Rank the Final Fantasy Games

[Wolf Kanno]

Haven't done this in a while, rank all the numbered FFs you have played from highest (1) to lowest (14). To keep this simple, don't add spin-offs or sequels cause that's just going to make these lists super long.

[VeloZer0]

Seeing as I am not allowed to include spin-offs

Games I really like



2 - FF7
Easily my favorite numbered FF. Gameplay, visuals, music and story all combine together to create the experience. For me at least it causes me to love it all over again ever playthrough

3 - FF6
Honestly I consider this to be just like FF7 with a little less 'punch' due to the limitations of 2D graphics. Also looses a little bit on game play, as I like being able to work more in-depth on character setups.

4 - FF4
I loved the storytelling of this game, but a lack of 'polish' in comparison to FF6 moves it down just a little bit lower. Using the DS version I would probably put it about equal to FF6.

Games that I enjoy
5) FF5
I'm not as crazy about the job system as some people, but it did add an interesting element to the game. I liked the macro story quite a bit, but the whole presentation didn't have the magic of FF4, 6 or 7.

6 - FF3
bump this up to 5 if you use the DS version, and down to 7 if it is the NES version. Averages out to spot #6.

7 - FF1
The main reason that it isn't higher is that I just find it too simple to have a lot of fun playing. It isn't enjoyable, but without the mechanics and variety of later titles it just can't draw me in as much. Is if fair to compare it with games that came out a decade later? Maybe not, but c'est la vie.

8 - FF9
I used to rate this much higher, but when I re-played it a few years back it just kept beating me over the head with pacing issues. I love turn based, but I don't appreciate dragging the battles out forever for only a few actions. At a lot of points the story just completely bogged down and I would be thinking 'come on, lets go advance the plot to something interesting'. A shame, because this has a lot going for it I really like.

Games that Are OK
9 - FF2
Meh, finished it so I can say I did.

10 - FF10
I despised the story scenes in this game, and am certainly not a fan of the world design. The only reason this isn't in the lowest tier is because I really liked the combat system (though the sphere grid blew)

Games that only make it on to the list because I have to list them all
I thought both story and game-play were weak in both of these. Not enough to make me despise them, but enough to feel profoundly disappointed at what they squandered with such high production values and polish. I actually at some points had a little bit of fun with FF13's battle system, so it edges out FF12.
11 - FF13
12 - FF12

Games I despise
13 - FF8
I tried it again a few years back and came to the conclusion that 1) the game deserves a second chance and 2) playing anymore of it was going to leave a sour taste in my mouth all over again. Regardless of how my overall impressions of the game-play have been tainted by my overall impressions of the plot it lies at the bottom of the list forevermore.

Not Played
FF11
FF14
Maybe if I went back to having loads of free time and World of Warcraft never existed.

I should probably add some sort of commentary, but I think being first so my opinion carries more weight is more important.

[Ayen]

If you insist.

1.) FFX
2.) FFVII
3.) FFVIII
4.) FFIX
5.) FFI
6.) FFII
7.) FFV
8.) FFVI
9.) FFXI
10.) FFXII
11.) FFXIII

I haven't played III, IV or XIV.

[Karifean]

I cannot do this. I just can't.

1.) X
2.) V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, XII, (X-2)
8.) IV, (XIII-2)
9.) XIII

No matter how hard I think on it I can't rank the middle ones. I would probably put VII ahead of the others but I can't even say that for sure. I love them all.

Note that I don't dislike XIII either. I like it, quite a lot, but in comparison with the other titles... it pales.

[Carl the Llama]

As a compromise I would like to be able to swap out one of the numbered for one of its squeals, this way you still get 14, but I get to include what I feel is the best entry of that numbered title.

01). Final Fantasy VII
02). Final Fantasy IX
03). Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
04). Final Fantasy X
05). Final Fantasy VIII
06). Final Fantasy IV
07). Final Fantasy XII
08). Final Fantasy XI
09). Final Fantasy V
10). Final Fantasy VI
11). Final Fantasy XIV
12). Final Fantasy
13). Final Fantasy II

Haven't played any version of III so I cant pass judgement.

