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[Ai Shizuka]

Hello,
I didn't find a dedicated thread, so I'll ask here.
All the old Final Fantasy games are on sale on Steam and I'd like to pick up the older titles (I played extensively X and X-2 on the PS2), but I don't really feel like playing all of them.
So what are considered the best titles in the series?

If it helps, I greatly enjoyed FF X. Not so much FF X-2.

Thanks

[Drakale]

Well that's a very subjective question. I prefer the first ones, but there is a lot of nostalgia there.

for me:
FF6>FF4>FF5>FF:T>FF:MQ*>FF1>FF8>FF7>FF2>FF9 ... power gap ... FF11>FF10>FF12 ... Haven't tried the rest

*I like it, but I'm like the only one. Again, nostalgia.

[lordcooper]

I greatly enjoyed FF X. Not so much FF X-2.

That's pretty much everyone :p

For me it's probably 7 > 9 > 10 > 8 > 6 > 12...big gap...10-2 > 1,3,4 and 5 > 2...even bigger gap...the 13 series > 14 > 11.

The Tactics and Crystal Chronicles games are pretty decent, but I don't think it's fair to include them along main entries and they're very different.

[PrimusRibbus]

Final Fantasy Tactics is my absolute favorite, but for the mainline rankings I'd go:

FF6 > FF9 > FF4 > FF5 > FF10 > FF1 > FF12 > FF3 > FF8 > FF2 > FF7

Haven't played FF13, and FF11/FF14 are mainline games in name only.

Edit: I honestly think I'm ranking FF3 a bit low, but neither the NES version or the 3D remake clicked with me at all for some unknown reason.

[BigD145]

US 6 and 9 at the top for sure.

[Levi]

FF6 is the bestest.

[ndkid]

Final Fantasy Tactics is my absolute favorite, but for the mainline rankings I'd go:

FF6 > FF9 > FF4 > FF5 > FF10 > FF1 > FF12 > FF3 > FF8 > FF2 > FF7

Haven't played FF13, and FF11/FF14 are mainline games in name only.

Edit: I honestly think I'm ranking FF3 a bit low, but neither the NES version or the 3D remake clicked with me at all for some unknown reason.

Ah, the rare person who feels 8 is better than 7. I'm in that camp, and have gotten accustomed to being the only person in a room with that perspective. I feel like the quality, style, and ratio of the FF* FMVs was closer to my tastes than anything that came after, and the plot is (barely) less eyeroll worthy to me than FF7s was.

I also concur that FFT is the best game with "Final Fantasy" in its title.

[BigD145]

FFTA was very good.

[itisnotlogical]

FF6 > FFTA > FF7 > FF4 > FF3 (DS) > FFTA2

I'm continually surprised by how very little Final Fantasy I've played.

[TempAcc]

Not sure if FFT would count, but ye, my favorite. I found FFTA to be pretty bland in comparison, and with a dumb art style, too.

After that, then maybe FF6 > FF7 > FF4 > FF9 > FF8

FFT had an awesome universe, awesome mechanics, awesome characters, awesome everything.

FF6 was the first FF game to go into less generic territory with its plot and have an actualy interesting villain. First FF game to have a memorable soundtrack.

FF7 brought tons of innovation to the series (at its time) and an art style overhaul. Unique for its time. Pretty good soundtrack, too.

FF4 had the whole job system, which was pretty fun, altough it had the worst FF villain and protagonist ever.

FF9 succeeded into taking FF out of the whole edgyness FF7 and FF8 injected into the series. Long game, lots of secrets, interesting characters overall.

FF8 is basically FF7 in style, but with with worst characters and kind of a mindfucky, shifting plot that gets so nonsensical even the creators refuse to give a canon explanation for it all (spoiler alert: ending makes no sense). Spawned tons of fan theories as a result. Still had interesting mechanics and was a fun game overall.

Everything else I either haven't played or didn't stick out to me as much. FF2 was okay I guess.

[SirAaronIII]

FFCC, FFCCRoF, FFCCEoT, FFCCMLaaK

Word.

[Folly]

7 is by far the most popular...though personally I didn't care for it.

10 is my personal Fave, together with 10-2. Great music, fun characters, interesting story, and lots of content to explore.

