The 10 Worst Final Fantasy Games

The Final Fantasy franchise has taken a lot of slack lately. Some of it is unjustified, most of it is. Top 5 or 10 “best of” lists have been done to death, and glorify the series more than they should. Granted, there are some fantastic, if not ground-breaking, games in the franchise, but the majority of them – especially the ones of late – have been downright pitiful.

[Relientk77]

Final Fantasy XIV, XIII, and XIII-2

[Bobby Kotex]

After playing VII years ago and remembering how awesome it was, I decided to get XIII when it came out. All I can say is I'll probably never buy another FF game. I just don't understand the obsession JRPGs have with effeminate men.

[edgeofsins]

Watch out for Versus XIII. It looks like it will redeem the FF series. Unfortunately there just isn't much to look up but on some sites you can find a lot of detail about the story and the world and stuff.

[blumatt]

I love FF 8 the best. Awesome love story.

[Whitefox789]

@edgeofsins ohh well you don't mean at all a gameplay trailer of the game that was shown in 2011?

This should be more then enough to convince you to keep your eyes on this title, I trust Nomura after all.

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

[blitz0623]

"Squall is the worst protagonist"

I disagree. Squall is actually one of my favorite main characters. He underwent a transformation during the game and had a big influence on it as well, which is what main characters are supposed to do, not follow people around just for the thrill of it like Vaan in FFXII. It didn't matter that Squall was a jacka$$ at first. At least he had a personality and he wasn't boring.

[NCAzrael]

@blitz0623

Perhaps I'm just remembering it incorrectly, but you and I have very different views of Squall. Perhaps it is because of the fact that I played Final Fantasy games before VII, so I always looked past character models and pretty scenery when judging characters. VII didn't have a lot of great characters, to be honest. There were a few, but not as many as I'd have liked given previous games. Sephiroth was not the great villain everyone made him out to be. But I'd honestly take any of the characters from VII above Squall any day. He spends the entire game whining and being kind of a bitch, and pretty much gets dragged through the entire game by the supporting characters. And "Awesome love story," as blumatt put it, is almost as bad as saying Twilight was an awesome love story. He's clueless the entire time until finally at the end he realizes "Oh, hey, she actually likes me!" Never mind the fact that she's been throwing herself at him the entire game.

[AsimLeonheart]

What you western people call "effeminate men" are what women like in the eastern countries. Vaan from FFXII was popular among Japanese girls. The concepts of masculinity and feminine beauty are subjective and depend upon nation and culture. You should not be so self-righteous and arrogant as to believe that only your ideas and concepts are the right one in the world. We in the east do not like the appearance of western male characters as well who seem overgrown, ugly, insensitive and crude to us living in the east. The guys you call "effeminate"over there are considered young and handsome over here. It is all cultural difference and no one is right or wrong.

[Ranma1]

Final Fantasy X-2>Final Fantasy XIII

Both in terms of gameplay and story telling. Even though the story of FF10-2 wasnt even good

[oli]

I loved the fast turn based battles in X-2.

[dylandurden]

Agree. I hated X-2 back then, but XIII manages to be even worse.

[Kratoscar2008]

FFX-2 has one of my favorite battle systems and is has a girl only jobs system that is amazing.

FFXII didnt have neither a good history or good gameplay.

[TiberusX87]

XIII-2 > X-2 & XIII

Want to know something also? They're all directed by the same guy, Motomu Toriyama.

FF hasn't died, the 3 lowest ranked games have just all been directed by this guy. There are still other teams and directors involved with the other projects.

[jsslifelike]

"And just in case you were wondering, my top FF games of all time are:
5) Final Fantasy (mostly for nostalgic purposes)
4) Final Fantasy VII
3) Final Fantasy IV
2) Final Fantasy X
1) Final Fantasy VI"

Really? After he named all of the supposed shit ones, there really weren't that many left.

These "Top X of Y" articles need to DIAF.

Plus, The Crystal Bearers not being mentioned automatically discredits the piece.

[StraightPath]

FF8 = Fail article author is not a ff fan rather then a noob.

[Relientk77]

Final Fantasy VI, VII, VIII, IX, and X are the best of the series IMO

[iamtehpwn]

Really? You're saying X-2 is better than XIII-2? You've obviously never played XIII-2.

[entitygm]

Not to mention the draw system was entirely optional. You could sit there and draw 10,000 spells if you really wanted to, or you could draw the bare minimum. The quickest route was to have your magic draw while the others battled the distribute them out so you weren't drawing 1-2 with a fighter.

The level system in FF8 was excellent about this. If you spent time on the grind to level up, the enemies did so as well. If you felt like speeding through instead, the enemies stayed low level. Enemy difficulty was based on your strength so it was consistent and didn't require grinding at all.

[TiberusX87]

A lot of people bash XIII-2 without even playing it, because of the stigma behind XIII.

