I have this (potentially very dumb) idea to play through the entire main FF series. Despite the fact that I love JRPGs my exposure to the series has been fairly limited, having played III (my favourite), IV, X, and attempted XIII, and I feel it's time to change this. So my question to you guys is what is the best way to acquire/play the games that I don't already have?

What I currently own:

III on DS
IV on DS
VII on Steam
VIII on Steam
X/X-2 on Vita

I'll probably not attempt to play through the XIII games because... yeah, XIII wasn't a good time for me -.- I'm also fully aware that this will be a HUGE time commitment so I in no way plan to do this within a year or any other silly constraint like that. There just happens to be very little in the way of upcoming releases that interest me at the minute, so it seems a good time as any to begin.

Thanks for all your help guys! :)

Do not play all of the Final Fantasy games. I would play all of the games that you have and if your not feeling good on any of them play the next one.

Pretty sure you can get 1 through X-2 on the Vita, having them all in one place would probably be the best way of keeping track.

I recently played through VI-X, I felt they still held up assuming you had an attachment to them to begin with. Though even that was a bit of an overdose of melodrama, I can't imagine retaining my sanity playing through all of them.

I had a crack at 1 just out of curiosity, but I don't think I could adapt to gameplay that was that antiquated, it just wasn't fun, so gave up shortly afterwards.

I'd suggest playing through your favourites again first, then trying the newer titles you've not played yet, followed by going backwards if you still have steam left. Good luck anyway!

(Failing that, just buy Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call on the 3DS and get your buzz that way).

I've tried doing that. I beat I, III and most of IV and X. I didn't last long playing II. I thought it was kind of brutal at the beginning. But playing them all is fun but a super grind when each game is so long. I can also back the vita for your console since all the way through X-2 is there. It's the polygon version of 3 (Same as DS version I think) but all the rest 2D when they should be. The PSP anniversary versions of 1 and 2 aren't available in the US PSN store unfortunately. They look really nice. The PSP version of IV is and is also super sharp looking.

except for 12 which is only on ps2, their all on the psn store, though not all of them are the best versions.

i would take it one at a time though. i really like the series but i can really tackle maybe 1 a year. beat 8 last year but was pretty disappointed so i don't even feel like doing another one anytime soon...i would recommend 7 or 12. i'll play 6 next.

If there is one thing I have learned about Final Fantasy games it is to never listen to other people's advice on which games in the series to play. It's entirely subjective. I was told to stay well away from FFVIII, but that ended up being my favourite in the series. Advice on FFXIII "getting good" after the initial ten hours was also ridiculous. People will tell you that certain games in the series are objectively good or bad... Don't listen. Play them for yourself.

I was thinking about doing this myself. I've only ever played Tactics a little bit, about 15 hours of XIII, and a good chunk of Crystal Chronicles.

I just got an iPad and I through VI is available on it. Does anyone know if they're worthy ports?

I kind of did this before when I worked at a gas station that was crazy slow paced. I played most of them DS. I loved all the early games besides II. I kind of forced myself through that one.

That is a pretty good selection. I dont know that Id go looking for others too many others. I prob wouldnt bother with FF1 (US) FF3 (US) is definitely one to play. I personally would skip FF8, and X-2. X-2 for sure anyway! I might try and pick up FF9 somewhere as that was pretty decent. Otherwise that is a pretty complete list far as US releases, and should give you a good selection and feel for the series.

That's actually sort of the magical thing about Final Fantasy for me. How many other game series can you name where each installment has its own share of people claiming that it's "the best one"? Maybe Zelda, but even then I feel like there's a general consensus on which ones are good and which ones are great.

To respond to the topic, I think that is a dangerous idea. Start small with your goals, like "Play all 3 SNES or PS1 FF games" before going nuts with it. And while I just said above that each Final Fantasy has its share of fans, that doesn't really extend to the NES ones. The DS remake of 3 is at least interesting though.

you'll be completely burned out by the time you get to half point of the second game you play.

Hello. I have also recently made this potentially terrible choice, although I've added Tactics (specifically The War of the Lions) to this as well. I've beaten the original, so far, and just started on II. (I've played a little bit of a lot of them over the years, but only finished XII, before I started this.)

Buying most of them on Vita was extremely convenient. The only ones I don't have on there are IV, VI, and X/X-2 (and XII, obviously). There's also debate on which are the best versions, because of the updates they did on many of the early games, if you care about that. I went with if I didn't have the game already, I just bought the version that was on PSN.

Yeah you can get almost all of them on Vita now. Just have to get 12 and 13+ on other platforms, 12 is only available on PS2 as far as I know?

If you want to play all if them...play all of them! The early games are shorter than the later ones; I remember spending less than 30 hours on FFI and FFII, or at least well below 40.

That sounds like a ridiculous goal that I cannot recommend doing. It's probably best to just play IV, VII, and X to get a good, general understanding of the different eras of the series and then go from there based on which ones of those you liked the most (i.e. if you liked IV, go play VI; if you liked VII, play the other two PS1 entries; if you liked X, play XIII)

XI and XIV are MMO's and XII is very different from the rest of the entries. Even the entries that are comparable have significant differences, so liking VII definitely doesn't mean you'll like VIII or IX at all.

But playing all of them? That's a hell of an undertaking that will probably burn you out on the series and JRPG's in general.

Your library is looking good, but you need to add VI to that list. Arguably the best main-line Final Fantasy game in the series, it's a great starting point, but can also hold up just as well if you go back to it after playing the newer games in the series. The GBA version is the way to go for VI; don't grab it on iOS.