Final Fantasy Rankings (Main Series)

[Locke4God]

Well is a (constatly updated post), and while I finished FF XII just a short while ago, I'm currently making my way through FF II, and I thought I would place it in my very detailed ranking system, and get your thoughts as well. Below are my overall rankings (updating always in progress), followed by a breakdown of various assets and how I rank each game within them. Let me know what you think!

(As a sidenote, I have not, nor will I ever unfortunately play 11, or 14, due to their online nature, so I cannot rank them, and they probably shouldn't be included anyway, as they represent a somewhat completely different type of game. Differently, I cannot play 3 either, as I don't even know how to go about finding a port for it, thus it is not included. Neither are any side games, sequels, tactics, et al included.)

RECENTLY: FF2 has pulled a little farther away from 9 and within reach of 4 and I'm loving the game. It's quite fun if you're a fan of the old school games, and if you've never played them, it's a good one to start with. I love the memorize function. I'm set for a 9 replay though, and from some of the things I've learned about it, it could make some headway, although I'm not sure if either title can catch FF4?

Also I have completely revisted my take on battles & bosses and the re-ranking has prompted 10 to vault past 6, which is interesting and an internal debate I was having anyway between a good modern game vs the best of the oldschool games. 5 has also slipped some nearly worst overall status, but not yet.

Lastly, I've added an entire new half to the scoring, where I have ranked the individual categories themselves by importance and weighted the scores with the most important factor having more value. It's interesting to note that not much changed in overall ranking, but that 8, a game I value highly did lose significant point value by that method and slipped barely behind 10. But I am averaging the two scores together an 10 was well behind 8 in aggregate, so that 8 remains 2nd overall. 1 unfortunately, lost by 1 point to 5 in the weighted section, and thus reclaims it's "worst" title by the smallest fration. Only 1 game had a better weighted score and that was 6, pulling it back closer to a 3rd place position that it did occupy for some time for me.


OVERALL FF Ranking (Score Avg = Net/2):
1. FF 7 (30.09)
2. FF 8 (36.37)
3. FF 10 (39.28)
4. FF 6 (41.82)
5. FF 12 (50.73)
6. FF 4 (61.23)
7. FF 2 (70.14)
8. FF 9 (74.14)
9. FF 5 (84.37)
10. FF 1 (84.46)

________________________________________________
Aggregate Stats + Weighted Score(reviewed at bottom of post) = Net Score

Aggregate Stats + Weighted Score = Net Score
1. FF 7 (28),,,,,,,,1. FF 7 - (32.18) == (60.18)
2. FF 8 (32),,,,,,,,3. FF 8 - (40.73) == (72.73)
3. FF 10 (38),,,,,,,2. FF 10 - (40.55) = (78.55)
4. FF 6 (42),,,,,,,,4. FF 6 - (41.64) == (83.64)
5. FF 12 (50),,,,,,,5. FF 12 - (51.45) = (101.45)
6. FF 4 (59),,,,,,,,6. FF 4 - (63.45) == (122.45)
7. FF 2 (67),,,,,,,,7. FF 2 - (73.27) == (140.27)
8. FF 9 (71),,,,,,,,8. FF 9 - (77.27) == (148.27)
9. FF 5 (80),,,,,,,,9. FF 5 - (88.73) == (168.73)
10. FF 1 (80),,,,,,10. FF 1 - (88.91) = (168.91)

________________________________________________

Characters:
1. FF 6 - Just tons of character's here, all with fun unique abilities, and with strong unique ties to the story. They each really pulled together to show you how the world was impacted by what was going on.
2. FF 4 - In a very similar way to 6, there were great charaters in this game, several of which make really cool transformations into very different versions of themselves, which I can't say happens in any other FF game. Cecil, Rydia, and Polom and Porum esspecially.
3. FF 7 - Almost the same strength as six, in fact, yes the same, but there were fewer characters, and the uniqueness of each in regards to what they could do was somewhat dulled. But that makes it sound bad. AWESOME AWESOME characters in this one.
4. FF 10 - Strong, uniquely powered, and uniquely portrayed. They loose a tiny bit of luster since everybody is there for the exact same cause the entire game, unlike the above games where a root cause effects everybody differently and draws them together.
5. FF 9 - Fun characters, though some of them I question. Amarant? mkay, Eiko = lesser Garnett clone?
6. FF 12 - See the description for FF10. Although I did like everybody, the only one I really thought was cool was Balthier, but there were just no Auron's or Waka's, or Lulu's to put any meat on the bones of the cast.
7. FF 2 - They're good, though probably as homogenous as 8's, but with a slightly better cast of side character IMO.
8. FF 8 - I love this game, but good lord the characters are so homogenous as to not matter one lick which ones you're actually playing with. The same with their backstories. Exactly the same.
9. FF 5
10. FF 1 - Well this one didn't even have characters perse'

