I loved nine, to be truthful i did start with it but i tried all the others bar ten and the more recent ones (I completed 10-2), i thought nine was lovevly but thats probably because i adored the style and the little iddy biddy cute characters.

The ending cinematic upset me deeply. sad face

IX and IV will always be the two greatest.
VII was NOT innovative. they just scaled it to 3D. it was essentially still a 2D game (and i'd even argue that the backdrops were 2D, thus it is still a 2D game).

IX was everything I wanted since IV, both of which offered unique styles compared to the annoyances that were 7 and 8. I'm pretty much certain that 7 is for the angsty/emo crowd, while 8 is for the romantics. The aim of both of the games were rather shallow, and the characters were SO shallow that I honestly needed to stop playing before I felt my IQ drop.

hayashi38:
IX and IV will always be the two greatest.
VII was NOT innovative. they just scaled it to 3D. it was essentially still a 2D game (and i'd even argue that the backdrops were 2D, thus it is still a 2D game).

IX was everything I wanted since IV, both of which offered unique styles compared to the annoyances that were 7 and 8. I'm pretty much certain that 7 is for the angsty/emo crowd, while 8 is for the romantics. The aim of both of the games were rather shallow, and the characters were SO shallow that I honestly needed to stop playing before I felt my IQ drop.

You didn't mention VI, the REAL best Final Fantasy, unlike FFIV it has an original setting (for the time) and story, offered characters that were both Unique and Customizable and it had Kefka.

VI is my favorite, though I did like VII, VIII and IX as well. I think I prefer VIII out of them just because it has easily the best music (and CGI cutscenes, to a lesser extent) of any FF game. I could listen to that soundtrack for hours. Though I haven't played any of them in a while so maybe I should go back and replay IX.

I hate saying what my favourite FF is, but I'm going to go ahead and say I loved both FF9 and FF7 equally. As this isn't a FF7 topic I'm not going to elaborate as to why FF7 rocks (if you've played it, you'll know why) - but FF9 was wonderfully asmospheric, the music score was memorable and the characters were very likeable (especially Vivi!). The name Dagger was abit.. ":S", but with the ability to rename characters, no ones the wiser. I also liked the general upbeat vibe that FF9 had too, it was a fresh change from 7 and 8. The gameplay in FF9 was great, I really enjoyed the combat and the leveling system unlike FF8 which pissed me off with all the drawing magic from enemies which became very monotonous.

Anyways, I loved FF9 and have recently started again.. The only thing I majorly dislike about it is that little slag Eiko - she's bloody annoying at times.

I recently went back and played VIII, because I never did finish it. Overall, I thought it was all right as long as you know to upgrade Squall's weapon (I didn't know back then, thus I got frustrated and quit). Once you get the Lionheart, the game is cake.

I really enjoyed IX for all the reasons listed above. After spending 100 hours slogging through XII however, I have sworn off Final Fantasy. Not that I didn't like it, but I've since implemented a 20 hour rule on games. See kids, that's what happens when you get old like me.

I've thoroughly enjoyed all of the FF games since I played the first one on my NES, up till now, when I have gone back and played the re-released versions that only Japan got back then. Are some better than others? Yes.

Oh yeah, except for the new one. Played the Demo. Won't play the game. Sorry, it's not FF (to me, at least. This is an opinion that I won't defend. I'll defend the facts I state. My opinions are mine alone.).

I thought nine was universally loved and everyone hated 8.
Why are the odd final fantasies good but the even ones suck?

i liked final fantasy 9 alot, but that might be since i started with 8 and 9 felt like a better game then 8, to me at least :o

I alwayts thought 8 was my favrioute, again I started with 7. I got 9 on release and only ever played the first 2 disks as I got bored. But recently I have gone back to actually finish it, as well as repplay 8, and I have to admit im prefering 9 at the minute.

I will say that 8 had the best(?) initial expeiance for me

Ehhhhh... I dunno. I tried to give it a chance, tried to love it, but it just failed to suck me in. I'd played an FF game on the SNES before (4, or 2, or 16 however that works out in NA), and after the blockbusters of FF7 and FF8 I just couldn't get into it.

