I do not think of any particular Final Fantasy title as being the best Final Fantasy, but I think that Final Fantasy IV is a wonderful template for a classic console role-playing game.

Quote Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno View Post
I can't allow the notion that X was well written. It's really terrible actually and feels (to me at least) like a jr. high story rewritten by a college student. Yes it uses archtypes but most fail to move past their stock personas and become something new or original (something most of the other FF succeed in though perhaps not in grand ways). This in turn makes the plot horribly predictable and the characters flat and two dimensional.
I think that this may be a part of the Japanese culture of storytelling. If you notice, many Japanese console role-playing games fall into quite a few stereotypes and clichés —

I dislike Western console role-playing games. I wish that Japanese storyboard and storyline designers would take notes when a Western role-playing game is released, though, because they both have their strengths and they both have a lot to learn from. I am sure that a Western writer could have taken the basic plot elements from Final Fantasy X and brought the story to a whole new level.