I struggled to complete XIII, and I got the Platinum trophy for XIII-2. Massive difference, and a great leap up.

That being said, the next core FF won't have anything to do with Motomu Toriyama anyway, so the style will be completely different. Bring on Ito's Team for XV (VI, IX & XII)

[Leonesaurus]

"1) Final Fantasy XIV

The only game on the list I have never played"

This list is void the second the author of this article said that.

But to be honest, if the person did not like FF XI, then chances are he most likely won't have an open enough mind to like the things in FF XIV.

I can't really argue against some of the things this author says about FF XI, since if you don't like the game because of some of the reasons he/she gave, that's taste and opinion. And that's his/her right to dislike that game.

I love FF XI personally, and I also really enjoy and love FF XIV.

You can argue against the launch of FF XIV till the sun goes down but if you haven't played the game you really have no say in whether it is good/bad or #1 on a list or #10 on a list.

Even if you still have the same close-minded opinion on the game after playing it, at least you can say you played it a considerable amount of time to form an intelligent opinion.

FF XIV actually has one of the most interesting worlds and stories I've seen and played in any FF game I've played. Not saying it is the best, because that is up to a persons own opinion.

But I would go as far to argue and say that it is vastly over-criticized to the point where no one actually gets to understand and explore the story and praise some of the interesting things in the game's lore.

As for FF XIII and XIII-2, even though I did find some enjoyment out of them compared to most gamers, I understand 100% why they would be up on a list and vastly disliked.

Then again, I guess I could say the same about FF XIV, but for entirely different reasons and unfortunate circumstances.

Hopefully, FF XIV 2.0 will make people change their minds and perception on the game to some degree.

[tommygunzII]

I agree 100%.

FFXI was a brilliant game. Heres to hoping that FFXIV will be half as great.

[TiberusX87]

Isn't obvious after all this discussion that the Final Fantasy fanbase is so large that it is completely divided on every single entry?

There are always different directors & teams involved with each entry into the FF series. That means there will always be changes, new ideas and different directions. Hence a split fanbase for every release.

There is not a single Final Fantasy that someone doesn't hate, or rated below one of others. So lets just keep playing, as this will just continue as long as the series is alive.

/ Point Made

[Hicken]

My one bubble is to say that I'm giving YOU a bubble for saying something intelligent.

[360ICE]

I'm not saying don't criticize Final Fantasy, because I think there's always room for some positive criticism, but I will say don't expect so damn much from FF. FFVII, FFIX, FFVI, FFIV or FFX or whatever one is your favorite has never been and will never be the norm of JRPGs, RPGs or even FF games. They're the absolute gold standard. No company is likely to keep giving out 10/10 masterpieces after another, and given how little people expect from JRPGs in general, I'd say it's pretty weird how much pressure people put on FF.

What if FFXII was an independent release, not made by Squarenix? I bet you, it'd be a cult classic and a fan favorite, and people would be looking at Square, and ask why they can't make games like that.

But, yeah, a lot is wrong with FF, so by all means speak out.

[Pozzle]

Dirge of Cerberus for me. Way to turn such a classic and memorable RPG and turns its world and characters into generic, dull, shooter crap.

[edgeofsins]

If you are playing only a person that shoots a gun I don't expect them to have the usual RPG combat.

[Pozzle]

I've got no problem with Square making a shooter sequel to an RPG. But they just...didn't make a good game.

The controls were clunky, the RPG elements and levelling system was silly for a shooter, the locations were dull and grey and looked nothing like they did in FFVII, the non-FFVII characters were one-dimensional stereotypes (e.g. the Russian spy. FFVII's world doesn't even have a Russia!), the story was nonsensical (Lifestream-internet...wtf! Hojo downloading his conscience into the main villain...wtf!), the AI was stupid beyond belief, and most of the time you're just running through linear grey levels to shoot the same two bad guy types (the generic gunmen and the generic snipers) over and over again.

It was a paint-by-numbers shooter, and if it wasn't set in the FFVII world, I doubt it would have recieved as many positive reviews as it did. Square can do so much better than that.

[user5467007]

"Final Fantasy VIII"

...

...

Get out, no honestly I mean it I'm sick of people saying FF8 was a bad FF game. FF13 was a bad FF game, FF8 was in my opinion one of the best. Great music, great story, great main character development.

"Squall was hands down the worst protagonist of the series to that point"

Oh so I'm guessing all that great character development thats stretched over the 4 discs makes him the worst protagonist. The way they transform is character from a loney selfish jerk in the beginging to a brave heroic leader at the end is amazing. People, FF8 haters, only judge his character from the person we meet at the beginging of the game not the person the game transform him into by the end of the game, the end of Squalls journey.

"The experimental combat system had potential"

Don't bother mention the junction system, the excuses I hear for that are amazing. In one sentence people say it was too easy, but in the next I hear it was too complicated...I mean what is it then.

