The Most Underrated Final Fantasy?

[Pike]

I vote FF2. It gets overshadowed a lot by FF1 and FF3 (and 4 to an extent), and I think the unusual leveling system scares a lot of people away in the first hour or so of gameplay. However, this really is a fun little game if you're willing to give it a shot!

What do you guys think is the most underrated FF?

[ShinGundam]

Mystic Quest.

[Del Murder]

Either FFX-2 or FFV. X-2's battle system should have been the foundation for SE's future games, instead of the AI crap we get in FFXII or FFXIII. FFV seems to be overshadowed by the games before and after it, likely because each of those got a proper US release back in the day, but it was a great adventure with a great use of the classic job system.

[Jessweeee♪]

FFX-2!

[Elpizo]

III, V or Tactics Advance.

[Sephex]

Mystic Quest. FFXIII-2 actually had real jumping this like game and kinda had weapon use on the field. I would like to see MQ's style in a newer FF.

[Wolf Kanno]

I guess it would depend on what you're asking about when you say "underrated". If you're going for entries that are great but don't get any recognition from the majority of the fanbase, I'd say it"s FFIII and FFV. If you're going for games that are not well received but are actually pretty good, I'd say FFII, FFVIII, and FFXII. If we're expanding this to the whole FF franchise, I'd lump in the FFTactics Advance series and FF Crystal Chronicles in as well. Hell I'd even throw in Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, because it is far from being a terrible movie and it always gets me in the mood to play FFVII and IX after watching it.

[Flying Arrow]

My gut reaction to this question is V, but I guess XII comes in second. Like Wolf says, V doesn't get enough recognition and XII is just in a lot of people's bad books for some reason. Both games are in my top 3 for the series.

[Quindiana Jones]

X-2 did have a fantastic combat system, though if it was carried over then XII wouldn't have had the Gambit system, which I loved.

[Crop]

XII for sure. When it first came out I was on the frontline with those saying it was an awful game, but after playing it a couple more times it has swiftly become one of my favourites. I honestly don't understand why it gets such a hard time, I certainly don't see what I thought was wrong with it.

[Del Murder]

XII is a great game, the issue is that it is very different from every other Final Fantasy in that battles take place on the field in wide-open areas and treasure is randomized. That type of style isn't for everybody. It wasn't for me. It's actually much more like an MMO (such as FFXI) than any of the other single player FFs. I liked that about it at first, but eventually I got bored with it since it lacked the variety and interactive aspect that makes MMOs great.

[Loony BoB]

FFV or FFXIII, in different ways. FFV is rated okay but is actually excellent. FFXIII is rated as rubbish but is actually good. I've not finished III, IV, VI or IX yet. I'm assuming we're not talking about XI or XIV, but if we are, I think XIV is probably pretty underrated now, as it's actually pretty good and that's before the latest patch which the players have been raving about.

[Raistlin]

FFV and XII for sure. XII, despite all the hate, was a step in the right direction in a lot of ways (exploration and plot maturity)... and then the franchise took three steps backwards with XIII.

Also Tactics, because it has yet to be universally recognized as the best in the series.

[Tigmafuzz]

FFV and XII for sure. XII, despite all the hate, was a step in the right direction in a lot of ways (exploration and plot maturity)... and then the franchise took three steps backwards with XIII.

Also Tactics, because it has yet to be universally recognized as the best in the series.

This.

[Lamia]

XII and XIII. They get bashed because they're different but are both extremely high quality games. I have been replaying XIII and the music and scenery is absolutely amazing and it honestly baffles me that people do not think Final Fantasy XIII is amazing. I think people need to be more open minded... yeah, it's not what you expected out of a Final Fantasy but there is a high quality product to enjoy if you would be less prejudice.

It does seem that Final Fantasy XII has changed a lot of opinions over time. What I mean is that people look back at XII more fondly now than they did when it first came out... They thought it sucked then because they were disappointed but in retrospect they think, "That was a pretty awesome game, wasn't it?"