Character Upgrades / Battle System:
1. FF 8 (Junction)
2. FF 10 (Sphere Grid)
3. FF 12 (Gambit/License Board)
4. FF 2 (Increase skills with experience)
5. FF 7 (Materia)
6. FF 6 (Learned Esper Skills)
7. FF 9 (Learned Weapon Tokens)
8. FF 1, 4, 5, (Simple Buy & Equip)

Story:
1. FF 7 - Draining planet life, impending doom, Aerieth's appearance at the end. Son of Jenova, bent on completing her "work". Breathtaking.
2. FF 6 - This game might actually be my favorite story, I can't decide. Ancient Magic, created a war, was sealed, was re-discovered, was abused. Just epic.
3. FF 10 - I abolutely love the bitter inescapable tragedy of what Sin really is. It is almost without a doubt the most "unique" setting in the series and provides perhaps the most beautiful world and cast of characters because of it.
4. FF 8 - There wasn't a more fun debate in any game than trying to figure out who Ultimacia really was. Do we really know?
5. FF 4 - Still epic. Who wants to be a Paladin?
6. FF 2
7. FF 9 - I love the merger idea, but by the time you even knew that was what was happening, you already knew the game was almost over. For instance in 7, you saw Meteor looming the entire game. In 6 you knew Kefka must be stopped and you knew his goals, even though they kept getting worse. In 9, you knew nothing until the game was over and almost after the fact they let you know how bad it could have been.
8. FF 12 - Very small in scope really. Did the gods even care about the world at large, or just these 3 countries?
9. FF 5
10. FF 1

Battles/Bosses:
1. FF 8 - Weapon & Ultimacia were bar-none the best two battles of any game in the series, period! It's not even debateable. They were magically fun. Combine those with some other solid fights, quests for aliens & rouge GF's, a near death experience, and the control that junctioning gave you in fighting even random enemies, and battles in this game were off the chart good.
2. FF 10 – The unique abilities for each character were so well done that even random battles were engaging. Seymour got a little tiring the 10th time you fought him, and Jecht & Yu Yevon were pretty easy in the end, but I did like the concept of each character. Plus Omega, a couple of guardian lizards, Sin, etc, made for a great collection of battles overall.
3. FF 12 – The non-random battles, along with chaining made fighting in general much more interesting in a lot of respects. Gambits forced you to pre-plan a strategy, which may cause it to lose some points here on a replay but was certainly cool on an initial play through.
4. FF 4, 6, 7 – It’s difficult to separate these. 4 had a terrific final dungeon and plenty of fun special enemies, 7 had the weapons, and 6 offered plenty of split party challenges.
7. FF 1, 2, 5, 9 – And I can’t split these either, but don’t have anything special to write about any particular battles or how they were fought for any of them.

Graphics/ Cutscene Quality:
(Now this one kind of goes in order from newest to oldest by definition, but I've clumped 1-6 together as a sprite character is a sprite character. Check out the newest releases of the older games though as the fmv's added to them are outstanding.)
1. FF 12 - Obviously superior in visuals at all levels.
2. FF 10 - You can buy the videos to rewatch them. How cool was that?
3. FF 8 - BAR NONE, the best opening FMV of any game ever. I almost want to rank it first just for that.
4. FF 7 - BAR NONE, the best ending FMV of any game ever. I almost want to rank it first just for that. If you didn't gasp as a certain flower girl casting an upward glance, and realize what that meant to the overall story, I'm sorry you missed that.
5. FF 9 - I dock this game for having extremely short FMV sequences, almost none of which add to the story. They're just pretty pictures of various Summon's or first appearances of characters. Nothing like an Arieth death scene, so despite their beauty, I always felt they left something to be desired.
6. FF 6, 5, 4, 2, 1

