The Final Fantasy Blog Post

In 2015, I made a concerted effort to beat every non-MMO Final Fantasy game. At that time, I was only missing XII but did not beat any of the games. Since then, I have rectified that, and have knocked two down, but since I started quite a few, I wanted to document it, while also giving my thoughts. I'm not big on MMOs and I can't justify 2 monthly fees for XI and XIV so those will be skipped, at least for the time being.
- = Have Started/Currently Playing
* = Finished (Overall Impressions)

Order Beaten

III, VII, XV, IV, VI, I, II, XIII, X, VIII, V

*Final Fantasy I (GBA): The most bare-bones Final Fantasy experience, and its simplicity is its beauty. A very fun, replayable experience, and with a nearly non-existent story, the game's longevity rests in its gameplay. While the gameplay is very simple, it is not necessarily beginner friendly. Nothing too much to offer veterans while also being rough for newcomers, why do I like this? It must be the charm. Final Fantasy can have some overbearing and confusing stories, it's nice to find one that is just a laid-back experience. The game isn't long and can be beaten in a lazy afternoon if you know what you're doing.

*Final Fantasy II (GBA): Very underwhelmed. The level up system is the weirdest of the series, and while it sounds cool in theory, it makes the game a chore to play. Leveling up certain stats and magic spells is agonizingly slow, and the whole game suffers for it. Despite the story going for a darker tone, and succeeding in creating a looming sense of dread; the story and characters are nothing special, with only Ricard, Minwu and Leila being somewhat memorable. Outside of the over world theme, the Rebel Army and maybe even the final boss theme, there aren't too many great songs. I give this game a hard pass.

*Final Fantasy III (DS): I thought the game really excelled in gameplay, and reminded me of Bravely Default, even if BD was way more refined (I guess 24 years of hindsight could do that). The downside is the soundtrack in very forgettable, and the story is beyond boring. The only characters I remember are the main 4; Luneth, Arc, Refia, and Ingus but could not describe them in more than one sentence. Play the optimized DS version I did and not the translated Famicom ROMs, and hopefully, you enjoyed the game as well as I.

*Final Fantasy IV (PS/Steam): I've heard great things about the DS port (which I own on steam) and look forward to playing. However, after playing a port of the SNES original, I was slightly underwhelmed. Not from the story, presentation or music, however. I love the characters, and the journey each of them embarks on enhance them greatly. I haven't gotten far enough into FFII yet, but FFIV might be the first game in the series to have a large ensemble of characters that resonate this well, and have very satisfying subplots, with emphasis on Cecil, Kain, and Rydia. The graphics are great for early SNES, and the soundtrack is one of the best. A lackluster final boss theme and forgettable credits theme don't hinder themes like "Battle 1" and "Battle 2" (those are the actual names) "Battle With the Four Fiends", "Theme of Love", "Main Theme of Final Fantasy IV", "The Red Wings" and so much more. However, the gameplay is very simple. But this isn't FFI simple because it's not customizable at all. Each character is attached to their job (which is vital to Cecil's subplot) and your party members can't be changed, the game does it for you. The game feels very railroaded, and Cecil is the only constant from start to finish. Hopefully, the better presentation and hardware will fix my issues.
*Steam IV* - 

*Final Fantasy V (PS): Outstanding. Entries I-IV got into a very peculiar rut. I and III had good gameplay, but sacrificed it with conventional and pedestrian stories; whereas II and IV had new and compelling stories (to an extent with II) but the gameplay was either bad or boring. V comes in as an important entry, being the series' first complete package. Firstly, the job system from III makes a triumphant return with better customization possibilities and IV's ATB system. While the pattern continues with V having a lighter tone like I and III, with some effective comedy thrown in; it didn't stop the serious scenes from being emotional (Syldra, Phoenix, Dawn Warriors, etc.) Also, Exdeath is Golbez without the gutless ending from IV. Sure, I liked Golbez as a character, but it's nice to have a villain like Exdeath as a constant unpleasant threat throughout the adventure. Gilgamesh made a great antagonist, and the five main characters are a delight (Bartz, Galuf, Faris and Gilgamesh are all close contenders for best in the game). The soundtrack is as consistently good as IV was, but the highs (Battle on Big Bridge, Decisive Battle and Cursed Lands among others) make this the best yet. Everything about this game screams masterpiece, and I agree, supremely underrated.

