Quote Originally Posted by coffeeking View Post
from which FF was he? must've been an early part I've forgotten
FF5 originally. Since his appearance there he's appeared in multiple games in the series (and some of the remakes of earlier ones tossed him in as a secret boss). He has the distinction of actually being the same character every time, rather than different guys who look the same -- with the exception of 11, where he was a specific NPC (though they never didn't say he was different, so you never know...)

FF5 is highly recommended. The plot is goofy, but it really hit the spot when it comes to the Job system which defines later games in the series so well. Even FF14 here takes some specific cues with the way classes work.