12, I loved the combat and exploration. Just a really enjoyable world to explore, with lots of unique enemies to fight. The loot system was pretty annoying however, as extensive save-scumming was required to get many of the best items.

13-2 stands out as my favorite time-travel game since Chrono Trigger. Really wish there were more games that utilized time-travel mechanics in interesting ways.

9 had a colorful cast of characters and decent story, especially towards the end. It's my favorite from the PS1 era.

Tactics stands out as probably the best tactical game available to people who don't care for Disgaea. Personally, I'd take Disgaea over FFT any day.

6 stands out as the first game I played with this particular plot twist, which at the time completely changed my view of what a video game could do. Also probably the largest cast of characters from the numbered FF games, while still managing to give each character a unique ability.

[BFEL]

So am I the only person who couldn't into Tactics?

I mean, it joins Star Ruler as one of those games that I had fun with while I could play it, but it quickly turned into "literally everything I attempt fails"

Mostly I blame the complete inability to grind. I'm trying to get strong enough to overcome my ineptitude and the game just goes "NOPE, ALL THE ENEMIES LEVEL WITH YOU"

I mean fuck, I actually FAILED WHILE CHEATING ONCE.

[Culise]

I greatly enjoyed FF X. Not so much FF X-2.

That's pretty much everyone :p

I've actually seen a lot of people rank X-2 surprisingly highly.  Even one or two who put it in the upper...oh, let's say quartile.  It's never about the story, though; always just the gameplay.
*sees above posts*
OK, scratch that "never."  I've seen one person rate it highly due to the story.

My ranking:

• Final Fantasy 6 - Arguably my first one that I've seen played, but not the first I owned.  A cornerstone of the series in many respects.
• Final Fantasy 10 - I actually rather liked this one. Story and gameplay came together well.
• Final Fantasy Tactics - I liked this as well.  Good plot, even if Ramza's involvement in the War of the Lions gets seriously derailed by SPOILER in the last couple chapters. I liked the gameplay; the difficulty was a bit of a pain at times, but I was fortunate enough to run into stone walls only occasionally.
• Final Fantasy 9 - Lighthearted, and good, fun gameplay.  I did make some silly mistakes (protip: if someone tells you that a tower will seal all magic, do *not* bring your mages. The game will assume you're smart enough not to do that and make the next two dungeons a major pain.)
• Final Fantasy 8 - I had fun.  Trivially breakable, but it was hardly necessary to do so. Story was...acceptable, in a popcorn sort of way; a *lot* of stuff was very, very well buried in subtext, which could be easily missed. Aspiring writers of a "deep and meaningful story" take note: this is not to be viewed as a good thing, even if only because some very off-the-wall theories can become the fanbase equivalent of kudzu.
• Final Fantasy 7 - Decent enough, but it did not stand the test of time very well.  Shows so many of the series' growing pains in 3D, post-Woolsey translation, and emphasis on a general shift in story tone after the success of 6.
• Final Fantasy 5 - Fun, flexible character design. Straightforward plot, like 4.
• Final Fantasy 4 - Not much to say. It was good for its time.
• Final Fantasy 12 - I wanted to love it; it had all the right plot ingredients. I just couldn't get into the gameplay.
• Final Fantasy 13 - The only thing I have to say about this was when I purchased it: I was warned by not one, but two employees that I may not like it. This wasn't at some friendly neighborhood shop, either; it was your archetypal soulless franchise store that hires disaffected and unmotivated teens for relatively cheap, and they tried to steer me away instead of closing the sale.  So, yeah, I won't say they were wrong...

Honorable mention to Final Fantasy Legends 2, and fie on thee should you condemn me for technically including what's not even a Final Fantasy, but rather a SaGa game. That's why I don't formally rank it above, along with the fact that my past memories of this in my GB keep me seriously biased about this even when that nostalgia has faded for most of the actual series.  Needless to say, when I heard they remade the Legends/SaGa games, I squeed.  Then was sorely disappointed when I heard they weren't exporting them.  Then fell in love again when the fans released a full translation patch.  _{Then ended up going back to the original Gameboy game anyways.}

[Levi]

I've actually seen a lot of people rank X-2 surprisingly highly.  Even one or two who put it in the upper...oh, let's say quartile.  It's never about the story, though; always just the gameplay.

Yeah, I hated FFX with a passion, but I enjoyed X-2 a fair bit.    It was just more fun somehow.