Rankings of Final Fantasy games

I saw this when scouting out articles for the weekly roundup, which I'm working on now. I didn't think it was worth putting in the top three stories of the week, but I thought it might be worth sharing here.

Kotaku's Jason Schreier has ranked the main titles of the Final Fantasy series in order from best to worst. You can read the article here, but in case you're lazy, this was his conclusion:

1. VI
2. IX
3. IV
4. VII
5. V
6. VIII
7. X
8. III
9. XII
10. I
11. II
12. XIII

What do you think of the list? What would yours look like?

I'd rank VIII way lower. The story was good, imo, but the combat system was beyond irritating. I haven't played XII nor XIII so I can't say if they should be lower than VIII or not in my personal rank.

Not doing roman numerals:

1. 7
B. 9
III: 8
4: 6 -only got 1/5th of the way through but I know it's better than
E. 10

And thats all I've played

VII higher, VI lower, X and XII higher. I also prefer V to IV. Other than that I'd say the list was accurate. I never really got into VI. So my list would probably be:

1. VII
2. IX
3. X
4. XII
5. VIII
6. V
7. I
8. IV
9. VI
10. II
11. XIII

Never owned a console that could play III. I'm also questioning my placement of FFI, it places somewhere between 7th and 9th.

I definitely don't think XIII deserves to be at the very bottom. Lower than I? Come on. I couldn't even get to finding the second crystal in I, because the game had such a poor construction of what the hell you were supposed to do. Yes, some might argue that XIII was too linear, but I'd say that I didn't have enough direction.

I have only played six games so far and so my list would be:

1. X
2. IV
3. VII
4. IX
5. VI
6. V

First I was going to have IX before VII but then I realized that VII has better music, better characters and the blood trails! Also the story is still quite up to date. And also I will note that I have only played the beginning of V, but it was so boring (like many other beginnings of FF games) that I left it alone. I will play it one day though, and it might and probably will change the order a bit.

I agree with 1 and 2. Most of the others I'd quibble with (I agree with VII's placement at #4) but whatever. For Kotaku this list isn't actually completely terrible.

To me, X will always be my top favourite. I sort of like VII, but I absolutely hate XIII with homicidal tendencies, yet I dont say it unless you ask me. I dont wanna hurt my friend's feelings.

Flintlock said:

I saw this when scouting out articles for the weekly roundup, which I'm working on now. I didn't think it was worth putting in the top three stories of the week, but I thought it might be worth sharing here.

Kotaku's Jason Schreier has ranked the main titles of the Final Fantasy series in order from best to worst. You can read the article here, but in case you're lazy, this was his conclusion:

1. VI
2. IX
3. IV
4. VII
5. V
6. VIII
7. X
8. III
9. XII
10. I
11. II
12. XIII

What do you think of the list? What would yours look like?

Click to expand...

I'd move up VII a couple, XII up one spot and XIII put ahead of the initial three as well.

> viii being number six
> xiii being last

ahah yeah ok

at least this person had the good sense to put ix and vi above vii, but if you seriously think xiii is worse than i or ii (i'd even argue viii but at least you can make a half decent argument for that game) you need help

I can't do this, because my emotions are engaged. I cannot evaluate them objectively. My three top favourites are VII, IX and XII. I tried really hard to like X but just didn't.

LicoriceAllsorts said:

I can't do this, because my emotions are engaged. I cannot evaluate them objectively. My three top favourites are VII, IX and XII. I tried really hard to like X but just didn't.

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it's really hard to objectively rank them because every title has a handful of flaws that you just look at and go, "eeeeeh". depending on how you value certain aspects of you rpg experience it may or may not be a dealbreaker though

i felt the same way about x. i thought the battle system was great and i liked the overall concept but by the time i got to it i was just like "tales of symphonia did this better with a more likeable cast"

to each their own

Of the FF's I've played:

1: VI
2: IX
3: VIII
4: VII
5: XII
6: XIII
7: X
9: X-2

There's just something about X that irked me to no end.

Every time I think of listing FF games from best to worse, I think the order always changes, so I give up . Of the ones I've played, I liked FFX the least. FFVIII and FFVI weren't remarkable to me either. At the top, FFVII, FFIX, FFXII, and FFV are rather interchangable in my enjoyment of them. Therefore I find the Kotaku list not so tolerable .

Zee said:

but if you seriously think xiii is worse than i or ii you need help

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Not really. For me, I and II were not constantly annoying to play, XIII was. I think hating a game is sane enough reason to put it right at the bottom of the list.

After Kotaku confused Vincent for a vampire I expected the worst from this list and well also because is Kotaku but it wasn't as bad as I though though VIII for example is way too high, that game is terrible.

I honestly don't like IV as much as a lot of the FF fandom seems to.

If the top 3 were VI, IX and VII (no particular order) then I think I'll be satisfied. IV, XII, XIII and VIII fall in the middle for me, but idk precisely how I'd order them. I, II and III are at the bottom for me personally - I don't enjoy those games nearly as much as any of the others.

My ranking of the games I've played:

1. FFVI
2. FFIX
3. FFV
4. FFVII
5. FFIV
6. FFX
7. FFX-2

Haven't played any of the others long enough to comment on. The only one I thought was particularly bad was FFX-2, although at least it had a pretty cool battle system.

I think that list looks good. I'm not at all surprised they put VII that far down. I think their placing of XIII at the bottom is a way of demonstrating, really; or at least they're seeing I and II from the time the entered the market (what people expected at the time, and how they were inventive). XIII is probably a far better game than I and II seen from hindsight, but maybe not if you take stuff into consideration. I love XIII but I see its flaws. (I haven't played I or II.)

