Which Is the Most Final of Fantasies?
Ranking of FF games, that I've played.
19 Games
I sort of understand why people, especially back in the day with fans of older FFs, don't really like this one. But I think it's fucking great man. Some of the best characters, a great plot(with some holes admittedly), a great world, great themes and symbolism with it's east-asian religious inspiration(people boiling this down to "church bad" are thinking about it from a way too Judeo-Christian angle) including the breaking of samsara, and the best god damn ending. I will explain Dream Zanarkand and Tidus to you if you're still confused.
And that's to say nothing of the gameplay, which is great, genuinely the best turn-based combat system there is. Everyone has a role, and it's satisfying the entire time to see an enemy line up, realize who you need, and easily and quickly swap out characters. The lack of a level up system works well too, letting you prioritize what stats or abilities you want, and add in your own if you have the spheres and empty spaces. It's just the right amount of challenging, the Seymour fight on Mt. Gagazet doesn't even give me much trouble anymore. It's just such a good game.
And that's to say nothing of the gameplay, which is great, genuinely the best turn-based combat system there is. Everyone has a role, and it's satisfying the entire time to see an enemy line up, realize who you need, and easily and quickly swap out characters. The lack of a level up system works well too, letting you prioritize what stats or abilities you want, and add in your own if you have the spheres and empty spaces. It's just the right amount of challenging, the Seymour fight on Mt. Gagazet doesn't even give me much trouble anymore. It's just such a good game.
1
It's really hard to choose between this and X but I do think I like X more, if not just because of it's battle system. IX is great though, equally good characters though Amarant sucks, still has good mechanics with active and passive abilities being learned via weapons, the Trance stuff isn't that well implemented but still good, and while the plot has pacing issues, I think what the story overall is doing makes up for it especially with all of the fusion of old and new FF, and the ending is great.
2
It's still a great game, it does have issues like the pacing I think is actually worse than 9, the characters are less developed aside from Cloud, Tifa, and Aeris, with each one having their Designated Character Development Arc and then nothing. There's writing issues, just messy execution of a lot of concepts, like the fact Avalanche are terrorists and have killed innocent people in the crossfire and also people just doing their job is brought up way less than it should and doesn't amount to much, there's a lot of shakily told aspects to this story. And the game's easy as piss, and I don't care for how you can just load the materia you want onto 3 members and ignore the rest. But man, is the Cloud stuff good, like really good, so fucking good dude. There are fantastic story moments and set pieces, while the characters and themes are maybe underdeveloped they're good and not undeveloped. It's still quite good, and thought it's not a 10/10, it's still great and kid me was right that it's cool.
3
Story is very simple and very comedic, but that's what gives it it's charm. Gilgamesh will never be topped. Job system is great, it's challenging but not too hard, and it really is just a fun adventure. There's not a lot to say about how good it is, but everything it does well it does quite well. It's endearing and fun and sometimes that's all you need to be great.
4
FF8 has a lot of problems but you know what I still really like it. I don't wanna get into it's strengths and weaknesses because that's too much for a note, and if I was being "objective" this would be lower rated and ranked, but fuck it, I do love this game no matter it's issues.
5
FF4 is a very simple game in both gameplay and story, regardless of whether you're playing the simplified original US release or not. It's still a really solid experience, I was really feeling it. It's an effort to really try and do something with a video game story, even if it results in a melodramatic soap opera-like story where nobody ever fucking dies, this is a game that, in the fucking early 16 bit era, opens with the protagonist committing a war crime, questioning if they're the baddies, and then getting sent off to unwittingly commit another one after showing discontent to his king, before setting off to make things right and end the injustice. God damn, who cares if the king was a really a big monster man pretending to be the king??? You didn't get that in games yet. And as much as I have an issue with big AAA games being so self-serious, this isn't and games should still have stories that challenge you.
6
There's a lot of problems with this but fuck it, I like it quite a bit. Want to play Rebirth.
7
Yeah yeah I know unfinished game, not a lot to do out in the open world really, half-baked story, lots of filler sidequests, too easy, whatever. The experience of hanging with the bros on a road trip across the gorgeous fucking world with fantastic architecture, just getting to park your car and go get something to eat before going to the hotel, then heading back out to fight some monsters, it's all worth it. And don't even get me started on how good the ending is if you didn't rush through and actually took the time to do the side quests, to build up your own bond with the characters. The end parts where it starts to fall apart hit harder because you have actually spent time with them, and then ending itself? I cried dude.
