Ranking the Final Fantasy Series: From Worst to Best

Justin from Controller Crusade writes:
"To celebrate the North American release of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, I thought that there was no better time to take a look back at the entire Final Fantasy series. Square’s seminal RPG series has seen it’s ups and downs, but just how much variance is there between each title?

First, some rules. In this particular list, I’m only going to be ranking the numbered Final Fantasy games. That means no spinoffs such as Final Fantasy Tactics or Mystic Quest. I also will not be looking at any direct sequels, such as Final Fantasy X-2 or Final Fantasy XIII-2. Finally, I will be excluding the MMORPG’s from this list. They’re a different style of game from traditional Final Fantasy, and I’ve never been interested in any sort of MMO, and as such I have never played either of the FF MMOs and therefore cannot rank them.

Excluding Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV, this leaves 12 mainline games to rank, and I’ll be going from what I feel is the worst game to what I feel is the best. I’m trying to stay as objective as a personal opinion can be. While normally I would rank the games differently based on nostalgia and personal emotions, I’m trying my best to rank the games based on how good they are as actual games, independent of whatever memories I may have for each title."

[Geobros]

Its rare to see FF VI in a better position than FF VII. Anyway, I liked more FF VI even if it was a 2D jrpg.

[izumo_lee]

FF VI overall is a better game than FF VII from character development & story wise. FF VII is without argument the most popular of the series cause it is the one that mainstreamed the franchise.

[goldwyncq]

Gotta disagree with you on the character development part. Out of FFVI's 14 playable characters, only 5-6 had any meaningful character development. The party members, save a few of them, rarely even interacted with each other. Compare that with FFVII, where you get to know each of your party member in great detail throughout the game, instead of just having short side quests assigned to them late game.

[Eamon]

Hugely disagree. The mere fact that SNES cartridges were so limited in space disallowed long-length dialogue. FFVI's character development was great for its small capacity space, but because FFVII was on 3 CDs it had all the space it needed for fleshed out dialogue which is the crux of character development.

[pivotplease]

For me FFVII almost had a great story and then about 3/4's of the way through it just became convoluted and destroyed its potential. That and the characters outside of Cloud weren't all that fleshed out. FFIX did dialogue and character development best I think. VI was amazing for its story and scope (especially for its time). It also had the best villain. Sephiroth looks cooler than Kefka and gives you the illusion of something philosophically meaningful, but he's no different from the others. That poisoned water scene is the most gutless thing I've seen an FF villain do.

[GameSpawn]

Ranking them for myself I don't like to lump together the 2D (or pseudo-3D Tactics) games with the 3D ones because it doesn't seem like a level playing field. I like to keep the old school games together and rank all the newer ones against each other.

Personally my list (best to worst - some games are interchangeable because they're about equal):
3D era
1) FFXII (I had the most fun with the battle system despite the weak story with Vaan and Penelo)
2) FFX and FFX-2 (X-2 is only being included because of the continuation of the story; compared to XII I didn't enjoy the system quite as much with X & X-2, but the story and characters were definitely better)
3) FFVIII & FFIX (Again it comes down to system and story, I liked VIII's story but IX's system)
4) FFVII (Sorry to the die hard, this is further down my list because I had a bear of a time getting used to the Materia system after having played VIII and IX)
5) FFXIII (XIII while fun for a bit became a real grind and the story seemed to really fall apart half way through)
-) Not worth mentioning: XIII-2 and Lightning returns. I played demos of both and after XIII quickly realized they both were not for me. Atrocious, just atrocious. That's all I can say.

2D era (It's been a while, but I'll try here)
1) FFVI (I'll agree with the majority on this one the story and battle system were great)
2) FFIV (Story was good, but the battle system wasn't as great as FFVI's)
3) FFV (Story and system fell short to IV and VI, still an OK game though)
-) FFI, FFII, FFIII, and Tactics I cannot rank, because I cannot remember enough of I, II, and Tactics to make a good ranking and III was never localized until the 3DS and PSP remake - neither of which I got.

Honorable mentions (yeah they're not Final Fantasy, but they might as well be - at least they're still Square):
Chrono Cross and Chrono Trigger - AMAZING games, epecially Chrono Cross. Both have a great story and great battle systems, though Cross definitely had the most colorful characters.