Also, I would have to say FF8 is my favorite game in the series. Aside from the card battling shit they almost never made you do anyways, the combat, the story, the magic the summons; Loved it all.

Hell, I bought that game for PSX and PC, and still don't regret spending the money on two copies. I just wish the darn thing emulated properly on my PSP, it's notorious for crashing/locking up/corrupting saves from what I hear.

Conclusion: I just didn't get sucked into FF9's world.

I have played every REAL Final Fantasy (I to X), along with several vaguely related games (including Bahamut Lagoon), and some of the spin-offs (X-2 and XII).

Final Fantasy 9 remains my favourite. I started with 7, then got 8, then 9, then 6, then 4 & 5, then 1 & 2, then 10, then 3. I absolutely love the "nostalgia" 9 produces; it felt very much a swan-song game for me, as if it was saying "this is how we used to do it, and it was great."

FF9 was my first FF, and it was epic! I do agree dagger was a bit empty sometimes. Sucks I can't get it to work on my emulator.

Souplex:
I thought nine was universally loved and everyone hated 8.
Why are the odd final fantasies good but the even ones suck?

Let's consider this...

PROS - Odd Numbers.
1 started it all.
3 is so damn awesome, as well as being insanely rare (prior to its DS re-release).
5 has the best class-system of the lot.
7... was FF7.
9 had so many cool concepts, perfectly merging the "old school" elements of Final Fantasy whilst retaining a very modern feel.
11 allows people to play Final Fantasy online.
13 is pretty much porn.

CONS - Odd Number.
1 was INSANELY hard.
3 had a lost of "wasted" classes; most were simply not worth using.
5 - struggle to find a specific fault, but I did wander off after a while.
7 had... er... a spin-off on the PSP.
9 had the whole business with Garnet / Dagger going mute on us... which fucked you up when you DESPERATELY needed healing and/or a really big Eidolon.
11... is Final Fantasy 11.
13 is almost certainly going to continue to blatantly disregard the ATB / Turn-based combat systems that made Final Fantasy fun to play, and thus won't be a Final Fantasy save in name.

PROS - Even Numbers.
2 had a really clever level-up system.
4 had Kain.
6 was EPIC!
8 had the Card Game.
10 had BLITZ BALL!
12 was set in Ivalice, and I am unashamedly obsessed with FFTA.

CONS - Even Numbers.
2 - not really memorable, as I've forgotten pretty much everything about it.
4 had Cecil. Seriously, how the FUCK can a "Dark Knight" be called CECIL!?
6 had Kefka. He annoyed the hell out of me.
8... was Final Fantasy XIII. This is easily the WORST Final Fantasy of the "old" games, though it probably is better than everything after 10.
10 spawned 10-2.
12 is World of Warcraft, only without the Multiplayer.

I've played almost all the FFs and I would rank them in this order (with reasons).

1) FFVII, My first FF and it just grabbed me and wouldn't let go for months, that and its dicking awesome.
joint 1) FFX, My first PS2 game, I was a bit "ill" when I got it and spent about 2 weeks off school to play it. I think my total hour count on this game would add up to something like 200 hours. Seriously. Its that good, though the final boss sucked but was necessary to the story.
3) FF9, Also completely sucked me in. It also reminded me of all the old FFs so much and I can't explain why but that was pretty cool.
4) FFVI, Totally awesome. Deserves its place just for Cyan and Shadow.
5) FFXII, Okay now stfu, I actually really liked this game even though I'm not terribly great at it. Also I actually like Vaan as a character.
6) FFV, The job system was sweet. I've played this on the PS1 remake and GBA. I still love it so much.
7) FFIV, I got this in FF Anthology with FFV, although I always played V more, I still thought this was pretty cool. Cecil was pretty awesome too.
8) FFX-2, Surprisingly, I actually like this game. The combat system is pretty cool, the dresspheres are also quite nice, sphere break is pretty sweet and getting to go round Spira again was nice. It also seemed like a harking back to the old days after the hugely different FFX, although I still think the Sphere Grid was pretty cool. Personally I don't see that much wrong with this game, except that its not really as deep as the others, I still find it good fun though.
9) FFVII, FFI and FFII. Never really got into any of these, I still own I & II but haven't really played them much. VIII I just never really clicked with, though I'll probably get it again sometime.
XI & III. Never played either, though i've been told III = VI? And I don't really count XI as part of the series.