Enjoyment/Depth of the World Environment, Cities & Towns):
1. FF 12 - It has the most immersive world by far. You can speak to almost everybody and even the shopkeepers and random townfolk have interesting little side stories. Some even offer very very mini sidequests. And I enjoyed immensly that there was often several places within a town to buy weapons and that each sold different items, and those items changed throughout the game.
2. FF 6 - Just an incredible history to this world, esspecially considering how much it changes by the end, and you can see that in conversing with almost everybody. Each town gives a different vibe and point of view and little things like the soldier and his girl sending letters back and forth were inspirational.
3. FF 7 - Offers a similar appeal to 6
4. FF 10 - Roaming around this landscape was fun, but while I thought that there wasn't as much to see as in other games, you really were able to get a sense for how the characters within it coped with the reality. Very introspecitively detailed. Great to see the parralleling of both order and irrationality that any world view possesses.
5. FF 8 - This felt like a happy and upbeat world. I didn't so much love the people you met, and many of them weren't all that interesting, but the musical score and art work set a fun and relaxing tone that kinda made it fun to just walk around and be immersed in.
6. FF 1, 2, 4, 5, 9 - As with several catagories, the old school games just kind of bleed together here. 6 not withstanding, I set 4 above any of the older games, but when it comes to environment, it felt just the same. I'm tempted to put 9 below any of them, because I didn't find much enjoyment in any of the shop or townsfolk, as none of them ever really felt that interesting to me, or unique, and so I'll lump it with the rest.

Sidequests:
1. FF 7 - Just too much to rank it lower. Chocobo raising, chocobo racing, The Gold Saucer, Materia hunting, secret character side quests, the village with secrets of the ancients, fights with various weapons, and on and on.
2. FF 8 - Well Triple Triad was just my personal favorite mini-game, but hunting down weapon through that long starcase, tracking aliens across the world, finding the secret GF's, all good stuff.
3. FF 12 - This game just has a ton. Hunts, might wind up ranking it higher here for me on a replay, but Esper Gathering, and other sides make it solid too.
4. FF 10 - Blitzball got kinda tedious, and was never really that hard, but recruiting a team and signing them to contracts was certainly fun, and again, you could buy movies and music to watch them again. I kinda felt the monster hunt was somewhat boring and the ultimate weapons got extremely tedious, but still they were ok. I just refuse to spend my life jumpining lighting bolts. Have a good time if you want to do it though.
5. FF 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9 (None of the others had much of note despite how good they were overall. And 9 for me, even though it had sides, offered nothing I cared about in the least. Jumping rope 1000 times? No thank you. Moogle Mail was ok, but really gave you nothing for the all the effort, and Hide & Seak? Really? An inferior card game they didn't bother to include directions for? OK?

Replay Value:
1. FF 7 & 8 - I couldn't seperate them. I want to play them both again for the 4th time right now.
3. 12 - I just finished it, but good lord there's so much left to do. When I get a good 2nd playthrough done, this may slip down a notch depending how much fun those final hunts and esper quests are.
4. FF 6 - Just a superior and dynamic cast and world to explore and live in for this last game of the sprite era.
5. FF 10 - This is a beautiful game worth revisiting, but it's kinda short if you don't blitz for 40 hours. I easily got through this game in 60 hours on a first replay and I took my time.
6. FF 4 - Well it's solid, but hurt by 6's dominance of the sprite games. I loved it, but why play it when I could play 6?
7. FF 9 - It's ok. Just ok. I'd play it before I'd play 1, 2, or 5, but only for it's visuals, and maybe Vivi. I really get nothing out of it.
8. FF 1, 2, 5 - I'd replay for pure nostalgia only.

Unique Element:
(This is something I've thrown in, and to give you a better understanding of what I mean, I'm rating how successful a game was based on it's primary marketing tool. For instance, 9 was the game of references to the past. Did it work well that way?)
1. FF 7 (The Move to 3D) - An absolute homerun that may place it as the best game period of all time.
2. FF 1 (Hail Mary) - Don't forget the series was titled Final Fantasy because the first game was supposed to be the final game Square ever made, but was so successful it started an entire line of what might be the best RPG series ever. 7 made the entire RPG genre what it is today, but 1 got that ball rolling.
3. FF 8 (Junction) - WOW, if you used this system to its full potential you could really take it a long long way in characters attribute development.
4. FF 10 (Voice Acting) - You know, Auron was solid, Yuna was solid, Tidus was annoying, but Wakka and Lulu were spot on, and so was Seymour, and it just worked exceptionally well.
5. FF 12 (Gambits) - I did love it. I'm not sure I'd want them in every game, but they were fun to toy with, esspecially in the early stages as you were adding significant spells and abilities.
6. FF 2 - (Memorize & Experience) - Now this was a really cool feature. Not sure how cool just yet, but at several points you had to utilize it to get the info that you needed and it worked and was very fun. It even made a lot of sense. So did the weapon & skill upgrade system. You got better with things that you used more. I'm actually suprised that that element didn't stick around. It's wonderful, and allows you to customize in anyway you choose.
7. FF 4, 5, 6 - I can't seperate these. They just built successfully upon the series in turn.
10. FF 9 (References to the Series' Past) - EPIC FAIL!! Every reference this game supposedly made to the past of the series was tragically underdeveloped IMO. IE: The statues in Cid's throne room of previous Cid's were clear references of the line of Cid's in each game, yet each numbered statue was in no way representative of the Cid from the game it's number represented. And that's how the whole game went in regards to reflecting the series' roots. It just never took the extra step to go from Good to Great, and think that's because the developers didn't want the series to go in that direction. IMO 9 was a mere placation to satify those who thought they would never see a castle again.

