I've mentioned this before in past threads asking this same question: The truth is that someone could make a compelling argument to me about pretty much any of the FF games being the best, with only a few exceptions, in my mind, and I'm pretty much open to any of those arguments depending on my mood and depending on the day. Yet, I can't see any kind of compelling argument that II, VIII, or XIII were the best, and I've never actually seen anyone seriously try.
But at least I've seen people defend II and XIII. I have never actually seen anyone give any kind of genuine and actually-truthful defense of VIII. Ever. I've only seen people exclaim at the top of their lungs it's the best Final Fantasy, but never any kind of explanation as to how it's not one of the most mechanically broken and tedious games in the main franchise line, or how the story isn't some sort of awful, incomprehensible hallucination, particularly after Disc 1. It also takes a lot of effort to be a bad love story even by video-game standards, but VIII managed it.
I think X is my favorite, though it took me a lot of time to come to that realization and explain to myself why, and I think if I were to call one of them the "best" it would be that one, as a great melding of old and new, with a story that, bad main character voice aside, actually makes sense and is consistent through and through, and has exceptional pacing. Linear, without taking away too much exploration. The battle system is well thought-out, with an upgrade system that allowed for customization without making all the characters feel virtually identical throughout a normal playthrough (unlike VI, VII, and VIII), and maintaining the depth and incredibly high number of abilities and spells that allowed for different approaches to most situations.
But it doesn't take anything away from many of the others. III is good, IV is good, VI is still very good, VII is still incredible to so many people and I would be foolish to not see why, X-2 is incredible goofy fun, XII is a wonderful experimentation that actually worked instead of being different for different's sake like VIII, XIII-2 actually had an alright story, etc. etc. I've yet to play V and IX, which I regret. I loved XI, and am enjoying playing XIV which I picked up on Black Friday. But.. II, VIII, and XIII. Fuck those games. There are very little redeeming qualities about any of them.
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