Which Final Fantasy should I play

bostonfrontier

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I trying to decided how I should tackle playing my backlog of Final Fantasy games....

Any advice on which on I should play first... I have all the games and have only beaten IX and X

Thoughts?

Final Fantasy I
Final Fantasy II
Final fantasy III
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy XII
 
IV and VI are on the top of my list. They should take you about 30 hours a piece.

XII will steal your soul. I logged over 100 hours into it and I still haven't finished everything. It scares me that I can stomp the final boss without breaking a sweat, but there are still areas of the game that I can't venture into.
 
IV, VI, VII, X or XII are your best bet.

but cmon, youre not going to get a solid answer here, its a game forum, youre just going to start a flame war. just pick one and start, none of them are contingent on the others, so it really doesnt matter.
 
IV or VI.

I 2nd FFXII will steal your soul. I put in at least 140 hours into that game and I was already feeling the withdrawal after it was completed.
 
I would recommend at least going through 7, 8, and 12. I didn't really like the earliest ones all that much (I'm sure they were fun when they first came out, but the plot and combat aren't so hot by todays standards) and I didn't like the whole FFX meets spice girls theme of X-2. I would save the ones you're least likely to enjoy for last to make sure you finish the best ones.
 
Play them all. I can't recommend XII enough, and I'm in the middle of VI on GBA right now; it starts a bit slow, but the esper system is well done, and the storyline very good (dare I say that Kefka becomes a more despicable villain that the too-oft-lauded Sephiroth?).
 
[quote name='mykevermin']Play them all. I can't recommend XII enough, and I'm in the middle of VI on GBA right now; it starts a bit slow, but the esper system is well done, and the storyline very good (dare I say that Kefka becomes a more despicable villain that the too-oft-lauded Sephiroth?).[/quote]

You dare, and I agree.
 
Oh boy, what am I doing...

IV is my favorite of the older games, but VII, IX, X, and especially VI are also very good. XII is just incredible, but it's very different from the rest. I can't accurately say whether I liked it better than IV because I'm a rabid Yasumi Matsuno fan and that clouds my judgment.
 
[quote name='RAMSTORIA']IV, VI, VII, X or XII are your best bet.

but cmon, youre not going to get a solid answer here, its a game forum, youre just going to start a flame war. just pick one and start, none of them are contingent on the others, so it really doesnt matter.[/QUOTE]

No flaming going on...... I wanted some opinions

I think I'll go with IV right now
 
Since you own them all, it might be more enjoyable to play the early ones emulated (via pc, psp, xbox etc).
I say this because the ability to save/load anywhere removes a good deal of the hassle of dying/losing progress and the early FF games can frustratingly space out save points at times. And you are looking at hundreds of hours of gameplay -the less tedious retracking the better.
I found the characters in IV to be more interesting than in V, but V is the much better game with the intro of the job system. In fact, if V had been released in the US, it probably would have taken some of the luster off VI because the gap from IV to VI wouldn't have felt so huge.

I think going iv-v-vi is probably what I would do, but are these all the original games? Or are any of them the remakes/reissues?
 
I would say play them in order, skip 8 and X-2. They get progressively better leading up to 6 and 7 where the series climaxes. Can't speak for or against 9, I just couldn't get into it when I tried but it was not the turn off that 8 was.
 
ff XII sucked so much. the graphics were amazing but the story was ????????????????? I still don't understand it. And then the ending was so unoriginal too. I put in 100 hours. And did they invent words in it too?
 
[quote name='bostonfrontier']I'm surprised that so many people have recommended IV[/QUOTE]

FF2 (FFIV) was the first RPG I ever played (I can't even remember how old I was) and to this day is my favorite.
 
Go with Final Fantasy X if you want an epic story with a great cast of characters. I think it is a wonderful entry if you want to get into the series. My next choice would be Final Fantasy XII which ironically I hated at first and has now grown to become my 2nd favorite FF game.
 
[quote name='Kendro']Go with Final Fantasy X if you want an epic story with a great cast of characters. [/QUOTE]

OP stated on the first post that s/he already played X. This thread has become "what's your fave FF". OP should just change the title.
 
Since everyone has been ignoring the OP for last 20+ posts, is my turn.

FF1: Is only hard if you don't like to level grind.
FF2: Level system can piss you off.
FF3: Very similar as FF1 but bad decisions on jobs can cost you hours of work
FF4: Decent
FF5: More complex job system than FF3 with depth of story of FF4
FF6: Good but GBA version is so easy.
FF7: Way overrated. You'll love it if you're emo
FF8: Best story and theme but gameplay like FF2 will make you hate this
FF9: Most non-offensive FF. Not very good or bad.
FF10: FF for dummies.
FF12: You can beat the final boss without even holding the controller.

Now only if Square-Enix were to remake FF8 using the FF12 engine. I'll pay $1000 for that.
 
[quote name='laaj']Since everyone has been ignoring the OP for last 20+ posts, is my turn.

FF1: Is only hard if you don't like to level grind.
FF2: Level system can piss you off.
FF3: Very similar as FF1 but bad decisions on jobs can cost you hours of work
FF4: Decent
FF5: More complex job system than FF3 with depth of story of FF4
FF6: Good but GBA version is so easy.
FF7: Way overrated. You'll love it if you're emo
FF8: Best story and theme but gameplay like FF2 will make you hate this
FF9: Most non-offensive FF. Not very good or bad.
FF10: FF for dummies.
FF12: You can beat the final boss without even holding the controller.

