Let’s Rank The Final Fantasy Games, Best to Worst

Kotaku: For the past two months, we've been running a feature called Pecking Order, in which we rank every game in a series, from best to worst. First up was Halo, then Grand Theft Auto.

Now it's Final Fantasy's turn. Which game in Square's crystal-packed behemoth is the best? Which is the worst? Which has the cutest moogles? Which has the best Aeris death?

[TheLyonKing]

My personal order is:

8
9
10
6
7
13-2
10-2
5
4,3,2,1
12
13
11
14

top 5 non ff main series but part of square
KH series
Chrono trigger
secret of mana
vagrant stories
disidia

[TongkatAli]

IX and XII are too low. VIII is better then IX ? IX is much better VII and VIII. Character wise, story wise, atomsphere, non emo main character etc etc. Soundtrack is hard to pick, but honestly VIII and IX rape VII OST to me.

[TheLyonKing]

8 was my first ff game I played which why its my favourite it introduced me to the amazing series that's why it's top like I said its my personal order.

9 was the first I bought with my own money and love it there's not much seperating them :) I wast a fan of 12 it was very much a single player 11, I don't like mmorpg combat RPGs.

[HammadTheBeast]

First of all, it's his personal opinion, the great thing about FF games is that each one affects a person differently. Also, Squall was not Emo.

[MaxXAttaxX]

* FF6
* FF4
* FF9
* FF7
* FF10
* FF8
* FF5
* FF12
* FF3
* FF
* FF2
* FF13

That's is my list. It's also THE best list :P
lol

[grailly]

that's a pretty unorthodox list. it's rare to not see 7 and 6 or the top 3.

mine would go more like:

10
8
7
9
4
6
12
and then I'm not passionnate enough to rate the others(most of which I didn't play/beat)

[NukaCola]

I have enjoyed almost all the original NES/SNES FF titles about the same. They all are unique. My least favorites are X through XIII. Although the visuals are better, the games became linear and unfun. XII had a lot of potential but wasn't what I was hoping for. The action RPG crown went to Kingdom Hearts (another franchise SE has been killing).

But if I had to pick one VII. Yeah, I know it's the hipsters' FF title, but it was the first FF I really remember pulling at my heart strings. The twins scene in FF IV was another one, but when I was that young, I didn't feel the same way. Plus FF VII was the first FF to be able to truly represent the series from both it's content and GRAPHICAL presentation.

Not knocking SNES at all...Chrono Trigger still trumps all even after all these years, but that game was the trinity of all the demigods of gaming. A once in a lifetime experience.

[grailly]

isn't FF6 or 4 the hipster FF? 7 seems like the go to response.

My theory is just that your appreciation of FFs depend on where you were in your life when they came out. For me FFX came out just when I was still a kid but my parents didn't monitor my play-time anymore, so I just have memories of playing it non-stop back to back and I had friends playing the game at the same time. I didn't have the same experience with other (arguably better) games

[NukaCola]

I have played every FF game to date minus XIII-2 and I have different experiences with all of them. It's really hard to pick one.

[Caffo01]

did you even play 11 and 14 before putting them at the bottom of your list?

[iWishTifaWasReal]

i know FFXIII is DEAD last on my list.

[shodan74]

Generally agree with this. Would certainly would put XIII rock bottom and IX right near the top. Only played IX for the first time a couple of years ago, and even with the dated graphics it completely blew me away.

[Blastoise]

A surprisingly good list. Nice to see Final Fantasy V getting some praise for once. I'd put Final Fantasy VII ahead of IV though

[GoldPunch-TR]

Best: Final Fantasy X !!

Best scene: http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[karlowma]

Wow, I pretty much agree with that list, though I might slide FFXIII up a few places and FFX down a few. People who bitch about FFXIII being linear obviously don't remember much of FFX.

[Pozzle]

The difference for me was that FFX's world was beautiful, diverse and genuinely made me want to reach the next area just to see what the town and people would be like.
While FFXIII's world was just...bland. So the linearity really stood out as a negative thing.

