What's Your Favorite Final Fantasy Game and Why?

[Arehexes]

Final Fantasy V is my favorite because of the job class system and that's all.

 

[Dr. Paine]

I posted this in another thread, but it applies to this one as well and I could never really voice 'why' again as well as I did that time, so here's a shameless cut-and-paste as to why my favorite game of all time is Final Fantasy X-2.

Before I play Final Fantasy X-2, I have to prepare. I have to plan in advance to set entire weekends aside just for this game. I have to make myself a nice hot cup of sweet, sweet coffee. I have to take a long, hot bath. I have to wear something loose-fitting and comfortable. I have to wrap up in blankets with the massive strategy guide set across my thighs. I've never ritualized a game before or since Final Fantasy X-2, and so many people have asked me "why the hell? Of all the games in the world, why Final Fantasy X-2?" The answer is because I've never, not even once, played a game that elicited every single positive emotional reaction I can think of, except this one. This is the only game that has made me laugh, cry, laugh until I cry, cry until I laugh, place my hands over my mouth in shock and surprise, place my hands over my heart and say "d'awwwww", thrust my arms upward and cheer with satisfaction, and truly feel at peace. I could talk about the combat, which I still think is the best in any J-RPG. I could talk about the amusing dialogue and cast of appealing characters spearheaded by the most believable female Japan has ever written. I could talk about the endless wealth of things to do, the clutch of fun minigames, the sense of wonder as I uncovered all sorts of new and exciting things, but the most important thing about Final Fantasy X-2 is that no matter what, if it's in my PS2 and I'm playing it, I'm always smiling. There is never a moment that is frustrating, never a moment that is tedious, never a "oh god, I have to do this part again?!" part. It dispenses happiness from eye-catching start to heartwarming finish and beyond, never once missing a beat. We're living in cynical times, and anything that can be relied upon to make me feel good no matter what is something to be treasured. I will always treasure Final Fantasy X-2.

I just got just finished Final Fantasy X and started Final Fantasy X-2 and I really don't see why people ***** about it, i think its a load of fun, I kinda wish there were a few more characters and had had lulu instead of paine but thats all i can think about to complain. I have also heard people complain about having to play it twice to get 100% completions but thats not true, you can do it in one run. but its nice to see someone else who enjoys it.

Actually, no. If you do want the absolute perfect ending/total completion, you do have to play it at least twice. And have a guide next to you at all times.

That said, having a master Gunner equipped with Catnip from Chapter 1... much fun is had.

 

[Tanis]

FF4:
It's a classic JRPG with Western (Tolkin/Medieval) elements - can't wait for the PSP remake.


FF6:
The tried and true classic of JRPGs.


FF8:
Semi-broken battle system with an, at times, cliche, plot but I still enjoy it.

 

[linkvegeta]

I posted this in another thread, but it applies to this one as well and I could never really voice 'why' again as well as I did that time, so here's a shameless cut-and-paste as to why my favorite game of all time is Final Fantasy X-2.

Before I play Final Fantasy X-2, I have to prepare. I have to plan in advance to set entire weekends aside just for this game. I have to make myself a nice hot cup of sweet, sweet coffee. I have to take a long, hot bath. I have to wear something loose-fitting and comfortable. I have to wrap up in blankets with the massive strategy guide set across my thighs. I've never ritualized a game before or since Final Fantasy X-2, and so many people have asked me "why the hell? Of all the games in the world, why Final Fantasy X-2?" The answer is because I've never, not even once, played a game that elicited every single positive emotional reaction I can think of, except this one. This is the only game that has made me laugh, cry, laugh until I cry, cry until I laugh, place my hands over my mouth in shock and surprise, place my hands over my heart and say "d'awwwww", thrust my arms upward and cheer with satisfaction, and truly feel at peace. I could talk about the combat, which I still think is the best in any J-RPG. I could talk about the amusing dialogue and cast of appealing characters spearheaded by the most believable female Japan has ever written. I could talk about the endless wealth of things to do, the clutch of fun minigames, the sense of wonder as I uncovered all sorts of new and exciting things, but the most important thing about Final Fantasy X-2 is that no matter what, if it's in my PS2 and I'm playing it, I'm always smiling. There is never a moment that is frustrating, never a moment that is tedious, never a "oh god, I have to do this part again?!" part. It dispenses happiness from eye-catching start to heartwarming finish and beyond, never once missing a beat. We're living in cynical times, and anything that can be relied upon to make me feel good no matter what is something to be treasured. I will always treasure Final Fantasy X-2.

I just got just finished Final Fantasy X and started Final Fantasy X-2 and I really don't see why people ***** about it, i think its a load of fun, I kinda wish there were a few more characters and had had lulu instead of paine but thats all i can think about to complain. I have also heard people complain about having to play it twice to get 100% completions but thats not true, you can do it in one run. but its nice to see someone else who enjoys it.