Now only if Square-Enix were to remake FF8 using the FF12 engine. I'll pay $1000 for that.[/quote]

I was starting to get the impression that nobody liked FF8. I'm glad to hear that I'm not alone.

And as a sidenote, FF1 has only gotten easier with time. I found the PS1 and GBA versions to be much, much easier than the NES original. I spent less than 15 hours on the PS1 playthrough.
 
FF I, while a good game, doesn't offer as much in terms of story, battle system etc. Nonetheless its a classic game and worth a playthrough

FF II has a lot of interesting aspects to it like a password/key word system and its story is a bit more built up then FF I. However the leveling system is more so based on what weapons/magic you use and how often you loose HP and MP... Some aspects are inversely proportional which can cause some annoyances (You level up your strength but as a result your magic decreases). It also has some exploits in the battle system which are a bit too tempting at times.

FF III depends on the version. The NES version is pretty standard with a cool job system, however many of the jobs don't have much to offer and you may end up sticking with only a select few over the course of the game. The DS version has the same difficulty as the original, but adds more into the story department and makes many of the jobs a bit less useless (commands aren't overridden like fight/item as in the NES version)

FF IV is pretty great, though you may want to wait for the DS remake thats coming out, not that I don't enjoy the SNES/PSX versions of the game. Its just if you were considering the DS version at all, you might not want to basically play through the same story twice so soon.

FF V is fun for the job system (Tactics is good if you like that too... but its a whole different game). Its story is pretty good as well, but probably the weakest of the 3 SNES games.

FF VI has got a great story and some of the best graphics and music the SNES could offer. The esper magic system, while fairly simple, makes building character stats pretty fun. Plus there are 14 playable characters overall, many side-quests and doesn't really have any slow points.

FF VII was greater when it came out then it is now (maybe I'm just a bit tired of the spin-offs and reinvention of it all)

FF VIII has a good story, but its pretty different in terms of game play (not necessarily bad but its exploitable, repetitive, and overly complex at times)

FF X-2 has a fun battle/job system, but thats really all I can say that its got going for it

FF XII: the story seems pretty great so far, but it seems to take so long between cut scenes because there is a lot of level grinding, trying to save up enough money to buy proper equipment, and it rewards repetitiveness by battling the same monster type over and over again to build chains...

I've been a massive Final Fantasy fan, but its been hard getting through XII (Then again there are other factors in that as well)
 
[quote name='thelonepig']Says the person linking wikipedia.

[/quote]

Pardon?

Although I cannot verify the article's accuracy, it seems to be relatively decently researched with adequate citations. Not sure why you are attacking Wikipedia...

http://www.news.com/2100-1038_3-5997332.html

However, getting back to my original point.. I don't see why fans of FF7 are "emo."
 
[quote name='gobz']Pardon?

Although I cannot verify the article's accuracy, it seems to be relatively decently researched with adequate citations. Not sure why you are attacking Wikipedia...

http://www.news.com/2100-1038_3-5997332.html

However, getting back to my original point.. I don't see why fans of FF7 are "emo."[/quote]

He didn't say that fans of FF7 are emo, he said that if you're emo then you may like FF7. FF7 has a very dark, emotional storyline. Emo, as wikipedia puts it, is a general term for depressing or dark.

As far as Wikipedia is concerned, it can be good for a quick and dirty response. It should never be used to prove a point however, due to its open editing nature. I have used Wikipedia myself in preparing reports, but only when I can directly trace it back to a particular citation and even then I list that citation as opposed to Wikipedia.
 
[quote name='thelonepig']He didn't say that fans of FF7 are emo, he said that if you're emo then you may like FF7. [/quote]

I'm going to have to disagree..

[quote name='laaj']
FF7: Way overrated. You'll love it if you're emo
[/quote]

By stating that ALL "emos" will LOVE the game, i believe that it can reasonably be inferred that he is implying that fans of FF7 are generally emo

Anyways.. to each his own. I personally think FF7 is an epic game.
 
My favorites in order:

1. VII
2. IV
3. IX
4. VIII
5. VI
6. XII
7. X

VII was not my first FF (IV and VI were), yet it's still my favorite FF. In fact, it's probably my favorite game of all time. This was an epic game of epic proportions. During a time when the gaming market was saturated with platformers and adventure games, this helped innovate the RPG genre. This game is the most popular FF for a reason: a memorable cast of characters, amazing score, breathtaking environments and plot (all of this is subjective of course, but a lot of VII fans would probably agree with me on this). A lot of FF fans started with VII, but I think it's only partially the reason why it's so popular. Like I said, I started with IV and VI, yet VII had such on impact on me.

Although most of my love might be a nostalgia trip, if you're willing to look past the crappy outdated graphics, and outdated battle system, I think you'll be in for one hell of a ride. The story is unparalleled. I don't understand why so many people say that this game had plot holes. The plot was perfectly clear to me, and many of the questions are explained in flashbacks (if you actually bothered to pay attention). To people who talk about how "emo" Cloud is, seriously, shut up. He might constantly talk about how weak he is, but at least he's humble about it...and he certainly has his reasons for thinking that way. It seems like most people nowadays prefer cocky, jackass muscle heads.

Anyhow, I'm going off on a tangent. I was going to talk about the rest of the FF's in my list, but my post is already far too long. I'll stop while I can. @_@


Though most of this talk about how "emo" FFVII is pisses me off, that's not to say that I don't have a sense of humor:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=nllR2k3uTNg

xD
 
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