"You guys... are the best!"
"You guys... are the best!"
8
Better than XIII, definitely better then XIII-2, but not great. I've seen people's arguments against it, I just don't agree. Like I never had any issue figuring out what I was supposed to do, I feel like that's one of people's biggest complaints and I can't relate. I like Lightning, I like being Lightning, I think this game's story is good, I think the combat system is fun, and I loved exploring the strange world.
9
6 is not nearly as good as people say, but it's almost only this low out of spite for how so many people treat it as the end all be all of the series, and also because man does Kefka suck ass. The explanation for his entire fucking a bloo bloo bloo nihilism hahaha I'm edgy fuck you! shit is "he was experimented on and it broke his brain I guess", told to you by a random NPC if you happen to talk to him. Also several of the characters are pretty lame. I probably should rate it higher though.
10
FF13 ain't very good but I still like it! It's kind of a fun time if you don't think too hard about it, it's got fantastic presentation but yeah, think to hard and you'll realize how much more railroaded you are than in even FFX. All characters, even Lightning honestly as much as I like her, are very undeveloped at best and 2-dimensional at worst, with the main villain being godawful, worse than Kefka because he's just nothing and his plans make no sense. Neither do the heroes' though. Still, I dunno, I actually do kinda like the combat system, there are aspects to the story I do like, and as I said it's got a level of presentation that makes the plot exciting. I actually do like the In Media Res prologue too.
11
I rate this higher than 13 but it's lower because fuck it man, I do like 13 screw you guys. It's a good game though, the ending especially.
12
It's okay, I'll finish it some day.
13
It's not okay, I won't finish it someday. Caius is a fantastic antagonist though.
14
It's okay, I probably will not finish it.
15
I'm actually going to try this again but I remember just hating how slow paced the battles were.
16
Bad game man, not good.
17
Also a bad game, I don't get what people see in it. Balthier is the most basic fucking "Suave classy rogue" I've ever seen, Fran's got the personality of toast, Ashe too, Vasch is alright him being kinda boring in personality fits him being a knight, but the only characters with any personality are Vann and Penelo and they're just bad characters. Gameplay sucks ass, it's just an MMO without the O. You don't earn money from monsters but piddly amounts from their loot, meaning you need to grind on them constantly for enough money. The license system is garbage. The story is boring, there's aspects to it that are good but it's a snoozefest most of the time. Maybe if I played it now I might feel different but even seeing videos of it these days I just don't care about the characters and Vann and Penelo would get on my nerves MORE I'm sure, and the gameplay can't possibly be improved by me maturing.
18
SHIT SUCKS!
I appreciate a lot of what this is going for but I just kinda don't like any of it, I've played it before and I'd describe it as "okay" back then. It is kinda okay, on it's own, even if the optional content isn't so optional because you'll be underleveled, and most of the optional content is bad and/or annoying, since a lot of the main story is actually pretty good and kinda fun. But playing it again recently I found it a chore to go through, didn't wanna do any of the dumbass side content, and just hate anyway that the good ending brings Tidus back to life and that's just canon now, and he's gonna be alive and him and Yuna are gonna have broken up if they make a X-3, as shown in the follow up. But even before that, just bringing him back, or fuck, having a direct sequel to a fantastic and bittersweet ending like the first game's? Fuck off. Some say oh, but the post-credits scene of X implies he came back somehow! And to that I say, it's ambiguous! IDIOT!
I appreciate a lot of what this is going for but I just kinda don't like any of it, I've played it before and I'd describe it as "okay" back then. It is kinda okay, on it's own, even if the optional content isn't so optional because you'll be underleveled, and most of the optional content is bad and/or annoying, since a lot of the main story is actually pretty good and kinda fun. But playing it again recently I found it a chore to go through, didn't wanna do any of the dumbass side content, and just hate anyway that the good ending brings Tidus back to life and that's just canon now, and he's gonna be alive and him and Yuna are gonna have broken up if they make a X-3, as shown in the follow up. But even before that, just bringing him back, or fuck, having a direct sequel to a fantastic and bittersweet ending like the first game's? Fuck off. Some say oh, but the post-credits scene of X implies he came back somehow! And to that I say, it's ambiguous! IDIOT!
19