"But my real problem with VIII is that the characters were stereotyped into the same roles as they were in VII. It’s almost as if Square was intentionally trying to capitalize on the success of its predecessor by creating a very similar game."

lol...no they wern't. At least Squall had good reasons to why he was the selfish jerk he was in the beginging on the game, Cloud had none and yet he is never called an "emo". The reason why FF8 is so hated is because it wasn't a sequel to FF7, even though fans knew at the time that each FF game tells a differn't story.

The problem with FF8 is that people nitpicked it to death, if it had come before FF7 and was the first FF PS1 game then that would of been hailed as the "greatest" FF game ever.

[Irishguy95]

I would have agreed with you, but Cloud wasn't Emo at all in FF7. You remember incorrectly. He wasn't particluarly a **** either, only to barret who was a **** to him, and yes he had much greater reason to be a ****ed up person than Squall, Squall was damaged from being left alone/not trusting people etc. Cloud was experimented on with Jenova cells while he was a weak kid....along with being traumatized by Nibelhiem incident

FF8 is great i'm replaying it now btw. Imo the junction system is too easy, the characters are poorly developed and some of the plot devices were pretty retarded./orphanage/. 3rd disk lets it down imo/ Sorta drags too long in that.

FF8 was also my first FF. FF7 is my favorite for a variety of reasons/ FF8 is in my top 10 list too/ It definitely isn't a bad game/ Although if some people think it is then fine, I can see why they would

[LightofDarkness]

Wow, it sounds like you haven't even played VII. VIII has one of the worst plotlines in a videogame that I've ever had the displeasure of sitting through. It is beyond ridiculous. Orphanage scene, anyone?

The draw system practically forces grinding, junctions and practically everything about them make the game simultaneously too easy and infuriating, and that damn card game... it confuses me to no end how anyone could consider this game to be one of the best in franchise.

[HammadTheBeast]

So, one scene majes the whole plot go bad? The plotline with Siefer and the characters are pretty awesome, especially Irvine. Sure, the card game is messy, but you dont have to play it, and it gets fun once you know how to play. Trust me.

[NeXXXuS]

If you knew anything about FFVIII, you would know that the draw system was not necessary unless you wanted it to be. They had a completely different system for creating magic from items with a GF's ability. There was no need to grind magic if you didn't want to. And the card game was just something extra. You didn't need to play it, they just included it in there for some extra fun. I actually got the Lionheart on Disc 2 because of Triple Triad.

[user5467007]

Someone tells me off that I havent played FF7 and yet hasn't got a clue what he's talking about with FF8

LOL

[LightofDarkness]

Hammad: that was just one glaringly obvious low-point. How about the myriad plot-holes and the awful character development? I'd have to write an essay on it to really drive home the point, but it would be pointless. You won't be taking off the rose-tinted glasses any time soon.

Nexxus: most people don't realize that until later in the game or even after they've played it, and it STILL requires a lot of unnecessary busy work to play the game. You'll still have to teach your GF the ability, go out and farm items, then sit in the menus a while to refine them. The game also penalizes you for using magic by lowering your stats. That is one of the dumbest things ever to disgrace a FF game.

Thus, much of the battles were just trotting out GFs, with their incredibly lengthy attack cinematics, which made battles seem like a chore rather than a pleasure. I haven't played the game since it was released so I might be sketchy on some details, but even watching videos of it on youtube reminds me of the boredom.

@Mike: I don't see you refuting or countering any of the points I've made. Attack the argument, not the arguer.

[NeXXXuS]

I'm sure you were one of the people that didn't read Quistis's tutorials about junctioning magic and letting GF's learn abilities earlier in the game. And even if that were the case, other Final Fantasy games were the same way. Final Fantasy IX had a card game but i don't see you complaining about that one. You also needed to buy equipment to learn abilities. You also have to level grind in most of the games if a boss was too hard to beat. Final Fantasy X made you play blitzball as part of the main story (which i enjoyed). So why are you hating on VIII? Junctioning magic and overpowering my characters was one of the greatest things. Having over 6000 HP on disc one was pretty amazing.

[MacDonagh]

I don't wish to sound like a numbnut but FF8 wasn't that good. The junction system was convoluted and you HAD to draw magic to get the best stats. Not to mention Triple Triad was utterly abysmal and the plot was complete hogwash.

[NeXXXuS]

You didn't have to draw magic from enemies. The GF's you acquired had abilities to convert items into magic. It's not hard AT ALL.

[Lovable]

I agree. FF 8 was awesome.

[WildArmed]

Final Fantasy 8 was amazing.
The junction system made it stand out and easily one of my fav. FF.

I lol'd at the author when I say that on the list.

[Qrphe]

VIII was my favorite too. I played VII and could have become my favorite if I hadn't played IV years earlier.

VIII is my favorite so far (even above) VII even though VII had the better combat system.

