[V2] Best Final Fantasy Game?

[Fleur]

With Final Fantasy XIII-2 being the newest member of the family, let's begin the thread and poll again just to give the newcomer a fair fighting chance.

Tell us which game you think is the best Final Fantasy installment. Be aware that you are required to provide reasons for voting, and that simple responses such as "FFX!" or "Simple. FFVII!" are discouraged and will be deleted as spam. Simply tell us which game you think is the best FF game, what you liked about it, and why this game is the best in the series, etc.

Previous thread can be found here.

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Just to start it off, Final Fantasy VI is still the strongest in the series for me. It still encapsulates the pinnacle of the series for me. I found its story a lot more touching than the melodrama of later installments, and I've not found pacing to be a problem. FFVI demonstrates just how awesome the SNES was back in the day, and what a resourceful developer can do when the era of flashy graphics and making things as showy as possible hadn't yet arrived.

Final Fantasy IX comes very close too, as the strongest of the PS1 generation of Final Fantasy. Like FFVI, it encapsulates nearly everything that is/had been good about the franchise, though occasionally let down by its pacing and frustrating sluggish battles.

[Lirael]

I find it very hard to choose between VIII, X and XIII-2. They're all very different games, products of their age, with inidividual battle systems that work extremely well. Their stories and the characters whom lead each indivudual plot share a certain charm.

I didn't like Final Fantasy VIII at first, but the story and characters soon drew me in. Although I had originally purchased the game for the SquallxRinoa sidestory, the conflicts presented throughout the plot were clever and exciting. I now feel Edea's character is incredibly strong - and I have always been fond of Laguna! Laguna's story created variety and intrigue. The battle system was less exciting, but I had no problem with the drawing system, enjoyed using GFs and found the system understandable. It permitted some strategy and I found the system by which enemies level up with your party to be advantageous.



I fell in love with Final Fantasy X the first time I played it. The scene of Yuna and her Guardians sitting by the fire as To Zanarkand played in the background was poignant and is one I won't forget. The story was everything I could hope a story to be - bittersweet. It was about the relationships between people, loyalty and selflessness. The story was hopeful, melancholy, thought provoking, reflective.

The characters were (for the most part) strong. Although many question the importance of Khimari, I found him to be intriguing. He was reserved and quiet, yes, and a little cautious of strangers, but he was loyal to those whom he cared about and determined to protect them too. He opened up gradually through the game, still remaining a little mysterious - he didn't undergo any dramatic change, but that was more realistic as people don't heal from painful experiences THAT quickly.

Having completed the game, I prefer the Sphere Grid and turn based battle system in X to the levelling up and battle system in any other RPG game I've played and would love to see it implemented more. I felt suitably able to customise my characters and felt more satisfied with my performance in boss battles - I hadn't previously used defensive strategies at all, but choosing Haste and 'Items' presented me with further options and turns. It was also handy being able to swap characters mid battle without losing a turn!



XIII-2's story was short but sweet. Serah and Noel were both strong leads and the dynamics between them were a lot better than I had expected. I had feared two main characters wouldn't carry the story, but these two certainly did. The plot explored their relationships with Lightning, Caius and Yuel, all of whom were believable figures. Yuel and Caius in particular struck me - at first, they had had little presence, but in Chapters 4 and 5, their role became important. Everything unfolded; the story about the lives of these characters was heartbreaking.

I am one of few who really like the Paradigm system. It's a faster way of dealing with offensive, defensive, strategic decisions. I consider Paradigm shifts to be similar to selecting 'Attack,' 'Magic' or 'Item.' One Paradigm shift can change the outcome of battle - debuffs can make the battle end more quickly, Combat Clinic can save your party on the brink of death, avoiding the defensive Tortoise can lead to sudden death when bosses execute their most powerful attack. It's not just about mashing the A button. The game can be as easy or difficult as you want it to be. Who here has set themselves the challenge of getting 5 stars for every battle?

XIII-2's music was a mixed bag, but some of the pieces were certainly beautiful and most of them were suitable in context.

[charliepanayi]

Although FFIX runs it very close, my favourite is FFVIII. I pretty much fell in love with it the moment I saw the jaw-dropping opening sequence with Liberi Fatali playing (the music in the game is especially good). And though I know it's maybe the most 'love it or hate it' game of the series, the plotline and the characters reeled me in. Probably the thing that sealed its status for me as my favourite is the ending, which I never tire of seeing.

I do think all three PS1 games are genius anyway.

[Grimer]

i would have to say VI. It has my second favorite story(behind X) but has less linearity, alot of character growth, an amazing soundtrack, and an awesome villian. It isnt the best in each of these areas besides maybe villian, but it feels like the most complete game. sometimes i think X is better depending on my mood, but most of the time im siding with VI

[Sheechiibii]

Ahhh, I didn't want to choose between VIII, IX and X. But since I had to I went with X, really hard decision though, those three are amazing and I frequently replay them all

But Tidus is from X and he's my favourite character in FF, also I love the world of Spira and I think X has the best storyline...so my vote goes to X.

Xx..xX

[brachester]

It's hard to judge the "best" final fantasy but since I play these kinda games for the story, I would go for VIII since it has a very strong narrative

[Dr. King Schultz]

IX is the best FF game to me. It is the only FF game I have not grown sick of over the years and can still play and have fun with. I love the story and the characters the most, I find it really charming and engaging. Almost all the characters are really loveable and have a great story behind them.

