Will There Ever Be a Rpg Good as Ff7 Ever Again?
The all-time Final Fantasy game is...
Final Fantasy VII Remake is a thing again, so here's our ranking of the best Final Fantasy games.
Final Fantasy is a strange series. Its ups and downs over the years have arguably been caused by its nigh appealing key idea: that every entry is set in a new universe, with new characters and completely dissimilar systems. This means the series has sometimes alternated between being an innovator and out-of-date—but it has remained more or less enjoyable for 3 decades.
At its all-time, Final Fantasy will give you an risk you lot'll never forget, a gainsay and progression system that you'll obsess over, or characters you lot'll take a real affinity for. Sometimes, information technology'll give what might exist the best minigame in history. And other times, it'll give you lot a laughing scene y'all'll wish you could forget.
With nearly of the worthwhile entries on PC at present—minus I and II, and spin-offs like Crisis Cadre—nosotros thought it'd be a good time to talk over which mainline games are the best. Since this is an argument that's been going on for years with a lot of near-identical outcomes, we've included an extra factor here—how the games' PC versions turned out informs the rankings here, since it'southward and then inconsistent across the series. Tell usa your choices at the bottom, and enjoy.
one. Final Fantasy 12: The Zodiac Age
Samuel Roberts: This isn't my personal favourite Final Fantasy, but it's an impressive, MMO-infused RPG that'due south the all-time of them all when it comes to combat systems, progression and how well its art has held up since its original release on the PS2, 12 years agone. Those factors are probably what nigh players are interested in, and so I feel comfy calling it the all-time. It merely doesn't accept much heart, or a story I like, or a decent protagonist. I like it when Concluding Fantasy has those things. Information technology does take a British version of Han Solo, though. I'm a big Balthier fan, and if I could be him I would.
Tom Senior: There were apparently a lot of rewrites and story-shuffling during development and it really shows. Luckily 12 has my favourite RPG systems of any Final Fantasy and the fast-forrard control added past the remaster ways I tin blast through zones, level up quickly, and test out new political party lineups. 12 has a unlike appeal to the rest of the series. You tin can't really declension through information technology without engaging pretty heavily with the combat and character building, which can really drag in the kickoff few hours.
Plus the story never quite gains momentum. Terminal Fantasy has never been skillful at telling stories most politics, kings and queens. Give me a proficient party of pals who go on a journey and kill lots of cactuars.
Wes Fenlon: Sam and Tom are nuts: Final Fantasy 12 has probably the best, least cliché story in a Final Fantasy game this side of Tactics. Information technology simply, uh, kinda disappears and and so completely falls apart in the last third of the game. But earlier that: dandy stuff! The earth and writing, like in Matsuno's Concluding Fantasy Tactics, are fantasy by style of Shakespearean tragedy, with a quippy rogue, a dutiful but disgraced knight, and a princess forced to step into a leadership role she never expected. In that location's some great wartime politics to dig into here, though the throughline never quite explores them equally much equally it should. But the flavor that story brings sets information technology so far apart from your typical teens-save-the-world JRPG.
It's also hard to overstate how much FF12'due south earth pattern—broken upward into MMO-like zones, where everything is the same scale, rather than a world map or the disappointing list of locations like FF10's—adds to the believability of information technology as a place. Information technology feels like a proper world you lot're exploring, at a level of fidelity no Concluding Fantasy game had delivered before.
two. Terminal Fantasy ix
Wes: Concluding Fantasy ix is that one game I'll probably wax poetic near for the rest of my life. Information technology just has such center. It'southward a game that feels joyously made, jubilant the Final Fantasy series up to that indicate and the cease of Square'southward insane hot streak during the PS1 era. Information technology's peppered with in-jokes and references that manage to never be obnoxious or exclusionary; if you don't get them, they just add more flavor to a world already overstuffed with personality.
You lot can take Final Fantasy 9's opening hr equally a case study for what makes it special amongst the series: yous'll command 3 split characters at unlike points, and during that time you can freely run around a metropolis collecting tons of hidden items and gil caches, see characters who will take pocket-sized, cute narrative moments a dozen plus hours later, kicking off a sidequest that lasts the unabridged game, play a minigame, learn FF9's menu game and collect some rare cards, and participate in a wonderfully entertaining fake sword fight that was designed for this one scene and never used over again.
That'southward really Concluding Fantasy 9 in a nutshell: information technology's then dumbo with things to do, with hidden delights, and with artistic blueprint that goes above and beyond, information technology's hard not to be charmed by the sheer love that went into every area. And the PC version will run on pretty much anything. The battle system isn't the all-time in the series, but everything else more than makes upward for it.
