Best Final Fantasies, Categorized

[demondude]

Best story: Hmm... IX, because people will accept that more than when I say III or V. But still, III and V are runner ups. III had the first villain with a developed background and anotehr reason than just wanting power, V had Exdeath, Gilgamesh and all the drama and beauty of World 2. And IX is... Well, IX, and that should say enough.

Best gameplay: V. Job system wins, it's as simple as that. Runner up is XII, for its great Active Dimension Battlesystem.

Best music: III, V or IX. III because it had the first boss music and final boss music in the series, as well as fantastic music for its three final dungeons, V because it is just made of win and IX because its IX. Nuff said.

Best main character: Zidane. I never grow tired of this guy. He was refreshing, had those unique thief blades, had a tail and patted Dagger's behind. He's got the stuff.

Best villain: Xande. He was the first developed villain in the series and his anguish about his mortality is later clearly repeated in Kuja. Exdeath and Kuja are runnerups for this title, as well as Vayne.

Best overall: I have to say IX, though III and V come very close.


Worst story: X. I never got into it and never understood what was so great about it. I hated the characters, hated the voice acting. VI comes close, especially thanks to the suckfest called the World of Ruin.

Worst gameplay: Probably II. Though I never liked materia or espers either.

Music: VI or X. VI only had a few good tracks, but for the rest is very overrated (V's soundtrack is miles better) and X was entirely forgetable.

Worst main character: God, who to choose? Cloud or Tidus? Probably Tidus. At least I could tolerate Cloud because he didn't have VA. Tidus, not so much. And no, I didn't say Vaan. Oh dear! I actually didn't mind Vaan, he wasn't as bad as everybody makes him out to be.

Worst villain: Kefka. He is a less cool Exdeath clone. Everybody just prefers him over Exdeath because he has that stupid sound effect called a laugh. Kefka was uninteresting, boring and annoying. No, destroying the world doesn't make him cool in my eyes. Kuja and Exdeath did it better. And Xande too, he kept the world frozen in time for years. Kefka can't beat that. Runner ups for the worst? Seymour and Sephiroth.

Worst in general: VI. A piece of overrated blandness, that looks bland, sounds bland and is bland. It's boring, has no really interesting character that we haven't seen before and it's soundtrack is even more overrated than VII is. The World of Ruin was the biggest piece of bull and bore I've ever seen in my life, dungeon design was uninspired (only one type of graphics for caves?! V had THREE!), I hated the mech feel of it and in general I just didn't like it. Bleh. Sucks.

I couldn't disagree with that whole post more. Everybody has their opinion though, I suppose.

[qwertysaur]

Story- FFIX

Gameplay (Battle System and such)- X-2 The battle system is fun. Very dynamic combination of ATB and job system. Also Sphere break appeals to me as a math nerd

Music- FFIX the music is a magical adventure through bliss.

Best Main Character- Zidane. He has a tail.

Best Villain: Kefka. He is insane, sadistic, made me want to beat him, and actually took over the world.

WORST:

Story- FFXII. Overshadowed by all the side quests. I stopped many times wondering what was going on in the story. Too forgetable.

Gameplay- FFII. I don't wanna get hit to get HP. I just want some experience please.

Music- FFII. The music just never sticked out to me, but all the games have their charm with music.

Worst Main Character- Cloud. You spend 3/4 the game pretending to be someone else who is only explained in a side quest in the origional game. :/

Worst Villain- Zeromus. SURPRISE IN THE REAL FINAL BOSS. IGNORE ZEMUS WHO WAS THE OLD VILLAIN

BEST FF IN GENERAL: CANT CHOOSE

[ReloadPsi]

Battle system
Best - X. Flows so, so nicely thanks to being entirely turn-based. Turn order is near-totally predictable and strategy is emphasised quite well.

Worst - XII. Standing around waiting for your party to kill everything isn't my idea of fun. I very quickly disabled Gambits and never used them again, but even when I entered commands myself it was still boring.


Story
Best - I don't know :P

Worst - Possibly FFIII or FFVIII. They had one major problem in common: they story feels as though the developers made it up as they went along.

Honourable mention - Worst plot twist - Necron.
He bore no relevance to the plot whatsoever. There are theories but none of them have any adequate proof. The only one I liked was the idea that Necron is actually Necrophobia from FF5, brought out of the void he plans on returning everything to. But there's one thing that destroys this theory completely: He's called "Darkness of Eternity" (Eien no Yami) in the Japanese version, and why have the translation include a reference to a game that, at the time, had never officially been released in that language*? And "true form of the Iifa Tree"? Right, so for some reason a single 5,000 year-old planet has already developed the ability to make the entire universe disappear. That's not very plausible.