General Impression:
1. FF 7 - Nearly Perfect in every way.
2. FF 8 - Really Really Good
3. FF 6 - Stellar. If the battle or upgrade systems had been more robust, or maybe the graphics it might have been the best.
4. FF 10 - Beautiful if a little easy in the end. A touch short too.
5. FF 4 - Almost sterotypically good. It was really really good.
6. FF 2 - It's great fun.
7. FF 12 - Really really really fun for about 60 hours, however about halfway through it bogs down because about a half dozen areas in a row have literally nothing to do in them.
8. FF 9 - I just kept waiting for something interesting to happen, or for there to be a fun side game, or at least an optional anything to explore. I never found much worth doing and just kept plodding through the game fairly uninspired.
9. FF 5
10. FF 1

Use of Summons:
(This is an interesting Category, as some games fully involve Espers, Aedelons, Aeons, GF's, Summons, etc. directly within the story of the game. Others don't define their role quite as much. Some you can upgrade, others are there at face value.)
1. FF 8 - The key elements in winning this category, was that there was an appropriate amount of them, they played a key background role in the story, and they were both fun and useful. I loved the hidden ones that you had to draw or lose forever.
2. FF 6 - There has not been a more critical set of Summons to the actual story. More than even 8 or 10, the Espers in 6 were actually the very genesis of what was going on. And you also had the ability to learn every piece of magic in the game by using them, so they were incredibly useful as well. Graphich obviously down, and there were probably a few too many, but still really good.
3. FF 10 - I'd love to put this one 2nd but A - there were way too few of them, and B - they just got rediculously powerful by the end, BUT, wow were they fun to use in actual battle. They nailed that part IMO, and I really wanted to use more of them. Plus they were obviously crucial to the story.
4. FF 7 & 9 - We'll call this a tie. Good, really good. Not stellar like the ones above, but good.
6. FF 4 & 5 - Another tie, but not as good as 7 & 9's. Ok, nothing special.
8. FF 1 & 2 - Yet another tie, but this ones fun, because these 2 games didn't even have summons, yet look at poor 12 below. That's how bad I thought 12 were, seriously!
10. FF 12 - Awful, Horrible, Rediculously Bad! I didn't use an Esper one time, other than to open that door, for any useful purpose. I summoned the first few I got just to see what they looked like and ran and hid from them the rest of the game. Nevermind the fact that none of them were the classic summons. I always love when there are new ones, but NO classic ones? Really? Thanks!

Music
I don't include music as a ranking, because I just think every sound track has worked well. I can't think of one that is any better than another for any reason, and I just love all of the music equally. Even the midi era to what we have now. It's all good.

______________________________________

Weighted Rank
I thought I needed to give some credit to which of the elements in a game are more important than others, which is tough. Story is great, but the game involves so much battling that if that element is very weak, then can the story bring it along? Actually I think it can, and the below rankings reflect the total number of points credited in every other category, weighted in proportion to that categories importance which is as follows. Make sense? :-) Just go with it. If you want more confusion, the weighted rankings count for half of the total value.