[Whitefox789]

All I'll say about FF8 is, Jumbo Cactuar battle ftw!

[specialguest]

FF8 on that silly list is pure blasphemy! FF8 is on my top 5 list, and it was a breath of fresh air in terms of getting away from the dark and depressing atmosphere/look of FF6 & FF7(not that it was a bad thing). The ending was one of my favorite of the FF series.

[jeeves86]

I liked FF8, to an extent. But I didn't like Squall.

I liked him initially, but it didn't take long for him to grow on me as one gigantic douche. He has this great support from friends who like him despite the fact that he's a douche and this gorgeous girl is crushing on him to boot. And he's a massive prick. His animations didn't help with that, either.

Totally understand that he's got a troubled past and is insecure and battles with isolation issues, but by the time all of those were brought to the surface, he was already cemented in my mind as massive prick who only smiles at the end of the game.

Spoilers.

[NCAzrael]

I'm really curious to see what the correlation is between people who loved Final Fantasy VIII, and people who's first exposure to the Final Fantasy franchise was VIII. And to be fair I'd say the same thing about VII.

I've played just about every Final Fantasy game ever made, and VIII would have to be one of the worst ones ever. I hated Squall from the moment I started the game until the moment I mercifully finished. There's no real growth to his character. He starts out being a whiny little punk with no friends at the beginning and goes on to being a whiny little punk with some people following him at the end. That's his character growth. I could tell a better character arc in a 3 page Power Point presentation.

[ritsuka666]

The 10 Worst Final Fantasy"

Nothing can possibly be as bad as FF XIII. I swear that game was for 8 year old girls who like to play dress-up.

[brish]

Yeah!!! FF7 was way better!

There is no way Cloud would put on a dress!

O.o

[Donnywho]

Perfect comment

[SnipeySnake]

You just won the internet.

[Qrphe]

Only if we had a n4g archive website...

[Godmars290]

And here we are with this argument. Again.

[Baka-akaB]

yeah it's getting ridiculous , it's not as if by now in 2012 , if you dislike FFVIII someone will change your mind

[Godmars290]

Not like its looking like things are going to get any better than FF13. Not in any way that's going to start arguments or bring back old fans.

[guitarded77]

Top 10 most androgynous hair styles in Final Fantasy games coming soon... I can feel it.

On Topic: I don't think all those games are horrible... but Final Fantasy X-2 was certainly a piece of crap. It was Final Fantasy with Barbie dress-up.

[DMLFury]

Final Fantasy VIII explained. http://squallsdead.com/

[wishingW3L]

now that I think about it, how did Squall survive after being stabbed with an ice spear straight to the heart?

[DMLFury]

It's never explained. Hey, if FF8 was really meant to mean this, I tip my hat to them.

[Godmars290]

You actually look at it, its the upper right should area. Nowhere near the heart.

Nevermind the two to three, if not more, story drop which by all appearances the back of his head caught. Or the encyclopedia of other discussable plot-holes.

Part of it was our fault for accepting things like Cid jumping out an airship while holding a bomb large enough to close a volcano mouth, only to be findable alive later with no effort, the rest is just Square putting over the top things in cutscenes while not even trying to match it in gameplay.

[Irishguy95]

Oh yeah godmars, I always wonder how the **** he just popped back up later with the airships

[LightofDarkness]

They do mention using healing magic in the prison afterwards, but are unable to use it there because of the anti-magic barrier (which somehow does no apply once you're in battle). Anyway, this game is riddled with plot-holes.

[XeoZin]

Its an interesting plot indeed i never thought of that, but i dont think the game was made around that theory, but interesting indeed.

I do however realy like the theory that Rinoa is Ultimecia, theres alot strong points for that theory.

[DragonKnight]

There are no strong points for that theory at all. Rinoa is not Ultimecia. There are mountains of real evidence against it.

[chaos_mechanica]

Interesting theory. Like ME's Indoctrination theory, there are some holes, but it's an interesting theory nonetheless. I'm going to keep it in mind when I finally replay FFVIII after the PSOne firmware comes to the Vita

[MRMagoo123]

Im really not too sure how in touch with real life most of you guys are here, buuuuuut this is a game you know based on fantasy you dont have to explain everything

[WildArmed]

This has been debunked time and time again by SE itself.

[deep_fried_bum_cake]

Time and time again I see people say that they didn't understand XIII's story, or as this put's it, it's "incomprehensible".

Anyone who who didn't know what was going on in XIII is either mind numbingly stupid or did not play much of the game (or pay attention). Just about every confusing thing in XIII is explained as the story goes on.

[Irishguy95]

Didn't stop the game from being a dreadful waste of disks and money

[Treian]

Judging from how this guy writes, he/she is a prick who just wants hits.

[rdellafave]

Nah, Final Fantasy VII would have been #1 if that were the case.

[Treian]

I don't understand how 13-2 is worse than 13. FFVIII should be closer down on the list as well.

