What is the best Final Fantasy game?

[ReticulatingSplines]

@Commander_Keen

Maybe there’s a Star Trek-like connection with the even numbers being better than the odds. Let’s see…despite the absence of VII and the presence of II and XII, I’d say the evens pretty easily takes this one.

While it may be apocryphal, I remember reading somewhere that (at least up to VI), the odd numbered games were more “strategic” type games with malleable character classes at the expense of canonized individual character development, and the even numbered games were more “story” type games with fixed character classes but with greater individual character development.

Or maybe it was just coincidence.

[dotchan]

I was this close to voting FF6, but then I realized it was just the nostalgia speaking. As far as sheer replay value goes, I still own a copy of Final Fantasy Tactics and will play the hell out of it every once in a while just to be able to drop a Meteor on a certain somebody.

[magnusblitz]

FF7 is my favorite, but some of that is nostalgia (though I’ve played it over and over and loved it every time, FWIW). I’ve also only played the newer ones - FF10 to the end, FF12 halfway through before I lost interest and gave up. I’ve played a bit of FF6 and FF8, but wasn’t able to really get into them. I’ll definitely need to give 6 a try again, though.

[Commander_Keen]

@smiling_bandit

I don’t even think tactics should be on the list. It’s not that I think it’s bad or somehow unworthy, but I can’t really compare such a vastly different game. Tactics is only vaguely like other FF’s. it’s like trying to look at FF6 against Half-Life and then compare those to Starcraft. Honestly, how can you even compare them?

I think comparing games across genres is not difficult at all. To use your example, I can quite easily compare FF6, Half-Life, and Starcraft: FF6 > Starcraft > Half-Life. Why? Because I enjoyed playing FF6 more than I enjoyed Starcraft, which I enjoyed more than HL. Is there any other metric that matters when comparing games?

[Mahaloth]

@Commander_Keen

Maybe there’s a Star Trek-like connection with the even numbers being better than the odds. Let’s see…despite the absence of VII and the presence of II and XII, I’d say the evens pretty easily takes this one.

However, FF3j is excellent. I really recommend it to anyone looking for a great game. I played a translated rom of it years ago and loved it. Never played the DS version. Was it good?

@magnusblitz

FF7 is my favorite, but some of that is nostalgia (though I’ve played it over and over and loved it every time, FWIW). I’ve also only played the newer ones - FF10 to the end, FF12 halfway through before I lost interest and gave up. I’ve played a bit of FF6 and FF8, but wasn’t able to really get into them. I’ll definitely need to give 6 a try again, though.

Yes, really play 6 again. It’s just amazing.

[Airk]

@Mahaloth

Have you played Persona 3 and 4 on hard mode? Those are games where the normal common battles can be lethal. And the bosses can be ridiculously hard. Great stories as well.

I haven’t but I can totally see that happening, since some of the normal battles on NORMAL mode were pretty rough.

[Mahaloth]

By the way, I’ve played Chrono Trigger and Cross and highly recommend both of those.

Chrono Cross might just be better than all Final Fantasies, except for maybe 6.

[Drain_Bead]

Funny, I like Trigger better than Cross.

My favorite was 7, but only barely. 3/6 was excellent, and is, along with Chrono Trigger, one of the two SNES games I’ll still play. It came down to the fact that I preferred the Materia system.

I also think that 8 was very underrated. I have a saved game set to right before the catch-Rinoa-in-space scene, which is probably my favorite single scene in any FF game. I love to replay it and the following alien-matching game on the Ragnarok.

[Lynn_Bodoni]

Where’s the love for Kefka’s theme, by the way? It’s probably the only video game composition I can recall completely without raking my brain; I could listen to that tune for hours on end.

Yes, I do love Kefka’s theme. Hell, I love the whole soundtrack of VI, that’s part of what makes VI such a classic. Kefka might possibly be my favorite FF villain of all time, though it’s hard to choose. Kefka is batshit crazy, and I love him for it.

Chrono Cross suffered from having too many characters, each with his/her own speech patterns, but it’s a great game with many rewarding features. If you ever feel like digging it out and playing it again, don’t try to level up each character evenly, and don’t worry about getting each character’s Level 7 tech (if the tech isn’t automatically learned), unless you like playing that character. Do, however, try to have at least one thief in your party at all times, because like the FFs, the Chronos reward stealing. And use the Relief Charm during the New Game+.

I happen to like grinding, and in the case of FF8, refining. When I realized that I could level up my GFs in 8 without leveling up my characters, by carding the enemies, I was able to get that edge that I needed. Smack the critters as needed, then one person or two characters draw while the third tries to card, or if you have Gambler Spirit (teaches a GF the Card ability) have two or even three people card.

[Revenant_Threshold]

I voted for Tactics Advance, mainly because i’m just a fan of tactical games and i’m too young to have played the original.

I’m a fan of the later numbered main series (again, too young), but Tactics Advance is the one I replay most.

[Mahaloth]

@Drain_Bead

Funny, I like Trigger better than Cross.

I think this is the normal view point. I liked Chrono Cross better for some reason. I just replayed it using my original file. It was my third playthrough since 2000(got it the day of release) and I now have every character in the game and have seen all their techs and combo-techs and I think done everything in the whole game. It was pretty cool using my save in the years 2000, 2003(2nd playthrough) and 2009(third playthrough).

I’m just glad my memory card worked, still. I’ve seen every ending, as well, which is cool.