Top 10 Final Fantasy Games

10. Theatrhythm: Curtain Call

This rhythm game capitalizes on one of the best parts of the Final Fantasy series - the music. You can recruit and level up characters from nearly every title in the franchise as you tap along to Nobou Uematsu's greatest hits. It's a competent rhythm game that's great in short play sessions on the go

9.  I

The only entry in the main series whose title isn't a total joke, Final Fantasy I was the first Final Fantasy in a long list of Final Fantasies. It's a bit grindy going back to it now, but it still deserves a spot on my list for being the inspiration for all the games in the series to follow

8.  VI

I'm sure there are plenty of people who would crucify me for not having a higher opinion of this game, but there are a lot of faults I see with this game. Firstly, having fourteen playable characters is not a selling point for me. Developing those characters and writing fourteen interesting character arcs is a challenge I feel this game doesn't succeed at. My other main issue with this game is its uninteresting combat system. Why would I ever not use Edgar's auto-crossbow tool ability? Why attack as Edgar when I could use the drill tool? A lot of the battle commands in this game work this way where there will often be one command that is just plain better than another command and you would just always want to use the better version. It makes the battle system feel lazy and uninteresting. This game still gets a little love from me for some of its iconic moments like the well known opera scene.

7.  IV

Final Fantasy IV feels like the ultimate classic Final Fantasy experience to me. There's knights, crystals, magic and warring kingdoms. The battle system is still plain, but the story is classic. I loved Cecil's story of redemption and the dynamic of his relationship with his friend Kain

6.  VIII

The battle system is broken, the characters are emo and melodramatic, and the story goes way off the rails about halfway through. Still, the unique art style and memorable soundtrack combine to create something enjoyable about the experience of playing this game that I can't quite put my finger on.

5.  V

This game tends to fly under the radar since it didn't receive a proper English translation until 7 years after its release. Although the story is mostly silliness, the job system can be really addictive if you invest the time into understanding how it works so you can exploit the best job combinations

4.  Tactics

Tactics is a bit of a shakeup to the typical Final Fantasy formula that is more of a squad based tactical RPG than the traditional turn based RPG mechanics. It's another game that rewards you for putting in the time to understand its deep and complex battle system. It features a game of Thrones style story full of family drama, conflicts between kingdoms and the church as well. Also similar to Game of Thrones, there's a plethora of characters to keep track of and if you're not paying attention to the specific names, you'll lose the significance of certain story events. I do think it's worth keeping track of this story though but again, just like Game of Thrones: It's not a good idea to have a favorite character

3.  X

As far as battle systems go, I think FFX has the most polished and transparent battle system of any game in the series. The game makes it quite clear what each action will do and what affects they may have on the enemy or your allies. The story features some famously awkward voice acting and dialogue, but it's still well told and features some good twists and turns

2.  IX

What I feel is one of the most well rounded games in the series, Final Fantasy 9 has no glaring weaknesses or faults and features some of the best written cast characters in the series. Yes the battle speed is a bit slow and the random encounter rate is a bit high but that's why I'm eagerly awaiting the PC re-release of this game that promises options to be able to tweak these settings

1.  VII

This old classic is my favorite in the series and one of my all time favorite video games. It's got a compelling story, addicting battle system, memorable characters and places and an awesome soundtrack. What more can you ask for?



Honorable Mention:
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
The original Crystal Chronicles for GameCube is a dungeon crawling, loot collecting RPG with multiplayer support through the GBA link cable. It's a neat idea, but I found the combat to be rather dull and uninteresting. It basically boils down to button mashing. Still, if you want to collect loot with some friends in the Final Fantasy universe, check this one out

Final Fantasy X-2
The sequel to Final Fantasy X takes the game is a really weird direction. It has a neat and complex battle system incorporating monster collection a job switching. But... it's soo girly. It's cheesy and fanservicy and the direction the story and the evolution of few of the characters, especially Yuna, really rubbed me the wrong way

Final Fantasy XII
I'm torn on this game. The battle system is kind of cool; I liked the gambit system which allowed you to script friendly AI behavior. But there were a few quirks about the battle system that were exploitable and once you figured them out, the battles sort of fall apart. I liked the license board idea which allowed you to choose which upgrades your characters got along a path/tree of abilities. But after unlocking a majority of the skills and abilities I wanted, license board decisions became uninteresting. Also I didn't get into this game's story at all and found most of the characters totally unlikable which is a shame because I really liked the setting of Ivalice in FF Tactics



Dishonorable mentions:
Final Fantasy XI/XIV
I haven't played either of these games and have no opinion on them other than I don't think they should have ever been part of the "main series". When I think of Final Fantasy, I think of a traditional single player campaign with an interesting battle system, semi-competent writing with interesting characters and a story to tell. None of things things are found in a typical MMO and I'm skeptical either of these games are exceptions

Final Fantasy XIII
This is one of the worst video games I have ever played. That's not even an exaggeration. I have no interest in playing any of its sequels either since I found its setting and all of its characters totally repulsive

As far as the future of the Final Fantasy series, I don't have a lot of confidence in Square Enix anymore. There hasn't been a "good" entry in the main series in 15 years. That's a long dry spell. I played the Episode Duscae preview for FFXV at PAX and it was... alright. But it certainly didn't dissuade my skepticism. And the closer the FFVII remake comes to being a reality, the more I question whether this is something I really wanted. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't have much confidence in quality entries in the near future of this series.