Best FF of the Shrine

[Don]

I've always been curious about where we actually stand on this, so let's settle this objectively (sort of). Rank all 10 FFs (1-10, no X2 or Tactics), #1 gets 10 points and #2 gets 9 points and so on. You don't have to rank them all if you don't think some deserve points. I'll tally the points and we'll see which FF is actually considered the best one here. Save the arguing for another thread please.

Here's my list

1. FF7
2. FF8
3. FF10

[Lox]

1. FF3
2. FF7
3. FF10
4. FF8
5. FF9

That's all I've played.

[Don]

Your FF3 is FF6 right? let's use the 1-10 system, i.e. 2US = 4J and 3US = 6J so it's easier to keep track.

[Flip]

1. FF6
2. FF10
3. FF4
4. FF8
5. FF1
6. FF7
7. FF9

Ranks 3-6 are all a virtual tie, but i ranked as per the rules.

[Agent 57]

Hmmmmmm......

1. VI
2. VII
3. X
4. IV
5. IX
6. VIII
7. I


Although I is definitely my sentimental favorite.

[Nev]

I like a lot of them in no particular order. I don't think it's possible to say that some of them are unequivocally better or worse than each other given the technology at the time of making. Stuff can be different without being better or worse. I mean, you CAN rank stuff like this if you want, but for me, a pure and uncompassionate ranking of them against each other doesn't do favors to my appreciation of games in general.

If I were to rank my very SUB-jective experiences of the enjoyment I had playing each one, I'd probably put IVj first, then VIj, VII and I tied, X (which I'm not really even halfway through yet), VIII (which I didn't finish), then IX and V lurking somewhere a few rungs below all the rest squabbling with each other (I did finish IX but didn't enjoy it very much). IIj and IIIj I never played except for a very brief emulated bit of IIIj on Andrew Vestal's emulator while I was rooming with him. But X might be first if Penny Arcade hadn't spoiled part of the plot for me and dampened my enthusiasm for playing, and the fact that I played V after VII had come out and changed graphical standards for RPGs forever probably had something to do with that ranking as well. So I think this whole ranking business is kind of weird.

[Eric]

1. FFVII(Favorite one ever)
2. FFIV(One that got me into the series)
3. FFX(Wowed me)
4. FFIX(Enjoyable)
5. FFVI(Overrated)
6. FFVIII(Finished because of Seeker)
7. FFV(This ties with FFVIII, but I actually finished VIII)
8. FFI(One big grind fest)
9. FFII(Ugh...)
10. FFIII(Never played)
11. FFXI(Never played)

[Eric]

I like a lot of them in no particular order. I don't think it's possible to say that some of them are unequivocally better or worse than each other given the technology at the time of making. Stuff can be different without being better or worse. I mean, you CAN rank stuff like this if you want, but for me, a pure and uncompassionate ranking of them against each other doesn't do favors to my appreciation of games in general.

If I were to rank my very SUB-jective experiences of the enjoyment I had playing each one, I'd probably put IVj first, then VIj, VII and I tied, X (which I'm not really even halfway through yet), VIII (which I didn't finish), then IX and V lurking somewhere a few rungs below all the rest squabbling with each other (I did finish IX but didn't enjoy it very much). IIj and IIIj I never played except for a very brief emulated bit of IIIj on Andrew Vestal's emulator while I was rooming with him. But X might be first if Penny Arcade hadn't spoiled part of the plot for me and dampened my enthusiasm for playing, and the fact that I played V after VII had come out and changed graphical standards for RPGs forever probably had something to do with that ranking as well. So I think this whole ranking business is kind of weird.

Damnit Mental, stop complaining and put 1. 2. 3!

[Nev]

I like a lot of them in no particular order. I don't think it's possible to say that some of them are unequivocally better or worse than each other given the technology at the time of making. Stuff can be different without being better or worse. I mean, you CAN rank stuff like this if you want, but for me, a pure and uncompassionate ranking of them against each other doesn't do favors to my appreciation of games in general.

