1) Final Fantasy VII: Perhaps the first role playing game to feel more like a piece of cinema and less like a saturday morning cartoon show. Gone were the spritely drawn characters, the over exclamative character reactions, the villian who Gwa-ha-ha’s. This was more serious fare with a much maligned anxiety ridden hero, a three dimensional protagonist who doubted himself and didn’t really want to be part of a quest, or even a cause. Combine this with one of the most badass villians in video game history, a wide range of brilliant musical pieces (perhaps the finest up to this point), and a spattering of extistential questions and you’ve got yourself a god damn game!
2) Final Fantasy VI: The first role playing game that made me like rpg’s. The battle scene backgrounds were beautifully rendered, the world was full of life and every where you turned there seemed to be a dark mystery unfolding. It also featured the widest cast of playable characters in a final fantasy game and fleshed them out to a suprising degree. Another defining feature was the score which complimented its content so well, giving you a sense of mood at every turn. There was also a great deal of optional “easter egg” content to explore from arena battles to hard to obtain items and even optional characters to recruit.
3) Final Fantasy IV: After discovering that i liked rpg’s via ff 6 i sought out more leading me to back track and play ff4. While inferior to six it had a suprisingly in depth story featuring a dark night who becomes a paladin. There are colorful characters along the way and many tropes the series would hang onto everafter. It is particularly good when comparing it to its contemporaries at the time, or when viewing it as the astonishing leap forward it was from its predesesors.
4) Final Fantasy IX: A palate cleansing return to the more whimsical final fantasy games after the disastorous final fantasy eight. This was a full color, low technology world of magic over super science. It was a rebelion of the emo angst oozing out of Squall in his attempt to be an off brand, even more brooding Cloud. It offered the nostalgia of playing a great old game you loved from your past packaged in a new setting, with a new story, and original characters that all felt so familiar.
5) Final Fantasy XII: Vaan is perhaps the most wierdly effeminate male character ive encountered in a video game, aside from this the game has a colorful supporting cast including han solo and chewbacca…i mean Balthier and Fran, as well as an eye candy world that looks suspiciously like something out of the star wars prequels. There is also a completely original battle system and a very enjoyable character enhancement grid.
6) Final Fantasy V: This game featured several inovations to the final fantasy series including a vast job system that would form the basis for final fantasy tactics. It also contained thematic elements that would become staples of the series, not least of which were the ideas of; defending sacred crystals, protecting a dying earth, and a planet having a life energy that can be drained usually by super science or forbidden magics.
7) Final Fantasy X: Okay, i know im going to get some shit for putting this one so low, especially from the other admin who happens to worship at macalania temple. My major gripe with the game is its insufferable main character, an overly bubbly soccer playing male meg ryan look-a-like with an atrocious american voice actor. This is juxtaposed by Wakka who is voiced brilliantly in a samoan surfer style by John DiMaggio who you may know as the voice of Bender on futurama.
The game is magnificent to look at featuring superbly rendered water effects and artistic town layouts but i never got sucked into the story. Part of this is the lack of an interesting villian, you’re given; Seymore, a powerful doofus with a preposterous haircut thats in love with the groups summoner, and Sin, a largely abstract energy field…thats about it. The races presented also seemed a bit static, the al bhed for instace all seemed like the same person with the exception of player character Riku. This is much like star trek where every represenative of a race had the same attitude and even dressed alike. It would be like every human wearing bermuda shorts and an ascot…ok im getting off topic.
There are plenty of positives to this game however including Auron, a genuine badass with a cool look and interesting back story…how he’s at roughly the same level as the rest of the group is beyond me but thats neither here nor there.
8) Final Fantasy III: Though leagues behind its succesor final fantasy four it is easily the best of the first three ff titles. Some of the updates of the game have given it more texture, color, and vastly superior backgrounds uping this already serviceable outing.
9) Final Fantasy II: This game introduced chocobo’s, the ability to put characters in the back row, and the first appearance of an npc named cid. It also establishes the often re-used trope of an evil empire and a party member’s betrayal. It also broke with tradition forsaking the “leveling up” system in favor of mastering abilities through more frequent use. This extended even to hit points and magic points, if one of your players got hit more his hp increased, if a back row wizard frequently casted spells he obtained more magic points.
10) Final Fantasy I: The one that started it all, while frustratingly difficult it was both innovative and addictive. This game requiring long hours of grinding through random encounters in order to get your chosen warriors strong enough to survive. Upon starting it offered you the ability to chose any of six permanent occupations for your four chosen heroes, leaving you with a remarkable amount of freedom but a heavy responsibility as well. Choose poorly and you’re stuck with an inept party from the start!
some items of clarification
– final fantasy tactics is great but perhaps belongs in a diffrent category as it is a tactical simulator first and foremost, however if it were to be listed here it would rank 3rd between final fantasy six and four
– Final Fantasy VIII is the worst game in the series compounded by the fact that it came on the heels of the best.
– didnt play the multi player Crystal Chronicles for gamecube but as i understand it this is a more kid friendly outing and is very seperate from the bulk of the series.
– Final Fantasy x-2, if it can be called a final fantasy game is the second worst in the series history in my opinion. The game of pop princess dress up with a back drop of ffx…what!?
– Final Fantasy XI was an mmo and im not sure how to rate that in this context as was Final Fantasy XIV
– Final Fantasy XIII I played very little of but did not enjoy
note: I liked Final Fantasy Crystal Defenders though it is not an role playing game per se and doesnt really even contain a story, it is however a challenging tactical game full of replay value