Your Overall Final Fantasy Experience

[Vahlnir]

My first Final Fantasy was actually an SNES title. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. It was more of a spinoff than a mainline title, but it still had "Final Fantasy" in the name. It was also the first one I finished. I explored a couple other titles after that on the SNES, but ultimately drifted away from the series until 7 came along. Then I was all in. FF 8 was/is my favorite title, so it holds a special place in my heart. I had a lot of truly unforgettable experiences in FF XI though, and forged some very strong bonds besides with some of the people I met, so I guess FF XI takes the cake when it comes to having the most weight in my mind. It was also my first true MMORPG experience, soul crushing grinds and all. I could talk about FF 8 all day though! lol There are too many moments to count there that I could fanboy about.

[Lanadra]

What was your first Final Fantasy?

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.

Which Final Fantasy was the first one you finished?

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.

Did you explore more of the series afterwards?

Nope. FF was but a blip on the radar that I never felt enticed to delve into before FFXIV.. and it kinda still is. I enjoy FFXIV as it's own thing and do not feel the need to branch out.

Which Final Fantasy carries the most weight in your mind(or lives there rent free)?

Considering info provided in above answers. I'll answer with FFXIV in mind: Heavensward. Something about the entire story and journey just sticks with me, still does every time I go back to Ishgard as well. Shadowbringers was awesome but Heavensward still remains on top for me.

Care to just gush about your favorite Final Fantasy moments over the years?

Same condition as above: That moment on the Final Steps of Faith, where the WoL walks towards a descending Nidhogg and stares him down as everyone else, man and dragon alike get the hell out of there. It just made me feel like a complete bad ass.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

What was your first Final Fantasy?

FFIX. My elder sister had always been an FF-fan. We shared one console at that time and whenever it was her turn to play, I always watched her playing FF game. It took me several years to actually try the game myself but sadly I never finished FFIX on console because our PS1 at that time smoked (lmao!!) after years of enduring our shenanigans.

Which Final Fantasy was the first one you finished?
FFX

Did you explore more of the series afterwards?
I did. FFX & X-2 -> FFIX (yess! the power of emulator!!) -> FF to FFVIII by order -> FFXII (all version) -> FFXIV

Which Final Fantasy carries the most weight in your mind(or lives there rent free)?
This is a hard pick, but just in case, I'll mention all three:

• X-2
  First, don't get me wrong. At first I felt regretful for playing FFX given to how the story plays out and ends. I knew what was going to happen, but I still kept going on for the sake of...game clearing and yada yada. When the scene after the true final boss plays, all in my mind were "How could you do this to me?!?!". It stays on the bottom of my list until I decide to pick up their sequel game.
• FFXII (All Version)
  Provided the order of the series that I played, XII strikes out as being the oddball of the dozen. There's still some lingering elements of turn-based gameplay but with several different factors thrown into the same picture. Given that I never played XI at that point, it gave me the feeling of "If there's any online FF game that I'd like to play, this will probably the one that I'd pick cause.. resemblance.". Their plot on the other hand amazes me as how radically different it is compared to most previous series. It's the complete opposite from being 'one hero'-focused. The amount of diplomacy in the story was also more exuded, telling me whoever's writing this ain't afraid to stray a bit further from the generic plot. (if that makes any sense at all...)
• FFXIV
  Online? Check. Social? Check! Beautiful, customizable avatar? Check!! Gameplay!? Check!!! Story?!! Ayy yass!!

Care to just gush about your favorite Final Fantasy moments over the years?
I kinda gushed about XII already in previous section so let's give this section a bit to FFXIV lol.
The way I see the whole plot of FFXIV, I think of this: "This kind of impact, is what I want from MY story to affect whoever reads them.". Not gonna lie, when I first doing the post-ARR MSQ, there were numbers of players that kept saying how 'bad' that part of story was. Personally, no, I don't feel the same way. Everytime I play through this game's first MSQ past Praetorium, I made mental list of stuffs that I expect WOULD happen. Nine out of ten times, they were correct It's not all about predicting how the story would unfold however. The way they were presented to me at that point of MSQ were also a defining factor whether I'll enjoy it or not. Apparently I did. It may sounds unrealistic, but it feels like I'm playing this game next to whoever wrote the story and kept asking them: "Oh I bet this will happen! Am I rite?!", yet when it did happens (or not), I still get that excitement. It feels very personal, at least to me. Not to mention several homage to previous series also makes me wants to go back and replay the older series. (particularly FFXII homage, the reason why I absolutely adore Ivalice Raids & BSF content)

[MicahZerrshia]

My first FF and the first one I finished was the first FF.

