What is the best Final Fantasy game of all time? - And hey, explain why if you feel like it.

[UnKillFill]

Final Fantasy has been around for more than three decades... I am curious which game in the series fellow Kiwis think is the best, feel free to explain why you feel the way that you do. (I tried to simplify it the best I could)

 

[Caesare]

Final Fantasy 2 in America was the first and best I've ever played in that series. As fun as 3/6 is, 2/4 is my favorite. Great story, fun characters, dramatic moments.

 

[mate]

I'm going to argue that seven was the best as it was the first of the new generation, it opened up the whole franchise to a lot more people. Sephiroth was a good bad guy, Cloud's back story had me scratching my 11 year old head and Aeris dying got me right in my feelballs.

I also really liked how you started in Midgar city slums and it kept you waiting for the overworld map for ages. In fact I didn't even know the overworld map was coming as it was my first FF.

So yeah, what I'm trying to say is its the best because its my first one and I'm biased. The music still gets me to this day.

 

[Syaoran Li]

I'm partial to Final Fantasy XV.

Don't know why exactly, but it is my favorite of the franchise.

 

[Krokodil Overdose]

Final Fantasy VI. Man, it's amazing how much work they put into plot and character when there were just sprites and MIDI to work with. It had it all: a big selection of characters with a customizable party (no, FFVIII, I don't want Squall in my party. Thanks for asking) a story that shifted gears at the two-thirds point to give you a different experience and sense of consequences to the characters' actions, and an interesting and well-drawn supporting cast (who can forget Ultros?) The game part of the game was fun and intuitive, and the story it told felt epic, in the sense that it was larger than life and affected the whole world.

 

[Thirty Year Old Boomer]

FF6 is the best in the series, followed closely by FF9.

In 6 you have a great storyline and pacing that rivals the best of any game ever made. Basically you play the first half of the game as a tutorial, only to get your ass handed to you by the big bad. Then you lose, the big bad wins, and you and the world are fucked.

Then you are given a chance at redemption and are able to build yourself back up and eventually kick the big bad's ass. And your prize? You inherit the husk of a once-vibrant world that has no future. Congrats! You did it!

It's a great game and the inspiration for a lot of FF7. Don't believe me? Check this guy out and get reading: http://socksmakepeoplesexy.net/index.php?a=patff

One of the best summations of the Final Fantasy series around. Yeah, FF7 is a fine game. But you probably don't know the half of it. 7 is an imitator, a pretender. There are much better games in the series. You can start with 6 and 9. Then maybe you want to try 4 and 2. 7 is good, but is it better than 5? Play them. Find out.

Anything after FF9 can go die in a fire. And before I hear your shit, no, FF12 isn't a Final Fantasy game, it's a single-player MMO.

 

[UnKillFill]

Me? I voted for FF VIII. Yeah, I know most people hate it... but it was a SO much better than people give it credit for being. Hell, the Laguna *Sub* plot was better than most other FF games- To the point where I wish we were actually playing as him in the major game... Because yeah, his emo son was a downgrade.

 

[Thirty Year Old Boomer]

Me? I voted for FF VIII. Yeah, I know most people hate it... but it was a SO much better than people give it credit for being. Hell, the Laguna *Sub* plot was better than most other FF games- To the point where I wish we were actually playing as him in the major game... Because yeah, his emo son was a downgrade.

Wow you're wrong. FF8 was a garbage pile.

 

[UnKillFill]

Wow you're wrong. FF8 was a garbage pile.

-shrug- I never said FFVIII was the *only* FF game I liked. Hell, I *liked* your explanation of why you liked VI and IX. (I actually quite like *both* of those games)
Again, I still do think that VIII was a lot better than people give it credit for being though...

 

[Red Hood]

V is my favorite. The job system is a lot of fun to play around with and the tone of the game is a bit more sarcastic and light-hearted than most of the games (especially in the GBA translation). VII was the first in the series I played, then I got into the Anthology on the original Playstation.

The one I think I like least is IV, honestly. (Not counting entries after IX, cause I've never finished any of the subsequent releases). I know it's where the series shifts gears and kind of comes into its own, but it's pretty dull to me story-wise. Probably because in my head I'm comparing it to V and VI.

 

[Nobunaga]

Tactics
Theres no better feeling than killing god for making you do the whole game 2 times

 

[The Captain]

8 and 9 are the most memorable for me. These were the first games I ever went full bore completionist on.. I got them as Christmas gifts the years they were released.

 

[Krokodil Overdose]

-shrug- I never said FFVIII was the *only* FF game I liked. Hell, I *liked* your explanation of why you liked VI and IX. (I actually quite like *both* of those games)
Again, I still do think that VIII was a lot better than people give it credit for being though...

I've read that FFVIII's biggest problem was FFVII, in the sense that it was a tough act to follow. There's a lot of good elements to the game, but the way they were put together feels half-finished: the junctioning system was interesting, but the fact that you needed GFs to do anything except attack (Defend and Item are GF commands?) and the grindy draw system puts in a ton of busy work. They were clearly in love with their new animation chops, so they stuck it in every chance they got, even when something more restrained would have been in order. And so on.

 

[Black Waltz]

Chrono Trigger

 

[The Captain]

Chrono Trigger

I actually loved Chrono Cross..

 

[Overcast]

IX is by far and away my favorite.

Fantastic characters, great story, beautiful music, great locations, ect. And it's probably one of the most thematically cohesive games I've ever played. Very few games have left me as emotionally satisfied as that game did.

I actually loved Chrono Cross..

I've always enjoyed the battle mechanics in Chrono Cross, kinda makes me wonder why no one else tried what it did.

 

[Nobunaga]

I actually loved Chrono Cross..

>not the last story or pandoras tower
Fuck outta here, cross just like anime was a mistake

 

[XYZpdq]

Probably 3 or 3.

 

[Oddjob OTP]

I was going to pick 6 but then Tactics was a choice. Job system makes it pretty damn replayable and the story was pretty good even though the translation on PS was meh.

 

[Zaragoza]

Final Fantasy 9, and 12.