i've played all the ff's except the ones i don't have (online, 1 to the japanese only ones) and i think i can say in an unbiased way that 6 and 7 were the height of FF glory...so far. 8 and 9, though both had many loopholes (the orphanage issue, necron, etc) still had that indeterminable FF x-factor that makes you keep playing and actually feel sad when you're about to end the game because you're going to miss playing it. ff10 was beautiful and cinematic, and at the start i felt like it was going to surpass 7, but deeper into the game i just didn't feel as excited about it as i was with like 8 or 9. which was funny because i liked 10's setting more than 9, and now that i think on it i think it's because 10 didn't provide ADVENTURE, that delicious thing that keeps us on our toes about our favorite RPG series. it was just too linear. then x-2 came along and although i knew it was an FF (i'm quite picky with RPGs ), i didn't even bother finishing it. but now that 12's going around im really excited for it and hope it turns out great. the idea that tactics' director is helming it is fun because for me, it was FFT's superb direction that made it great. although i hope Nobuo Uematsu did the songs and the characters all seem really interesting. it may be early to say, but io have great faith in FF12