I have played every FF game since.

FFIV, FFVI and FFX linger in my head and always have. I really want a remake of IV and VI with a more fleshed out story and more character development. They were both amazing. I still get ridiculously emotional at a Distant Worlds concert when I hear Aria de Mezzo Carattere or To Zanarkand.

One of my favorite FF moments was the night version 1 went down. I was on Vent with a bunch of friends I had made from beta til that night. The battle of Carteneau was happening, we were laughing and joking around, fighting with our connections, but finally our screens went black and the chat fell silent as End of an Era played for the very first time. After it ended we all just sat there in silence. Then there was a sniffle, then another and a group of grown men were in voice chat silently crying before one by one everyone logged off without another word.

[Mahoukenshi]

My first Final Fantasy was 7 on PC back when PAL regions had still been under supplied with jrpgs. During my younger days, most pc games were western ones (Silver, Fifa, Settlers, etc). In one of the Pc gaming magazines was a demo of VII which was basically only the battle arena I think. Yet I liked what I saw and saved my pocket money for the PC version. I got hooked and looked for more jrpgs and FF entries afterwards XD. The whole exposure to PS1 and the many jrpgs happend a couple of years later, btw.

Anyway, my playing order was 7, 8, 9, 4-6 in any order (power of emulation) and 1+2 and 10. I enjoyed every entry, but after discovering that there are other non-FF jrpgs out there, my interest waned with FF12 onwards, tbh. So yeah, I did explore other titles afterwards. 6 and 9 count to my more favorite main games. And yes, I even enjoyed the corny romance of 8 (I've generally become a HUGE romance fan in games :P)

During my exposure to MMOs, XI was never relevant and I held a long, long hesitation towards XIV. I like(d) the concept of MMOs but "forced" grouping has never appealed to me and does still not. But after GW2 got a bit stale as a story player and I've heard news about Trusts in XIV and the good story, I decided to finally give in and try it out in 2019. It was NOT easy to overcome my huge dungeon disdain (and I still dont count it as favorite content to run over and over), but I don't regret it. I love the story, the main cast, the music. Though, I admit that I'm too single-player focused as to appreciate or grow attached to the multiplayer, social part of XIV (or any MMO).

[ItMe]

What was your first Final Fantasy?
FF1

Which Final Fantasy was the first one you finished?
FF1

Did you explore more of the series afterwards?
It was the GBA remake that came with FF2 on the same cart so I booted that up next.

Which Final Fantasy carries the most weight in your mind(or lives there rent free)?
Oof... I'm not gonna make any friends with this, but I don't actually like Final Fantasy. I've played 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, & 10 and I only really enjoyed 1 & 4, so those are the ones that have stuck with me, though still don't think they're particularly good. That's when I realized I wasn't an FF fan, I just played them because I had time, and why I slept on 14 until some friends pulled me in (and I'm glad they did).

Care to just gush about your favorite Final Fantasy moments over the years?
Time for a blast from the past: Final Fantasy A+!!
https://youtu.be/mIcB7xJMf-o

[Vyrerus]

What was your first Final Fantasy?
FF1

Which Final Fantasy was the first one you finished?
FF1

Did you explore more of the series afterwards?
It was the GBA remake that came with FF2 on the same cart so I booted that up next.

Which Final Fantasy carries the most weight in your mind(or lives there rent free)?
Oof... I'm not gonna make any friends with this, but I don't actually like Final Fantasy. I've played 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, & 10 and I only really enjoyed 1 & 4, so those one stuck with me, though still don't think they're particularly good. That's when I realized I wasn't an FF fan, I just played them because I had time, and why I slept on 14 until some friends pulled me in (and I'm glad they did).

Care to just gush about your favorite Final Fantasy moments over the years?
Time for a blast from the past: Final Fantasy A+!!
https://youtu.be/mIcB7xJMf-o

Strange, truly, but the honesty is admirable!

[SugarPuff]

What was your first Final Fantasy?