If I were to rank my very SUB-jective experiences of the enjoyment I had playing each one, I'd probably put IVj first, then VIj, VII and I tied, X (which I'm not really even halfway through yet), VIII (which I didn't finish), then IX and V lurking somewhere a few rungs below all the rest squabbling with each other (I did finish IX but didn't enjoy it very much). IIj and IIIj I never played except for a very brief emulated bit of IIIj on Andrew Vestal's emulator while I was rooming with him. But X might be first if Penny Arcade hadn't spoiled part of the plot for me and dampened my enthusiasm for playing, and the fact that I played V after VII had come out and changed graphical standards for RPGs forever probably had something to do with that ranking as well. So I think this whole ranking business is kind of weird.

Damnit Mental, stop complaining and put 1. 2. 3!

SUBJECTIVELY:
1. IVj
2. VIj
3. VII and I
5. X
6. VIII
7. V
35. IX

[Lox]

Your FF3 is FF6 right? let's use the 1-10 system, i.e. 2US = 4J and 3US = 6J so it's easier to keep track.

Blast! I forgot to switch it. Yes, you are correct. Let me try that again:

1) FF6
2) FF7
3) FF10
4) FF8
5) FF9

[Julius Seeker]

1) FF8
2) FF6
3) FF1
4) FF3
5) FF10

[Don]

Up to Seeker score so far:

I. 28
II.2
III.8
IV.34
V.8
VI.54
VII.51
VIII.48
IX.26
X.53

Quite a few lead changes due to Seeker's vote!

[Zeus]

1) FF6
2) FF4
3) FF9
4) FF1
5) FF7

Those are the only 5 I've beaten so far

[Blotus]

Subject to change without notice at any time:

1.FF4
2.FF6
3.FF9
4.FF8 (bonus points for best intro/ending)
5.FF10
6.FF7
7.FF5
8.FF1

[Tortolia]

I was wondering when someone would post this.

1) IV
2) X
3) VI
4) VIII
5) V
6) VII
7) III
8) I
9) IX
10) II

[Don]

Up to Tort:

I. 41
II. 3
III. 12
IV. 63
V. 18
VI 81
VII 67
VIII 62
IX 44
X 68

Look around and look for allies when we resume to why your game sucks!

[Shellie]

1. 10
2. 7
3. 2 (first one I played)

Only ones Ive played

[Eric]

That sig is gold. ;p

[Andrew, Killer Bee]

Of what I've played:

1. VI
1. X
2. VII
3. IV
4. VIII

VI and X are too close to call. I think X was probably the superior game, but I'm really heavily affected by nostalgia for VI.

[Tortolia]

VI and X are too close to call. I think X was probably the superior game, but I'm really heavily affected by nostalgia for VI.

That's why I put IV on the top of my list, though without nostalga X would have taken it handily. More nostalga for IV than VI, though, thus my top three.

[Nev]

Seraph - Reminds me of an adage I heard once, "Managing senior programmers is like herding cats." I think it's got a lot to it.

[Torgo]

Whee!

1. VI (The King)
2. X (Usurper to the throne)
3. IV (classic)
4. VIII (mixed bag, but good outweighs the bad)
5. VII (I liked it, do think it's a tad overrated)
6. XI (Decent. Oh, and Vivi)
7. I (never actually fisnished)
8. V (felt almost no emotion for the characters whatsoever)
9. III (never finished)
10. II (never finished)

VI wins over X by a hair of nostalgia.

[Manshoon]

Of what I've played:

1. FFX
2. FFIV
3. FF7
4. FF6
5. FF9
6. FF8
7. FFV
8. FFI

[Oracle]

1. FF6
2. FF7
3. FF4
4. FF9
5. FF5
6. FF1
7. FF8
8. FF10

[M'k'n'zy]

1) FF VI
2) FF IV
3) FF VII
4) FF III
5) FF V

[kali o.]

You guys are lame-o's.

1. FF2
2. FF3
3. FF1
4. FF7
5. FF5j

Obviously, NA #'s unless followed by a "j".

[SineSwiper]

1. FF10
2. FF8
3. FF7 and FF3/6j
4. FF2/4j

Overall, the FF series improves with age, especially in regard to story, gameplay, and graphics. I did not play FF9, because I was kinda pissed off at the SD graphics, and the sudden shift back to overplayed fantasy storylines. Nor did I play the Japanese imports, because they seemed like they were similar to the prequels. (Exception being FF5j, which is similar to FFT.)