[deep_fried_bum_cake]

The list is going 10 to 1 not 1 to 10. He is saying that 13 is worse.

[Treian]

ah my bad.

[TheTwelve]

I only disagree with FF8 on this list. It was fun, had some of the most memorable cutscenes I have ever seen, had an addictive card game, turn-based, great summons (or echelons or whatever they were called in this game)...and I loved the "Eyes On Me" song, ok?

FFXI is strange. Such a flawed MMO, but where I made so many good friends and had so many great experiences. It irritated me and frustrated me but somehow kept bringing me back. Even now when I think about it, it's bittersweet. It's like I want to play it but I also don't want to go through all the grinding and camping and dying...

12

[HammadTheBeast]

I disagree with FF8 as well, it was a great game, and had that epic storyline. Also, the hidden dungeons and stuff were pretty awesome, and if you talked to everyone, the world was pretty deep.

[MRMagoo123]

8 was prob my second fav ff game of all time , my 4 month old daughter is called rinoa lol

[TheTwelve]

Cute!

[Nevers]

I'm currently on a hiatus from FFxi. I totally feel your pain. That game fosters a feeling unnervingly similar to Stockholm Syndrome. I know I will return... I feel it. My nutty obsession with Dark Souls is really the only vidgame roadblock. Alot has changed in FFxi and it's really not the game it was even 2yrs ago. Some good, some bad. Completely depends on who you ask.

[TheTwelve]

A lot has changed, eh? Ohhh boy. I shouldn't have read that. Now I want to see what it is. --- 12

[Nevers]

At this point, it's an entirely different game than when I first started playing just a few years ago.

For instance the Lvl cap is 99 now. And, you can reach that relatively fast now with all the modifications to experience grinding.

[ClimateKaren]

The changes to FFXI are tremendous. Let me throw a few facts at you:

- The traditional 6-member party system is out the window for the most part. EP and DC mobs yield more experience than they used to, but the big game-changer (or one of the two) for xp is the GOV manuals that are in many areas. Complete a page trial (such as: Kill 6 members of the skeleton family) on mobs that are EP or tougher within the given area, and you get a hefty xp bonus at the end, and the training regime resets. People lvl @ Gusgen Mines from (roughly, and there is nothing stopping them from hitting 99 there) lvl 10-40 with xp that caps out @ about 1.2k per page. Crawler's Nest from 40-60, Bostaneiux Oubliette 60-99. Since there is no restriction other than the mobs being EP, not only do you xp at a ridiculous rate, but you'll be in an alliance beating up EP instead of a pty fighting IT.

- The xp to next level has been drastically reduced. It takes less than 60k xp to go from 98-99. I suspect that the amount of xp required to go from 1-99 is less than it used to take to go from 1-55. XP penalties for death have been drastically reduced too, so dying isn't a biggie.

- Level restriction for all kinds of quests and missions have been removed. Zilart, Limit Break (which have had other adjustments to make them easier), all that stuff. Fights that used to be notoriously tough are a joke now if you just level a bit. Some major mobs have even been adjusted, such as the Shadowlord now being vulnerable to both magic and physical throughout the entire fight.

- Travel has been made SO much more efficient. Between outpost warps, book transportation, maws, and other items/NPCs, once you start covering the proper ground any job can pretty much zip all over the place.

- There has been lots of really good high-lvl gear that has been added that one can obtain for pretty cheap, as well as plenty of really good rare/ex gear that one can fight for instead of camping NMs (oh yeah, pop rates have improved on many of those) or paying exorbitant AH prices.

There is so much more. Some things are good, some bad. Some of the good things have bad side effects and vice versa... I hate to tempt you, but I find it very interesting haha. I've been back for about two months after being away for years, and I've already got 99BST, 95RDM, 70WAR, and WHM, BLM, THF, DNC, and NIN all @ 49 for subs.

[TheTwelve]

Wow. You've pretty much made me extremely curious about what's there now. I'm going to have to check this out. I HAVE to. Thank you very much for the detailed report!!!

12

[ClimateKaren]

Haha no prob man, I feel a little guilty though, you might get totally roped back in like I did. I guess there are worse things though. There are other things I wanted to share, but felt like I typed to much already. If you come back you'll get to seeing them sooner or later though. It's a very different place.

If you wind up coming back and end up in Bahamut server feel free to hit me up, same name as my SN in here.

[NewsForSnowflakes]

Surely this is an opinion piece?

[HammadTheBeast]

Why you don't like that they mentioned FF XIII on that list lol?

Just joking, I know, I love Squall and Zack and Siefer too. And Irvine the boss.

[Squall_Leonhart]

Brother?

[mousearmy]

First sentence, "The Final Fantasy franchise has taken a lot of slack lately". Should be "flak", as in anti-aircraft fire not "slack", as in loose.
Flak, a contraction of the German "Fliegerabwehrkanone" ; aircraft defence cannon or literally "pilot warding-off cannon" if anyone's interested? Yeah....