Andy Kelly: I didn't honey the return to a medieval-influenced fantasy setting in 9 as much as some people. This is my least favourite of the PlayStation era, even though it's arguably a meliorate game than 7 and 8, at least mechanically. I do love the story, though. There are some dandy moments, usually involving distressing-eyed black mage Vivi. And the cities are amidst the series' grandest, particularly Lindblum. Likewise, it has the best world map theme.
3. Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn
Steven Messner: There is no modern Final Fantasy more in impact with the series' roots that Final Fantasy 14. Despite being an MMO (which understandably will turn some abroad), FF14 is a sincere love alphabetic character that captures all of the whimsy and drama of the earlier entries in the series. It's a shame that you lot'll accept to endure a painfully dull level-upward procedure, merely once you get to the subsequently chapters of A Realm Reborn and into the exquisite Heavensward and Stormblood expansions, Last Fantasy fourteen'south story begins to rival some of the series' best. In between the usual MMO grinds, there's an emotional, character-driven story of expose and revolution all set in a more medieval fantasy artful that is a welcome difference from the spikey-haired, leather-clad expect of later Final Fantasys.
Fortunately, Final Fantasy 14 is a damn skilful MMO to boot. Its endgame tin can be a piffling repetitive, only everything from the dungeons and raids to the crafting and job system are so beautifully realized and fun that I'k not pulling my hair out waiting for the next update.
iv. Final Fantasy seven
Tom: At this betoken information technology feels like Final Fantasy 7 has been dismantled, digested, and rendered down into a puddle of memes, and I struggle to detach the game from powerful feelings of nostalgia for the many hours I spent extracting every secret from that world map. However, I really recollect the story holds upwardly. Information technology's tangled at points, when y'all beginning getting into supersoldiers and mistaken identities, just the broader descent into a terrible doomsday scenario is very effective, and the apocalypse is marshalled by mayhap the series' greatest villain. Sephiroth starting Deject down through the flames of Nibelheim is one of the best moments in whatever Final Fantasy game.
It's a rich RPG, full of and then many optional aristocracy pursuits. The Weapons that appear afterwards in the campaign roam the map, ready to be challenged as soon as your gear and party were potent enough. Don't fancy that? Breed and race Chocobos in the Gold Saucer, or go and find the secret party members Yuffie and Vincent. It'south an quondam game now, but information technology still feels huge and ambitious.
Andy M: I don't care what anyone says: Final Fantasy 7 is still good. I play information technology every couple of years, and always find information technology only every bit captivating every bit the first time. I think the diversity is a big part of information technology. There'south such a wild mix of visual styles, moods, set pieces, and activities here, from the melodramatic and serious to the totally absurd. I minute you lot're fighting a giant mechanical scorpion, the adjacent you're trying to out-squat a wrestler to win a powdered wig.
The globe is peachy also. Every location has its own distinctive personality, from the loftier-tech militarism of Junon, to the cosy sands of the Costa del Sol. And I love how the arrival of the meteor transforms the mood of the game, with NPCs getting new dialogue to reflect the coming apocalypse. It's a proper big, exciting hazard, peculiarly when y'all unlock the Highwind balloon and can explore the map largely unrestricted.
v. Final Fantasy 10/10-2
Andy K: I recollect being disappointed with 10 when I starting time played it, because it got rid of the explorable earth map that I loved in 7, 8, and ix. Instead you'd just option locations from a map interface, which is nowhere about every bit compelling as actually walking around yourself. The world map was such a Final Fantasy icon that I'm baffled they got rid of it.
I enjoyed the game overall, but this change meant I never really felt like I was on some chiliad journey. The globe didn't feel as convincing somehow, like a series of disparate places artificially strung together. At that place were some great locations in there, though: particularly the rolling hills of the At-home Lands and the stormy Thunder Plains.
Samuel: This is my favourite Final Fantasy game past a long manner. Blitzball is a great minigame that connects well with the main hazard, once you understand how information technology works, and the manner the game explores organized religion is pretty risky for a mainstream RPG. It as well has a progression system and finish game that tin keep you playing for tens of hours afterwards. The PS2 version came out at simply the correct time for me to fall in love with it (I was 14, basically), and I play it every three or iv years.