The first one. I was a teenager and my memories are centered around sharing the game system with my parents and younger siblings. Back then if you couldn't figure something out you were just stuck at that point until you did, and I vaguely recollect wandering around the same little area forever because I missed or forgot a simple instruction.

Which Final Fantasy was the first one you finished?

The first one. Up until that point The Legend Of Zelda was the only game I'd ever finished or taken much interest in, and with Final Fantasy came the realization that maybe there were even more of that type on the way.

Did you explore more of the series afterwards?

I believe I played all of them within a couple years of when they came out but there could be one of two titles I missed. It's been a long time.

Which Final Fantasy carries the most weight in your mind(or lives there rent free)?

With the exception of eleven, fifteen, and tactics, they're all jumbled up together in my mind under the heading "Final Fantasy".

Care to just gush about your favorite Final Fantasy moments over the years?

The words "Final Fantasy" conjure various images and memories - A little glowing tent - that mantra of not yet, not yet, not yet as I run to a save spot, hoping not to trigger a battle on the way - searching for Namingway because I can't go a day more without creating my fellowship of the ring (or whatever I was currently reading) themed crew - hours spent wandering and fighting, collecting spells for my wild boy - starting out as SeeD, being in awe of the scope of the game and how much there was to learn - the surprise, indignation and sadness that came with the experience of having one of "my" characters taken away and sacrificed for the story - chocobos

[Deceptus]

Fun yet frustrating. There is so much to love about this game but it is constantly held back by terrible game systems and stubborn developers who are slow (sometimes never) to change their minds when presented with contradictory evidence and criticism.

[Enla]

What was your first Final Fantasy?
FF7, I watched my dad play it for awhile and then we'd trade off on who was holding the controller. My dad however couldn't wait to see the ending and finished the game without me one night while I was in bed asleep. Still salty with him over that!

Which Final Fantasy was the first one you finished?
FF7 I want to say? Or was it FF8? It's been awhile but since my dad beat FF7 without me I don't really count that first exposure as the first time I beat a game in this series. I did go back and beat them on my own later but I can't for the life of me remember which of the two I beat first. Or if they weren't even the first ones that I beat. I was fairly young so my memory is a touch fuzzy in regards to that time period.

Did you explore more of the series afterwards?
Not immediately afterwards. I shelved the games for awhile until I visited a friend who showed me their copy of FF9. I was immediately hooked right back into the series then and there, and went on to purchase Anthologies for the PS1 a bit after that so I could at least experience FF5 and FF6. With FF6 going on to become my favorite game in the series. After that I slowly collected most of the games that came out with the exception of FF11 as I wasn't interested in MMOs at the time and far to shy to even consider them even if had any interest to begin with. The other exceptions are the FF13 spin-offs as I absolutely despised the original game and couldn't force myself to finish it and FF15. FF15 was a game I was interested in, but seeing it's story sold piecemeal by Square Enix turned me off of the project entirely. That sort of practice was already a huge bugbear for me and given how keen SE was to chop up experiences back then I didn't want to put money down and reward what I saw as harmful corporate behavior. Now that the entire game is out and some of the story was cut woefully short by their stupid practices, I feel somewhat vindicated in my stance not to buy it back then. However if it ever goes on a deep sale I'll probably pick it up. As shady practices aside, I have heard good things about the story.

The only mainline other FF titles I haven't played yet are FF1, FF2, and FF3. I went back and played the DS port of FF4 but it didn't really leave an impression on me. I'll probably give it another go sometime in the future. I watched a friend stream the first three however, and I don't really have any interest in picking them up. Especially FF3 after watching said friend's run of the game and the sheer grind he had to put up with.

Which Final Fantasy carries the most weight in your mind(or lives there rent free)?
FF9. It stumbles in a few places but it had a huge impact on me as a child, and even today. Recently I'd say Shadowbringers has come from nowhere to steal the #2 spot. However I don't think anything will ever dethrone FF9. The themes it explores are far too poignant for my own personal psyche and experiences, and thus it holds a special place in my heart.

Care to just gush about your favorite Final Fantasy moments over the years?
It's through this series that I've been able to make some of my greatest and longest lasting friends and I owe it the world for that alone. I'm not sure what kind of person I'd be without this series and it's influence on my life, and it's useless to speculate either way, but I'll always be grateful to it for introducing me to so many wonderful people who share a similar passion for it.