I think the setting and characters are too bland, the world/character/whatever design is (again only my opinion) mediocre at the best of times. The battle system is...I don't even want to mention it, I think it's that bad.

If I play a Final Fantasy I want to play it for the over-the-top fantasy (heyo) settings that make no sense, if I want realism I play different games.
I thought that title would be the end of the franchise when it released...which kind of happened, with XIII (1 to 3) and XV being bad games that have no right to carry the Final Fantasy name. At least FF XVI seems promising.

But in a way I'm glad that quite a lot of people liked XII. Otherwise we maybe wouldn't see new entries to the series...and I wouldn't have new games to bitch about. :P *please FF XVI, be a good game*

Next unpopular opinion, the FF VII remak...I mean cash grabs are trash as well...I'll see myself out now. :P

That is supposed to be DQ11. Unless the somebody can read Kanji and understand Japanese and is setting up a Japan region box DQ 10 is going to be impossible. So yes, late night typo DQ 10 is supposed to read DQ 11.



And yes, DS/3DS I should have been more specific on that.

There's only one thing one could say about FF X:
HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA

Do not forget the awesome japanese dub.

Play Final Fantasy 4 and 6. Those are the real classics.

No, don't skip FF5. That is the best one, much better than either of its neighbors.

I second this. Final Fantasy V is great. It doesn't have the melodrama or absurdity of either games, and in fact lampoons many of the tropes of JRPGs. It also has a nice systemic depth that doesn't take forever to unlock, with plenty of room to experiment, and little to no penalty for switching it up.

For me you got valid points, even If I disagree in some of them. haha
(Agreed with you in the XII remake. Maybe many hardcore XII fans also think like us, actually..)

Best FF game is Lost Odyssey.

I found 12 to be the best one (though 7 and 8 come very close). Did you play the original or the Zodiac Age? The combat and gameplay feel pretty fresh, but the characters were indeed not that great or memorable.

The worst one in my opinion is 13, hands down. I've had my save file for years and come back to it sometimes, but I just can't slog myself through the final few chapters. Great soundtrack, cutscenes and visuals, but everything else is just a corridor fest.

I've played (and finished) all the Final Fantasies 1-8 (including the Japanese versions which were (fan) translated to English), except the Mystic Quest.

So should I still play FF9 and stop there?

I wasn't familiar with Japanese RPGs before these, so yeah they were quite a bit different experience compared to what I was used to with western CRPGs. I think they were overall ok, even though I couldn't quite understand why in FF7 and 8:

- the story was made so... oddly "complicated"

- why Squaresoft felt they need to reinvent the magic system in each (later) FF game.

Anyway, ever since PS2 became a thing, I think kids rather play GTA-clones than FF-clones, so that is probably why the FF series has mostly become irrelevant, at least in the western world.

I remember reading somewhere, and I can't remember where and haven't been able to find it since so take this with a grain of salt, but I remember one of the VAs mentioning for 10 that they were intentionally told to mimic the Japanese voice inflections (regardless of context of scene/language) by a Japanese vocal director, and that was the cause of a lot of weird dialogue awkwardness in the game. The cast itself all seem like they have some form of genuine social issues and everything comes off as weird even if I enjoy some aspects of the game.

I really enjoy FF1-9 well enough, though. 10 was never my thing, and I never really got into the later games. I tried 13 but large chunks of its plot and writing were somehow worse than 10 to me. 14 (yeah, I know, it's an MMO) is probably the best written FF since 9, and its a shame its story is locked behind a monthly sub and other MMO issues. XV has some things I like but you can tell it is incredibly unfinished despite the total dev time.

Starting point, I'd say the SNES games or 9 are good games to start with. I'm not the biggest fan of 4 (I actually like 1-3 more despite them being NES games), but 5 and 6 were good fun. Currently replaying 5 and I really enjoy the implementation of the job system now that I understand it better than when I was 12.

I enjoy 7 and 8 in a "trashy 90s anime" kind of way at this point in my life, but I could get how people would have rough times with them. 8's OST is probably my favorite in the series even if it's a pretty weird game otherwise.

I would avoid 2 unless you know you're a fan of the SaGa series, as its a bit of a prototype of those games. It's a very ambitious and very experimental JRPG for the time that has a lot of cool ideas really poorly implemented. Also, if you're playing 3's remake, I would really recommend the PSP version over others. The PC versions of a lot of the early FFs have various issues unless you mod them (for the ones that can be), so I'd also say "alternative methods" would be better for playing them.

If we're talking old-school FF games (up to end of OG Playstation era) - FF5,6,7,9 are where it's at for me.

In particular, FF6+7 are my favorites up to the OG Playstation era.

100% truth. It's a shame they reserved some of the best "1000 years of dreams" stories to the Japanese release only. I had to region change my Xbox to get them (even though they were free).

FF games are more about evoking emotions than telling a story/narrative. You're supposed to FEEL rather than THINK when you play FF 10. When you play the HD version it's also a beautiful game to look at so there is that.

As Bruce Lee said: Don't think, FEEL!