[rdellafave]

@blahblah346 List is from least worst to worst, so XIII is worse than XIII-2. XIII-2 was probably one of biggest disappointments in gaming history. No one expected much from XIII-2...and well, they didn't get much.

[booni3]

I'll be the first one to say it and I don't care if I'm the only one to say it - Final Fantasy X-2 was fucking amazing. The garment grid system was new and fun. There was huge, grand world to explore and tons of things to do. The music, cutscenes and presentation were beautiful. I don't understand how or why people can hate on this game when it did so many things wonderfully.

[Tzuno]

Best FF out there: 3,9,10 and 12.Amen.

[Xerolt]

Lol, what a pathetic list.

Final Fantasy II was a great game for it's time. I doubt this guy has even played it properly.

FFIV: The After Years, and FFXII: Revenant Wings cannot be considered proper FF games as they were released on handhelds simply for the purpose of giving the stories proper conclusions.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 was an improvement over XIII, and a big one at that. Anyone who can't see that has been blinded by his/her hate for XIII. You may consider it a bad FF game, and you may include it on the list, but at #10.

And wtf? FFVIII was a great game, and so was IX. Square's Golden Age did not end with VIII. And if it did, why do you continue playing FF? Why play XIII and XIII-2? Sheesh, this post was seriously created only for the purpose of attracting views.

FFIX was a good MMO. It's not World of Warcraft, but a good FF. In fact, according to statistics, this is one of the most popular FF games and is still populated.

The rest of the games are pretty justified, but overall, this list was utter crap.

[rdellafave]

"Final Fantasy II was a great game for it's time. I doubt this guy has even played it properly."

It was ok, but the fact remains that it was the most easily exploitable of all the FF games.

"FFIV: The After Years, and FFXII: Revenant Wings cannot be considered proper FF games as they were released on handhelds simply for the purpose of giving the stories proper conclusions. "

Did FFIV really need a more thorough conclusion? It was nice to see what happened to the characters, but the story just stopped right as it was getting good. It was hardly a proper conclusion.

"Final Fantasy XIII-2 was an improvement over XIII, and a big one at that."

I never denied that. It still wasn't anywhere near good. Reacting to accusations that XIII was convoluted, Square decided to make the game overly simplistic. At least it was more open, but hardly on par with FFX or even FFIX.

"And wtf? FFVIII was a great game, and so was IX. Square's Golden Age did not end with VIII. And if it did, why do you continue playing FF? Why play XIII and XIII-2?"

Because that's what gamers who are passionate about a series do. They keep giving the franchise a shot in the hopes that they'll turn things around. I've been less and less inclined to play subsequent entries in the series, believe me. IX was decent - middle of the road. VIII was dull, in large part because Square was so high on overly long animations and brooding protagonists.

FFXI was an average MMO at best. It was plagued by camping and grinding issues. I give it a bit of a pass because it's an old MMO, but the fact remains because US players entered the game late, it was tougher for them to level up.

I'd love to hear your top 5, and see if they differ significantly from mine.

[Nevers]

FFxi is not the game it was even two years ago, let alone upon NA release. It's way less excrutiating than it used to be. I've enjoyed it for years now.

[Killman]

XIII-2's story was the worst in the series (tied with X-2) and the ending was just pathetic. "Why thank you SE, for making this stupid plot that I have been trying to comprehend for the entire games length completely pointless."

[MRMagoo123]

i liked 10 part 2 so maybe thats is just your opinion ? cos you kinda stated it as a fact.

[Superted2007]

The writer of this "article" is an asshat.

FF 1 - 10 + 10.2 are all good games with some flaws
and while you can argue that personally you feel any one of them is better than the others for "X" reason, none of them can ever be consider a bad game and the idea of so many of these games being on a top 10 worst list disgusts me.

I found FF 12 to be a reasonably good game as did the majority of FF fans.

I found the FF 13 universe and all the games set within it to be poorly constructed and lacking in interesting characters you can invest. Also the dialogue wasn't very good. Not an 8/10 game but not exactly something that should be spat on or aborted.

FF 14 was a broken mess. That is an unfortunate fact.

I guess my point is there shouldn't be a top 10 worst FF games list on N4G or any website. I would struggle to make a top 5 worst FF list.

[-Gespenst-]

"...the idea of so many of these games being on a top 10 worst list disgusts me."

Totally agree. It's just so arrogant to write off any Final Fantasy game like this article does. Too much imagination, creativity and thought goes into these games to just say "nah that game sucks", it's just wilful ignorance if you ask me.

[Skateboard]

My list would be

XIII
XIII
XIII
Revenant Wings
Dirge of Cerberus
XIV
XIII
XIII
XIII-2
XIII

[gamerben]

FFVIII have been replaced with FFXII, then it would be a solid list.

