably the best.

Now Final Fantasy IX, that's probably the best. [broken record]It is the last true Final Fantasy in the main series.[/broken record] Nine was the last to have the fantasy aspect override the sci-fi (while still having some, as the franchise has been building up sci-fi since the beginning), have an fully open hub world with sea ships, airships and chocobos to ride in said hub, and captured the charm of the entire series. It took old FF mechanics and themes and evolved them into new things. Also, it was the last OST to be solely composed by Nobuo Uematsu, and that OST is his personal favorite.

Except for a certain boss battle, the story is the best FF narrative we will probably ever get from Square, with it being full of fear of war and genocide, finding one's path in life, and the struggles to survive. The story actually gets pretty dark, possibly second only to VI's second half, despite the less realistic art style. The main character isn't the brooding, bishee pretty boy the cram into the lead of almost ever FF today. He's a energetic chivalrous perv with a heart of gold. Most of the only characters also out shine others in the series.

It's sad it get overlooked, or seen as the furry, kiddie edition of FF. It really is far from that. If it wasn't for the looming PS2, FFVIII's leaving a bad rep for new and old players, and that stupid playonline guide (Look it up. It wasn't beyond stupid.), this game would have been far more successful. My only real complaints about it are the mandatory card tournament halfway though the story and it's really hard to 100% it. (Those and the fact Auron isn't a secret character.)

Chrono Trigger/Cross is being mentioned in this thread. I say we should have all played the 4th Chrono (not counting Radical Dreamers) before FFXV was officially announced. At least, Bravely Default exists.

 

[Kinitawowi]

Hipsters like hating on 7 because it scores them wicked internet points

No, the hipster move is to dismiss those with genuine criticisms of 7 as hipsters looking for internet points.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Hipsters like hating on 7 because it scores them wicked internet points

No, the hipster move is to dismiss those with genuine criticisms of 7 as hipsters looking for internet points.

Well when you find some in this thread do share because I know there is plenty just none of it is located anywhere near here.

I think FF IX was the most enjoyable out of the series. Although, people need to stop going on about it being some forgotten Final Fantasy. It may have been largely ignored(as in people didn't go on about it) when it came out by the general population. It has its problems but I think overall it is most rounded FF game that does the least things wrong and the most well.

As for the others, it has gotten far past the point where it is fair to call FF VII an over hyped game. It has been a long time since people have been going on about it every minute of night and day as the best thing in the FF series and I think FF VI has firmly wrestled the over hyped and lauded crown from it. Not that it ever really lost it.

FF VII is good the only thing it really has going against it is that it is not as good as people have made it out to be in the past. It is also quite fair to call it one of the best games in the series as it does not do much badly and is a solid game. FF VI is in the same although, FF VI biggest flaw in my opinion is the whole direction of the game Post-Cataclysm.

The ones before FF VI feel a bit more dated as far as gameplay goes but that is to be expected given their age. They're not bad just quite old at this point.

FF VIII has a mountain of problems in it. The junction system seems good in theory but is crap in practice given that you can't actually use your spells without gimping your stats depending on what you're trying to do. I know most FFs do have items and spells that are broken but this one really takes the cake. Meltdown-Aura-Renzokuken is second only to trying to cheese Yojimbo's overdrive in FFX as far as cheapness goes. Also while we're at it lets give Rinoa a limit to randomly make the party indestructible because fuck it who gives a shit.

Aside from Yojimbo cheapness FF X felt like it was the most average of the better FF games. the Blitzball mini game was great though and I did enjoy the summon mechanics in it. Except for 1 thing that I completely loathe, despise and hate about that game with the burning passion of a thousand stars which is the Sphere grid. That piece of shit can die for all I care. FF XII was a nice experiment but I didn't like how a lot of the summons became useless given the nature of acquiring them and their usage along with the fact that I hate the Licence grid and fuck the Sphere grid and all its bastard offspring.

I understand why FF XIII was the way it was pre-Gran Pulse but it was still irritating. Also I understand where some of the characters actions were coming from but that didn't make me like them more as I still found myself not caring about many of the character and felt they were a little hollow. Also fuck the Crystarium and fuck the Sphere grid for causing to come into existence.

So yeah overall FF IX was my favourite with I'd say FF VI and VII being tied behind IX and then probably X, IV and XII being also about par under those three. The rest are all about the same with FF XIII being the worst but by no means a bad game just a below average one.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

For me its a three way tie with FFIV, FFIX and FFVI. Each game has so many merits to it that I can't necessarily pick one. FFIX has a charming story and some great mechanics (and one I'm currently replaying for the 100th time... actual replay # unknown). FFIV has, in my opinion, a wonderful storyline that really captivated me in its heyday (for a SNES era game, story was hard to come by) though the mechanics aren't the best, they work well. And FFVI hands down has the best villain of all time, Kefka. If any game won me over simply by how much I wanted to defeat the bad guy, more than any other game ever. He's so well written as a villain. I doubt I've hated any other bad guy as much as Kefka, and not because he's a clown either though it was a small factor (I detest clowns). And I don't see him as a Joker analog, he's got motivation beyond just batshit craziness (no pun intended).