*Actually I realise I may not be in possession of all the facts here. Was Anthology released before or after FFIX in the states? I live in England and we got it waaaayy after.

Graphics
Best - FFVI. Really pushed the SNES and the sprites looked excellent. Possibly the only Amano thing I've ever remotely appreciated.

Worst - FFVII. Okay, even for its time, many games on the PSone and Nintendo 64 had horrible, terrible graphics as everyone was still getting to grips with how to look good with a limit of about eighteen frakkin' polygons per model, but for the insane number of times I played FFVII there were so many points at which I could not tell what something was. I think it was on my twentieth playthrough or later that I finally realised Sephiroth was carrying Jenova's head in the Lifestream flashback.

[Wolf Kanno]

Honourable mention - Worst plot twist - Necron.
He bore no relevance to the plot whatsoever. There are theories but none of them have any adequate proof. The only one I liked was the idea that Necron is actually Necrophobia from FF5, brought out of the void he plans on returning everything to. But there's one thing that destroys this theory completely: He's called "Darkness of Eternity" (Eien no Yami) in the Japanese version, and why have the translation include a reference to a game that, at the time, had never officially been released in that language*? And "true form of the Iifa Tree"? Right, so for some reason a single 5,000 year-old planet has already developed the ability to make the entire universe disappear. That's not very plausible.

*Actually I realise I may not be in possession of all the facts here. Was Anthology released before or after FFIX in the states? I live in England and we got it waaaayy after.

Anthology came out before IX I believe in the States.

Its also mentioned in the IX Ultimania that Necron is supposedly the physical embodiment of Kuja's hatred and loneliness. So in essence, he's a throwback to Zeromus in my eyes. Still doesn't change the fact that everything you said about him is true though.

[The Last Oath]

Now that I;ve been listening to it, Dark Messenger from FFIX is VERY GOOD.

[G13]

BEST:

Story- VII and IX

Gameplay (Battle System and such)- I'd have to say IX. I like the fact that you can equip more than one accessory ability.

Music- VII. I know it's Midi-file but it's amazing!

Best Main Character- Cloud and Tidus. Cloud because I like how he's in a constant state of anger and depression, and Tidus because I like how his story develops. Sure he's annoying at times but there's more to him than that.

Best Villain: Kefka and Sephiroth. Kefka is the perfect insane villain. Sephiroth is second because he is unstoppable.

WORST:

Story- XII. No brooding characters, no blossoming romance, no intriguing story development that grabbed ahold of me and didn't let go. If it did have any of this it was at the end, which I didn't get to 'cause it was so awful.

Gameplay- XII. Everyone already knows what it's like so I won't go into detail.

Music- X-2. I don't like having to perform stupid "concerts" when we're trying to save the world, even if it is to make Spira smile again. If I saved them from Sin [I]forever[I] they should be damn happy, and they should smile whenever they're around me even if they aren't.

Worst Main Character- Vaan. He is the wimpiest character I have ever had the displeasure of controlling in a game.

Worst Villain- Seifer.

BEST FF IN GENERAL: Go ahead and label me a fanboy but I'll go with VII. It was the second FF I ever played (X being the first). It grabbed me up out of my chair and took me into it's world. By far the best one ever made. It's what made me pick up the rest of the series and what led me to find EoFF.

[Depression Moon]

You seriously have it twisted BizarroSephiroth.
This is more like how it should look.

Best

Story: IX This game is beyond believeable in the amount of it's frudility of reflecting the life around us. Zidane is the kindness of us. Garnet is our beacon of determination and hope. Vivi is our innocence, sorrow, and philosophy on life. Steiner is our loyalty to our friends and loved ones. Freya is our pride and grief. Quina is our joy and occassional carefree nature. Eiko is also our innoncence and our neglect for solitude.
Beatrix is our lust for power, fame, and fortune. Also our ability to question our own allegiance and actions.

Kuja is our drakside that pushes us away from achieving our goals. The temptations that hinder us in our most vunerable times.
Garland is our conscience and the wisdom to pull us through our journey. Necron reminds us why we are here and the whole cast represents what we can achieve when we put our minds to it.

Gameplay: XII most definitely. It is the most strategy driven out of all the games let's you fine pick to the Tee. Square Enix definitely enhanced the battle system in this game. Also yay to finally removing random encounters. VI makes me hate them with a passion now. The game is also ridiculously hard which I both like and don't like.

Like use Black Magic or White Magic. Why did they have to be so specific?

There is an option for just using black magic and it's called Shades of Black which isn't that reliable so being specific will help you out a lot more.