Anyway if I was to rank the main series console games I've played yet (which is about half of them) based on my own experiences of how much I enjoyed them (and not as a recommendation to the general population), it'd probably go something like this:

1. IX (I've only played a little bit of it but damn this game is smooth)
2. VI
3. VII
4. XIII
5. X

I learned to like X, but it took me a long time to get to the point where I started enjoying it. I can't put my finger on it. There's just something about it that rubs me the wrong way.

LicoriceAllsorts said:

I can't do this, because my emotions are engaged. I cannot evaluate them objectively. My three top favourites are VII, IX and XII. I tried really hard to like X but just didn't.

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I think I might put those three games at the top of my list as well, but I'd be willing to bet that nobody else here would. I know XII is divisive, and I am well aware of its weaknesses, but I have really grown to love it.

Here's my list, including only the games I have played a fair amount of. I'd say 10 hours or more is fair. Just like Fangu, I'm going purely on my enjoyment of them. I'm quite confident that VI is an awesome game, for example, but it hasn't clicked with me as much as some of the others. That could just be because of its age.

1. VII
2. IX
3. XII
4. X
5. IV
6. VI
7. VIII
8. V

And you know, I like V a lot. Every game on that list is good. It's only II and III that I've given up on quickly, and I'm sure they have their merits too. I haven't played I or XIII.

Mine would be

1. FFIX
2. FFVI & FFVII
4. FFX & FFXII
6. FFIV
7. FFVIII
8. FFV
9. FFI
10. FFII

I love VI and VII as much as I love IX, but the latter gets the nod for being the most balanced of the three in several areas, imo.

X & XII come next due to their "world feel" (loved the tropical feel of Spira and the open-world feel of Ivalice) and their battle systems. I liked the plot of both games a lot, too.

IV comes next because of his colorful cast and engaging plot. The battle system is nice, too.

VIII had a lot of premise in the first two CDs. I didn't liked some of the characters, but the world design and the plot were quite interesting. The Junction System didn't annoyed me that much, though is a bit slow, at least the way I used it. But the 3rd and 4th Cds were boring, imo. Didn't liked the plot twist with Edea (though i started to appreciate Ultimecia more lately) and I didn't liked the design of some locations, like Esthar, for instance. I was never fond of Squall and Rinoa, so the plot heavily consisting of their relationship became a bit boring to me.

V was nice, but I have to make a new playthrough of it, since I never finished and I want to play the game with a lot more attention.

Don't really know why, but FFI was a lot of fun to play. Even with its near non-existent plot and whatnot, i still loved the game.

FFII had nice characters (Mateus, I'm looking at you!) but, for some rason, i grew bored with it. I don't gave any real complaint with it, but it simply didn't engage me like many other FFs.

Flintlock said:

1. VI
2. IX
3. IV
4. VII
5. V
6. VIII
7. X
8. III
9. XII
10. I
11. II
12. XIII

What do you think of the list? What would yours look like?

Click to expand...

It's very well done, but the problem is putting number 4 & 5 too high up there. Titles between VI - IX are all amazingly good and endless debates, which is always the case when comparing one of these games with each other, are one of the things I really don't care for. When you pick any of these as your personal favourite I would say you, as a gamer and as a person, are quite objective for the actual quality of the games. The matter of FFX not belonging to the above mentioned "Top Tier" is highly debatable.

The problems raise when somebody actually thinks that FFI-FFV or FFX-FFXIII contains the absolutely best game from the series. There are two kinds of people who do that nowadays: Hipsters and Nostalgiafags. I pity the fool who for example thinks FFXII or FFV is the absolute top Klassé of gaming. I actually spend nights thinking about why there are people with no taste whatsoever, the people who eat meatballs with joghurt.

EDIT: Here is my list.

1. FFVII
2. FFVI
3. FFIX
4. FFVIII
....
11. FFX
12. FFIV
...
23. FFIII
24. FFV
...
435. FFXII
...
7635737552. FFII
99999999553. FFI

Different people want different things from their video games. I will happily debate someone who says X was the best game in the series, but I won't flat out call them wrong. The world would be a boring place without different opinions.

Meatballs with yoghurt? Depends on the yoghurt. If it's natural, unflavoured yoghurt, I imagine it would be quite nice. But I don't eat meat, so I won't be trying it

^I love that analogy Flint.

I genuinely don't think I can rank them objectively. For me; VII is my number one. I love VIII, IX, X and V almost as much (which is a huge amount more than pretty much any of the other games I've ever played... Maybe Mass Effect is in that mix somewhere); XII, IV and VI are phenomenal games that I also love. I, II and III are OK, but I don't like them nearly as much as the rest. I definitely prefer XIII to at least those three.

The only way I'd feel comfortable properly ranking them would be if someone hooked me up to an ECG and periodically took blood samples while playing each to see exactly how satisfying I found each game. In that case, I'm pretty sure my first four would be on the higher end of a logarithmic scale.

looneymoon said:

I honestly don't like IV as much as a lot of the FF fandom seems to.

If the top 3 were VI, IX and VII (no particular order) then I think I'll be satisfied. IV, XII, XIII and VIII fall in the middle for me, but idk precisely how I'd order them. I, II and III are at the bottom for me personally - I don't enjoy those games nearly as much as any of the others.

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That's pretty much a perfect template, though you forgot to include X. =P I'd place it no lower than fourth.

The Kotaku article on the other hand is absolute shit. VII looks like it was only placed fourth to try and be sexy by giving the finger to everyone who knows it should be in the top three, there's no reason XIII should be lower than the game that lacked an actual cast (clearly some butthurt going on there), and as much as I personally love VIII, there's no way in hell it should be above X. Maybe not even XII (doesn't matter if we're talking International versions of those two or no).