[NeoCracker]

Starting from the worst to the best!

14). Final Fantasy VIII - I'm tired of ranting about this one, so no description here. :p

13). Final Fantasy X - See above, though I can see why one would hate it more then VIII, but at least the battle System itself is very well made.

12). Final Fantasy II - Yeah, plot bores me, and it has the worst fucking leveling system in the series.

11). Final Fantasy XIII - I probably Should hate it more, but for some reason I dont'. Still a shit game though, I'm just kind of left with no emotion after playing it.

10). Final Fantasy XI - Would probably enjoy it more if I was an MMO guy, but I'm not. Still had a bit of fun with it though.

9). Final Fantasy XIV - same as above really.

8). Final Fantasy III - I couldn't get into it since the Job system just felt to archaic compared to V. Had I played this first I may have enjoyed it more, so this isn't an entirely fair judgement on my part.

7). Final Fantasy VII - So damn over rated, but still fun. Cid remains one of the best written characters of the series.

6). Final Fantasy I - Mostly low on the list for being so archaic, though unlike with III I still managed to enjoy playing this one.

5) Final Fantasy XII - I didn't include it on my big gaming list cause admitedly I never made it to far in the plot, I did get bored with it. Though there was a lot I really liked, and I always intended to go back to it. (Short story is I didn't own it at that point). Main character was terrible, but Ashe and Basch more then made up for him. It was also held back by some fairly poor writing at times.

4) Final Fantasy V - So funny. Not the best game all around, but it really nailed a bit more of a light hearted adventure the other FF's didn't have, and new just when to stop taking itself too seriously. Definately the most laughs out of any of the main games. (Intentional laughs anyway. :p)

3) Final Fantasy IV - My first Final Fantasy, and boy was this a good one to start with. Even with it's shoddy as fuck original script, this game was just so much fun.

2) Final Fantasy VI - Sabin suplexed a train. That is all.

1) Final Fantasy IX - I'm almost as bored of praising this game as I am bored of shit talking FF VIII. :p

[black orb]

>>> The rank that matters..:luca:

1- FF1
2- FF9
3- FF10
4- FF7
5- FF5
6- FF4
7- FF12
8- FF2
9- FF8
10- FF6 (dodges VI`s fanboy stones*)
11- FF3
12- FF13

[maybee]

*Going to do it how NeoCracker did.


14) Final Fantasy XI- Not really much of a MMO fan and it looks least interesting than XIV. It's most likely not a awful game or anything, just not my own personal cup of tea, that's all.

13) Final Fantasy XIV - Again, not a MMO person, though it has more of that Final Fantasy feeling and emotion than XI in a personal opinion.

12) Final Fantasy XII - I despise the characters, minus Larsa really. The plotline I despise because it's like watching grass grow, and despise the battle system and just almost everything about it.

11) Final Fantasy XIII -Not a huge fan of this game, though I personally prefer it more than XII. I like the characters a bit better than XII, and really that's all, and guess the story is a tad more interesting.

10). Final Fantasy I- It's a nice simple game and love how you can choose your jobs at the beginning.

9) Final Fantasy III- I prefer the NES version over the DS version, as it has a easier beginning and the OST is better despite having that old NES sound.

8) Final Fantasy II - This game is pretty underrated, it's not the best Final Fantasy around, nor the best game, though it has a pretty interesting storyline for it's time, strong female characters, and a male White Mage. The fighting system is unique and Paramecia is a great villian. All good for 1988.

7) Final Fantasy VII - Unlike Final Fantasy II, this game is the opposite and just overated, though still not awful or anything, the storyline is a bit messy and confusing, and the characters are bit bleh, though it's still a rocking fun game of revenge, loosing loved ones, and self-discovery.