Music: Definitely IX just youtube FFIX songs and you can feel the love. You're Not Alone Melodies of Life, Airship, my God they're all good.

Main Character: Zidane. He stands out to be the most unique in my opinion. A womanizing thief from origins unknown and also a joker and a good combatant.

Villain: I would either have to go with Kuja or Sin. Kuja has a lot background info and personality for me to attach to. His goals and achievements were also astoundishing. My consideration for Sin or Yu Yevon is because the impact he had on Tidus and the whole population of Spira. He was believed to be punishment for the Sins that the world committed over a thousand years ago. He is an ancient villain who has made the world suffer a millenia worth of grief. He was able to beat death over a hundred times. Just watch how the citizens react when he is mentioned or after your intro to Kilika. Also consider the armies that constantly tried to rid of him for good.


Overall: IX

Worst:

Story: Probably VII, X-2, or XII. X-2 was a lame sequel to me. Yuna and Rikku went off the girly and kiddy charts. Also the new characters like Nooj, that other guy and Shuyin were just lame and not that interesting. I have consideration for VII because most of it felt like some lame anime with only a good few episodes like Cid's introduction the first appearance of Meteor, and Tifa and Cloud's journey for identity. XII now that I'm thinking about it doesn't have any rememborable moments for me. The game has bad pacing and underdeveloped characters. Square really didn't care as much about the story as much as they did about the battle system. If you watch the interviews for that game you'll see what I mean. Wait I just pointed out several positives in there and none in X-2's and XII's so I guess XII would be it for me.

Gameplay: I've played FFs IV,VI,VII,VIII,IX,X,X-2, and XII none of their battle systems are bad. VI just has a ridiculous encounter and difficulty rate though.

Music: Out of those that I've played it would be VII then XII. VII has some annoying music like Shinra HQ. XII doesn't really have anything original that stands out. Can't remember one original song from it now that I'm trying. Oh oh, Kiss Me Goodbye but that didn't really fit in with the game.

Worst Main: I've yet to finsh VI so I can't judge here. I sort of like Cloud, Squall a little more, and Tidus just about as much. Yuna in X-2 was kind of lame and I'm thinking that Square was making Vaan the main of XII otherwise they would've allowed you to switch who you walked with in any city like they did from VI and back. So Vaan would be the choice here and I don't think many can argue.

Villain: Shuyin. Whiny doesn't have an excuse for wanting to destoroy the world. Vayne is bland too, but his motivation is far more realistic.

Overall: tie between VII and X-2.

[Quindiana Jones]

This is my least favourite thread ever. Good idea and all, but my God you guys are really putting me into Fanboy Overdrive haha.

MY favourite game will always be 9. My favourite character would be either Vincent or Balthier. They are both OMG cool, but in different ways. Best music is, without a doubt 9. That game has some tracks that are literally the best thing I have heard. Period. I'm gonna vote 12 for favourite battle system. It's something different from the turn based thing which we all know and love, and I think it was all done really well. Kefka is, of course, the best villain. A complete and utter psycho.

I don't really have any worsts. I haven't played enough to really have any say in this matter.

[sir helix]

Story- IX

Gameplay (Battle System and such)- VII

Music- IX

Best Main Character- IX Zidane "the pink monkey boy" tribal

Best Villain: X Seymour, the guy played everybody, admit it

WORST:

Story- ffV, so bartz just happened to be there where lenna was abducted and the meateor fell......

Gameplay- (9 and 8)IX's the trance system lacked a lot of good aspects, VIII's limit system was to annoying.

Music-XII

Worst Main Character- the cast of XII

Worst Villain- Sephiroth, srry it had to be said the guy is obsessed with his(SPOILER)Gene mother, who didnt even give birth to him and he tries to distroy the earth for it.

BEST FF IN GENERAL: IX

[Slade]

Before I start I'll say that I've played from IV all the way to XII (minus any of the spinoffs and XI). That said, here goes.....


Best Story - Probably VI for me. The whole idea behind the story in that game was awesome. I loved the fact that Terra learnt who she was during the course of the game. A close second would be VIII. On a side note I'm quite fond of the storyline for XII also. It was straight forward and to the point. All three (more the former two than XII) of these games use the characters as a basis for their storylines and I think that's why I like them. The story revolves around the development of the characters.

Best Gameplay - VIII. I loved the Junction system. Pure and simple. I'm also a fan of the Job System from V and the Sphere Grid from X.

Music - IX. I loved the medieval tone to the music in IX. Tunes like Feel My Blade, You Are Not Alone, The battle theme and Assult of the White Dragons are just a few of the many great tracks on this game. VIII and VI would also be in the running.