1. (Enjoyment/Depth of the World Environment, Cities, & Towns) - It's first because really why else are you playing the game if not to enjoy the places you visit within it?
2. (Characters) - Likewise to #1 above, although I prefer the former.
3. (Weapon/Character Upgrades) - This is really the strongest customizable aspect of any game and the one that can put a game over the top for me. It's the element that is always focussed on most for how one game is different from the next.
4. (Story) - Why isn't this higher you ask? Because an acceptable story is ok as long as points 1, 2, & 3 are good.
5. (Side Quests) - These beef up the game and really just enhance #1 above, but are only part of what that represents in total.
6. (Unique Element) - I actually didn't think I'd rank this as high, but honestly, FF is all about the uniqueness from game to game. It's a major point of the series.
7. (Replay Value) - A little important getting down this low, but I always love anything that leaves you wanting more.
8. (Use of Summons) - Well honestly this can be an alluring factor, but it's not a dealbreaker, nore is it the major selling point almost no matter how good it is.
9. (Graphics/Cutscene Quality) - Exactly what I said about the use of Summons.
10. (General Impression) - And I put this last because it's the least thought provoking of any catagory and is merely a shadowy reflection of what your enjoyment of the world environment is really all about to begin with.


1. FF 7 - 32.18
2. FF 10 - 40.55
3. FF 8 - 40.73
4. FF 6 - 41.64
5. FF 12 - 51.45
6. FF 4 - 63.45
7. FF 2 - 73.27
8. FF 9 - 77.27
9. FF 5 - 88.73
10. FF 1 - 88.91

[Zargabaath]

You are missing some entries in "Characters" and the "Battle System" looks like it could use a bit more work but you probably already know that.

I do have a question. Do you have tiers in your "Overall FF Ranking" list? Like: FFVII, FFVIII, & FFVI are in your top tier; FFX, FFIV, & FFXII are in your mid-tier, etc. etc.

I would say how the characters progress in power and the battle system should be seperated though when grading the battle system I would include character progression. For example: the Sphere Grid may be awesome but the person doesn't like traditional turn-based.

As for what I think I won't get into it too much but my Overall FF Ranking list would be:

Top Tier
1. Final Fantasy XII
2. Final Fantasy X
3. Final Fantasy VIII
4. Final Fantasy IX
5. Final Fantasy VII
6. Final Fantasy V

Final Fantasy IX & Final Fantasy VII are pretty close to each other and may switch spots depending on how I feel. If I were to place Final Fantasy Tactics somewhere it would be in this tier probably between Final Fantasy VII & Final Fantasy V.

Mid Tier
7. Final Fantasy VI
8. Final Fantasy IV

Final Fantasy VI & Final Fantasy IV are even more close than FFIX & FFVII are. I like FF IV's story a bit more because the World of Ruin has gotten in my way of fully enjoying Final Fantasy VI three times - specifically the second half, no problems with the World of Balance. But Final Fantasy VI has way better customization & music though FF IV's music was good as well. I will always give credit to Final Fantasy VI's music.

Mid-Low Tier
9. Final Fantasy III
10. Final Fantasy II
11. Final Fantasy

I don't consider these bad games at all as I like them very much. With them they are very solid games they just lack in story & characters in various degrees to the games above. For example I have some negative feelings toward Final Fantasy IV & Final Fantasy VI but what they do good out-does these games.

Low Tier
12. Final Fantasy X-2

This game is pretty solid but the story had some good premise and good new characters but poor execution. The battle system is really good and there is a lot to do in the game.

Bottom Tier
13. Final Fantasy XIII

I've mentioned my faults with this game a few times. You could check them out if you want a reasoning for why it gets this spot and tier.

[Locke4God]

Interesting Breakdown, but yes I'm working on the original posting as we speak, and I'm going to seperate out Character upgrades vs battle systems, but those are tricky to evaluate, so I've clumped them for now, and the overall ranking is fluctuating with that.

I'm curious that you've got 9 on par with 7. Honestly, 7 for me, has far more interesting characters that each tie in more closely with the overall plot, a more involved story, a better villian, and a more interesting world to explore. Plus better side quests IMO with chocobo racing, chocobo rasing, and the arcade on top of the secret characters etc. I don't know. I'd put even a game like 6 above 9 on it's strength of characters and depth of story. 8 was a personal favorite, but because while it did have pretty bland characters, the junction system was unbelievable.

I do have Tiers though, and I'm glad you break them down like that too.

Tier 1: 7, 8, & 6. Just IMO overall complete games with a tight story and great characters. In 8's case, the characters weren't outstanding, but the Junction system for me was so far superior to any other I've played, that it makes up for it.

Tier 2: 4, 10, and 12. Great games, great stories, but just maybe one element where I felt it came up short. In 12, the uselessness of Espers, and large tracts of land that just felt tedious to cross at times, 10 the overall shortness of the game and relative ease of the final battles, and 4, is just simply overshadowed by 6, which is the vastly superior sprite era game.

