My preferences are different than yours, I'm fine with my thoughts on this topic. The point of this thread was for me to understand the relative popularity of these games.

I'm leaning torwards Final Fantasy VIII. I may delay beating games by teams 3(Xeno/Chrono), 4(Zelda), and 5(Mistwalker) so I can focus on games by teams 1(FF), and 2(Yasumi Matsuno Ivalice team)

Team 1 - Final Fantasy team
I may skip/delay beating FF 1-3
I beat FF 4-7
I'll beat FF 8-9
I beat FF X
I'll beat FF X-2
I played/watch or will play/watch some FF VII spinoff titles
I'll beat FF XIII(upcoming)
- FF XI and FF XII are by teams that are not mainly the "main Final Fantasy team". This team went from FF X-2, to FF VII Compilation products, and is now working on FF XIII

Team 2 - Yasumi Matsuno team
I'll beat Magical Chase(not an rpg, but a shooter for Turbo Grafx 16)
I beat Ogre Battle
I'll beat Tactics Ogre
I beat Final Fantasy Tactics
I'll beat Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
I'm beating Final Fantasy XII now
I'll beat Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings and Final Fantasy Tactics A2, not sure if I'll beat the remake of Final Fantasy Tactics

I listed the main games that most of those two teams worked on.