FF3 and FF7 are tied in my mind. FF3 had more characters with more enjoyable skills and it looked a bit more colorful, but it suffered with a somewhat boring villian and an old style look. FF7 had better GFX on most of its stuff (esp. FMV/summons), a better semi-futuristic storyline (though confusing at first), better villians, but it had mostly old-skool music (compared to other PSX games) and bad character designs (like they used most of the polygons for other stuff).

BTW, FFT would have topped everything if it counted.

[SineSwiper]

Only ones Ive played :(

If you count watching me play as playing. Man, I tried so hard to get you to finish FF7 with me, but you got bored playing and then bored watching. It's a damn shame, but we seemed to be incompatible with which RPGs we like. (You prefer the MMOs; I prefer the story-based ones.)

Heh, you still have Kingdom Hearts to finish. Played it for 2-3 days straight, and then put it down because you got to an annoying part.

Sorry for the SNR, Don.

[Derithian]

6
4
8
10
9
7
5
3
1
2

[SineSwiper]

Totals up to mine:

Sort by game:
<tt>FF1 63
FF2j 4
FF3j 21
FF4j/2a 139
FF5j 47
FF6j/3a 155
FF7 136
FF8 102
FF9 62
FF10 127</tt>

Sory by score:
<tt>FF6j/3a 155
FF4j/2a 139
FF7 136
FF10 127
FF8 102
FF1 63
FF9 62
FF5j 47
FF3j 21
FF2j 4</tt>

EDIT: Just added Deriths; didn't see it earlier.

[Julius Seeker]

This is fairly consistant with the ffonline poll, except there were a few differences:

1) Final Fantasy III (6j)
2) FF7
3) FF8
4) FF9
5) FFII (4j)
6) FF10
7) FF5
FF3j

The others were not ranked:

http://www.ffonline.com/news/news.php?a ... -09&page=7

[Zeus]

It's good to see that some of you still have some sanity, putting FF6 as the top one :-)

[the Gray]

See if I can change the score a bit

1) FF VI
2) FF V
3) FF I
4) FF VIII
5) FF IX
6) FF X
7) FF VII
FF IV

Haven't completed 2 or 3 yet.

[Don]

Okay guess Sine can finish keeping track of the score.

I declare you guys a bunch of nostaliga freaks!

[Kupek]

I declare you guys a bunch of nostaliga freaks!

I might eventually weigh in. It's very difficult for me to rank games I like in such a manner; in some respects I consider the exercise intellectually bankrupt. But, if I do eventually weigh in, my ranks will probably be biased towards the earlier games. It has little to do with the inherent quality of the games, but with my enjoyment of them. My enjoyment is a function of when I played them. Back when I played FF6, having a band of rebels take on an Empire still seemed like a novel idea in a videogame. Now it's old hat. FF4 was also the first RPG I ever played. That heavily biases my enjoyment over, say FF8, at which point I had seen just about every RPG cliche there was.

There's an emotional aspect to enjoying a game that's unavoidable. I played FF6 when I was still in high school and had gobs of free time to waste. I played FF8 my sophomore year of college when I only had time to play about once a week and even then I felt guilty because I wasn't doing work.

So I think ranking the older games higher more reflects that after playing many, many games in a particular genre - and games in general - we get jaded and it takes more and more to impress us.

[Zeus]

See if I can change the score a bit

1) FF V
2) FF IV
3) FF I
4) FF VIII
5) FF IX
6) FF X
7) FF VII
FF III

Haven't completed 2 or 3 yet.

Didn't like VI, huh?

[Flip]

I dont know how people can call FF6 overrated. I played the game as a kid when commercials, reviews, internet, and game media made no difference to me. I played it, loved it, played it a ton more, and later found out others had my same opinion.

Doesnt something need hype and attention to be overrated? (cough, FF7, cough). I'm not even sure i ever saw a FF6 commercial or review before i picked it up.

