Which FF has the best Post-Game?

[Wolf Kanno]

Simple question. You're at the end of the game, the big bad is playing their final cards on the table, the destruction of the world is eminent, and the fate of all that is good hangs in the balance. What is a hero to do? Why check off a massive checklist of side missions, mini-games, and optional bosses before stepping foot in the final dungeon of course. The world can wait, I need that Ultimate Sword of Awesomness +2 and to unlock a few sexy outfits.

So which FF has the best post game/end game content in your opinion and why?

[Fynn]

I honestly really like what they added to the Advanced ports to FFI through VI (minus III). The extra dungeons are all actually pretty well done and fun to explore. That there’s a lot of call-forwards to later FFs is an added bonus.

[Slothy]

If we ignore the advance ports then I would say FFXII because I can literally just fight stuff for hours. I can't say that about literally any other FF.

[WarZidane]

The MMOs aside (because the "end-game" in MMOs is like majority of the game), I'd say probably FFXII.

[Lord Golbez]

Which FFs have postgame content? It's not exactly a staple of the series. I literally can't remember any FF of the ones I've finished having post-game content, except in the case of rereleases (like PSP FFIV has it, I think).

Seems like you're including optional endgame content too though. In which case, it's probably FFVI because that's like almost half the game, but runner up would be FFVIII for me.

[Spuuky]

Stuff like the Weapons seem like functionally "postgame content."

But I think it's definitely FF6, since the game ends when the World of Balance ends and then there's a whole second game afterward

[Fynn]

I wouldn’t say the World of Ruin counts as post-game. Post-game is usually sonething that is unlocked after the final boss or is at least intended to be faced at a higher level than the final boss. The WoR is just a less linear second half

So basically, extra dungeons, superbosses, extra hunts, added story chapters qualify.

But yeah, if we don’t count remakes, I’d say XII would actually win this, as there are two entire areas that are intended to be beaten in the post-game, and a crap ton of other stuff unlocks too. FFXV is a close contender here as well.

[Del Murder]

FFXI.

[Lord Golbez]

I wouldn't say it counts as post-game either, but true post-game rules out most Final Fantasy games, because they don't actually have that. If you extend it to content that opens up at the same time the final dungeon becomes available (which is kind of what it sounds like from WK's opening paragraphs) then everything after you get the airship in WoR counts.

[Karifean]

I'd say content that exceeds the final boss in terms of difficulty is a pretty clear nominator.

Either of the Spira entries for me. They really pushed the boundaries in terms of postgame content, FFX allowing you to face off against so many unique bosses and challenges, and eventually if you want to grind out your stats, facing off against absolutely mad bosses as well. FFX's postgame mainly fails to me in how grindy it is, which is why I don't think I could play it on a different version than the PC version nowadays which features 4x speedup and SMT Rush Mode.

FFX-2 doesn't have quite as expansive a postgame as most endgame content more closely matches Vegnagun in dfifficulty, but it does have what I consider to be the single best postgame dungeon in the series, offering a challenge you straight up won't get anywhere else in the series, and I love it.

FFXII does have a real good postgame as well, including deeper parts to several dungeons scaling them up to postgame difficulty was a real nice call.

None of the pre-X entries come even close for me though (at least the ones I've played), some like the PSX era even having just one or two bosses or something.

[Fynn]

I wouldn't say it counts as post-game either, but true post-game rules out most Final Fantasy games, because they don't actually have that. If you extend it to content that opens up at the same time the final dungeon becomes available (which is kind of what it sounds like from WK's opening paragraphs) then everything after you get the airship in WoR counts.

I mean, if you extend the definitionton basically encompass half of the game, perhaps you’ve broadened the definition too far

[Lord Golbez]

Perhaps. It's probably somewhat less than half the game anyway (definitely significantly less in terms of plot). Also, consider how much post-game DQXI has.

[Fynn]

I honestly hesitate to call that a post-game either, as it’s basically a hidden alternate chapter leading to the true ending. Though I guess it fits the criteria of additional scenario, but since you need to beat it in order to uncover all of the actual plot, I’d say it actually disqualified it from actually being a post-game (despite everyone calling it that)

[Mr Gashtacular]

Although I really HATED a couple of the challenges, I guess FFX. Some of the optional content isn't necessarily postgame, but I think they did a good job overall.

[Wolf Kanno]

I honestly hesitate to call that a post-game either, as it’s basically a hidden alternate chapter leading to the true ending. Though I guess it fits the criteria of additional scenario, but since you need to beat it in order to uncover all of the actual plot, I’d say it actually disqualified it from actually being a post-game (despite everyone calling it that)

Yeah but then you have things like DQVIII where the true ending is hidden behind an optional quest that only unlocks after you beat the game.

In the case of FFVI, it's a bit tricky. Though recruiting the party is optional outside of CES, I feel the game leaves enough breadcrumbs to make it easy to figure out. Especially since I imagine most players would not head straight to Kefka's Tower once they got the airship, and even if they did, they likely ran away when they realized what it was.