[karlowma]

I'll agree with that. I've never been a big fan of the whole industrial setting (with the exception being FFVII), so the world of FFXIII didn't really draw me in either, until you get to Pulse, anyway. However, I found the story to be quite good, and the character development, especially (or maybe specifically) of Sazh, kept me hooked.

[Inferno]

Best FF game to me is XII.
I'm prepared for your rage.

[Asuka]

12 was amazing

[karlowma]

I really liked FFXII, but it was for the world, and the mechanics (Gambit system was amazing to me), not the story.

[-Falaut-]

%100 agree.

12 is the one that got me closest to the FF VI vibe, but in 3D. :)

[Asuka]

i somewhat aree with this list. I would put ff8 a little higher up imo only because it was my favorite ff. However, i like how high up ff9 is. game is so amazing on many levels, its good to see some appreciation for it.

[izumo_lee]

Not too bad from Kotaku of all sites, good to know they can do some decent articles once in awhile.

Personal list

4, 7, 6, 9, 10, 8, 12, 5, 1, 3, 2, 13

Never played 11 or 14

[Tonester925]

waka

[SolidDuck]

I'm not a traditional jrpg player so that prob makes my opinion less valid. But I liked 12 the best. Followed closely by 10. But I understand 12 wasn't very well liked by the final fantasy community. I tried to play 13 a couple times, and I just couldn't. Besides the graphics I thought it was horrible.

[Spookshow]

This list works for me...

[Oh_Yeah]

7 8 9 10 and 12 were really the only good ones imo.

[LightofDarkness]

Yes, I think it's generally a toss up between IX and VI for series vets. IX is the most complete package for me, but VI certainly has the best plot. People whose first FF was X tend to rate that quite highly, but I don't know too many vets (especially those who started in the 16-bit era) who would put it near the top.

I can't really disagree with this list too much, but I wouldn't rate V or X higher than XII, personally, nor II over XIII (let's be honest, here).

I can't really disagree with this list.

[Oh_Yeah]

Idk, I started on the snes with 5 or 6. Still, when 7 dropped that's when I took more of a liking to final fantasy...it was the graphical change on the ps1 and the characters/ writing that got me. Idk maybe because I'm from the US? But I felt the aura of ff7 was aimed at Americans with the stereotypical black guy, the white kid who just doesn't give a damn about anything but himself, etc. That variety, The characters had flavor man..it just grabbed me more than the previous ones. And the enemies were just more epic looking then what snes could pull off, the battles more fluid, better effects, the content more vast. The series really took off on ps1.

[Son_Lee]

VII
X
VIII
XIII
IX
IV
X-2
V
VI
XII

[carlocgc]

TOP:
XI / VII
~
Everything else
~
BOTTOM:
X / XIII /XIV

[DEATHxTHExKIDx]

For me
VI
IV
VII
VIII
XIII-2
XIII
V
III
I
II

I have not played IX. I didnt finish X. XII I cant stand the combat.

[miyamoto]

FF VI
FF VII
FF IX
FF VIII

[Tzuno]

top 3:
3.ff10
2.ff9
1.ff3

[delboy]

Worst
Curent gen FF games

[TenkoTAiLS]

Probably get hate for this, but I never liked VIII. It had that whole, I dunno, more realistic deal to it at the time. It was a departure from the anime'ish and cartoony norm that the series had had up to that point. Didn't personally like the story either, or having to "draw" magic and it being limited to how many draw points you had found.

IX did a backflip and went back to the roots of the series and I loved it for that. But my favorites are probably the earlier ones. The SNES ones IV, V and VI were brilliant. Loved VII and IX too. X had a great story but it felt like it was missing something. XII was like an offline XI and from the tactics universe so I didn't fancy that one much. And XIII, well, it was pretty, but I wouldn't call it a Final Fantasy personally.

[animegamingnerd]

all the final fantasy games i played from best to worst
1.6
2.7
3.4
4.1
5.10
6.13

[a411411]

1st And foremost

FF7!
FFX!

The 2 i love the most, I've never played 8 or 9 or any under 7 so i cant make the best list but i know 7 and 10 like the back of my hand. i played 13 but just cant seem to place it in the list without playing the others.

[josephayal]

FF 13
FF 13-2
FF 11
FF 14
FF 7
FF 10