[Skateboard]

Haha, no. Compare XII reviews to VIII, hell compare XII reviews to any Final Fantasy, it eats all.

[gamerben]

Final Fantasy usually always gets solid reviews by critics, hell, even XIII did fairly well with critics.

[LiViNgLeGaCY]

I strongly disagree.

XII>>>VIII

[MadLad]

Everything said and done, 6,7,9, and 12 are the only games I really care for.

Twelve being my favorite of the series.

Never really had the chance to play eight, so I can't really comment on that one.

[GupX19A]

Such a bad article from someone who pretends to like final fantasy

[DragonKnight]

This guy doesn't seem to like any characters in any FF game. Overall, this is a fail article. Especially where FF8 is concerned.

[-Gespenst-]

None of those games are bad.

X-2 is absolutely brilliant, people just need to lighten up. Soundtrack was masterful, and the story was just spellbinding.

Dirge of Cerberus is basically just a DmC super lite, but again, the story, music and characters were just excellent, as well as the opportunity to enter the VII universe again.

Not bothered posting my opinion on XIII for the thousandth time, but suffice it to say it's visual design and music are absolutely jawdropping.

Haven't played XI or XIV, nor have I played II (or I for that matter, although I intend to play both at some point)

I loved XII for reasons similar to the above games, and I've been meaning to play revenant wings for a long time. I also LOVE IV and have been dying to play the After Years I just haven't had the opportunity since my PSP broke.

This guy's just a major hater.

EDIT: Jesus I just realized VIII is on this list. F*** this guy, seriously.

[Der_Kommandant]

Everything after FFX

[carlocgc]

4 & 10 above 7?? you must be some kind of wrong person.
XIV deserves top spot on worst list BUT i put XI as the single best FF to date second ONLY to 7 of course

my best FF games:
1-VII
2-XI (high points:community and the solo avatar battles)
3-VI
4-VIII
5/6-XII
6/5-IX

worst were: XIII XIII-2 XIV
i despise XIII because it reminds me of X
for the record X marked the end of FF for me. its setup is akin to XIII in at least it keeps the first part linear with no overworld map and then sticks you with a field.

[BringingTheThunder]

Yeah, no. Just no.

[BitbyDeath]

Your opinion sucks.
FF8 was one of the best.

[PooEgg]

It is all a matter of opinion, but for me pretty much every FF game that came after XII has been a let down.

After XIII I vowed to never buy another FF game, but I had $15 worth of Best Buy rewards that were about to expire, so went to check out Best Buy's summer sale yesterday. They had XIII-2 on sale for $14.99, so I said WTF and caved and bought it. Basically I only paid sales tax for the game, but even then I wondered if I was getting ripped off, since I don't really have much desire to play it. I hope that when I get around to playing it I will be pleasantly surprised, but I am not holding my breath.

[Game3s]

I don't know about you but i liked IX

[Blues Cowboy]

IX was amazing - proper old school adventure with some great characters (apart from Zidane, weirdly).

Vivi and Steiner were immense.

[Chrono]

Troll list. Only Revenant Wings, Dirge of Cerberus, and XIV deserve to be in that list.

You haven't listed any of the FF Legend and FF Crystal Chronicles games. Also, Mystic Quest can't be better than these games.

[Qrphe]

>people see magic and magical monster being called upon from nothing
>>cool!
>complain about a guy being stabbed on the right side of the chest and not dying
>>not realistic bra!

[mdprime]

Interesting concept for an article. One thing I will say, though, is that I think it would've been more fair to play FFXIV before declaring it to the worst FF game ever made. I mean, don't get me wrong, that game IS garbage, but I had to play it to find that out. Saying that it's bad because reviews told you it was bad isn't really fair.

[deletingthis34675334]

FF8 is one of my favorite games in the series. Burrrrrn.

[oldfriend86]

I don't agree about your view on FF VIII, but I agree with the rest of the list. X-2 was fun, but I can see how people feel about it.

I'm a IX fan anyway.

[Jirachi]

props for not putting mystic quest on the list,and putting vi as the best game.
the one thing i disagree with is ff viii was not "horrible" i certainly like it more then 7.(i play 9 but not enough to say weither i like it or)

[Tuxedo_Mask]

This article was terrible. Maybe I could have taken it more seriously as an opinion piece if the reasons had actually been more fleshed out, but the guy even admits to not even playing the "worst" FF game.

There are a lot of grammar mistakes, juvenile reasons for disliking the games he chose, and a complete lack of objectivity.

At least the next time I see an article from this site I'll know not to bother.

[st-BiOZ]

somebody's moody...

[Tuxedo_Mask]

I'm just tired of clicking articles and finding juvenile scribbling.