Actually, no. If you do want the absolute perfect ending/total completion, you do have to play it at least twice. And have a guide next to you at all times.

That said, having a master Gunner equipped with Catnip from Chapter 1... much fun is had.

Nope, only one play for the perfect ending, I have done it and looked it up and have a guide that shows how to do it ALL 100% completed in 1 Playthrough. It's not your fault its hard to do and lots of people think that you need to play it twice.

Spoiler

Im talking the ending where Yuna gets to have Tidus come back, the perfect one, no the good ending.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

FFX. Best battle system, best music, most detailed costumes and enemies, best replay value (not necessarily the minigames, but NSG runs and more), and lacking any major flaws, though I do wish the last boss had been executed better. Even better, extended just a bit further into Sin to give us some more detailed flashbacks to the Zanarkand-Bevelle war and the circumstances of Sin's birth... Ah well, no one's perfect. I might be overrating it a tad since it was last Final Fantasy I liked.

Honorable mention to FFVI, the best of the 2D ones at least. The enemies and backgrounds practically look like paintings, and each member of the cast has a distinct personality despite having the largest in the series. Funny how it was the first game to do multi-party dungeons and yet still the best at doing so.

 

[Harlemura]

Final Fantasy XIII for me.
I had fun with it. I liked the battle system. I liked the characters.
And the one point you can't disagree with me on...
The graphics were awesome.

But if you 100% hate a game that has a character with a baby bird living in his afro, there's something wrong with you.

 

[AbstractStream]

Final Fantasy X is the FF that got me into the series. So it will always have a place in my heart. I had briefly played the FFI before FFX but X is what pulled me in. I loved it. The characters, the story, the music. Everything.
If I had to pick a top five, I would say;

1. Final Fantasy X (so good that it needed a sequel)
2. Final Fantasy VIII
3. Final Fantasy VI
4. Final Fantasy V
5. Final Fantasy VII

And although FFXIII isn't on my top 5, I really REALLY liked it. It was cinematically beautiful. Really liked the character development as well.

 

[flagship]

4, it had a solid storyline, interesting and at the time since I'd only play FF1 very unique character abilities (bard, dragoon, twin mages, monk, paladin) and a number of unique and challenging bosses (sister, orbs, 4 fiend, final boss).

6 and 8 would are my other favorites, but both just drag on towards the end and FF6 gives you so many characters that toward the end they lose their personalities.

 

[Jelly ^.^]

The first one, if only because of this.

 

[Ashcrexl]

X barely edges out VII for me. the battle system is the best of the series, the world is colorful and interesting, the story is a bit convoluted, but good fun, and the characters are awesome.

also SPHERE GRID. best thing ever. XIII's crystarium wishes it was as awesome as the SPHERE GRID.

 

[5t3v0]

VI for me. The vivid personalities of the characters and the interesting concepts and story were what set it apart from many other games. Still need to get FFVII though...

 

[Arisato-kun]

FFVI is my favorite. FFIX has this teeny issue of coining the term 'Pulling a Necron', and I don't mean the Necrons from 40k either.

Bah! Always with the Necron. The only thing anyone remembers from that game is Necron. I don't even see how it's that big of a deal:

Spoiler

The last battle with Kuja ends with him destroying the crystal that basically keeps the universe together. Necron, as I've always interpreted him, is nothing more than the personification of death and destruction. Basically, he's the Four Horsemen rolled into one (consider how his status attacks pretty much cover Death, War, Famine and Pestilence). He is the destruction that ensues when the crystal holding everything together is broken. He even says that his mission is to return the universe to the state of absolute nothingness. Sure, it's maybe a bit lofty in terms of theological metaphysics, but considering Garland spends pretty much the entire last level telling you not to let Kuja destroy the crystal, and Kuja ends up destroying the crystal, you'd have to expect some kind of repurcussion.

TLDR: Necron = The Four Horsemen. You have to defeat him to stop the apocalypse. Factor in that FF9 is pretty much a story about learning to face death, I actually think Necron's a pretty apt final boss.

I honestly have to say thank you for this. For years and years I have considered Necron the only flaw in FFIX. Now it all makes sense. And now I can consider it a perfect game.

As you can tell my favorite is IX. I loved all the characters, the art style really impressed me and even today I still consider You're Not Alone the best track from a video game ever.

 

[Tiger Sora]

FFIX. My favorite of the series and the farthest one I've ever played into. Never beat one, I will beat IX one day. I just love some of the characters, Vivi a small mage golem. Learns to not be so afraid. Albert Steiner, a somewhat bumbling knight trying to do his duty to the kindom, but is fiercely loyal. And my all time favorite character Freya Crescent, traveling with the group to avenge her country and find her lost love.
I just love the game.