Tier 3: 1, 2, 5, and 9. They're all ok, but I just wasn't inspired by any of them. 9 for all its boasting of reflecting on the series' past, utterly failed to utilize those references IMO. Cid's statues in his castle with numbers on them make no reference to the Cid's of the games those numbers corespond to. Things like that made me just go "huh?" And compared with 7, & 8, it was just super linear and the story not nearly as epic. 1 & 2 just suffer from simplicity, and 5 IMO is to 4 what 4 is to 6. Just a step behind.

[Dan558]

My unpredictable computer (random shutdowns) denies me the ability to write long posts sometimes and this could be a long one if i went all out so i'll start small and edit later.

Ranking:
1. FF6
2. FF7
3. FF9
4. FF10
5. FF13
6. FF5
7. FF4
8. FF8
9. FF12

FF11 and 14 don't count since they are mmorpgs. Even if they did they would be pretty low in scores. I havn't played or don't remember playing 1, 2 or 3 (although I did play FF6 when it was considered 3 on the western SNES)
If side games fit in there Tactics would be a close 3rd almost tied with 7.

Ok I'll start with the first and last.

FFVI has the best of everything. The Characters are the clear outstanding pat of this game still. You get so many characters and they all are at least touched on and have their own unique and even important story (minus moogle, Umaro, Gau and GoGo, ie. most of the optional characters). Characters like Setzer, Celes, Locke and Sabin really show a strong personality despite being in the 8-bit age with no voice acting, it's clear who they are. The world is great from the starting city of Narshe to the crazy ZoZo to the empire capital. There are many side missions and optional content in the World of Ruin. The fact that a semi-apocalypse happens in the game really adds weight to the story.

FFXII on the other hand is a travesty to all Final Fantasies. The characters are terrible all very bland besides Balthier and possibly Bashe. The whole story feels slow moving, not very urgent or important. The battle system was a terrible experiment gone wrong. I get the idea of trying to fight in real time and space but they really just end up slowly pacing as they charge unimpressive attacks. Want a good real time-space battle system with multiple characters? Try the kind used in Kingdom Hearts or Legend of Mana. The whole game is a bland affair and despite having a variety of settings they all come off forgetful because of the terrible plot of the game. addition: Al-Cid Margrace was the only NPC that felt like he belonged in a Final Fantasy and therefore is the only Cid I recognize for this game.
It baffles me that people like this game, they must get excited when presidential debates overrule good shows on TV.

[mineteaser]

I haven't played XI, XIII, or XIV so....

I loved all of them, but if I had to put them in order:

1- VI
2- IV
3- VII
4- X
5- XII
6- IX
7- VIII
8- V
9- I
10- III
11- II

[Locke4God]

That's interesting Mineteaser, you like the oldschool games more than I do. Agreed that 6 was absolutely unbelievable. i think if I could play it with modern graphics and videos I'd have to rank it number one.

[Rocky]

Differently, I cannot play 3 either, as it's never been ported, thus it is not included.

"It had never been released outside of Japan until a remake was released on the Nintendo DS on August 24, 2006."

if you're talking about an offical port of the NES game, there are several fully translated copied roms floating around on the internets as well.

[Locke4God]

cool! Where can i get them? Can I get a copy of 3 that works for PS2?

[Victoria]

Sorry, we can't answer that. Talking about roms and stuff is against the rules. (At least where to get them, anyway.)

[loaf]

I don't use some ranking system for a game. I have a Top 5. After that it's pointless to rank them.

IX
T
VI
XII
X

Done.

[Locke4God]

I agree LOAF. Critical to rank that 5th one, but get to #6 and I can just feel the pointlessness. That 5th one is fabric of reality saving, gotta get to #5, but 6, YES, you're right. Crossing the line, clearly.

[loaf]

My 6th I can't even put down because the more I think about putting a title in that 6th, I think of another title that I kinda slightly like better.

Wanna know what would make my 6th? It's a tie between IV VII and VIII. Those 3 make up 6 7 and 8. I II and III, (although I have yet to finish II and I am still in the first half of III) I rate II above III and III above I because as great as I is. It's just simple and barren. Now where does V go? Well V and go suck it. Tired of that game.

EDIT: I forgot about XIII and I liked it, so it's a tie for 6th with IV.

[Locke4God]

Too Funny. 5 is awkwardly placed between 4 and 6 which were both great. I'm just too analytical so I have to do things like what I've written in the initial post, which i may have added to since you first posted to this thread. Check it.

