How Do You Group Final Fantasy Titles?

[noxious.sunshine]

This thought just occurred to me when I was reading Mirage's reply over in Wonder Square..

Do you kinda mentally separate main series FF games from "side titles"/MMOs?

For example: I consider like I - X-2, XII, XIII, & XIII-2 to be main series titles while Dissidia, Tactics, and any spin-offs of VII to be just that- spin-offs. And of course I don't count XI & XIV as main series simply because they're MMOs, even though they're numbered like the rest of them.

[The Man]

I dunno, I kinda consider all the main numbered entries (I through XV) to be "main entries" while excluding sequels, spinoffs, etc., though it's true I tend to think of XI and XIV as separate in some ways. On the other hand I also group the games in terms of quality - IV through IX I consider the series' "golden age", if you will.

[Ayen]

I consider the main number entries as the main, and sequels/spin-offs as not. It's just, I have no desire to play anything after X.

[Pumpkin]

I guess I would group them like so:

I/II/III
IV/V/VI
VII/VIII/IX
X/X-2/XII/XIII
XI/XIV
XIII-2, other XIII spinoffs or whatever the heck
Tactics/Tactics Advance/Tactics A2/Revenant Wings
The Chrystal Chronicle games
Others

Why? I guess this is just how I think of them.

[VeloZer0]

Hm....

I more or less go with console generations, and main series vs. spin-offs. What is interesting is that I typically don't associate the main series title with it's spin-offs. They tend to exist within a different 'group' off on their own.

Historic Era (FF1, FF2)
Fundamentals Era (FF3-FF6)
3D Good Games Era (FF7-10, FFT)
Ivalice Alliance Crap (all Ivalice alliance titles but FFT and FF12)
FF7 Compilation (everything but FF7)
New-Age (FF12, all FF13 games, Dissidia)
S-E has caused me to stop caring about the FF name Group (about anything else bearing a FF title non already mentioned)

[Shauna]

Main Series and Spin-Offs for me if I had to think about it, but even then they're just generally lumped under "Final Fantasy" in my head.

[Botchmun]

IN The Beginning: Final Fantasy 1
The Japanese Era: Final Fantasy 2, Final Fantasy 3
The Golden Age (AKA God Tier): Final Fantasy 4 through 6
The Dark Times (AKA crap Tier made of poo and fail): Final Farting-sea 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 13-2
The Renaissance: Final Fantasy 9, Crystal Chronicles
The changing-clothes Era: Final Fantasy 10-2

[Ayen]

IN The Beginning: Final Fantasy 1
The Japanese Era: Final Fantasy 2, Final Fantasy 3
The Golden Age (AKA God Tier): Final Fantasy 4 through 6
The Dark Times (AKA crap Tier made of poo and fail): Final Farting-sea 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 13-2
The Renaissance: Final Fantasy 9, Crystal Chronicles
The changing-clothes Era: Final Fantasy 10-2

A part of me wants to punch you, but the other part wants to hug you.

I am conflicted.

[Carl the Llama]

IN The Beginning: Final Fantasy 1
The Japanese Era: Final Fantasy 2, Final Fantasy 3
The Golden Age (AKA God Tier): Final Fantasy 4 through 6
The Dark Times (AKA crap Tier made of poo and fail): Final Farting-sea 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 13-2
The Renaissance: Final Fantasy 9, Crystal Chronicles
The changing-clothes Era: Final Fantasy 10-2

A part of me wants to punch you, but the other part wants to hug you.

I am conflicted.

Its called Ambivalence, as for my feelings towards Botchmun, I am only feeling the former...

Anyways I would group them as follows:

God Tier: Final Fantasy VII, IX.
Old School: I-VI (good enough but doesn't come close to God Tier).
Fun Tier: XIII-2, X-2, Crisis Core and X.
Military: XII, VIII.
Time sink: XIV, XI.
Indifferent: XIII.

[The Man]

The only truly god-tier games in the series are VI and IX. All other games are 9/10s at best.

Of course I'm saying this despite not having played roughly half the series, so it's possible I missed one or two classics.

[Edge7]

In terms of Square's mentality

FFI-FFIII: We might have something going on here...

FFIV-FFVI: Guys, we rock!

FFVII: Guys, we nailed it.

FFVIII-FFX: Not as successful as FFVII, but each installment has its own dedicated fanbase.

FFX-2, Compilation, After Years: Whoa guys, we can exploit fan nostalgia!

FFXII: Well, this game was good. Now time to make Ivalice games with none of the political drama that made the first three so good (I'm counting Vagrant Story)!

FFXIII: OHMYGHERD LEHRTNING! LOVE HER. WORSHIP HER! IT'S THE SECOND COMING OF CLOUD STRIFE!

And then there's the MMO's, and assorted spinoffs.

[Electroshock Therapy]

For example: I consider like I - X-2, XII, XIII, & XIII-2 to be main series titles

I'm with you on this one. While I do technically count XI and XIV as main titles simply because they're named as such, I don't count them in my own little world for their unplayability. I consider MMO unplayable due to money (seriously, buy the game and then pay more to play?!) and gaming preferences. X-2, despite being a sequel, is the only one I consider a main title. I don't know, maybe it's because it was before Square suddenly became sequel/prequel happy. And due to it's placement in the numbering, it sort of acts as my own XI. And I guess I count the XIII trilogy as one big story broken into three releases... like Lord of the Rings.

[Ayen]

For example: I consider like I - X-2, XII, XIII, & XIII-2 to be main series titles

I'm with you on this one. While I do technically count XI and XIV as main titles simply because they're named as such, I don't count them in my own little world for their unplayability. I consider MMO unplayable due to money (seriously, buy the game and then pay more to play?!) and gaming preferences. X-2, despite being a sequel, is the only one I consider a main title. I don't know, maybe it's because it was before Square suddenly became sequel/prequel happy. And due to it's placement in the numbering, it sort of acts as my own XI. And I guess I count the XIII trilogy as one big story broken into three releases... like Lord of the Rings.

I agree on the MMO front. This is why I whenever I do play an MMO it's Free 2 Play and I don't stick with any of them nearly long enough to justify paying for a subscription.

[Mercen-X]

I don't consider the Compilation a spin-off because it picks up the same story as VII. That's like saying the Matrix Reloaded was a spin-off. Just because you don't like the direction they went with a story in a sequel, doesn't mean you can discount it from canon (unless it gets retconned). Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story both come from the same world as Final Fantasy XII but do not directly continue the story. The same is true for XIII, XV and Type-0. Those that I consider offshoots are titles like Tactics Advance, Crystal Chronicles, Theatrhythm, the Chocobo series, Dissidia, and the games that are listed on the Final Fantasy Wiki as spin-offs. Also Kingdom Hearts.