 

[Infernai]

Game Seven, as it was made before Square-enix's craze of making lead characters i despised and placing there games in settings i don't give a shit about (Not counting 8 or 9 in this as i havn't played them and thus cannot fairly comment on them so...yeah, consider them immune from what i said before). I was among one of those people who didn't cry or feel sad at the end-fate of Tidus in ten, but reacted somewhere along the lines of well

Me after seeing Tidus 'disappear' in FFX: -maniacal laughter- HAHAHA! Yes YYEEEESSSS! He's gone, He's FINALLY gone! Oh, i'm so fucking happy right now...W-wait, why are you all sad? THAT LITTLE SHIT TIDUS IS GONE! Oh right, we don't have auron around anymore....damn..that guy was cool*sigh* BUT ATLEAST TIDUS IS GONE! HAHA!

The rest of the cast is ok and i harbor no ill will towards them, and the setting is atleast pretty but....i dunno, besides having one of my most hated protagonists in a game ever, the game itself just didn't really click with me like Seven did.

Twelve i loathed and is considered, by me atleast, to be the worst game of the series next to fourteen (It's bad enough when you have two characters, Vaan and Panello, that make me MISS having Tidus in my party). Again, rest of the cast is ok but...gameplay was to "MMO-ish" and the story i just really could bring myself to care about and the setting wasn't exactly very inspired either. And thirteen was just...boring. Not terrible or bad, just boring...It also had Hope and Panello, but compared to Vaan, Panello and Tidus they are tolerable. I did think Sazh was pretty cool...Hell, i would have played a game just about that guy trying to save his son! Lightning was ok i guess just don't have much of an opinion of her. As for Snow...lets just say i prefer his 'impulsive idiot' character FAR MORE then the 'whiny little *****' archtype that Vaan and Tidus were made out of

So yeah....Seven is my favorite.

 

[BelmontClan]

Out of FF games I've actually played, it's a tie between FF 4, 6 and 10.

The worst is 8 by far. Bland characters, drawing systems that makes ALL battles drawn out affairs, unbalanced leveling system and so on. I can only play so much before I stop. I've attempted this game three times and I just am not interested enough to continue. About the only entertaining thing about FF8 is playing under the "Squall's Dead" theory.

 

[Taerdin]

Here's mine

1. Final Fantasy Tactics
2. Final Fantasy VI
3. Final Fantasy XII
4. Final Fantasy VII
5. Final Fantasy IV
.
.
.
999. Final Fantasy: Several swift kicks to the groin
1000. Final Fantasy X

Interesting to note, I place VI and XII above most others even though I've never beaten VI nor even played XII. I just know that the rest of them must be worse. Also I made up Final Fantasy: Several swift kicks to the groin in order to illustrate my point that I would rather be kicked in the jibblies than play that game ever again in my lifetime. At least the kick to the groin would be over in moments, that terrible waste of life story will be with me always. Not the mention the boring repetitive gameplay, and the chore-like temple nonsense.

 

[Beautiful End]

FFVII would be my favorite despite being overshadowed by FFVII (I'm not even gonna get there). I loved FFVII's characters, especially Squall with whom I identified myself with when I was younger. And I hate the fact that everyone thinks he's emo. He's just careless, if anything. He doesn't run away from the leader duties when they are handed to him. He was just...motivationally challenged. The world was also great; all sorts of places to visit, some were pretty rustic, some were futuristic, you had your summons, your nemesis who was just misguided. The only thing that gets me is the Time Komprezion because, despite the fact that they have a pretty good explanation for it that comes up a little bit after halfway through the game, it still seems pretty random. Fun, but random.

Second place would be FFIX. Funny because I started appreciating this game after I finished it. I'll admit I had a tiny little crush on garnet and maybe that's why i like it so much: the relationship between Zidane the bum and Garnet the sad princess was beautifully handled.

Third, FFXII, and I'll probably get shunned now. Yeah, I'll admit Vaan was pretty much irrelevant to the plot and he looked like a girl and blah blah. Despite all that, it was a great story about war, each character was involved in said conflict somehow (Except Vaan...and maybe Penelo), the ending wasn't as cliched as past FFs, the world TRULY felt like an open world; an endless mass of land that you could explore for hours.

FFVII got on my nerves because of its obsessed fanbase, though the game isn't that bad. Not my favorite one but it's alright. FFV is...alright. I bought it a while ago for the GBA and I haven't finished, but I'm liking FFIV WAY better.

 

[Crimson_Dragoon]

Tactics by far, for such having an amazing story and great battle system. Tactics Advance, on the other and, I absolutely hate for having an awful story and stupid changes to the battle system (the Judges, oh God, why the Judges?).

 

[Jack of Spades]

Final Fantasy 9, it was the first to have nice graphics and a great story.

 

[GotMalkAvian]

Let me preface this by saying that I've only really played FFI, II, VII, IX, X, and XIII. Out of those, FFXIII is the only one I've ever really gotten into, even though X held my attention for some time, too. As for why XIII is my favorite, I cite the changes toward accessibility and increased character customization options (being able to change a character's class goes a long way with me).