well i played 3 on Snes as a teenager... after that i was aware they released other in japan, but didnt have the cash to import them.
Then 7 came out. I loved it. Finished it in 83 hours, every item but 1, no walk throughs.
Then 8, by then my ps1 was on the fritz, so had disk skipping issues.
9, i liked 9, but having siad that the characters where kinda cartoony. I liked the leveling skills off gear.
10, i actually liked 10, especially blitzball. The story pulled me right in.
11, it was a choice between 11 and WoW, i chose WoW
12, i have 12 but never been able to become imersed in it. probably coz i play crackcraft.. i mean warcraft.
I really intend to get the anthology for 1-3... man its that long since i looked at my palystation stuff i cant even remember which FF's i have. the shame. oh and the fact most of these are ps1 games and rumour has it ps3 isnt so reverse friendly, that and my ps2 is showing it's age.

You played FF3 on SNES? Are you japanese by any chance?

I really liked IX. Great entertainment, but like many have said before: Nothing really special. What I couldn't stand was X-2. It lacked everything I liked about FF. Like watching an endless japanese MTV commercial.

My favourite's 6. Hell of a great game.

To put it simply, FF9 was too fucking easy! All the game mechanics and systems were gr8 and so was the story but the games hardest boss Ozma has a pathetic amount of health and could be killed very easily relative to Emerald weapon, Omega weapon, Penance and all the other mega bosses. Also ff9 lacked a super move. VII had Omnislash and Knights of Round. VIII had Lionheart and Eden. X had Blitz ace, attack reels, Oblivion and Delta attack. Not one single move in IX hit more than once and nothing could do more than 9999. It was still easy though as every group member could do 9999 every turn so u could have Zidane do Grand Lethal (although sloution 9 is just has powerful) Dagger use Ark, Steiner use Shock, Freya use Dragon Creast. Do tht twice and u will kill everything in the game regardless. BTW the last story boss Necron where the fuck did he come from!

I started Final Fantasy with 7... only I tried to. I bought a PS2 and found a copy for like $10 and tried to play it but didn't have a PSone memory card, so I said F'it and threw it aside for a couple of years until I was told I HAD to play it.

My first Final Fantasy was X. X is the best to me because it was just far more cinematic. Were some cut scenes hard to watch? sure... but they were also very pretty for an early PS2 game. Seeing X made me get a PS2 (that and Devil May Cry...)

I replayed 7, twice. It was great. I tried 8 and was like... ugh. I tried 9 and I played it for 5 hours and just said screw it. It was ugly to me, to childish (at least in my teen years) and I went on to playing MUCH better RPGs (Lunar SSSC, Lunar 2 EB, Tales of Destiny 1 and 2, Xenogears... You know, much better RPGs).

Poor 8 and 9. I want a good, solid 6 remake on the DS so I can give it a go. I will probably get 4 for the DS, as well.

I too actually really liked FFIX, I liked that it was a bit more colorful and a throwback to the style of the older games, still.. I think all the FF games have their merits, and I'm glad when they switch things up a bit to prevent the series from getting stale

@ Jaun regular. No, FF3 was available in Australia on the Snes.

Lets do the math.. I wasnt in school, so at least 1994... PS1 wasnt out yet ( date anyone ) hell i think that was when the mega drive was still kinda new. games on pc where still in DOS format. Back when ppl would call your 486 a marvel of the modern age.. lol. o, wait i think they were talking about pentiums at this stage too.. i forget. i'm to old.. 30 and over the hill a gamer since 13 on my commodore 64. i'll just go back and sit in my rocking chair trying to remember when i saw it. ( 3 on SNes)

Okay well I started with 7 and I Rate 9 as my favorite game of them all, for me the characters were just brilliant, they had an actual feel to them as opposed to 8's characters who were just boring (except irvine he was hardcore).