 

[Prepare Your Keyhole]

Of course the only right answser is FF XV because... reasons

Meh I like all of the main numbered games and direct sequels.

The only one that REALLY sucks is FF XXVII. I mean come on have you seen it ugh and that poster heuheuheu

FF XXVII ==> I never asked for this 3)

 

[shrekfan246]

Hipsters like hating on 7 because it scores them wicked internet points,

Does it even do that anymore? By now, the hipster thing to do is to actually say you think VII is great, because literally everyone says "lol VII is so overrated". I can't open a single Final Fantasy thread on a single internet forum without seeing the majority of the posts saying that at some point.

OT: I've been playing through the entire franchise over the past few weeks, actually. Remakes of most of them, admittedly, and I'm still on IV: The After Years so I can't organize V or VI into any sort of list because I've never really played them. But I've been having progressively more fun with each title, so I'd say there's at least a chance that I won't go into VI and come out of it thinking "Man, and people on the internet say VII is the overhyped one."



IX, however, is basically my favorite game of all time, and the only JRPG that's really matched it to me so far has been Persona 4 Golden.

But hey, I'm also the nutter butter bar who has a really high opinion of Final Fantasy XII, so who knows what wacky things I'm going to say next? I actually really enjoyed the remakes of II, III, and IV (on the PSP/Vita) and could easily see myself playing them again in the future.

 

[hermes]

FF X is my personal favorite, but I wouldn't touch the flame trap that is "name the best FF game" with a ten foot pole...

 

[deth2munkies]

Bravely Default is the best Final Fantasy.

 

[Drummodino]

I've only played VII, Crisis Core, X and XIV: ARR. Of those? Well XIV has been consuming most of my free time lately so I'm gonna go with that. Not only is it a great MMO and has a absolutely killer OST, it has a genuinely awesome story which they keep adding to with each major update. So keen for the Heavensward expansion that is coming next year.

The three others I have not actually finished. I'm still slowly working my way through X which is okay. You can really tell it was the first in the series to get voice acting, the dialogue is... not great. It does have some genuinely awesome moments though.

Spoiler: FF X Spoilers

The whole section from the Al Bhed compound to rescuing Yuna from the wedding and Seymour... terrific stuff. The beginning too in Zanarkand and the underwater temple after blew my mind a little bit.

Crisis Core I was really enjoying years ago on the PSP, sadly I broke my console right before the ending. I'm still waiting on you to release it on the Vita store Square/Sony, why won't you let me give you my money?

VII was also really good I just stopped playing for some reason. The graphics have aged horribly though.

 

[verdant monkai]

Best Finaru Fantasu?

I honestly think all the people levelling criticisms at 7 are just saying them to sound clever and different. The story is inventive and extremely original/ the soundtrack is great/ the characters are cool Barret, Cait sith, Vincent/ Sepiroth is always in top 10 video game villain lists/ it was incredible for the time. The whole thing is fantastic.

I'd say FF7 and FF10 tie for my top spot. 10 has good characters good story and interesting character motivations, and it looks beautiful.

FF4 is probably my favourite of the pre FF7 games (the fact it has no moogles is good). Although to be honest Final Fantasy's main strength in my opinion is how good it looks, the designs, the monsters, the characters, the environment. The old games looked good for their time but there was only so much you could achieve with those graphics. The fine art of the sprites didn't come across at all, the dungeons and overworlds were dull, and to be honest all Final Fantasy stories are cheesey and a bit clichéd. The new games have cheesey stories but also the graphical power to accurately represent exactly what the artist created. I consider most of the post ff7 games superior to stuff like FF2, FF3 and FF5. I would argue 4 has a good story along with 6 and FF1 has a certain amount of "find it yourself" charm.

So yeah I'd say the best are FF7 and FF10. With FF3 being the worst as it introduced Moogles.

 

[Dizchu]

I'm not a big fan of any of the Final Fantasy games.

HOWEVER.

I believe that Final Fantasy 7 has one of the best soundtracks to anything ever. Nobuo Uematsu is one of my favourite musicians and I honestly rank him up there with some of the classical greats like Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky.

And for that reason alone, FF7 is my favourite. It's not often that a game is able to win me over with the soundtrack alone.

But in terms of gameplay and storytelling, I've always preferred Kingdom Hearts to be honest.