[NoctisPendragon]

FF IX can't be under N°2 .... :( .

[Hellsvacancy]

8 is my personal favourite, more for the happy memories, FF8 was one of my first rpgs I played, I don't think I left the house for 2 weeks

It was brought for me as birthday gift, I remember opening it thinking *what the hell is this crap* I almost didn't play it

Soooooooo glad I did, awesome game, I'd play it again if there was a HD version, I've got the Steam version, other than the character models the rest looks like poop, the background is all jaggy

[pivotplease]

It's one of my least favourites like 2, but I think it deserved to be higher on the list. It's really unorthodox but I enjoyed it almost as much as 7 and 9. I would have placed 12 and 13 all a bit lower and 1 and 8 a bit higher. 3, while pretty solid, almost felt like it was lacking a soul and I would consider putting that one lower as well.

12 and 13 especially are perfect examples of how to take a compelling world and do absolutely nothing with it. The stories both felt pointless and overly simple and the characters were mostly unlikeable (minus Balthier who could still be painfully mechanical). That and the automated battle systems. One makes you press X repeatedly to auto-chain and the other lets you pre-program your battle preferences to the point where the battles become a boring movie.

[Pathogenic]

Eight was my favorite game, it had a great storyline and the character development was really good. Also the leap in graphics also made for better visuals as well. Eight will always be my favorite Final Fantasy game when I was growing up.

Final Fantasy 7 was the game that got my attention and I enjoyed the hell out of it. It introduced me to JRPG and until this day it remains as a masterpiece in my heart. But it is not the best Final Fantasy game I ever played.

[Hellsvacancy]

You forgot about the music maaaaaaan, just listening to the Balamb Garden theme takes me back to when I was a young teenager, in my bedroom with my pet Tarantula and my cool lava lamp, I didn't smoke in those days, I could enjoy things without the need to be high

[salazarnaruto52]

Final Fantasy IX is the best

[Ristul]

I love FFVI, it's a true masterpiece... aaaah, the good old SNES days.

[Why o why]

Unfortunately I've not played them all to be able to grade them. 7 was my first and I don't think I'm alone there.

[ninsigma]

I really didn't like 12, so I'm surprised to see it mid list, though admittedly, I haven't played all the games. VII is my favorite FF and one of my all time favorite games ever. Didn't really like VIII, thought it was boring. IX was really cool and X was a great new entry on a new system.

[Thryhring]

I'd put 12 near the top personally, it's easily one of my favorites in the series. 9, 6 and 12 are my top three I'd say

[ninsigma]

I just didn't like the direction or the characters. Just couldn't really get into it. 9 is awesome, I like that one but haven't played too much of 6 so I can't really say anything about it. I'd say 7 and 9 are my top 2. can't really pick a third. I hope 15 is a good one. I've been hyped for that game since it's first showing.

[pivotplease]

Even with the lack of character development, wholly unexplored characters, and generic imperialist villain controlled by generic omnipotent entity. I can look past the battle system that fights for itself, the lack of npcs that can be communicated with, and the lack of sidequests, but the characters and story are some of the worst I've seen. The huge lack of FMVs was also disheartening. I think that X deserves to be higher on everyone's list despite its linearity.

Something about the "I'm so power-hungry I'm going to destroy everything" villain just doesn't cut it for me. And then there's Vaan, looking to claim the award for worst protagonist lol. Even Lightning was more interesting/likeable.

I apologize for ranting. I just hated the game so much. I'll let myself out.

[Thryhring]

B-b-but... that wasn't Vayne's motivation or goal at all :/ Vayne is, in fact, quite a human antagonist with human motivations. I wrote some more stuff here about Vayne and Venat but it was a bit spoiler-y so it was probably best to take it out. Oh wells.

I think 12 has a wonderful cast(especially its secondary characters, who outshine the secondary characters of pretty much every other FF game), a great story, the most detailed setting in the series outside the MMOs that's large and fun to explore

I'd also go so far as to call Vaan underrated. He's not a whiner like certain previous protagonists, is upbeat, serves an important function in the story serving both as a foil to Ashe's desire for revenge and as a storytelling mechanic allowing us to see Ivalice and the story through the eyes of a more normal, down to earth person.