6)Final Fantasy X - I love Yuna, Lulu, Rikku and Auron and could wish a painful death on Wakka. I love the battle system, and I wish and desire for it to return and the Sphere Grid system was alright. The storyline was terribly over-dramatic, but it was touching and emotional. Seymour is a terrible villian imo, and was more of a creepy pedophile that transforms into a annoying zombie that refuses to leave. It's a alright game, though I just like the storyline and the characters more than what Final Fantasy VII gave us.

5) Final Fantasy V - Like Final Fantasy III, I prefer one version over the other, this time it's the GBA over the PlayStation, due to the PlayStation having terrible translation. The GBA gives the characters more strength and well, just character. The OST nice and underated, and the job system just makes the game. I could play this game for hours, just leveling up the job system.

4) Final Fantasy VIII - I love this game, despite it's huge hatedom towards it. I love the main character, in fact all of the male characters, the female characters are a bit bleh and send back woman rights a few years backwards, though I enjoy the Junction and Drawing system, and just going around drawing magic, and finding items to upgrade rare weapons. The storyline is nice, and the love story is nice too, though a bit too cheesy sometimes, like a bad fan-fic.

3) Final Fantasy IX- Again adore this game, and enjoy it's sugary tar fantasy feeling that you would usually witness within a Disney classic, sugary- light, fluffy, plenty of jokes and cuteness- but also tar- just dark, nightmare fuelish and sometimes disturbing.
Love Zidane, Vivi, Kuja, and Garnet, it's powerful OST soundtrack, story and add-on system. Though sometimes it's uniqueness and oddness can sometimes just be too much, and can be just too strange, and the ending could of been one of the best endings within the whole series, but it was rushed and messy.


2) Final Fantasy VI - Love the story, love the characters, love the game, and love the OST. This game is how you get something that's almost perfection from a JRPG.

1) Final Fantasy IV- I have a hard time choosing the top 5 when it comes to this list, but I think that I like Final Fantasy IV the most, because of Cecil, Edward, Rydia and Kain Highwind. OST is nice, and it's a nice sweet storyline, that just right. Not too complex like Final Fantasy VII, and not too simple like Final Fantasy I.
I really believe that this is the best Final Fantasy, because while Final Fantasy VI has so much going for it, there's something about Final Fantasy IV, that just feels, just right.

[Pumpkin]

1) Final Fantasy IX
It is not only my favorite Final Fantasy, it is my favorite game ever. I love the characters, I love the story, I love the world.

2) Final Fantasy VIII
I think Squall is the best FF hero, I like most of the characters, I love the story, the world has some great locations, I love how involved the summoning is, I like the junction system.

(Here is where I would throw in Tactics and X-2 but you said no spin-offs)

3) Final Fantasy X
I appreciate Yuna more and more as I play, it's a good world, and it has some fun aspects to it. I do enjoy the story.

4) Final Fantasy XII
I like how open the world is, I like a lot of the characters, and the license board is amazing for me.

5) Final Fantasy V
It isn't the most involving story, but I enjoy the characters and the job system.

6) Final Fantasy VI
Strong cast of characters and I like the Espers that teach magic.

7) Final Fantasy IV
I haven't played much of this yet, but my impression so far is that it will beat out VI and maybe even V.

8) Final Fantasy II
Good game but nothing amazing.

9) Final Fantasy VII
I like some aspects of VII but there is a lot I dislike. The sense of humor is a bit crude for my tastes, I like very few of the characters, other than a few key locations, the world is forgettable to me. I like the materia system but I dislike how dependent it is on weapons.

10) Final Fantasy I
Good game, but still just starting so its lacking in a lot of personality and depth.

11) Final Fantasy III
I enjoy playing it but it is entirely too forgettable to me. I barely remember any of it.

12) Final Fantasy XIII
I enjoy playing it when I'm in the right mood, but overall has more negatives than positives.

13) 14) Final Fantasy XI & XIV
I haven't played them!