I also really enjoy the music in the game, I'm not really big on game music and never pay attention to it but in this one instance I do. The medieval settings is really charming and the battle system is a lot of fun too.

Overall I just really love this game.

[Bugs Bunny]

Favorite??? FFIV or tactics...and since tactics isn't on the list...I will go with Tactics

Amazing gameplay, amazing story, everything about it is amazing, and besides all that, Delita is one of the best characters in a FF game

[eartianwerewolf]

Okay so I will admit that I have only played 7 and 9. I have all the Playstation final fantasy games , 1-9, except for 3 , which I have on my ipad, so I plan on playing them all in the next year or so.

I watched my best friend play 9 and then just recently played it myself. Then after I played 9 I moved on to 7. I really expected a lot more out of 7 than what I got. People go on about 7 like and I can understand how it would be liked by people, but ...its 'awesomeness' seems bloated by people. Maybe what they added to it has made the setting/game more interesting? Maybe the other games have included more and built on what was already there? I feel like there are good ideas in 7 but they just don't get developed as well as in 9.

I feel like 7 was kind of like a bridge between old and new, so they hadn't quite perfected the form yet, but they just got better with 9.

So basically this is a comparison I am doing ;3. The characters in 9 are more developed so you can take a larger interest in them. 7 does dedicate some time to its characters, but not enough; I don't really feel like I know Aeris or Tifa at all. Whereas in 9 you really get to know more about each character and their motives.

Especially Kuja. Sephiroth sounds intimidating, but that's about all he does. Look intimidating. His reasoning is not very clear, and maybe the other Final fantasy 7 games clear some of that up and delve into it more. Maybe people like things being so mysterious..but with Kuja his motives made sense by the end and he was constantly doing things- causing war for heaven's sake. You do chase after Kuja like you do Sephiroth, but to me it didn't feel monotonous because you were figuring out things about the rest of the characters.

I do think 7 did set upthe model for 9, though definitely because you do get peeks of the characters as you go around, it just doesn't feel like enough...but 9 has more cutscenes and basically a whole other disk of such.

Maybe I just like fantasy more than technological. I really hate all the robots you have to fight in 7, honestly. I am also more of a fan of more cinematic games and not so good at exploring, where 7 you get to explore more, so I can understand people liking 7 more for that.

Also 7 didn't have much good music, in my opinon. 9 was covered with it. I think the only song I really remember from 7 is Red XIII's home at Cosmo Canyon. Some of the music was even grating to me and i had to mute it...9 has a better vilian theme even.

Okay so now I have to admit I haven't beaten 7. I don't think anyone is very difficult except for Sephritoh and the end..and I hate waiting through a minute long cut scene naming all the planets....repeatedly. I didn't do much side stuff so I figured out I missed a lot in this game. Maybe I should have slowed down and did more side stuff and take my time and I would have liked this better...9 felt easy to zip through, though. Yes, I even missed meeting Vincent and Yuffie.

Anyway, 9 has my vote so far ;3.

Anyway, I want to know ya'lls opinions. I heard FF6 is really awesome too so after I play Xenogears I may go onto that one.

[Alak]

I don't like using the word "best" since there's a long list of great, timeless FF games. I just voted based on favorites. 4 and 7 are easily my top two and if I could vote for more than one game it'd go to those. However, that wasn't possible so I went with 7.

I immensely enjoyed its story mostly because of the cast. It was varied, a bit weird, but it certainly drew me in. The setting was more modern than the typical medieval games, but it still was fantastical enough to spur the imagination. It wasn't futuristic to the point where you'd pull it out of the fantasy genre and into the sci-fi genre. I loved the complexity of the protagonist, and as I've said in another thread, I find Cloud to arguably be the most complex of all FF protagonists. I love the transition from the urban Midgar to the more rural world map. Icicle Inn and Wutai were great changes in scenery. Mini-games and the chance to replay mini-games were certainly welcomed. To me, this game had the best version of Chocobo racing. The side-quests were really fun and I like how there were optional characters and paths. The music is one of my favorites in the franchise. The boss fights were terrific. There was just so much that I loved in FF7.

With that being said, I found the original Advent Children to be disappointing. Dirge of Cerberus was even worse. The Before Crisis game looked pretty good from the Youtube videos I've seen. I thought Crisis Core was above-average, although, I hated the retcons it gave us. Advent Children: Complete was really enjoyable. I've never tried that snowboarding game, but I can't imagine why anyone would buy that. It's funny how Square-Enix pretends that Last Order never existed in the canon timeline. I don't want them to develop a remake for FF7 because based on the changes and additions thus far, I have a really bad feeling that it'll go badly. I also hate how FF7 has "fans" who hail it as the best FF game ever when they've never even touched it. Just because you've seen the pretty graphics from Advent Children doesn't mean you can speak on behalf of FF7. I feel that it is because of everything I've described, FF7 has received the amount of hate that it currently holds. Ironically enough, a lot of the haters haven't even played the game.

TL;DR - I love FF7 and it still remains as my favorite in the franchise. As for the rest of the compilation, I have very mixed feelings for it.