*Final Fantasy VI (WiiVC): Incredible. The gameplay is like a toned down Final Fantasy VIII junctioning system, which is by no means a bad thing. The customization available to characters rivals that of V and VII and is just as fun. The 16-Bit graphics of the SNES have never looked better, and the music is superb, with the most obvious standout being "Dancing Mad", but almost every song in this game is worth listening to on repeat. But the best aspect of this game is the story. Out of the fourteen playable characters (with exception to three being intentionally underdeveloped), each character has a fulfilling and heartfelt subplot with satisfying conclusions. Celes and Locke, Edgar and Sabin, Terra and herself, Gau and his father, Setzer and Darill, Shadow, Relm and Strago, Cyan and his Kingdom and even their relations to side characters like Banon, General Leo, and a town of orphans. Some characters obviously get more development time than others (the trio of Locke, Celes and Terra seem to be the center of the story, and Gau get only one sidequest), each one is sufficiently developed and complete. The best part of this game though is the party system. There are many points in FFVI where the characters you have need to split up. Many times, they work together in dungeons or in missions. VI is the first game in the series to tie up a large group of characters such as this not only with the story but with the gameplay. IV had parties of up to five and even then that was the extent of gameplay unity for the motley crew. And the main villian, I'm sure you know who it is, but I dare wouldn't spoil it because the twist is so satisfying. Needless to say, the build up to the final boss is well worth it. A must play.

*Final Fantasy VII (Steam): I really enjoyed this one. The story and characters were outstanding; Tifa stood out to me, but I have no fault with any of the characters. The soundtrack was incredible, and I was wholly invested from start to finish. I even knew about a certain characters' death beforehand (like most people) and still got attached to him/her. The story, while still throwing in weird fantasy mumbo jumbo, never got confusing to the point where I didn't understand what was going on or what exactly was at stake. The Materia gameplay is not my favorite so far, but I do appreciate the levels of customization, with the only thing not controllable for each character is their weapon. Great game, thankfully several years of the best game ever wins have not set my expectations too high for this entry.

*Final Fantasy VIII (Steam): A very bizarre game. The highs aren't too high, the lows aren't too low, but it fluctuates drastically nonetheless. You start off not knowing how to use magic until you try out the "draw" command and realize that there's no MP in the game, you stock up magic and use it with the magic command. Then you learn about junctioning, which is a great blend of VI and VII's gameplay. GF's (another name for summons, espers, eidolons, etc.) are junctioned to characters and affect their stats, but also gain AP to learn abilities, and each character has a set weapon. On paper, this is great but is ultimately bogged down by the system itself. Stats don't get high enough by levels alone, junctioning magic to your stats depending on your GF set-up is how you get the stats. Then you learn that magic juntioning is useless until you have at least 60 uses per spell attached to a stat, of which you can only draw at most 9, but usually 4-6. This brings up the biggest problem with this game, grinding. Grinding is an inevitable part of any RPG, and is something I find rewarding in better games (like III, V, VI, and VII), but not only are you grinding EXP for your characters/GF's an AP for abilities, but also magic spells, and there is no good way of doing all three at once. This game requires a guide, not only to find the worthwhile spells (Curaga, Full-Life, Holy, Flare, Ultima, Aura, etc.) but to explain everything I just said. Outside of junctioning GF's, this game does a very poor job explaining the system to its player. OK, but what about the story? This was supposed to be the first love story in Final Fantasy. Yes, Cecil/Rosa, Locke/Celes, Cloud/Tifa all existed beforehand, but this is the first game to focus on it, as the previous ones play out like subplots. Yes, this love story is front and center and is satisfying in the end, but is a grueling experience. Squall is completely unlikeable for the first 30 hours. Remember how aloof Cloud was in VII? Well replace his indifference for outside help with malicious and antagonistic behavior and you get Squall. Eventually, he does soften up, as well as explain why he behaved the way he did, but it doesn't absolve his shitty behavior. And outside of Squall/Rinoa, the cast is super weak. Quistis, Zell, Selphie, and Irvine (the other main characters) get only 1 or 2 scenes of development. VIII juggles 6 playable characters worse than VI did with 14. Seifer, Raijin, and Fujin are inconsequential, and any interesting development they could have gotten was just duped in a very anti-climatic finish. And without spoiling anything, Edea was the biggest waste of a villain ever. Yet somehow that didn't stop me from enjoying the story, mostly for Squall/Rinoa's journey as well as the adventures of Laguna and Ellone. Outside of a few standout tracks like the battle themes, The Man With the Machine Gun (Bold and underline for emphasis), Waltz for the Moon, and Maybe I'm a Lion among a handful of others, not the strongest soundtrack, though trying to follow up VI and VII's soundtrack was basically impossible. I ended the game with a positive experience, but the bumpy road leaves me hesitant to recommend to anyone who isn't a die-hard RPG or Final Fantasy fan. If you want to conquer the steep learning curve, then I'd say give it a shot when it hits a sale on Steam. Just be sure to do this first since the music quality Square released for the Steam version sucks.