[Bolivar]

Top Tier

1. FFVII - it has the best of everything and the pacing and mini games propels it beyond what other entries were able to achieve.

2. FFX - another high watermark for RPGs, it was fun, beautiful, and very emotional.

3. FFVIII - arguably Square's most ambitious game and some of the most imaginative fantasy I've ever seen.

4. FFIX - what can I say, the VII-X design is the greatest gaming formula ever, but IX was not as original as its sisters.

Mid Tier

5. FFXII - an all round outstanding accomplishment of a game, but it's design just can't go as far as the above games.

6. FFV - this game has light-hearted scenes, disturbing scenes and everything in between. Great dungeons and combat with a grand adventure.

7. FFXIII - the most fully depicted characters to date with astounding production values. It's mechanics hold it back.

8. FFII - the most fluid customization system and a character-driven story on the NES? Way ahead of its time as an underrated game of many "firsts".

Low Tier

9. FFI - gotta give it to the game that started it all, it's still very mysterious to play even if there's not much there.

10. FFIV - the story, artwork and music still stand strong but this may have easily the worst gameplay in the series. Dungeons with nothing in them that only require the A button to get through (Attack).

11. FFIII - I enjoyed the crap out of the DS version but it doesn't have a lot there drawing me back.

12. FFVI - an ambitious, creative, well designed game and I see why it would top anyone's rankings. For me, personally, it has the fewest amount of things I want to go back and see, the other games just have more hooks for me for one reason or another.

[Loony BoB]

Love
FFV, FFVII, FFVIII

Like
FFIX, FFXII, FFXIII, FFXIV

Found Enjoyable Enough
FFI, FFIV, FFVI, FFXI

Couldn't Fully Enjoy
FFII, FFX

Can't Remember Well Enough
FFIII

[Sephiroth]

Spin-Offs, Sequels and Prequels are part of one story so they all have the same ranking for me.

I. Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
II. Fabula Nova Crystallis: Final Fantasy XIII Trinity
III. Final Fantasy IX
IV. Final Fantasy X Saga
V. Final Fantasy VI
VI. Final Fantasy VIII
VII. Final Fantasy IV Saga
VIII. Final Fantasy V Saga
IX. Ivalice Alliance: Final Fantasy XII Saga
X. Final Fantasy III
XI. Final Fantasy II
XII. Final Fantasy

[metagloria]

>>> The rank that matters..:luca:

1- FF1
2- FF9
3- FF10
4- FF7
5- FF5
6- FF4
7- FF12
8- FF2
9- FF8
10- FF6 (dodges VI`s fanboy stones*)
11- FF3
12- FF13

I respect this list a lot. Having 1 above everything and 5 above 6 are super rare sentiments that I happen to completely agree with.

1) Final Fantasy
2) FF7
3) FF12
4) FFX-2
5) FFX
6) FF8
7) FF9
8) FF5
9) FF14 (tentatively - I beat it recently, so I'm still weighing its place in the hierarchy)
10) FF13
11) FF6
12) FF4
13) FF3
14) FF2

[edit: since I did include X-2, which I consider a "main series" game since it was basically XI for those of us without high-speed internet, I should also include XIII-2 and arguably LR, both of which I have played but neither of which I have ranked. I'd probably put them all together, with both sequels above XIII but below V, but I'm not sure whether I liked XIII-2 or LR better...mainly because I can't remember squat about XIII-2.]

[Wolf Kanno]

14. Final Fantasy XIII - This is a terrible game. It's not just a bad FF, it's a bad game. It's few good ideas are either half-thought out or stolen from better game but either way it's poorly implemented and it has one of the most grating cast in the series. I will stop now before this becomes a manifesto...

13. Final Fantasy XIV - I have never actually played XIV, only watch my friend play it from all the back to 1.0 to the ARR re-release and I can honestly say I feel it's a better game than XIII. I am still annoyed they basically re-used all the XI Races though...