 

[gandhi the peacemake]

6 because dat opera
9 because Vivi
7/10/4/12
5/3/2/1
8 because Draw system (also Squall, also time compression, also etc.)
10-2 because fanservice
13(/-2/-3) because Lightning (also Hope, also Snow, also included encyclopedia brittanica, also etc.)

in that order. 11 and 14(/ARR) not counted.

 

[go-10]

FF VI gets a lot of praise and it's held as the end all be all jRPG. IMO, it's a really good game but the last act kinda sucks but the overall game is really good

FF VII is hated by almost everyone for being horrible and overrated. Personally I hold it as my favorite all time game, but I do adit it has a lot of plot holes and some characters are very one sided. Still the things that it does good have remained unfazed by time, music, story, character development, materia system, Midgar. There's a reason this game is so popular despite what everyone online says

FF IX, great game, great, story, great characters, great everything really. It's a simplified but somehow evolved version of FF IV.

if I was to recommend a FF game for someone to play, hands down I would say any of the multiple versions of FF IV. While most people hate the DS/iOS version I would recommend that one the most since it's the one that let's you enjoy the same timeless story with good 32bit graphics and music plus it's really simple and straight forward so you get to have the best of the new while keeping the core of the old game... although I advice you steer clear from The After Years on anything else but the iOS and even then I would advice against it; IF it wasn't for Rydia's chapters

 

[busterkeatonrules]

My personal favorite has to be IX. I like it for the low-tech setting, and the optimistic and likeable protagonist. The character gallery in general is among the best in the entire series, arguably including more fan-favorite characters - both heroes and villains - than the rest of the series put together (much-loved black mage Vivi being only the tip of the iceberg.)

Honorable mention: I got introduced to the series by VII, and for a long time considered it to be the best game ever. The story blew my mind, and the gameplay is of the 'easy to understand, hard to master' - type which is the hallmark of any truly great game system. It actually holds up quite well even by modern standards, but most people who play it today do so because of the hype which still echoes from previous generations of gamers - to whom it was a once-in-a-lifetime revolution rather than just a really good game. I think this is why it tends to disappoint modern gamers.

That said, if you're looking for a game to play on your phone, definitely look into VI. I've never played the phone edition myself, so I can't tell you how well it works, but the game is basically an edge-of-your-seat epic on par with Peter Jackson's complete Tolkien-based oeuvre - told entirely with tiny, silly-looking, cartoony and stereotypical sprites for characters. And you WILL grow to genuinely care about them.

You'll laugh. You'll cry.

You'll believe a man can suplex a train.

Seriously, the only thing VI will leave you wanting, is a longer plane ride!

 

[vledleR]

FFVII is my fave. It had some faults to it; slow start, some very one-dimensional characters, graphics that have aged woefully..but it's easily overshadowed by the more well rounded characters, badass combat system that is very rewarding, and as DizzyChuggernaut pointed out, best OST EVAR.

Coming up second would probably be FFX-2, which had the best combat system, imo. Everything else was shit though, and it had some pretty creepy fan service, that would probably seem pretty tame by today's standards.

 

[DrOswald]

There are 4 arguable positions on this:

1. Final Fantasy 6 is best Final Fantasy. It has a strong and diverse cast of characters. They really feel like a resistance movement brought together by a common goal. Each character has at least a couple great moments. However, because the game has so many characters many of them don't feel fleshed out. We get to see their personalities but only a few of them have a strong character arc, and even those can feel a bit shallow at times. In addition, many of the great moments for these characters are very easy to miss and will either require a guide of very, very extensive exploration and experimentation to ever see.

Final Fantasy 6 also has one of the most interesting villains in the Final Fantasy series, but only in the original English translation by Ted Woolsey. Without that interesting translation Kefka looses all his personality and is boring.

In terms of combat, we have some big pros and cons. It is pretty standard Final Fantasy active time battle, but all the characters have a unique ability. Kind of like the job system from other final fantasy games but everyone is assigned their job and cannot change. For example, Locke is the Thief and has the ability steal. This is good because it gives each of the characters some additional distinction and they can be truly awesome, and bad because some of the additional abilities just plain suck. None of them are unworkable bad though. In addition, Final Fantasy 6 can require a huge amount of grinding.

Finally, the second half of the game tends to drag on considerably.

2. Final Fantasy 4 is best Final Fantasy. There is a reason I chose to mention 4 after 6: 4 is basically similar to 6 but generally less good in a lot of ways. The enforced jobs exist, but many of the characters special commands are just plain bad, there is very little customization for your characters, The secondary cast is far less fleshed out, the game gets pretty ridiculous pretty fast, the amount of grinding required is asinine by today's standards, the game just does not look or sound as good as 6.

However, Final Fantasy 4 has Cecil and Kane, two of the strongest and most interesting central Final Fantasy characters. Unlike Final Fantasy 6, this game has two very obvious central characters that get deeply fleshed out. These two alone can elevate the game to the level of Final Fantasy 6 for some. Not for me, but for some.

