Official Poll: TFF's Favorite Final Fantasy
Published on 03.28.2013 by DragonheartThe much beloved Final Fantasy series spans dozens of games including sequels, prequels and spin-offs. As a major Final Fantasy fan community, many TFFers have played most, if not all of the main numbered games in the series and many of the others as well. Naturally that also means everyone has favorites. In November as part of our new Official Poll article series, we asked TFF what their favorite Final Fantasy main game was. Now the poll is closed, the results are tallied and the answer may surprise you.
First let's start with the runners up: Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII, which tied for second place in our poll.
Final Fantasy VI, originally released as IV in the US, was the last of the Super Nintendo era games and quite memorable with its large, diverse cast and one of the most moving scenes in Final Fantasy history, simply known as The Opera. It is also known for its truly dastardly (and insane) villain, Kefka the magicite-addled court mage. As TFFer SuperSabin so succinctly puts it, "The atmosphere in the game is really nice, very good character development, unforgettable soundtrack, and I believe FFVI introduced event type games where you were prompted to go a certain direction and take that direction." Certainly it is deserving of its place near the top of this list.
Also in second place is uber-popular Final Fantasy VII, which for many years has been the face of the franchise among mainstream gamers. Many series fans were first introduced to Final Fantasy with this PlayStation console debut, which sold 2.3 million copies in the first three days of its Japanese release and 330,000 copies in its opening weekend in the US, going on to break a number of sales records. To this day it is one of the top selling video games of all time with over 10 million copies sold. It's clear that Final Fantasy VII speaks for itself.
So, what is TFF's favorite Final Fantasy, if it isn't VII? This one may come as a surprise, as it's a bit of a sleeper favorite and more often seen on polls for underrated games.
Official poll results: TFF's favorite Final Fantasy is... Final Fantasy IX!
Despite selling only half as many copies as predecessor and runner up on our list Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy IX has earned the top spot as TFF's favorite. The comments speak for themselves:
"IX is the essence of what Final Fantasy should be." –che
"Final Fantasy IX is every Final Fantasy before it wrapped into one." –Loaf
"I find no fault with Final Fantasy IX. It gets the balance right in so many regards; an engaging story with some sharp twists, serious themes (including mortality itself) and comic relief generally done quite tastefully. The music is endearing, the locations are some of the best in Final Fantasy…" –Alpha
Even series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi lists Final Fantasy IX as his favorite, saying it's the closest to his ideal of what Final Fantasy should be. It's no surprise that the veteran gamers of TFF agree. Simply put, Final Fantasy IX is the quintessential Final Fantasy, and that is why it is TFF's favorite.
Thank you everyone for participating and keep an eye out for our next official poll, coming soon!
Check out The Final Fantasy's Top Final Fantasy games rated by visitors on our website
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