There was a recent poll from the japanese television company NHK in which they asked readers their favorite Final Fantasy games, characters, and so on. Following that poll, I will write down here my personal list, with some reasoning behind these choices.
#5 – Final Fantasy XIII
Yes, that’s right. One of the most hated Final Fantasy games by the mainstream gaming media is also one of my favorites. There are plenty of reasons for that, the major one being the fact it has some of the most amazing and well-developed characters in the franchise. Lightning may be a bummer as a copy-and-paste version of Cloud and Squall, but she got good reasoning and one hell of a party to back her up.
However, the fact that this group of heroes really shine is how the narrative of the game is presented, being one of the only two entries in the franchise where you really get to see more about the allies for a prolonged period of time. The other entry? Final Fantasy IX. I mean, in those two games the party is divided for the majority of the tale, allowing for a deeper dive into the problems of its cast, much more than the problems of the world around them, which is typically the common approach for the Final Fantasy games.
Sazh is an amazing example of that, being initially a comical figure much like how Barret is in Final Fantasy VII, yet here we see much more of his fatherly worries than with the one-armed brute back in the 90’s. Sazh’s tale as a father seeking for his lost son also give us more about Vanille, which in turn leads to her own crazy past along with Fang. In a way, the cast works like a network of very interesting personal tales, each linked to one another instead of simply scattered in the world where the story must goes sideways to find them (like in side-quests).
The other major reason that makes this one of my favorite games in the Final Fantasy franchise is its incredible and fast-paced combat system that manages to maintain an equilibrium between urgency of action-games and the tactical aspect of old-school RPGs. The paradigm dance may start slow and restricted, but when it opens up, it makes for one of the best. In fact, I would rank this combat system as the very best one of the franchise if Final Fantasy: Tactics did not exist.
#4 – Final Fantasy XIV
That is one hell of a ride. Final Fantasy XIV may be an MMORPG, but fear not, it is a real Final Fantasy game, and one of the better ones. It’s base game was a disaster, surely, but A Realm Reborn, released in 2013, came to wash that tainted past and deliver an epic and evergrowing narrative about an amazing and detailed world. The social aspects of an MMORPG are minor in the shadow of the incredible story told through the game’s many patches and expansions.
It works for plenty of reasons beyond that though. It builds an incredibly detailed setting with the full Final Fantasy aura to it, with magiteks, summons, iconic classes, monsters, and a lot of intriguing characters to aid you. Yes, it has a party of sorts, which moves on with you even though you are usually making dungeon runs with other real-life players. You will get a lot of Y’shtola, Thancred, and the rest of the gang here, always growing and always getting better.
This growing, in fact, is the key factor here. It seems that with every update and expansion the team behind Final Fantasy XIV gets better and delivers something you were not expecting in all departments. The latest two expansions are real examples of that, each being a full-sized game with tales of rebellion, god-slaying, and world-traveling that makes sense and are amazingly well written. Join that ever growing quality with outstanding sound-track and content for keeping you playing and there’s nothing a Final Fantasy fan could complain about.
#3 – Final Fantasy IX
Well, here it is. The most classical Final Fantasy of them all. Yup. Zidane and his gang delivered one heck of a major thrill in the twilight years of the Playstation. The reason it is so good? Well, I have a post arguing about that (https://www.damageup.com/why-final-fantasy-ix-falls-short-of-being-the-best-in-the-franchise/) but the resume could be that it has the best cast of characters of the franchise overall, as well as offering such a deep and intriguing tale in its first half.
The iconic elements are also part of that appeal, with bits of comedy with Steiner and Eiko, the sadness of Vivi’s journey, and the flair of traditional jobs, spells, skills, equipments, and everything else. It also offers the best sound-track amongst the franchise, with the best pieces that Nobuo Uematsu could create in general. There’s hardly an error here.
#2 – Final Fantasy VII
The Remake is here for a reason. Final Fantasy VII made a blast because it was the first game in the franchise to be released in CD and with 3D elements, but it stayed in the memories of players because it offers the most engrossing tale of the franchise, with plenty of twists, surprises, and emotional scenes that would last with the fans throughout decades.
Cloud and company also gave more meaning to their journey when they started it with a lot of real-life context, such as society depleting the world’s resources, the division between the poor and the rich, greedy companies destroying the world, and much more. It is the most political Final Fantasy, for sure, and this tale is easy to understand and extremely well-written and paced, despite translation problems back in the 90’s.
The game also has no issues with its cast, although it mostly focus on Cloud, Tifa, and Aerith for most of the part. The rest of the cast, even if not exactly developed, is still enjoyable and incredible, with guys like Cid, Red XIII, Barret, and Yuffie making the most of their limited backstories. The game also offered a lot of content for its time, with the iconic Gold Saucer, a simple-yet-complex materia system, and plenty of side-quests to further make the tale more intriguing and detailed. It is the very best numbered Final Fantasy, however…
#1 – Final Fantasy: Tactics
Well, surprised? I wouldn’t. Final Fantasy: Tactics may be a spin-off title with a tactical combat system, but it could very well be a main entry. It offers the classical Final Fantasy experience and much, much more.
Ramza’s tale is the only one in the franchise that really gets into the realm of dark-fantasy, where the stakes are much higher and our hero seems much more like a normal person, one who fails and is washed away by the currents of the politics and religious intrigues of the world of Ivalice. The world of Ivalice, in fact, was such a masterpiece of fantasy elements that it was the most reused setting in the franchise, being somehow sucked into games like Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy XII, and even now with Final Fantasy XIV.
Those darker and much more dangerous threats faced by Ramza are backed by a masterful tactical combat system that is not scared of experimenting with itself. There is a LOT to toy around, from dozens of classes, multiples abilities, powerful NPCs, and much more. It is a system that can be incredibly brutal or completely broken if you so choose. This choice, in particular, makes it the most fun and enjoyable of the combat systems, giving every new playthrough something different to expect.
Of course, amazing combat and gritty and treacherous plot are not the only strengths of Final Fantasy: Tactics. The political game of Ivalice requires intriguing characters and villains, and they deliver the experiment, with greedy guys like Wiegraff, rogue agents like Delita, and betrayers such as Gafgarion. There are perhaps too many characters to really dig deep into them, but they do their jobs of making this secret tale of dark magic and zealots work.
The sound-track also delivers the weight of the tale amazingly, which is crucial because the game is told by minor skits between combats instead of exploration like the numbered Final Fantasy games. Each skit is amazingly backed by hand-picked themes, many of those I’m sure have stuck in the memory of anyone who’ve played it way back in the late 90’s.
Honorable Mentions
Of course, every numbered game in the Final Fantasy franchise is amazing, especially from the sixth entry onwards. Square has delivered classical and amazing experiences since the dawn of the SNES, and even before it, the games already succeed in doing great storytelling with enjoyable tactical components, which is, for me, the essential combination for RPG games.
I wouldn’t say my list is a hundred percent sure though, especially in that fifth spot. Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy VI are amazing games that could easily jump into that. The reason I left them is simply because I value the cast of Final Fantasy XIII much more and that is a key component for me. My overall ranking is indeed heavily influenced by three elements more than any others (and in this order): setting, story, and characters.
Final Fantasy XV is also another great contender due to those three elements, although it fails in the fact the gaming experience was butchered by the “game as service” design, which divided important content and left most of character development arcs to silly anime episodes and stand-alone boring DLCs. If that game was delivered complete, with all the conversations and backstories of the four guys inside the main game, as well as a playable first arc and integrated DLC stories, well, it could easily jump into that fifth spot and even the fourth, because Noctis’ sad tale is one that really got me.