Some of them it's a matter of Like vs. Respect. 6 for instance is clearly well developed, while 5 has that more empty, nobody was really dotting all the I's and crossing all the T's feel. The same goes for 9, but 7 meanwhile was clearly a masterpiece. IMO.

[Xanatos]

Characters - Individually, it's a toss up between Final Fantasy VI, and IX, overall cast, including NPC-s, Final Fantasy XII, no contest there.

Gameplay - Final Fantasy XII, for it's dynamic, true to it's source, battle system. Gambits, and license board for deeper character customization. Final Fantasy VIII would be runner up with it's junction system, which not many like it seems.

Story - Final Fantasy XII once more, non cliched story full of intriguing twists, rather interesting political theme, all enhanced through believable characters, setting...

Music - Final Fantasy IX, nothing beats pieces such as "The Place I'll Return to Someday", "Battle Theme", "Hunters Chance", "Rose of May", "Hilda Garde"...though I'll have to say Crisis Core has an amazing soundtrack as well.

Content - Unfortunately, Final Fantasy XII doesn't have much of competition here.

Setting - Ivalice (Final Fantasy XII), classic fantasy combined with somewhat modern approach, culture, races, breathtaking surroundings...I'm also fond of Gaia from Final Fantasy IX, which has quite few truly beautiful places.

Final look:

1. Final Fantasy XII
2. Final Fantasy IX
3. Final Fantasy VI
4. Final Fantasy VIII
5. Final Fantasy II
6. Final Fantasy X
7. Final Fantasy VII
8. Final Fantasy III
9. Final Fantasy I
10. Final Fantasy IV
11. Final Fantasy V

Not much would change if I actually included prequels, sequels, spinoffs, but since I'm up to it...

1. Final Fantasy XII
2. Final Fantasy IX
3. Final Fantasy VI
4. Final Fantasy VIII
5. Final Fantasy II
6. Final Fantasy X
7. Final Fantasy Crisis Core
8. Final Fantasy Tactics
9. Final Fantasy VII
10. Final Fantasy III
11. Final Fantasy I
12. Final Fantasy IV
13. Final Fantasy V
14. Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
15. Final Fantasy X-2


To clarify few things, I simply adore older ones, Final Fantasy II in particular. Final Fantasy I, and III are great as well, good chunk of both games are left to your imagination, which is not something many would appreciate, but I like giving my characters names, classes, personality...

On the other hand I'm not particularly fond of Final Fantasy IV, and V. Hate all those fake deaths, cheesy dialog, cliched story, Final Fantasy IV in other words. As for Final Fantasy V, huge fan of job system, though I prefer the simpler one from Final Fantasy III, other than that the entire game was rather bland to me.

[Locke4God]

Glad you love 12. It could grow on me with a 2nd playthrough but I've got it 5th for now. But being behind 7, 8, 6, and 10 is still fairly respectable.

I'm always suprised by 9. I know there are many who consider it a favorite, but I guess that I just don't think I'll ever get it. Vivi I loved, but there isn't another character I really cared about. Freya a little. She was cool. I hated the trance set up. Truthfully I thought the game was way too linear for far too long, whereas a game like 10 at least admited that it was linear. I think I was on disk 3 before I really got to go back to anything in 9, and seriously with the side quests and mini-games? Hot & Cold? I guess. What really got me was the references though. All you hear about was how it paid homage to the past, and things like the Auction house were cool, but things like the Cid Statues in the regents throne room, where none of them referenced the Cid's whose number they bared, were entirely underdeveloped I thought. Picky I guess, but I just kind felt that way about the whole game. Underdeveloped. Like they needed another 6 months to refine it or something.

Ya know though, I did play it right after playing 7, 8, and 10 back to back in that order, so maybe I just had a certain expectation. Only 6 has wound up meeting that since, but seriously 6 is just stellar.

Interesting that you have 7 rated so low? What's up with that? I'm curious.

[Xanatos]

Glad you love 12. It could grow on me with a 2nd playthrough but I've got it 5th for now. But being behind 7, 8, 6, and 10 is still fairly respectable.

I played Final Fantasy XII for the first time fairly recently, I guess what impressed me are some of the changes Square made with this title, huge open spaces, non random battles, gambits which allowed you to chose in which manner you wish to play the game, non cliched story, believable characters...

As for the last two, not many fans were fond of both story, and characters, I on the other hand adore both, story in particular. It's less cliched, fresh compared to it's predecessors, this time though, the main party wasn't the only one involved, but the entire Ivalice...In my honest opinion characters are well done, individually they weren't fleshed out enough, but as a group, along with interesting NPC-s, with villain that didn't have selfish motives, Final Fantasy XII has well done characters, probably the best.