For me 9 was a return to form, involoving royalty and un-modern fantasy worlds of magic, plus having the main character as a theif was just win.

And just so no one can argue back , it also had Vivi in, so all other arguments are null and void :p

imperialwar:
@ Jaun regular. No, FF3 was available in Australia on the Snes.

Lets do the math.. I wasnt in school, so at least 1994... PS1 wasnt out yet ( date anyone ) hell i think that was when the mega drive was still kinda new. games on pc where still in DOS format. Back when ppl would call your 486 a marvel of the modern age.. lol. o, wait i think they were talking about pentiums at this stage too.. i forget. i'm to old.. 30 and over the hill a gamer since 13 on my commodore 64. i'll just go back and sit in my rocking chair trying to remember when i saw it. ( 3 on SNes)

It was FF6 actually. I forgot that they had different titles for the english-speaking market. 3 was never released in english until the recent DS version.

Bigfatstupid:
A final fantasy game I disliked the most would have to be Final fantasy eight. I just didn't care for any of the characters, especially Squall. I also detested the leveling system in that game. You gain another ten levels but the enemy grow just as strong as you do. So having your characters level to 99 was pretty much pointless. The weapons were nearly non existent in the game as well. You'd only have three or four weapons for one character and nothing else. No armor shops or anything that could have defend your characters. Just mind numbling difficult quests to search for the pieces you would need to make the weapon, like Lionheart.

I liked 8, sure it was rough around the edges in places, but it was a challenge. Plus it was the first one to have more realistic looking characters (I've said this before on other threads). I also like the fact that the more you grind, the harder it gets. Hate the card game though.

I, personally loved nine.
I was also a very big fan of eight, if played correctly you could take serious advantage of that leveling system to make the game much easier then it already was.

Like most i started with 7, i realistically started Gaming as a hobby around the time 7 came out, so it's hardly a surprise. I loved 7's story, i loved it's characters i loved (and still love) mostly everything about it.

Eight, yes, fair enough took that and pretty took out everything that worked and replaced it with liquid easy and to mention skinny, mostly whiney characters who all appear to have stupidly long legs.
that being said, it was still a beautiful game and the story, although in need of some work, was still to good standard.

Nine, i loved it, it was my first introduction into how the games used to work, seeing as they were essentially trying to re-visit the original concept while throwing in something new and intuitive.
And where the story and characters weren't always as fleshed out as they could have been the overal style i felt made up for that.
as it was the closest thing to "Steampunk" i'd ever seen in a Final Fantasy (Until i looked further down the line and discovered the older games.)
And for that, it won points. (because i'm a veritable whore for anything Steampunk)
Although all that being said, i think the game would have been so much better if they got rid of Amarant and replaced Eiko with someone who wasn't annoying.

in my opinion, it was the games that followed after nine that were terrible.
Sure i was one of the people that ignored the crucial gameplay flaws in Ten because overall it LOOKED very pretty.
but when you sit and think back on it, it wasn't as good as it's predecessors.

I only played FF 7 - 10 and have little interest in the history, and no interest in the future.

I liked 9 the best. The characters were charming and it had a unique art design. The gameplay in 8 was garbage, but then again I think it had the strongest narrative. 7 was just decent. I have no idea how it managed to spawn everything but a religion. I'll admit that it had the best gameplay and Tifa sure was nice to look at, but everything else was pretty average.

There's nothing about 10 I like.

Have to say a little suprised to see a disscussion on Final Fantasy IX and with most things being stated and of opinion feel a little left out but here we go anyways.

I am a gigantic FF geek and have played almost every variation of a Final Fantasy game (aside XI) up til XII. So my thoughts are extremly biased.

