NationStates Jolt Archive

There have been a lot of final fantasy games, and all of them have been remembered as great titles. But which one do you, as individuals, think is the best?

And WHY?

My personal favourite is Final Fantasy 9. FF7 was the first I played, and will always have a special place in my heart, but i think for a lot of reasons FF9 was the best of the series, in fact the series founder agrees with me.

9 had a real sense of innocence to it; Cid is a Oglop, the second character you get is a cute little scarecrow, it had the knight who even clanged like a pile of pots when he ran, its protagonist was a monkeyboy and even featured a princess, essential to every innocent fairy tale. The graphics in the title didnt attempt so much at realism, and made the whole game feel more like a long storybook than the gritty movie 7 and 8 felt like before it. Furthermore, it had the most happy-storybook-innocent ending, with every loose end tied up and everyone living happily ever after... which some people would hold against it, but i felt it went perfectly with a game that tries to appeal to any audience.

9 also had what i felt was the best progression setup and character profession. The way a character permanently learned an ability from a weapon, but could only learn some abilities or only use some weapons i felt was a winning formula. It personalised them more than 7, 8 or 12, as in 7, 8 or 12 a character could be completely altered simply by switching their equipment / materia / magic. Of course the weapons synth system played into this as well, as synthed weapons sometimes had different abilities from the weapons being used in the synthesis. At the same time, the characters were still forced to their profession; steiner was always the heavy hitter, vivi was always the black mage etc, unlike in FF10 or FF12 where once a character learned the whole grid, they could do almost anything they wanted.

Another area in which 9 excelled is the character depth; I played 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10-2 and 12, and i found i didnt know any of the characters as well as i knew the characters from 9 by the end. Even before you are twenty minutes into it, youre starting to really know zidane and falling in love with vivi (this is proven when vivi is kidnapped, barely an hour in you still hate them for taking the innocent little vivi).

Lastly, there's the music. I feel 7 has the best music, from the battle theme to one winged angel, the sephiroth theme. But 9 did not lack in this field at all. Every track in the game matched its setting perfectly; Burmecia deep depressing minimalist theme in the wartorn city that always rains; the Black Mage Village, with its trippy keyboard work matching such a spun-out environment; the music on blue terra; the kuja theme; all of it. Meanwhile, Final Fantasy 12 lacked music in its cutscenes, and as such they had no sense of excitement or involvement, you just watched them happen.

So, Final Fantasy 9 is the game that I and the original founder both feel is the best of the series. Now what are yours, and why?

My absolute favorite was Final Fantasy 1.


Riddle me simple, but I've always loved that game. Every character had a nice, pre-defined role, and it was essentially the one game that opened the flood gates to most every other RPG games. (Note worthy exceptions include The Legend of Zelda, which came first iirc.)

The battle system was quite balanced and fair. The storyline was shallow at best, but I never felt it was meant to be very deep anyway as that can distract away from the battle system much like graphics can in newer games. The spells looked quite powerful and impressive, and the class change idea was another great idea.

The music I would consider almost unforgettable no matter how dated it might be. The sound of the random battles, or the music of fighting Chaos itself. Even the bosses had excellent fight themes, as did the various areas.


With the refinement of the game in Dawn of Souls, my love of the game only increased further when Square-Enix added 4 new dungeons that are still entertaining for me to this day.


It was a beautiful, simple game. And that simplicity is its strength. There is little that can truly top this original, I feel.

Final Fantasy VI. Why? Kefka. The early FF villails were all just things that did stuff. No personality. No character traits other than "Me bad. ME SMASH!!!!!" Sepheroth came off as some kind of momma's boy. X's Sin was less like an evil person and more like a natural disaster, like a hurricane or tornado.

Kefka and the heroes symbolised both sides of mankind. The heroes were brave and wlling to fight for what was right. Each had their own motivations. Terra spent most of her life as the empire's slave, unable even to think until she was freed. The samari dude saw his family, king, and countrymen die after Kefka personally poisoned the water supply. The others had motivations too, but I forgot them right now.

Kefka had NO motivations. He wanted power and would personally murder those he deemed in the way. Also, unlike almost every other villain in any game or book or show or whatever, Kefka SUCCEEDED. He found his power and literally reshaped the earth with it. He even murdered his superiors (he stabbed General Leo and threw the emperor off a cliff) BEFORE he became all-powerful. He wasn't some revenge-seeking lunatic. He was pure mad. And funny. His one-liners were actually funny.

Kefka rocks.

Final Fantasy 8. It was the first one I played, drawing me into the FF world forever. Although the junction system was a little stupid, it had an awesome plot, the characters were more real than what was seen in some of the games(such as the cartoonish type characters in FF9), the cut scenes were some of the best, the music was awesome, and above all, the main character's weapon is possibly the niftiest thing ever. Seriously, I wish I had a gunblade :D

That would be final fantasy null, which is the embodiment of all the ff games never made.