I'm always suprised by 9. I know there are many who consider it a favorite, but I guess that I just don't think I'll ever get it. Vivi I loved, but there isn't another character I really cared about. Freya a little. She was cool. I hated the trance set up. Truthfully I thought the game was way too linear for far too long, whereas a game like 10 at least admited that it was linear. I think I was on disk 3 before I really got to go back to anything in 9, and seriously with the side quests and mini-games? Hot & Cold? I guess. What really got me was the references though. All you hear about was how it paid homage to the past, and things like the Auction house were cool, but things like the Cid Statues in the regents throne room, where none of them referenced the Cid's whose number they bared, were entirely underdeveloped I thought. Picky I guess, but I just kind felt that way about the whole game. Underdeveloped. Like they needed another 6 months to refine it or something.

Ya know though, I did play it right after playing 7, 8, and 10 back to back in that order, so maybe I just had a certain expectation. Only 6 has wound up meeting that since, but seriously 6 is just stellar.

The fact that you didn't have any control over Trance, meaning, you couldn't save it for times when it might prove to be useful, made it worthless. Nevertheless, the game was fairly easy without it.

As for allusions, I think it has more than enough of those, but you decide on your own, here's a link Final Fantasy IX/Allusions - The Final Fantasy Wiki has more Final Fantasy information than Cid could research

Interesting that you have 7 rated so low? What's up with that? I'm curious.

I guess I can blame my expectations on this one. I've heard many great things about Final Fantasy VII, to this very day I can't mention an RPG game for it not to be compared to Final Fantasy VII in one way or another, before giving it a shoot I though this may actually be a masterpiece, a game I was looking for. Needless to say my expectations hit the ground soon after that, what I was looking at was far from masterpiece, rather 3D version of Final Fantasy VI. Story wise, the entire game is filed with plot holes, I'm rather surprised how many fans can't get their facts straight when it comes to both story, and characters, how many parts are unclear to this very day, with other titles tied to Final Fantasy VII thing became worse to say the least. In my humble opinion the main cast of Final Fantasy VII was a rather bland bunch, quite few annoying ones I'll have to say, the entire story was envolved around two, three characters max, angsty (emo) teen, and what seems to be most passive villain I have ever seen, who by the way shares incredible amount of similarities with Kefka.

I've also noticed that many call it revolutionary, in Final Fantasy sense probably, as it was the first Final Fantasy title in 3D, but Final Fantasy IV with it's ATB, and Final Fantasy II with it's leveling system contributed far more on that part. Not even the graphics were revolutionary for their time as there were quite few better looking games before Final Fantasy VII was even released. Now, don't get me wrong, this is not a hate post, tough now that I've read it it certainly looks that way, I enjoyed playing Final Fantasy VII, it's a solid game, but the very hype was Final Fantasy VII's downfall in eyes of many players, including me.

[Locke4God]

Oh that's too bad for you on 7, but it brings up an interesting observation. You had already played several games, and by the time you got to it, 7 just didn't fit your mold of what you liked in a game. The same happened for me with 9. By the time I got it, 7 & 8 were my standard FF's and nothing has ever surpassed them, though I have come to highly respect 6, and to a lesser degree 10 and 12.

I do agree that 7 mirrored 6 in a lot of ways, mostly with the dark, doomsday vibe it presented. Whereas you didn't care for how Sepheroth hid in the shadows, I actually thought that added to his character. Try looking at his actions as indifferent to anything else going on in the world. Kefka actively wanted to wreak Havok on a micro scale, but Sepheroth didn't care what you did. He was all about the macro scale. He wanted to just cast meteor, absorb power, and that was it. He was a loner, just like Cloud.

To really appreciate 7, you kinda have to play a sprite game or two in a row, and then imagine playing 7 like it's the first 3D game you've ever played. Actually that's why I like 8 just as much, because I thought in many ways it was an improvement. Junction was more fun for me than just adding Materia, and I thought the world was more upbeat and alive than 7's.

As far as the convoluted story, I don't think there are any plot holes, but remind me if you know of any. The story was intentionally left vague at a few points, and you had to go back and piece together what had happened over the long course of time, esspecially in the 2 decades preceding the in game story. And then of course there was a 1000 year history before any of that.

I hope one day I can appreciate 9 as you do, and I hope as much that one day you might come to really love 7 as much as I do. Enjoy!