Final Fantasy IX is on my list around the middle of all the Final Fantasy games i've played. Its story is very cliched though that seems to be the point considering it seems to take a little inspiration from A Midnight Summer's Dream. I highly enjoyed the sleeper agents of destruction idea that the game had. Basically putting no real villian in place (in my take/opinion of the story). Infact most characters seemed to be dealing with a "I've been put here for one purpose" complex and trying to overcome it with various results. The combat system was great in my opinion, easy to master though and very grind based with little work need. True that the trance mode was rather difficult to use and not really adding much to the strategy of the game, more of an occassional godly beatdown to your advantage if the battle lasted long enough. So all in all a pretty good game.

Now 8 on the other hand, though at first I positively hated the game after a massive amount of attempts (6 or 7 if I remember right) I finally got the game's idea down and it was more about manipulating your stats rather then leveling up. Its story was a bit of a throw back considering this was the first time that it was a group of orphens fighting for the fate of the universe in a long time, rather then a mismatched band of heros (4-7 all had a basic resistance against the bad guy who turns out to reveal a bigger bad guy). Its story regarding love between an war orphen and a manipulated princess (so to speak) is a bit different to take in compared to most Final Fantasy games. Also it handed you a gigantic time paradox in your lap at the end. The characters weren't to well developed. I could see the point of focusing in on only a few characters, however i've always enjoyed FF because of how expansive all the characters are compared to just having a few who are main stage. Far from the best Final Fantasy but calling it the worst is far from the truth X-2 and 2 are on the bottom of my list.

Well, I can rant forever but i'll leave with my opinions on those two for now.

I also have to throw my hat in with the crowd who liked Final Fantasy IX. FFIX returned to the more classic FF setting of an ancient and magical kingdom, but at the same time it broke one of the major traditions by having the main character be the thief rather than the fighter. For some reason, I found the change appealing. Further, it had a much more lighthearted tone to FFVIII's emo script, and I found Zidane's rather smartass attitude to be a refreshing change. The graphics were superb for a PS1 game. The characters were hit and miss though. Vivi was a genuinely sympathetic character that I found compelling, but Dagger was obnoxious. I think the biggest obstacle that FFIX faced was that it was released just as the PS2 was launched, and became almost an afterthought to most gamers.

Souplex:
I thought nine was universally loved and everyone hated 8.
Why are the odd final fantasies good but the even ones suck?

Four and six didn't suck... Can't defend II overly much.

Maet:
There's nothing about 10 I like.

Not even the Chocobos? How can anyone not love chocobos? They're about the ONLY thing about XI I DO like... Even if their naming system blows.

Khell_Sennet:

Maet:
There's nothing about 10 I like.

Not even the Chocobos? How can anyone not love chocobos? They're about the ONLY thing about XI I DO like... Even if their naming system blows.

I'm not big on Chocobo's at all (although I admit I loved the Chocobo side quest in 9 which scores it another point). Really, I see Chocobo's as little more than an Emu/Chicken mascot.

I guess I am the only one who liked FF2 and see it's game mechanics as great and not bad as everyone else seems to cry about it. it's stat system was great, but apparently people dont have patience or dont know how it actually works. I love its story too, wasn't too great but it was a major step up from FF1, which i do like, not saying 1 was bad at all.

FF9 was great, though it had quite possibly one of the worst secret bosses of all time. Ozma was nearly impossible and totally irrelevant to the story. You had to complete a separate quest just for the privilege of using your melee attacks against him.

I found 9 to be enjoyable, and better than 7. Not to say that I didn't like 7, but... it got a bit... a bit... nyeh. Same with 8. I got to a point where I'd moved on from the story, where it was - dare I say it - boring.

Started with 7, and my enjoyment of the series has increased as I have moved through them. Currently re-enjoying FF12. Love that game.

10... well... 10 I liked too. And I am totally unashamed about this fact.

Oh, and I wish they'd do more for the DS.

FF9 is an awsome game with many lessons incorperated
and people think hardcore gamers wouldent play it

I liked FF9, it was silly and colorful

also, the main character was a thief, not a fighter, unlike in almost every other FF game

and we all know thieves>fighters