Best Main Character - If we're talking MAIN main character then probably either Terra or Zidane. They are equal in my book. I also quite liked Vaan because of his attitude. He was pretty much just along for the ride, haha.

Best Villian - Probably Seymour. He reminded me of a vigilante with his idea of healing the world by destroying it.

Best overall - For me, VIII. It was my first and it brings back fond memories.



Worst Story - X-2. Although, I do have mixed feelings. Although the main story wasn't that compelling, the story involving Paine, Baralai, Nooj and Gippal was very cool. I wanted to hear more about that. Why couldn't X-2 have been about that?

Worst Gameplay - IV? I don't really have an opinion on this one cause I tend to like them all. IV was probably the slowest for me.

Music - X-2. As someone stated before, there is a couple of tracks that are good but the rest is drivel. I remember when I first heard the music on the intro screen (the piano track) and I thought it was one of the best tracks ever. Sadly the rest of the soundtrack was crap

Worst Main Character - Cloud. There's no definite anything there. People will put it down to the fact that he doesn't know who he is but I put it down to crappy translation and lack of any kind of personality at all.

Worst Villian - Sephiroth. Jenova was so much cooler.

Worst in General - X-2 for me. I had fun, just not as much as I hoped for.

[Slothy]

Worst:

Gameplay: I've played FFs IV,VI,VII,VIII,IX,X,X-2, and XII none of their battle systems are bad. VI just has a ridiculous encounter and difficulty rate though.

I don't have time to go into my list right now, but are you sure you meant VI there? On top of being one of the easier games in the series, the encounter rate is lower than pretty much every FF released before it.

[Depression Moon]

Yeah I meant it it frustrates me almost as much as Penumbra in XII almost decided not to play it anymore.

[Slothy]

Yeah I meant it it frustrates me almost as much as Penumbra in XII almost decided not to play it anymore.

Well, then no offense intended or anything, but I have to wonder if you really did play FFIV, since the hard type versions are all harder than FFVI and have an encounter rate so high at times that it's enough to make me put the game down before I even get to those parts. And I've loved and played the game repeatedly since it was released.

Anyway, as for my list,

Best:

Story: I'm going to say FFVI. The story starts off a bit cliche even for the time, but juggling a 14 character cast and giving them all (almost) a great deal of characterization was impressive back then and still holds up today.

Best gameplay: FFXII. Maybe it's my hatred of your standard turn based systems and random encounters that make me pick this, but it's the first RPG in years that I willingly sought out fights in and put about 80 hours into so it had to be doing something right. The fact that battle was also challenging and required at least some semblance of strategy was also a plus. It's a shame some people are so enamored by sitting there mindlessly mashing the attack command until their enemies die and calling it fun to notice the depth and challenge this game brought. It's doubly a shame since we may never see Square build on this great system in the near future as a result.

Music: FFVI. If I need to explain why, then you either haven't played it or hate music.

Main Character: I'll say Vivi. Easily the best character the series ever produced.

Villian: Kuja for the same reasons Wolf Kanno listed.

Overall: Will always be FFVI for me. FFIX and XII are close runners up though.

Worst:
Story: Not counting spin offs and sequels it'd be FFVIII hands down. Boring characters with worse character development, switcheroo villains, a love story as forced as the last time I went number 2 and deus ex machina plot twists that try to make me suddenly care about the villain. The story was terrible in every sense of the word. At least with the simpler stories of some of the earlier games they didn't try to fool you into thinking they were more intelligent than they were.

Gameplay: I'll go with FFVIII again. I'm tempted to pick one of the first three, but their flaws are more a product of when they were made. FFVIII's junction system was game breakingly easy to exploit, and you were actively encouraged to exploit it. It gets the nod for being so poorly balanced it's not funny, despite the fact that there's no way the development team could have missed it.

Music: FFVIII again. I can honestly say I hate at least half the tracks on the soundtrack. There are some real gems there, but you have to wade through a sea of mediocrity to get there.

Main Character: Squall. His character development was as forced as I could imagine. He spends half the game not caring about anyone else, then suddenly starts to give a crap for no real apparent reason and with no build up. I could see if it was more of a gradual attachment building with Rinoa and the rest of the party, but it always struck me as sudden and forced. So we're left with a guy I can't stand for the first half of the game, and a personality shift I can't believe for the last half.

Villian: Sephiroth. Wait, he wasn't in FFVIII? Meh, I'll stick with him.

Overall: I suppose I'll have to say FFVIII. The earlier games have their flaws, but I can forgive many of them since they're as much a product of technical limitations and the style of games at the time as anything else. FFVIII on the other hand could have been a lot more than it was.