Favorite final fantasy game and why?

[stanrir]

this is a a hard one to answer while i have played all of the main ones well except 11 and 1.0 14 and loved them all if i had to put them in any kind of order it would probably be

6 > 8 > 9 > 7 > 10 > 14ARR > 4 > 5 > 12 > 13 > 1 > 2 > 3

6 wasn't my first and it wasn't my last nostalgia isn't what makes it my favorite, the great thing about it is that it was so good it rose above nostalgia topping 10 7 and 8
without spoiling anything lets just say it had a huge cast which gave me plenty of likable characters, unlike other FFs which had smaller cast and less characters i really cared much for
I'm not saying I like every character in 6 heck no, but it has the more likable ones out of the ones i do like than any other, and while i normally say "every game has that one place that sucks"
I can't think of one place in FF6 where i just hated it. and that story one thing that i love all FFs for, 6's story was just epicness with a nice little twist about half way through the game. ^.^

[Aegis]

11> 5 > others

Dem jobs.

[KokonoeAiyoko]

My favorite is Final Fantasy for NES. I just like the freedom of it compared to other Final Fantasy games and well the world, the music, the turn based combat and how easy it is to understand.

The biggest thing is the exploration/freedom.

[DragonHunterG]

for me its always been a tie between Final Fantasy IV & Final Fantasy VI (or FF II & FF III as i knew them). Its hard to side with either, i love them both.

[Hivernica]

Crisis Core. I cried at the end. I really loved that game. Zack is probably my favorite FF character, followed by Balthier. Axel from Kingdom Hearts beats them both though <3

[Clavaat]

My personal list not including MMOs
9 > 7 > 8 > 6 > 13 > 4 > 10 > 2 > 5 > 1 > 3 > 12

I'll clarify this a bit since this thread woke up again:

9 - Felt like an old RPG in a modern environment. Ability system was addicting and satisfying, but kept it simple. Tetra Master was expanded upon, and actually required to do at one point. The characters were the most interesting and diverse, with Vivi being probably the greatest character of any FF series.

7 - Has a special place for me. The RPG that got me into RPGs. The gripping story and characters.

8 - Best love story. Had a cool, modern environment that actually involved a school for warriors. Most unique stat system (breakable, but unique)

6 - Lots of characters with interesting personalities, big world with a fantastic villain.

13 - Gorgeous looking. You're almost made to dislike the characters in the beginning, but you get to see them grow and overcome. Combat was engaging and fun.

4 - Classic story, characters were already in defined jobs, so you knew what each strength/weakness was from the get-go. Just simple and enjoyable.

10 - Beautiful environments, cool characters, sphere grid was meh.

2 - It was different. Not great, but still an interesting story. I actually liked the change from other FF's by making the focus not on level but skill with a weapon.

5 - Sacrificed a lot of story for gameplay, and it doesn't pay off for me. Too many choices and combinations, not enough story

1 - Simple in concept, I like that you can't change jobs. Incredibly easy to get lost and have no idea what you're supposed to do.

3 - So many jobs that don't matter. In the end, if you have Ninjas, you win. No ATB so like the others before it, you need to pick abilities and hope to god you have enough speed to go first.

12 - Always a huge debate over this one. For me, this was the worst. I hated the combat with a furious passion. I didn't like Gambits because they were either too unwieldy, or too powerful. I hated all of the characters except Balthier. The "Ultimate Moves" were based on MP...to me this was ridiculous. For starters they were already too powerful, but if you just assign multiple summons, your MP spikes up. Everything except for a few zones were Gray and Brown in palette. This was the only one that felt like a chore to play through. All that being said...I understand why some people like it. It just wasn't for me at all.

[Kuwagami]

my favourites (no particular order)

FFI : because everything starts somewhere, and that series started damn well

FFII : the real one, not american one (which is FFIV). Because the levelling process was excellent. A true piece of art. Yet, if you didn't bug it (or if you played on GBA), you might have had a lot of troubles beating the game ^^

FFVI : I don't know how I can explain how much I enjoy playing it. People can say what they want about modern games and HD and stuff, FFVI has the best graphics I've ever met in my gaming experience (maybe excluding chrono trigger. It's awesome too). Also, best villain ever.

FFVII : my first FF game. I spent nearly 100 hours in the slums under district 5 to search for the exit. Then found it. and cried. The rest of the game was epic ^^
side note : Crisis core. <3 it

FFX : Please prevent Tidus from laughing ever again. Thank you. Coliseum and dark Aeons were epic though.

FFXII : Vaan is a complete idiot, but the International Zodiac Job System version is super great. Ashe samuraï ftw.


Other square series I loved :
FF tactics : can't consider it one of the FF series. It's too different in my experience and feelings. But damn I'd give anything for a sequel of the War of the Lions. (I know that FFTA and FFXII share nearly the same world at different timelines, but it's not the same..)

Chrono trigger : just <3. This game has so many awesome moments I could spend hours playing it over and over to unlock all the different endings without getting bored.

FFVII did kill one of its main characters, but CT did it 2 years before, and damn that was such a shock.. I was like O_o "wuut ?". And I don't think there is any villain that creeps me as much as Lavos does. That thing is just.. just... *shivers* damn I hate it. And I had to kill it 18 times to have all the endings I could find... Talk about madness

1 - Simple in concept, I like that you can't change jobs. Incredibly easy to get lost and have no idea what you're supposed to do.

rule #1 in old-school RPG : "If you get lost, or stopped playing for over a week, talk to every NPC you can find. One might know what the fuck you're supposed to do".

In FFI, there was usually one random NPC in a random town which told a random riddle to guess where you needed to go.
"we need the oxyale to go help the mermaids" Hmmm kay thanks ? maybe ? no ? ... what the fuck is "oxyale" ?

[givemeraptors]

Each FF game has so many unique aspects that make them somewhat incomparable, but I think the one that has stuck with me the longest is FFX. I was just the right age to fully understand the plot and get really involved in what is perhaps a somewhat cheesy romance, but it worked a lot better for not being caught up in the convoluted time-travel/memories plot that dragged FFVIII down.

Also this. That shot of Yuna on the deck... beautifully rendered and absolutely heartbreaking.

Other than that, I honestly think FFXII had the best combat system of all the FF games. Once you had a huge list of gambits the customization was just incredible, the open world battle system was just stunning, the massive maps and the cool side dungeons...oh, it was all so stellar. The story is by far my least favorite for being boring and anti-climactic though.

FFVII is great, but the graphics really hinder my nostalgia looking back, also I first played it when I was too young to really understand the story.

[Cigaran]

Final Fantasy IV (SNES) This was a game where I sat and played it like a religion. Sure I'd gone through and finished other RPG's before but this was the first one I'd pushed all the way. Leveled everyone up to 99, sought out all of the Summon skill, hell I even made sure to collect one of each item in the game. The story was great and was one of the first ones that had a real emotional impact to it.

I've still got my original SNES cartridge as well as the PSP re-release that came with the sequel, The After Years. While not great, it was still fun to revisit the characters and enjoy a new story with them.

[Bigpurpleharness]

Played them all except X-2, XIII-2 (And it's spin offs), and the phone games.

My order is:

XI (Pre-AU) > IX > V > XII > VII > III > I > IV > T > TA: WotL > XIII > TA > X > II > VI > VIII > FF:MQ (Once I take away the nostalgia factor)

I would say SE is killing my enjoyment of XIII quickly with how much Lightning they're pushing down our throats, but I LOVED the Paradigm system, I disliked playing through one giant hallway until the end.