You want an RPG, then we should be talking Elder Scrolls. Freeform play forever!

That would be final fantasy null, which is the embodiment of all the ff games never made.

You want an RPG, then we should be talking Elder Scrolls. Freeform play forever!

Two totally separate styles. Moot point.

Elder Scrolls and the sort offer a very high degree of playability and customisation. Final Fantasy and the sort offer very engaging stories and well-thought characters that you can really get attached to. I can easily say that I didn't feel that sort of character attachment in the Baldur's Gate series (though the characters are memorable, to a point), or any Dungeons & Dragons game to date.

Though Final Fantasy is beginning to offer a high degree of customisation (I rather like the license board on FFXII), free-form play isn't quite there yet. So still, they're really two very different game types.

I can easily say that I didn't feel that sort of character attachment in the Baldur's Gate series (though the characters are memorable, to a point), or any Dungeons & Dragons game to date.

Excuse me but the Baldur's Gate series is the embodiment of extraordinary character development. Jon Irenicus is the most engaging evil character ever made, through out the game you get to learn every facet of his life, and are rewarded with more details of his life if you look extra hard for items.

Sorry for picking on that point but use an example other than Baldur's Gate 1 or 2. Like Wow or something.

Excuse me but the Baldur's Gate series is the embodiment of extraordinary character development. Jon Irenicus is the most engaging evil character ever made, through out the game you get to learn every facet of his life, and are rewarded with more details of his life if you look extra hard for items.

Sorry for picking on that point but use an example other than Baldur's Gate 1 or 2. Like Wow or something.

I'd agree, the characters in BG are outstanding.

Eight. Because it just is.

I genuinely prefer Western RPGs, mind. Baldur's Gate : Shadows of Amn being the best one. The Elder Scrolls series is pretty decent, if perhaps a little lacking in structure, I do, however, love the freedom of those games, although it's a shame that you can't smith your own items.

Riddle me simple, but I've always loved that game. Every character had a nice, pre-defined role, and it was essentially the one game that opened the flood gates to most every other RPG games. (Note worthy exceptions include The Legend of Zelda, which came first iirc.)

Pet Peeve - The Legend of Zelda is not an RPG. It is an adventure game. Also I am of the opinion that it was too open but that's completely off-topic.

Also Dragon Quest was the first great Eastern RPG. Then Final Fantasy and Phantasy Star came out at the same time.

Also I prefer Eastern RPGs to Western RPGs.

There have been a lot of final fantasy games, and all of them have been remembered as great titles

Except for XI.

One note to those who say we should be talking Baldur's Gate or Elder Scrolls if we're talking about rpgs, id like to catch you up on a matter of tradition and definition.

The original roleplay games weren't just fantasy games where you played the roles of elves or dwarves or orcs; theres more to an rpg than that. It's not even defined by the fact you could advance your character; these days you can make characters in Soul Calibur, but it certainly isnt an rpg. In fact arguably Baldur's Gate and, to a lesser extent elder scrolls, arent even rpgs, as the fact you can 'level up' or customise your character doesnt necessarily define it as one.

By definition and tradition, RPGs are turned-based. As such Baldur's Gate and Elder Scrolls arent necessarily rpgs, nor is Diablo or a great number of other games, in fact very few games have remained as traditionalist as final fantasy in this regard.

To be honest it's pretty much a toss-up between Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy VI.

VI was the first I ever played. It had everything I wanted in an RPG: great story, gameplay that was simple enough to be picked up on the go, but still allowed for great variation, dozens of summons. The big reason however was the characters, who, given the time of day, could've been given their own games. Kefka, by far, stands out here.

X was also great. The environment and setting were unique for a Final Fantasy game, and the characters were as unique as one would expect from an FF game. And...finally, we don't have a friggin' male lead who speaks mainly in elipses (Squall...Cloud...I'm looking at you two). Some of the spoken dialogue was a bit...off...it was the first time they've ever had voice actors, but it worked out pretty well.

tl;dr

The original roleplay games weren't just fantasy games where you played the roles of elves or dwarves or orcs; theres more to an rpg than that. It's not even defined by the fact you could advance your character; these days you can make characters in Soul Calibur, but it certainly isnt an rpg. In fact arguably Baldur's Gate and, to a lesser extent elder scrolls, arent even rpgs, as the fact you can 'level up' or customise your character doesnt necessarily define it as one.

By definition and tradition, RPGs are turned-based. As such Baldur's Gate and Elder Scrolls arent necessarily rpgs, nor is Diablo or a great number of other games, in fact very few games have remained as traditionalist as final fantasy in this regard.

You're confusing Action-adventures, RPGs and Action-RPGs. Baldur's Gate and the Elder Scrolls series are RPGs. Also the only reason RPGs are traditionally turn-based is due to hardware limitations.