FF1 holds up today about as well as it has since 1990, which is to say it’s an entirely competent, but super basic, plotless RPG that gets some extra bonus points for historical value and FF trappings.
FF2 is hard to get into, but to be fair, it was hard to get into when it first came out. The odd “leveling” mechanics, basic plot and characters, and lack of anything all that memorable about it makes it the least appealing Final Fantasy barring personal problems with plots or characters in later entries.
I’ve only played the 3D remake of FF3, and I understand balancing and changing jobs is a bit different in the original and Pixel versions, but I had a ton of fun with it last year. Granted, I’m a weirdo who loves the job system, and some of the oddities of FF3 make creating odd builds unusually fulfilling for an RPG of its age (let alone a JRPG), but I think the gameplay is very accessible to anyone willing to look up how the mechanics work and likes planning out party builds.
FF4 is the first really plot-centric game in the franchise, and it shows. Not to say the story is bad, but it does feel kinda immature compared to some of the later entries. Probably not compared to X, though.
FF5, I would say, holds up very well. It has a fun plot, engaging likeable characters, and easily one of the best refinements of the job system to date, making it both a fun reasonably short play, and one of the deepest games in the series mechanically if you want to get into it. It might be the only game in the series I would unreservedly recommend to nearly anyone interested in getting into FF.