12. Final Fantasy X - I don't necessarily hate this game, in fact I sometimes get in the mood to play it but then I do and it all comes back to me why I don't like it. A boorish cast of characters, a story brought down by awful pacing, terrible sub-plots and so many ass pulls that what little of the cast and plot I cared about is just utterly ruined for me. Sphere Grid is poorly thought out, and the battle system would be great if it wasn't hampered by terrible ideas and lack of difficulty. Overall it is a mediocre game.

11. Final Fantasy XI - Okay, with the exception of not being very user-friendly, noob-friendly, and (until recent patches) not very solo-friendly, FFXI wasn't that bad of a game. I actually enjoyed what I played of it and I loved it's interpretation of the Job Class System. I still don't care for the races though. While they all have great folklore, I still find them to be fairly boring and unimaginative from a visual design perspective. XI ultimately showed me that I am not an MMO person, I generally play games to ease my misanthropy not to deal with people who remind me why I hold these views to begin with, also I can't really justify the price or time point for a genre of games that never end and consist of 95% grinding (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2014/04/07/time).

10. Final Fantasy II - I kind of wish I could rank this higher, my last play-through made me really learn to appreciate it's gameplay and I've always liked it's cast and story even if they are a bit simple. What I can't forgive is it's awful inventory system with irremovable Key Items that clog an already small and awful inventory space. I also can't forgive some of the worse dungeon design to grace the series until FFX and XIII rear their ugly heads Two words: Encounter Room.

9. Final Fantasy VII - I've always found VII to be a disappointing game, which is why I will never understand why it's praised so much beyond it being "my first FF". It starts off promising but eventually goes to shit about the first few hours into the second disc and never improves. I've always felt this was a shame cause I still like the first disc even if it hasn't aged well. Lately I can't even get to Junon without getting bored so I feel I'm basically done with VII, if I never played it again I probably wouldn't be sad about it. I feel I've squeezed as much joy out of it as I will ever get.

8. Final Fantasy VIII - I have a soft spot for VIII, for everything good it does, it has something horrible go with it. It has an intriguing premise for a story, which is largely side-stepped by the writers to make it into high school anime set in the FF world that is bogged down by an increasing amount of elaborate and poorly constructed plot twists. It has a great cast of characters, that are largely ignored except for two of them, but in this case I felt VIII shines cause I still feel that Squall's development as a character is one of the best written in the series and Laguna is no slouch either. The Junction system is a very interesting evolution of the stat based manipulation systems used by FFII and VI, but it's poorly thought out and is easily the most exploitable customization system in the series making the game feel like a boring chore than fun. It has some of the most visually stunning locations in the series, which are never used cause you spend 80% of the game in the Balamb Garden Hub world because game design changes make towns redundant. It's a game of two extremes but I feel I can suffer one for the other.

7. Final Fantasy - For being the oldest entry, I feel it has held up better than most of the series. It has a story that unfolds as you piece together the history of the world which is a fun old school design choice I wish more game utilized. It has pretty good replay value and the game can be pretty challenging if you try to approach like a modern game, unless you are a bit of a pussy and play only the remakes after Origins. I still find this game gives a very visceral experience which I don't get from many games in the series.

6. Final Fantasy III - I always felt that FFIII was the game Square wanted to make with FFI but just didn't know how. More job classes with better versatility, a more involving story, a huge world and some very creative dungeons that incorporate the job class system into play. I find FFIII to be just a fun game. I wish I could rank it higher but I feel it came too late in my life and some old feelings never die.

At this point the order can go in any direction as my "favorite" tends to be whichever game I'm playing or thinking about at the time.