[kent]

1. FF-X
2. FF-IV
3. FF-VI
4. FF-VII
5. FF-IX
6. FF-I
7. FF-VIII

FF-XI > all, but addiction doesn't really count.

[Julius Seeker]

The one that I am most suprised with is the FFII/4, I really thought that was the second worst game next to NES FF2j. As I said before, I did like a lot of the music, but that was the only thing in the game I enjoyed.

[Flip]

The one that I am most suprised with is the FFII/4, I really thought that was the second worst game next to NES FF2j. As I said before, I did like a lot of the music, but that was the only thing in the game I enjoyed.

Very linear, but great story with good characters. Since this was FF2 in the US, compared to FF1 this game was 10000000000x better, thus the nostalgia factor is high since it is probably the first good RPG most of us had played.

Without a good #2us, i dont think i would have picked up #3us.

[Julius Seeker]

For me, it was actually Final Fantasy Legend 1 and 2, and Adventure, that gave me hope for future Square games on console. Even though I like FF1 quite a bit now, I used to hate it, in fact I thought everything Square released for console was quite inferior to Sega and Enix's inputs into the RPG and Avdenture genres. Square was the company that did good handheld games, but crappy console games. When Final Fantasy III, and then Chrono Trigger, then Mario RPG came around, I began to think differently.

[Imakeholesinu]

1) FFT
2) FF7
3) FFX
4) FF3

[SineSwiper]

Very linear, but great story with good characters. Since this was FF2 in the US, compared to FF1 this game was 10000000000x better, thus the nostalgia factor is high since it is probably the first good RPG most of us had played.

If you consider a story of "hey, he's dead...no wait, he's alive again" repeated about 12 times to be good, so be it. They couldn't even make the twins' sacrifice permanent. The story was good for us 4th grade kids, but it doesn't hold up today.

[Zeus]

The one that I am most suprised with is the FFII/4, I really thought that was the second worst game next to NES FF2j. As I said before, I did like a lot of the music, but that was the only thing in the game I enjoyed.

Very linear, but great story with good characters. Since this was FF2 in the US, compared to FF1 this game was 10000000000x better, thus the nostalgia factor is high since it is probably the first good RPG most of us had played.

Without a good #2us, i dont think i would have picked up #3us.

No, some of us played Dragon Warrior 1, Phantasy Stars 1 and 2, and Final Fantasy 1 long before FF4 came here

[Julius Seeker]

Dragon Warrior 3 and 4 is what I meant; I felt Dragon Warrior 1 was trash, and Dragon Warrior 2 was below standard. Dragon Warrior 3 and 4 were more fun than Final Fantasy 2. Lunar and the Phantasy Star series were also more fun; in my opinion of course.

I think it was mainly just the fact that the gameplay sucked. They tried to put the focus on the characters, but the characters also sucked =P The reason why I say that is due to poor writing, all the characters spoke the same and most had the same personality and attitude towards things. It wasn't until Final Fantasy III that Square actually started to have significantly unique character personalities. Of course the problem with Squares games up until around Final Fantasy 8 were that the characters didn't seem to logically have any reason for being friends with each other, it didn't make sense; especially when there was little to no reason for anyone to really trust anyone else in Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy 7, and Chrono Trigger (though Chrono Trigger had the relationships down by far the best of those games). It wouldn't have mattered a great deal had Square not made focus on plot, setting, and characters more important than gameplay by these times.

[Flip]

The one that I am most suprised with is the FFII/4, I really thought that was the second worst game next to NES FF2j. As I said before, I did like a lot of the music, but that was the only thing in the game I enjoyed.

Very linear, but great story with good characters. Since this was FF2 in the US, compared to FF1 this game was 10000000000x better, thus the nostalgia factor is high since it is probably the first good RPG most of us had played.

Without a good #2us, i dont think i would have picked up #3us.

No, some of us played Dragon Warrior 1, Phantasy Stars 1 and 2, and Final Fantasy 1 long before FF4 came here

I never played any Dragon Warriors, but i did mention FF1, just said that FF2 was 1000x better in comparison, thus FF2 was the first good RPG. Dont get me wrong, FF1 was good, but FF2 showed me what a real RPG can do.