When I played the PC version a couple of years ago I had a new appreciation for X-2
I also disagree that getting rid of the world map was a bad thing—FF10's earth is a piddling too linear and paves the style for 13's long corridors, but it does feel strangely real to me, in how much personality at that place is in individual places like Kilika, Luca or Guadosalam. The fact it has no major cities, because this unstoppable force keeps destroying them, neatly explains why information technology's a globe mostly made up of pocket-size tropical settlements.
I've never really loved Final Fantasy 10-two, honestly, with its straight-to-VHS-style follow-up story nearly lovers from 1000 years ago or some bullshit, only when I played the PC version a couple of years ago I had a new appreciation for it. Information technology was the first Concluding Fantasy game with an all-female cast and it has a very different, fun energy to ten. It's near similar 15 in how the friendships at the heart of the game are a big office of why information technology'due south an enjoyable journey, even if the overarching story is bad. Square Enix completely redid the combat and progression systems, which they actually didn't need to exercise to go people to buy this direct sequel.
I besides liked seeing the world of Spira several years later, with new locations and additions to existing ones, as well as granular $.25 of new story that tell you what happened to all its characters. I wish there were fewer recycled avails and I don't love the musical numbers, but hey, not every Concluding Fantasy game is going to exist my affair. I liked listening to developer Nina Freeman talk virtually the game on this podcast. She makes a practiced example for why it's meliorate than I thought information technology was back in 2004.
6. Final Fantasy fifteen
Tom: I love the idea of the roadtrip RPG and FF15, in its best moments, strikes a perfect tone. You become to guide your four good lads through a lazy summer, beating upward wildlife for cash. After the constraints of 13, the open world feels enormous, and it'due south extremely pretty.
I miss the depth and character building of previous games, but some extraordinary animation work means the combat always looks flashy, even if you're not really doing very much. Also, the food. My god, the food.
Samuel: This is how I experience—a carper would say this is a game of cypher more than than empty spectacle. But how tin you not savour that journey? Information technology's like the opposite of Final Fantasy 12: endearing, full of character, and the combat is fashionable merely has little going on below information technology. The story is...was there a story? The male monarch is killed, and you come back and kill the guy who is your relative from thousands of years ago, who now sits on the throne speaking in a British accent. Is that correct? Anyway, who cares when the summons wait this cool:
My favourite thing about FF15 might be the subconscious Pitioss Dungeon, a combat-free puzzle labyrinth which sparked a Dark Souls-level lore investigation from dedicated players (read the Reddit thread here). It'due south evidently been debunked somewhat past the FF15 team and the game's DLC, but I choose to believe it'south existent considering it's improve than much of the game's bodily story, and makes me wonder which elements of the cancelled Versus 13 fabricated the cut.
Andy: I dearest the informal road trip feel of 15. Information technology's an infectiously sunny, colourful game, and the bond between the automobile boys is quite convincing. But equally an RPG it left me cold, which is almost entirely the error of those utterly bland sidequests. Everywhere you get you're beingness given tasks to complete, merely they're flatly written, unexciting, and wearisome. I could have ignored them and focused on the principal story, I suppose, only I hate having uncompleted quests in my log. So I just quit the game and never returned.
Samuel: I hold that most of its sidequests are terrible, although I do like the hunts. Fewer but ameliorate quests should exist how Tabata and company brand side content in their next RPG.
7. Final Fantasy 8
Tom: The first quarter of the game, culminating in that assassination attempt, is admittedly banging. The plot drifts off in weird directions from there and eventually collapses into a succession of behemothic plot holes. It's a dandy ride, though. Squall is kinda Cloud-lite, just at least he gets to accept a romance, and his rivalry with Seifer is engrossing.
Information technology's as big and involved as 7, and full of secrets, merely for me it's a bear upon forgettable. The gardens are beautifully designed, simply I don't feel as continued to those places equally I did to Cosmo Canyon, Junon, and Midgar. I liked the gainsay, though, including the magic junctioning system and ludicrous summons.
Andy K: In that location's a lot I dearest about 8. The understated fine art pattern. The downbeat, melancholy tone. That beautifully atmospheric music. Triple Triad, of grade, which remains one of the best minigames of all time. The weird characters. Hell, I even love the junction system, which is undeniably weird and clunky, merely fun to experiment with.
The story seriously goes off the track in the final act, it can exist overly melodramatic, 1 of the twists is a real center-roller, and the way enemies calibration to your level is kinda annoying. But otherwise I recall it's one of the best, most interesting, and most subversive Final Fantasies. It'south the Conflicting 3 of the series, and I mean that as a compliment.