[CLOUD1983]

The worst FF imo is everything released after FFX & the main reason I say that is because none of them was turn-based & for me non-turn-based-FF is not FF at all & other than that the story & chars was terribad, so yeah any FF with SE logo on it is garbage, it's not coincidence that so many old fans say again & again that FF die after FFX.

[st-BiOZ]

FF7 this, FF7 that. It was a good game and I enjoyed every minute of it at the time.
To play it over in this gen would bore the hell out of me though as I can barely stand reading all the dialogue Bethesda puts in their games!
Voice acting is nice, but honestly I'm just not into story driven rpg's anymore.

* and i know Final Fantasy is not made by Bethesda ok..?

It's pretty obvious my tastes in games have changed though. Forgive my harshness and/or ignorance Final Fantasy fans. I do have great respect for the series, just annoyed by the FF7 craze which never seems to end.
I will admit it's probably because I don't know as much as some of y'all do or have that same passion.

Even still, this is how i feel.

[tiffac008]

I don't think FFVIII deserves to be on that list.

At least Revenant Wings and FFX-2 was enjoyable.

[AIndoria]

^^ That. Personally, VIII>All.

[kcuthbertson]

I literally think I am the only person who enjoyed X-2...

[Summons75]

this list is full of fail

8 but not 7???? common did you even play any game in your life or are you just trolling

[aDDicteD]

ff8 on the list!!!?? the hell, it was one of the best ff games. 7,6 and 10 were better but surely this comes at no.4 or 5 of the best ff games

[AIndoria]

^^ Best according to me.

[harrisonxxi]

Mystic quest not number 1. Fail top10.

[TiberusX87]

The 10 worst Final Fantasy hating articles I've ever read.

Number 1. This Article.

I want the few precious minutes I wasted reading this nerd rage propaganda back. What a joke.

[InklingGirl]

The website won't load for me but I remember Final Fantasy Snowboarding for mobile phones (pre iPhone) and that game on the original Playstation were you raced around on those yellow birds from the series.

[AIndoria]

No, I'm not even going to read the article. Personally, I think Final Fantasy VIII was the best of all of them. Excellent story, engrossing characters and mesmerizing music. Yep, the best of all.

[Kos-Mos]

"I hate Final Fantasy because it`s so deep compared to gears, so I made an article about it."

[MWH]

my friend have some balls and say it; FFVIII was shit. FFIX was good though.

[Azurite]

XI
XIV (2.0 may redeem it)

While XIII might have been a disappointment the two mentioned above makes any other FF look good.

[Elda]

I enjoyed all of the FF games except the MMO's,some of the games are a little more memorable than others far as the story but I always had a good time playing them.

[AsunaYuukiTheFlash]

1.Final Fantasy VII
2.Final Fantasy IX
3.Final Fantasy IV
4.Final Fantasy X
5.Final Fantasy VI
6.Final Fantasy VIII
7.Final Fantasy XII
8.Final Fantasy V
9.Final Fantasy I
10.Final Fantasy XIII

[Lilioups]

ff 13
ff13-2
ff10-2 (only cared about tidus fate in this one,sole reason i bought it)

best ff's
ff6
ff7
ff8
ff10

[Blues Cowboy]

Agree about FFVIII - been saying that for years. As much as anything, character building and the Junction system was as interesting as an Excel spreadsheet, because it pretty much *is* an Excel spreadsheet. That said, the music was exceptional, but I can enjoy that in Theatrhythm.

Thoroughly disagree about FFII. The story is surprisingly heartfelt and mature - it deals with themes of loss and sacrifice more realistically than most games (obviously not including Mass Effect, Heavy Rain etc) ever have. The skill system was also revolutionary, and totally before its time.

EDIT: Oh, and FFIX is massively underrated.

[I_am_Batman]

My ranking for FF Games I played:

Best:
1. FF VIII (best story in any FF) and FF VI (best traditional FF)

2. FF FFVII (First 3D, great setting and atmosphere) and FF IX (Medieval Setting, best main char)

3. FF XIII (Great story, fun gameplay)

Mediocre:

4. FF X (good story but annoying minigames like blitzball or the monsterfarm)

Worst:

5. FF XII (FF in MMORPG style, weird confusing story) and Dirge of Cerberus

You may disagree with that list but please take in mind that this is my personal opinion.

[Run_bare]

The worst one for me was X-2 and XIII.

[Puddlejumper75]

Wait so you are saying their are only 4 good FF games since they are on 14 and 10 are bad?
Sorry but if that really is your opinion then I do not think JRPGS are right for you. If I hated 10 out of 14 of something that would be a big clue I just need to stop wasting my time and move on with life

[Jirachi]

It's not that he hates all ten(probally only the top 3 or so) if i ranked the top 10 best ff games that doesn't mean that i love all ten of them,more that the other 4 are terrible. Think of it like ranking all 16 titles in reverse order (he included x-2 and 13-2) but the top 4 best games are left off.

Though i won't say i agree with his list,it's just a top ten list in reverse.