5. Final Fantasy V - FFV is basically FFIII on crack. The introduction of the sub-job mechanic which allows for mix and matching job abilities created the best customization system in the series. I honestly like this version the best as well because it is both simplistic in design but offers a lot of depth in implementation and unlike later games that use the system, I just don't feel like there is as much waste in it. The dungeons are fun and this is probably the last game to truly offer a real challenge in the main game portion of it. Sadly, this game will probably always stay in the back end of my "top five" simply because while the plot is nice and the cast is fun, the game fails to create an emotional connection for me. I play FFV because it's fun, but not because I ever felt invested in either the story or characters, they all exist and a means to an end to get to the next dungeon or unlock the next set of jobs or give me an excuse to explore the world and tinker with the job class system. Still it's one of the best designed games in the series.

4. Final Fantasy XII - XII restored 9for a little while anyway) my faith in SE being able to make an FF game. After chugging through the mediocre FFX, it's bi-polar fanservice sequel, and the "seriously you need to start making friends" MMO XI, I was starting to get a bit worried. XII to me is a game that I felt pushed forward a new direction for the series but sadly the fanbase prefers the vapid stylings of FFX over a game that really tried to push both the series and genre forward. Luckily some people did take note of what XII was trying to do and we are seeing the fruit of it's labor. XII tried to bring in some of the better elements of MMO design in terms of deep lore and an expansive world. It took some of the careful design of FFTactics for it's weapon and class building License Board and it tried to finally raise the series above the awful overwrought melodrama of Nojima's awful writing. XII is not perfect though, it also borrowed some awful design from MMOs like heavy grinding and re-spawning treasure chests. It's License Board relied too much on the idea that it's fans would use it for experimentation and not a "whatever works" mentality because most fans care more for the story than the gameplay. It's plot was more mature but still overly simplistic compared to Matsuno's previous works and most fans actually enjoy the terrible melodrama and plodding love stories over something that tried to create mature context. Still, like FFII and VIII, I appreciate what XII was trying to accomplish and unlike those games, I get much more out of it so it's significantly higher on the list because of it.

3. Final Fantasy IX - I feel bad for IX, the release of the PS2 and the misguided anticipation of it's first FF largely left this game in the dark at the time. It's cutesy visual design, retread to old school gameplay, and feeling nothing like it's two predecessors didn't give it any favors. IX to me is a fun and solid game. I don't like it's customization system when used inthe FFTA series but here in this game it works perfectly because the ability progression is actually well placed, it's characters feel like they would be cute and shallow but I honestly like them all. It's dungeons are both fun and visually appealing, it's combat has been scaled back from the over-the-top spectacle of it's two predecessors and it knows how to really balance fun and humor with the darker implications of the story and cast. To me it's the last real Final Fantasy game, FFX and XIII are simply Kitase and Toriyama's warped vision of the series where it's an interactive movie, XII is the Ivalice team's half-baked version, and most people ignore XI and XIV, but IX for me was the last game that could both be emotionally touching and intellectually insightful without taking itself too serious or being overly grandiose about it without calling itself out on the cheese factor. The FF series has never been well written but until the PS2 generation and beyond, it never tried to take itself too serious either and would often throw in humor up until the end to scale you back to the reality of how ridiculous most of the plots are but we looked past that and saw the heart of it all. IX was the last game with heart.

2. Final Fantasy IV - IV is a game that is partially here because of nostalgia, but mainly because FFIV pretty much established the FF formula in terms of what gamers wanted out of the story (character drama, good pacing with increasing plot twists that raise the stakes) and gameplay (ATB and memorable dungeon design). The fact this game is over 20 years old and we're still talking about its characters, gameplay, and story speaks wonders of the game's impact and longevity. It helps that it's the only balanced FF game in the series, yes you read that right, it's perfectly balanced compared to every other game in the series. It's cast is either well developed or at least memorable and while the game's plot is pretty ridiculous, the emotional high points are well done and very powerful.

1. Final Fantasy VI - Smurf you, I already wrote an article (http://home.eyesonff.com/content/3055-final-fantasy-vi-20th-anniversary.html) recently about this. I don't need to tell you why this game is awesome and one of my faves, go read my article (http://home.eyesonff.com/content/3055-final-fantasy-vi-20th-anniversary.html). 53132