Final Fantasy NES - Played this one many many years ago when it was first released. Eleven year old Exhuminator got his ass kicked by some kinda mindflayer looking wizard in a marsh cave, never played it again after that. Probably a good game though, I just wasn't up to snuff at that time. Also having played
Phantasy Star on Master System first I wasn't all that impressed with this back then. Not saying it's a bad game mind.
Final Fantasy IV SNES - Played this one in middle school, and enjoyed it quite a bit. Made it to the Moon, but that was as far as I made it. Not because I sucked, but because the kid that let me borrow the game, he made me give it back before I beat it before he could. I want to replay this someday but I'm torn between the DS and PSP remakes?
Final Fantasy V SNES - Beat this one. Severely overrated and is not as good as
IV. Starts out alright but loses steam over time and the plot somehow manages to get more and more bland as it goes. The final boss was boring and too hard. The revamped job system was OK I guess. I don't understand the love for this one when the game preceding and the game after are both clearly superior.
Final Fantasy VI SNES - God tier 2D greatness. Beats the bloody snot bubbles out of
V. I bought this one release day after mowing many lawns to afford its initial release. The game cost me $75 new and who knows what that is today with inflation accounted for. I LOVED THIS GAME... it is amazing we all know that. My greatest gaming shame is that I have never beat it. Why? Because I was 80% of the way through it and some shitbag stole it from me. Yep. I have however watched someone else play through the end and have seen the epic ending. I'll replay this someday. Gotta pile drive that ghost train. Best OST in the series.
Final Fantasy VII PS1 - Beat this one. I played this many years after it was released and thus I wasn't enthralled by what would have been great aesthetics at the time. I greatly enjoyed the initial Midgar section of this game. It was tightly designed, well scripted, and the environment layouts felt purposeful. However, once I left Midgar, I started to not enjoy the game as much. I guess because it fell more into classic fantasy tropes after that. Midgar was all steampunk and metal and I preferred that over the organic and crystal rest of the game.
VII is a pretty good game, mostly a fun time, but it marked the true beginning of the ridiculous melodramatics that plagued a few
FF games afterwards. I did not care at all when Aerith died. From a historical aspect, I give this one credit for implementing FMV and polygons very well right off the bat.
Final Fantasy IX PS1 - Beat this one. Nice graphics, shit tier character designs. Long loading times and excruciatingly slow battle animations. Starts off pretty fun but as a I said earlier, once Sakaguchi left poor Ito couldn't keep this mess together and the game went to pot. I am baffled how anyone who has played great JRPGs can think this one is actually good. Unless they only played the first 35% of
FFIX, then I guess it makes sense. Worst last boss in the series that I've experienced.
Final Fantasy X PS2 - Mixed feelings. Great graphics, pretty cool battle system. I made it about halfway but I quit in annoyance. My main issue is Titus is a terrible protagonist I could not relate to, coupled with the worst plot of any
FF game I've played. I mean you're an underwater soccer jock from the future trying to stop his alcoholic dad who has become the ultimate evil from tidal waving the planet to death. (Yes I get that this was a metaphor but it's still retarded.) I also found the Bahamut temples incredibly tedious and overly simplistic. That said I might give this one another chance someday just 'cause some of the bosses are rad. It was a powerhouse starter game for the PS2 though, I give it that.
Final Fantasy XII PS2 - Beat this one. Holy mother of god and all things awesome did I love this game. Like, 109 hours of my life spent on it loved it.
XII is radically different from all previous
FF games and is the better game for it. The battle system is utter genius and people who say its boring never fought the truly hard bosses that require perfect strategy. Loved the massive sense of exploration and filling out all the maps. HUGE HUGE world filled with things to see and do. Astounding graphics and OST. Balthier and Fran are the best characters in the entire franchise. Oh how I wish wish wish I could have an HD remake of the International Version on Vita.
FFXII is mana from gaming heaven. Your party should always consist of Balthier, Fran, and Ashe as god intended.
Final Fantasy: Crisis Core PSP - Beat this one. As a prequel to
FFVII this game is pretty good. Yes the side quests are boring and suck. Stick to the main game though and you'll have a fun time. Really trippy battle system that's less luck driven then most people think. Excellent graphics, nice OST, a good sense of humor and as good a tear jerker ending in any game I've seen. (Seriously the ending is astounding and unexpected in its gravitas.) I enjoyed this one more than
FFVII to be honest. Although it was cool to see how Cloud came to be who he was. Zack is the true boss though, a man's man in the modern androgynous muh feelin's ladyboy JRPG world.
And those are all the
Final Fantasy games I've actually put real time into. If I didn't list a particular game in the series that simply means I haven't personally played it yet. Also I did not list spin offs such as
Tactics or
Mystic Quest and such. Just trying to focus on the mainline series here. (Though I beat
Tactics on PS1 and it was amazing and awesome. If you don't love that one blame yourself or god...)
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