As I have mentioned in “Why I Prefer Turn-Based JRPGs” and “Is the PC a Good Platform for Japanese Games?“, I am a massive fan of Final Fantasy. I thought a nice way to discuss this series would be to rank the main Final Fantasy games that I have played and completed. That means no spin-offs will be ranked here and it also means that I will be excluding Final Fantasy II, XI and XIV as I have not completed them. Therefore there will be 12 entries on this list. Also a reminder that this list represents my personal opinions and that this list is meant to be in no way definitive. Let’s dig in!
12. Final Fantasy III
To clarify, I am talking about the game that came out in 1990, not Final Fantasy VI which was originally released in America as Final Fantasy III. It’s not that I hate Final Fantasy III, but I remember finding the game excessively grindy and the plot paper thin. It was a very important game in the franchise, introducing the Job system that would go on to define many other games in the genre as well as several other entries in Final Fantasy and introducing summoning which would become a staple of Final Fantasy games. However, I feel that time has not been kind to this particular entry.
11. Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy XII has always represented a troubling entry to me. On one hand, I enjoy the Gambit system (a system that lets you code your characters to respond to situations in a particular manner) and the soundtrack. On the other hand, I find the characters bland and the story strangely detached from the main cast. While The Zodiac Age (a remaster) improved the graphics, introduced many improvements such as a better licence board system (the way you develop your characters) and introduced a fast forward feature to speed up battles, I still don’t particularly enjoy this entry.
10. Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy V is basically an improved Final Fantasy III. With a better cast and story than III (although still rather typical), Final Fantasy V also saw a dramatic improvement to the Job system that allowed you to set an ability from one class to another. This has inspired a fund-raising event called “Final Fantasy Five Four Job Fiesta” which sees you randomly assigned 4 jobs and you have to complete the game using only those jobs. While this system is quite entertaining, I still found it heavily reliant on grinding.
9. Final Fantasy I
Some may find my placement of this entry so high hypocritical. More so than the previous entries, the main characters literally have no characterization and the game relies very heavily on grinding. Despite this, I found the story more entertaining than the previous entries with an excellent twist both at the beginning and end of the game.
8. Final Fantasy XV
The most recent entry on this list, Final Fantasy XV introduced a real-time combat system and an enjoyable main cast of characters. The graphics are superb (although I do wish the art style was more colourful) and the story is quite engaging. Despite this, I think that the vast majority of side-quests in Final Fantasy XV are dreadful and found the southern US style fantasy world less engaging than previous entries. To top it all off, I found the new combat system to be lacking the strategy that I craved in previous entries along with possibly the worst magic system in the series.
7. Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy VIII is a very unusual entry in the Final Fantasy series. To start, it has an engaging cast of characters, quite possibly the best soundtrack of any Final Fantasy and a strong story (although the story can be quite uneven at points). However, the attempt to create realistic graphics on the PS1 means that the art style struggles to hold up by today’s standard, leading to a delay of efforts to port it to other platforms until the recent messy remaster. Alongside that, leveling your characters actually becomes a hindrance in Final Fantasy VIII since the majority of enemies level up with you. Instead, to develop your characters, you have to make use of the Junction system which sees your characters draining spells from enemies and using them to increase their stats. This discourages you from using many of your best spells as they are what are propping up your stats and can cause bizarre difficulty curves throughout the game.
Be sure to check out the conclusion of this list in “My Ranking of the Main Final Fantasy Games Part 2“.
Thanks for reading and if you wish to seek any of the titles I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs! Also feel free to follow my curator page on Steam “JRPG Reviews” for thoughts and opinions on any JRPGs that I play and my YouTube channel “Victory Achieved Gaming” where I guide my friend through challenging games.