For me it’s
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Final Fantasy Tactics
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Final Fantasy VII
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Final Fantasy XI
The three games I keep coming back to in the franchise.
Tactics has the best writing imo as well as gameplay.
Visually speaking VII’s aesthetic and music are peak FF.
And then when it comes to getting lost in the lore and world of a virtual game, I like XI.
Granted all 3 share similar themes like good writing, music, gameplay, etc. but those are my standouts.
How about you?
I’d probably say:
- Final Fantasy IX
- Final Fantasy VII
- Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy IV is probably my runner up. It was probably the first RPG I ever played (just bits and pieces at a friend’s house - didn’t actually play it from start to finish until it was out on GBA lol).
IX is good but I never beat it as a kid as it didn’t resonate with me like VII, VIII and Tactics did, but I can see it’s charm.
Yeah, I’m a sucker for the late PSX era hardware rendering of Amano designs.
Hot takes alert:
- FFXII
- FFVII
- FF XV
I have not played 16
XII is great, there’s so much side questing to do you can get lost in the sauce with it. I still need to beat it and try out the international zodiac job system.
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X
IX
VI
X is my all time favorite though. I’m glad it got a sequel for its epilogue. The world building is phenomenal. The way Pyreflies, Aeons, Fiends, and more are incorporated into Spira makes the world believable.
My only gripe is that in the thousand years since Sin’s appearance, only five summoners have succeeded in bringing a Calm. That just seems so unlikely, and it makes more sense to me if there were more successful pilgrimages. Otherwise why bother keeping the pilgrimage as a practice?
Yevon used Sin as a tool of control, knowing it would just come back afterwards even if a pilgrimage was successful - the pilgrimages were about giving people hope that Sin could be overcome, not about actually defeating it.
- VIII
- VI
- IX
VIII almost made my top 3 but was still beaten out by VII. Still it’s a fantastic game with a really unique world.
Yeah. I understand the complaints, but it holds a special place in my heart. Probably my favorite game ever.
ff8isthe.best/
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tbh I’ve only played 7, 7 remake, and about half of 10
actually I also tried Tactics but I’m dumb and bad at strategy games so I gave up after 3 levels or so
The great part about fft is that most things in the game can be cleared just by power leveling (or gameshark!)
lol fr. kill all but one enemy, leave them weak so they run away, then just sit your party next to each other and fuck each other up and heal and buff and whatever. just get job exp ez style. you can even pump stats up this way.
also some classes/skills are way more OP than others (monk chakra and revive for instance vs traditional healing like a priest or a chemist)
I like them all so it’s tough to choose. I’ll split into mainline and spin-offs
Mainline:
- 12 (Zodiac Age version)
- 10 (International/HD version)
- 5 (SFC version)
Sequels/spin-offs:
- 10-2 (International/HD version)
- WOFF (Maxima version)
- Final Fantasy Tactics A2
🥇 Twelve
🥈 Fifteen
🥉 Bravely Second
I played twelve to 100% completion as a kid (except killing Yiazmat) so it’s formative to what fantasy games are to me. The incredible worldbuilding of Ivalice is something that I’ve yet to see done in another game.
I adore the boy band of fifteen and even though I think the plot is trite and perfunctory, it’s still one of my favorite games because the camaraderie is so strong. It really captures the (final) fantasy of having friends and time to spend with them.
Do the Bravely games count? I think they do. Anyway, the second game has the most fun combat system out of any jrpg I’ve played. The plot’s cheesy, but it executed it very sincerely which is refreshing and I’ll never forget the moment where
endgame spoiler
you break the dimensional barrier between the game and the Celestial Realm and you see yourself through the cracks in reality. As in, it’s literally YOUR FACE on the screen being rendered in real time through the 3DS front-facing camera.
Bravely has at least as much Final Fantasy DNA in it as FFV, so yeah, probably.
Come to think of it, it’s really strange how the bravely games didn’t get numbers, but the two MMOs did
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- XII - I really like the world building and how you actually play basically a side character that gets swept up in political shenanigans
- Tactics - Mostly nostalgia but also Ivalice again.
- VII - Warts and all. The game really pushed the genre forward in a lot of ways. It’s super ugly at points and very dated but still holds up in a lot of ways.
I haven’t played Tactics Advanced, VIII, IX, or X yet so it’s subject to change. I also wanna revisit the first 6 pixel remasters at some point.
Tactics
8
14
This is the correct order and I won’t hear anything else about it. Tactics is undisputed the best, 8 has Doom Train and Alexander summons and they’re so fucking cool it squeaks 8 into second, and 14 would be 2nd if it wasn’t impossibly long and expensive.
- FF VI
- FF VII
- FF XII
Final Fantasy XIV, VI, and (give me this for nostalgia purposes) IV.
I know IV wasn’t particularly sophisticated, but some of the music still holds up, and the vibes of some key moments still resonate with me, such as Cecil’s final test to become a paladin.
IV is good. We have to keep in mind that this was the first Final Fantasy game on the Super Famicom hardware, so they were trying to figure out what that new era of the franchise would be.
FFIII in Japan had more gameplay variety and options, but FFIV started a trend of cinematic emphasis in the series that is still part of its ongoing appeal now.
IV is a really good pick negl and if VI didn’t exist I think IV would be my favorite.
The final battle slaps too. It was revisited in FFXIV!
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
The best part of the Deltascape raids imo
The best part of the Omega fight is when it sounds like the singer is singing
HOLE 
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy Tactics A2tactics, 6, 4
10 is very close to 3rd
I need to sit down with 10, I don’t think I gave it a fair shake.
it’s very melancholy. the whole thing is just kinda depressing without getting into spoilers. great game, fun battle system, loved the summons (even the secret ones!)
but also if you finish X you can play the sequel X2 which gives you 3 pretty ladies in your party with a sick job system, the story is whatev
Pro tip/hot take for FFX2: don’t worry about getting the “perfect” ending - just play the game as-is
If you want to hear some discussion about what people like about it (and don’t care about spoilers), Abnormal Mapping has a pretty good episode.