3. Final Fantasy 7 is best Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy 7 has the diversity of cast of Final Fantasy 6 but manages to fully flesh out all of it's characters, and all of them are interesting (with the possible exception of Vincent and the certain exception of Yuffie, but both of them are optional characters.) Of special interest is the character arc of Cloud and highly effective relationship between Cloud and Sephiroth, the games main antagonist, and the love triangle between Tifa, Aeris and Cloud. Very well handled in that it is not overbearing to the plot (their relationships never progress far past the "holding hands" stage) but does inform and give extra weight to some of the more important character moments.

In addition, Final Fantasy 7 has the best cast of antagonists in any Final Fantasy. The antagonists are as diverse and fleshed out as the main characters, with believable motivations that inform their behavior. The Shinra Corp and Rufus in particular are fantastic and really helps to give life and depth to the world of 7. And lets be real here, while we all love Kefka, Sephiroth has a far, far better character arc. In that he actually has a character arc.

Final Fantasy 7 also has arguably the best soundtrack in the series, and the blocky character models and simple 3D effects hold up surprisingly well, perhaps the best of the three PS1 Final Fantasies (because they are more stylized.)

In terms of combat/gameplay, Final Fantasy 7 is very strong. The Materia system is fantastic, basically being the job system of earlier games but not actually tied to any character. This allows you to experiment with command combinations and new strategies without grinding or penalty. In addition, the debut of the limit break, which are just fun to use.

Of special note is the progression of the game through the game world. Final Fantasy 7 was the first Final Fantasy with a 3D overworld and they made it work very well. More than any other Final Fantasy it feels like you are progressing through a world instead of moving from set piece to set piece.

4. Final Fantasy 9 is best Final Fantasy. With perhaps the strongest main cast and story of any Final Fantasy, 9 clearly takes the best narrative in a Final Fantasy.

Unfortunately, the graphics of 9 really don't hold up well. Unlike 7, where the character models were treated like low def stylized sprites, the characters of final fantasy 9 were designed to be 1:1 representations of the characters, and the result does not hold up well. Everything works fine in battle, but out of battle things can be a bit of a muddy mess. I am hoping that the inevitable ff9 pc release will help with this problem (rendering the models at 1080 will help prevent the muddiness issue.)

In addition, the leveling system of 9 is somewhat weak, requiring you to use a specific weapon to learn specific abilities. It lacks the deep customization of some other final fantasies and also requires a fair bit of grinding (often with sub optimal equipment) to get your characters to where you want them to be.


In my opinion, T>7=9=6>|4=5=>10=12>3>10-2>1>|13-3>8=2>13-2=13.
-------------------------------^ Final Fantasy---------------^ Final Fantasy stops being good
------------------------------stops being great

Note: Final Fantasy 13-3 takes top spot of the bad Final Fantasies purely because you can play dress up doll with Lightning.

 

[GabeZhul]

FF8 has interesting though extremely grindy system with horrible characters and story that seems forced.

Not even gonna touch on the story elements, but... grindy? Did you play the same FF8 I did? The one where you can choose not to have random encounters? The one where you can literally stop leveling any time you want to? The one where monsters scale to your level, so you can beat the game at any level? The one where you can turn items into other items, items into spells, and cards into items at will, making it relatively easy to acquire what would normally be a difficult thing to get?

You can play through the entire game without stopping to grind once. It's one of the only final fantasies where that's true. 8 has many problems, but grindiness is not one.

sorry but it is grindy. You get to transmog later but at the start you just keep drawing magic. Also dynamic monster leveling makes maxing out kinda pointless.

What are you talking about? Seriously, I hate to say this, but in this case you just played the game wrong. Aside of getting GFs out of some bosses you don't need to draw, ever. You can get every single spell in the game by using the RF abilities for a fraction of the time and effort and you get the most important ones (the three elemental RFs, the healer RF and the CardMOD ability) on the first four GFs.

Also, while the monsters level up with the characters, the bosses have fixed strength and unless you game the system (like abusing Triple Triad and CardMOD to deck everyone out with late-game spells and get Squall's Lionheart on Disk 1) they would be pretty hard on lower levels. But then again, that was one of the best parts of the game: you actually had to learn how to effectively Junction your characters instead of just grinding to beat the bosses, something a lot of people apparently didn't have the patience for.

That said, have you even played the game or are you one of those guys who just heard about the game (or watched Spoony's "reviews") and just parrot what you heard?

 

[TheArcaneThinker]

If you get one of those emulators for Nintendo on your mobile then you can not only play final fantasy 1 to 6 but also legend of Zelda : a link to the past , minis cap , pokemon fire red , emerald , earthbound , mother 1,2 or 3 , mortal kombat , chrono trigger , street fighter , golden sun , harvest moon , fire emblem , etc.

There are also psp emulators.