Samuel: Final Fantasy viii is a big favourite of mine, but it loses points for having worse sound than the PSone versions, even now, though you lot can modern the original soundtrack back in. This week I had to sign in through Square Enix'south shop just to play the damn game on Steam, which is dumb. I love the junctioning arrangement and the gainsay, though, and this game offers a ridiculously melodramatic merely engaging story.
It as well has ane of my favourite 'secrets' in the series: the Deep Sea Inquiry Facility in the heart of the ocean, where you lot fight Bahamut and Ultima Weapon. Exploring the depths of that place is like a horror movie. Check out the first minute of this to see what I'grand talking nearly:
Wes: "...Whatever."
viii. Final Fantasy 6
Tom: The PC port hideously reworks the fonts and reduces the pixel sprites to bright, blotchy characters. Information technology's awful, because otherwise FF6 is an accented treat. Great characters, a strong sense of humour, and a surprisingly dark world total of steam engines, mechs, and an oppressive empire desperate to capture the power of magic for itself. The starting grapheme, Terra, has the rare ability to bandage spells, and as she flees the empire's phalanxes of hunter mechs she teams up with characters like the roguish Locke, a ninja called Shadow, a king with a chainsaw chosen Figaro, and more.
The characters are fantastic, but six throws some insane turns into its story that I won't spoil. Keen game, shame nigh the port.
Samuel: Same feeling. I love this game, and I had the PSone version many years agone, which wasn't likewise bad (minus the loading screens). If the PC version was the all-time one, it'd undoubtedly be ranked a lot higher than this in our listing.
Wes: This is non the all-time way to play ane of the all-time games in the serial, as Tom alluded to. It'due south full of an energetic amuse that Square would only actually achieve again with FF9, merely still manages to deliver some heart wrenching moments with tiny little sprite people. And what a boldly freeform game! Even without a chore system, you lot tin can pretty much practise anything you lot want with whatsoever character afterwards a certain signal, and explore much of the world in whatsoever order you adopt. Also, modders have thankfully fixed some of the PC port's most egregious issues, and so it'south possible to clean up the graphics and return the original sprites to their proper place.
nine. Final Fantasy xiii
Samuel: Even if it takes a while to open up, I like the paradigm shift system in Final Fantasy 13, and how information technology encourages wholesale on-the-fly changes in tactics. Even if y'all spend most of the game walking through a corridor, it is at least a consistently beautiful corridor. xiii'southward PC port was pretty lousy at launch, and I oasis't tried it since and then, because it wants to eat a monstrous 60GB of my hard-bulldoze infinite. FF13'south soundtrack is 1 of the all-time in the series, though, and fifty-fifty if its story is overwrought and lacks likeable heroes, I've nonetheless got some affection for it.
Tom: The image shift system is cool, it feels fast and fluid once you're fighting enemies tough enough to warrant using information technology properly. I can't really forgive all the corridors though, and I institute a lot of the squad annoying, especially Hope. The lack of freedom feels like such a retrograde stride subsequently 12 and you need a glossary to unpack what's going on betwixt the fal'Cie and the l'Cie.
Wes: A genuinely great boxing system is wasted on a mess of a story that confuses a drench of proper nouns with an interesting plot. Gainsay with a full party is an absolute smash, so of course Terminal Fantasy 13 spends well-nigh of its first xv hours refusing to let you just play the damn game with a full team. Information technology's one of the worst starts e'er in a genre known for tiresome beginnings. But hey, at to the lowest degree information technology does get better from in that location.
10. Final Fantasy 4 (or five)
Samuel: I've got a soft spot for 4, which is the point at which you tin trace dorsum all the modernistic Last Fantasy games, with its increased focus on story and setting over the simpler FF3. I love the grapheme designs—this is where these heroes and villains became iconic. I can't say I love the 3D edition of it that'south come to PC, though, which is based on the DS port from almost a decade ago. The Game Boy Advance edition that I used to own looked a lot nicer, though this 3D version does have a phenomenal opening movie (see above).
Wes: This is when Final Fantasy figured out it wanted to be a series of epic adventures: information technology was Square's stab, at the time, of channeling an anime plot into a bunch of sprite characters. It'southward worth playing just to see the roots of what would get grander adventures in FF6 and FF7.
If yous don't dearest Concluding Fantasy's melodrama, swap Final Fantasy 5 in, here. Like FF6 information technology has some hideously reworked sprites on PC, merely that Job system is and so good, in that location's still an annual effect where people get together to replay the game all these years later.
Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/best-final-fantasy-game/
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