I played Final Fantasy 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12 and here is how I would rank them (from BEST to Worst)
#1 - Final Fantasy 6 (SNES - 1994)
I think this one has the best story, most memorable and unique characters, incredible use of 2-D graphics (capable of showings emotions and modds of the characters). Thegame is huge, lots of side quests and never boring. I played (finished) it maybe 4 or 5 times and at one time I actually made time to check out EVERYTHING the game had to offer, sidequest, mini-games, uber rare items, ... I dont remember how many hours I put into that one play through but its gotta be over 60 hours ! And that is a game that shipped on a freaking cartridge !!! I guess this is by far the least linear FF game in the series...
#2 - Final Fantasy 7 (PSX - 1997)
The graphical just when this series hit the PlayStation was incredible. No one could deny this when this game shipped, but today I think it is harder to enjoy this "first wave" of 3-D games; it looks horrible. Never the less, this game was great, brought a lot of new sci-fi elements to the series, had great combat and dont forget all those cutscenes ! Wow ! This games surely diserves number 2 (or number one for some who started their RPG experience with it) spot in a FF ranking but the truth is that as good as it was, I find it difficult to go back to this one. It kinda breaks my fond memories of it.
#3 - Final Fantasy 12 (PS2 - 2006)
Awesome battle system, great graphics (cant believe its a PS2 game). Mostly good story, good blend of magic and technology. Good voice acting (since voice acting is a ff10 and ff12 only feature). Dont have anything bad to say about it.
#4 - Final Fantasy 8 (PSX - 1999)
Coming out only 2 years after the uber popular FF7, this one had everything going against it, just because it was set to be FF7-2. Anybody saying something bad about this one will be actually comparing it to FF7. This one made a HUGE graphical leap; you could play it now and the visuals would not seem dated at all. This was the PSX reaching its limit ! Great game, does have some things that hold it back here and there but a lot of new systems, new settings, new ideas, mostly pretty good ones too, but the main beef people have with this one is probably the kinda EMO main character that really gets annoying.
#5 - Final Fantasy 4 (SNES - 1991)
Not being able to read japanese and so import FF game from Japan... This was MY sequel to the original Final Fantasy (NES - 1990). If I were to judge it by this (wrong) connection, this would be quite an accomplishment in console RPG history. When I look at it with all the facts now, the creators of these games had a couple of tries to see what worked and what didnt work with their series. So this would be the reason this game is not higher in my ranking. Great games, great story, finally some reasonnable backstory fr these charaters Im supposed to care about ! Iguess the remakes on GBA and PSX give you a better localisation making the game closer to the experience intended by its creators. try it.
#6 - Final Fantasy 9 (PSX - 2000)
This one is good but not great. The move back to the super difformed look held me back a little. The mini games are not on par with the ones in FF8 and the nostalgia trip this game was supposed to trigger inside me didnt really happen. It isnt bad but this one never gripped me like the other ones. I did not feel the need to explore everything the game had to offer because of this.
#7 - Final Fantasy 1 & 3 (NES - 1987 & 1990)
Okay games, Great for their time I guess but today, you cant put 10-30 hours of game play with an RPG that had mostly silent and uninterresting characters. These games helped pave the way to greater games and made the RPG genre into what it is but things have evolved so much after that that its hard to go back and enjoy them.
#8 - Final Fantasy 10 (PS2 - 2001)
Awww ! If only looks were enough ... Looks great, play i fun, but the story (and above all else the maps) is/are far too linear. the water theme did nothing for me... The sports game was a good idea but was mostly boring... the ultimate evil you fight is not appealing at all, nothing like the bad guy in FF7 ! Add to that the worst voice acting Ive ever heard and this would be calle a flop. Of course the game being bad doesnt mean it didnt sell well or was not well recived by the critics and gamers ... Skip it ! Pretty much all other FF games are actully better than this one ...
thats it... oh ! I forgot something....
If you havent played it before, yo must try this game : CHRONO TRIGGER !!!!