-Final Fantasy IX (Steam):

*Final Fantasy X (Vita): I really enjoyed the mechanic of switching party members at any time, and the enemy designs compliment this feature well. Despite this though, sometimes it leads to lopsided character growth, but can be fixed with extra level grinding, which doesn't take too long. The sphere grid was really cool, and helps diversify multiple playthroughs of the game. I also enjoy some of the subtle narrative connections, like having Rikku and Yuna's skills side by side, along with Tidus and Yuna as well as Wakka and Lulu. The locks on the board did seem to put a ceiling on progression at parts, and looking up a guide on how to find more key spheres feels essential, but the battles were fun and rewarding. The story was interesting, barring some end game confusion, I was always invested, including the one of the best love stories in the series. Not quite Celes and Locke good, but definitely top 5. The music was also very good, notably the battle theme, the Hymn of the Fayth and At Zanarkand, among others. A very good and well rounded game, suitable for veterans and semi newcomers alike.

-Final Fantasy XII (PS4): 

*Final Fantasy XIII (360): WHAT A FRIGGIN MESS. I can't even begin to understand how this script got approved because it is straight up awful. Out of the six main characters: one I straight up hate, two more make one confusing and horrible decision then continue to not contribute much to the narrative and the other three range from being somewhat likable throughout to having very fulfilling character arcs. Snow Villiers is the only character I like from beginning to end and even Troy Baker couldn't save his awful lines. This game is full of what I like to call "Trailer Lines". You know those lines in a movie that are put in and told extremely dramatically because it would look cool in the trailer? That's the whole script. Unfortunately, they spent too much time trying to make the characters sound cool, they forgot to explain the world to a new player, and the confusing rules and terms stack up so much that by the end, I have no concept of what the stakes are other than "the world is going to be destroyed". This is not even to get into the side characters, which range from having almost no development time (Snow's NORA crew members), confusing motivations (Rosch and Cid Raines), to being utterly useless and forgettable (Nabaat Something?). Characters have important developments off-screen and their motivations as a result of this change on a dime. This feels like a first draft because the only person I think that can connect all the dots is the writer himself. That said, the gameplay is flawed but fun. The Paradigm system does keep players alert and observant throughout the fight and tests their adaptability. There are only six "jobs" to change to, and each character is proficient in three, but you can customize the party to your whims. Unfortunately, this only happens 20 hours into the game, which makes me give it the name "Stockholm Syndrome: The Game". The music is fantastic and is easily one of the top 5 soundtracks in the franchise. The only thing better is the graphics, which for 2010, are jaw-droppingly beautiful, and easily surpass even some games from the future generation of consoles. Unfortunately, the gameplay isn't exciting enough to save the abyssmal story and characters. Easily the worst of the series and well worth a skip from anyone except the die-hard fans such as myself.

*Final Fantasy XV (PS4): Excellent. I may not have waited for this game for 10 years, but I was anticipating this release for a long time. When it finally released, it was hard to put down. It's hard for me to play a game that I truly take as a new and different experience, even if the advertising tells me otherwise. But this game was truly a unique experience for me, and I loved every second. The story gets a little incomprehensible at the end, and some plot points that I would like to get more details on are either dropped or ignored (Ravus' motivation and Ardyn's backstory) but the characters, other story elements, and gameplay excel so hard, this game propels itself into my top 5 favorite FF games.
*UPDATE* Just like the extra content released before the game came out, the post-release content like DLC and new editions fix many story issues I had. Unfortunately, I think to have to buy the special edition with a $25 season pass and a movie along with 5 episodes of an animated series (free on Youtube) in order to understand the full story is ludicrous, but as someone who enjoyed the base game enough to want to know more, it is a price I was willing to pay. Besides, the season pass is worth it for Ignis and Comrades alone, the Royal edition adds a lot of gameplay, and the anime show is free and really good. Just saying.

Ranking (Worst to Best):

Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy II

Final Fantasy IV (PS)
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy I
Final Fantasy III

Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy V

Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy XV

Misc:
I play all 3 of the mobile Final Fantasy Games. Here's the progress of these games.

-Final Fantasy Record Keeper: There is no real story, but I'm all caught up.

-Final Fantasy Brave Exvius: I'm at the end?

-Final Fantasy Mobius: Chapter IV Part 2, beginning levels.