I'm surprised at the "lack of npcs you can communicate with" and "lack of sidequests" comments though -- XII has more npcs you can talk to than any game in the series that isn't XI or XIV(and by virtue of XII's writing being a cut above the rest of the series doing so is actually enjoyable and adds a lot of flavor, not to mention dat wonderful voice acting). There's dozens in Rabanastre alone. And as for sidequests, even ignoring the hunts, rare game, and optional espers, there's the fishing and foot racing minigames and quite a lot of sidequests that just involve talking with npcs and exploring. There's just no quest log to keep track of them, and no "!" over npc heads to find them. You need to explore and talk to npcs to find them, and explore to solve them. There's the Viera in Rabanastre looking for love, the Viera looking to decide what to do with her life, the missing cockatrices in Giza Plains, the cactuar/patient in the Estersands sidequest, the Earth Tyrant/sandstorm quest in the Westersands, optional chops in Archades, the seven steward sisters sidequest onboard the airships.. and those are just some

And as for the combat system fighting for itself, that's entirely up to the player's prerogative which is what I love. It gives you so many options to play how YOU want to. Want the entire party controlled by AI with gambits? Want to control the entire party manually? Want to have two party members gambit-controlled, while you manually control the leader? Want to automate only healing, but choose attacks manually? You can do all of that. I greatly appreciate any game that gives you so many options to make it playable in the way you want it to be.

Not trying to convince anyone. I'm sure I wouldn't, even if I tried. Just giving my own opinions. I think more people should go back and give 12 a chance though. Personally it's pretty much everything I wanted in an FF game.

[goldwyncq]

Don't really get what's so special with FFVI's story, aside from that pivotal moment halfway through the game. Its your typical rebels vs the empire plot, spiced up with Final Fantasy's very own version of The Joker. FFIX, now that had an extraordinary story.

[pivotplease]

But he was like The Joker after The Joker became awesome (i.e. blowing peoples minds as well as the box office up). I also don't like the standard Empire vs. Rebels story (literally FFXII) but VI had some amazing scenes, character development, and layers to its plot. IX also had the layers and development and scenes though. That and the story artistically comes full circle, which I love. That game really stretched across every theme, genre, and subject that FF has to offer.

[TheLyonKing]

There is too much hate for 8 in the internet, its a fantasic game, the mechanics are a bit complex anad you can grind easily but the story and characters not to mention the surroundings the game takes place in is beautiful.

[chadwarden]

XIII is the best. umad? yeah umad.

[aDDicteD]

ff8 is a great ff game behind ff7, 6 and 10 in my opinion but on this list its under the list and ff13 is even on higher spot?... not a good list in my opinion.

[llazy77]

VI>IX>V>IV>XII> VII>VIII>III>I>II& gt;XIII

[Nerdmaster]

I agree with almost everything the author wrote about FFVIII, except this part: "with the only bright spot being Seifer". His "romantic dream" was laughable, and going against everyone because of his wish of being a Sorceress Knight wasn't believable at all. Quistis was the only good character in the main cast, and Laguna was also interesting if we consider people from the supporting cast.

[pivotplease]

Yeah the Laguna stuff blew my mind.

[Pathogenic]

How I would rank Final Fantasy from being a Playstation gamer since Final Fantasy 7, would be like this.

1-Final Fantasy 8
2-Final Fantasy 9
3-Final Fantasy 10
4-Final Fantasy 7
5-Final Fantasy 12
6-Final Fantasy 14 (MMO still has a storyline)
7-Final Fantasy X2
8-Final Fantasy 13-2

That is how I would rank the series as Playstation only owner for the Final Fantasy series. I did not play 11, because I only played it on Playstation.

Im not biased at all but I think it would be cool if people actually posted their ranking of FF games as well.

[ironfist92]

Is that ezio in the pic?

[sirultimos]

Hey, article author here.

One thing I find interesting is that noone ever defends Final Fantasy 2. I've seen people go crazy because their favorite game is too low (usually seems to be 8) or that a game they didn't like is too high (usually 13, sometimes 12) but never once have I seen anyone complain that FF2 is at the bottom, or offer any sort of defense of the game.