Final Fantasy - What game to start with?

Hey everyone! :D

I haven't played any Final Fantasy games, and i'm wondering if I should get into the series.

I love cRPG's, so the graphics isn't a problem. I can handle it as long as the story is good :)

I am temped to start at FF1 & 2 and just play each game after each other. But i'm not sure if it's worth it.

And since it is so many games, and a few version's of some games (?), I'm not sure :/

Help would be appreciated :)

Personally, I only really recommend 6, 7, 9, and 12. I hear good things about 8, but haven't played that one myself.

3 then 5 then 6 then 9 then 12. For no reason other than those are the ones I like.

I'd recommend 6, 7 and 10 as starting points because they're more 'complete' products, but my personal favourites are 8 and 12.

6-10 is all you need for a good Final Fantasy experience.

When I embark on this sort of thing, I usually don't play the games in exact sequence. There's something tantalizing to me about breaking the order, and having the freedom to choose and play around with different eras of gaming is fun to me. There is something great embedded in each FF (some deeper than others). I'm sure a lot of responses will depend on how old the posters are, as well! Like Brad and Jeff said during their Theatrhythm Quick Look, they consider FFVII to be the end of their true interest in the series. Personally, my first FF was VII, which I didn't really care for. It was VIII - maybe one of the more polarizing entries - that truly grabbed me and has kept me interested in the series still. I think you should read the synopsis of each game here on the wiki and decide which one sounds best to you! In my opinion there's really nothing to gain from playing Final Fantasy games in strict order.

From what you mentioned about the importance of story: the first few FF games don't really have much of a story. Like me, you might have a hard time sticking with them.

If I had a pound/dollar/euro for every time, I've seen this asked I'd be a rich man.

DON'T start from the beginning. I and II don't hold up well at all and have little to no plot. The same is true of III on the DS but it at least has a good levelling system in the job system. I'd recommend VI, IX or X. If only because I consider them to be the best in the series and the only ones I'd be willing to replay.

Final Fantasy 6 is mythic.

@Scheds: Ok, thanks! Thats what I needed to know :)

Will probably start at 4 - 6-7-8-10-12 Or something like that :P

Like every other thread regarding Final Fantasy games, I'm gonna say fuck the numbers, play Tactics.

There's really no reason to play them in order.  You also should not consider playing any of them before Final Fantasy 4.
 
I'd recommend playing Final Fantasy 6, because it is generally considered the peak of the old-school Final Fantasy games.  You should then play Final Fantasy 10, since I think it's probably the best representation of the second generation of Final Fantasy games.

IV for the Nintendo DS would be a good starting point I think. After that you can go through VI to XII.

you shouldn't play 1. it is incredibly boring and barely holds up

2 has a nice story if you want to go chronologically.

about the versions: i'd go for the "complete" ones. 1 and 2 are available for the psp with nice graphical detail. 3 and 4 on the ds. i think there is no remake of 5

6 is on the ps1. from 7 onwards you may not like it if you are expecting cRPG stuff, because those games tend to be really flashy. that said I really liked these games the most because I loved the characters

7,8,9 are on ps1. 10, 12 are ps2. 13 is ps3. 11 is an mmo

personally if you want to go old school try 6 or 9, both of which are really great. 9 is an unknown gem and it manages to be both the funniest and most grim of the entire series.

7,8,10 are more of a spectacle and somewhat more serious in tone than the rest, but with nice stories

12 is really a lot like an mmo. so if you want to dig into a huge world than that's the way to go, just be warned that it tends to get repetitive

i have no idea about 13 but it seems to be a lot like 12

hope that helped

People telling you to start with 6 are wrong. Start with 4.

First two are kind of rough to play but they aren't that bad, just still trying to find their sense of iconic style. 4-6 though are definitely worth it.

Final Fantasy 10 is the only one I have played and enjoyed, it's going to be released on the PSN store soon so I'd wait for that.

6,9, and 12. In that order.

4/6/9 Tactics.

I loved 3 and 4 but they're generally considered the harder ones, you'll need to grind a lot but I found the story and gameplay to be worth the extra work. Also loved VII and VIII but haven't played VI, IX, X, X-II (I've tried it but meh) and haven't finished XIII.

So I suggest 3, 4, 7 and 8 from personal recommendation, others might be good too.

7 best in series so start with that. Great characters, story, world (the uniqueness of the towns makes finding new towns fun to explore), fighting system and all the weird side stuff you can do like breed chocobos and mess around the golden saucer. Play it on a PSP it looks really sharp.

I would play them in order, at least the ones you do play. Otherwise their age will be noticeable and added features from later games will feel "missing".

If you care about story, the first three won't do much for you in the modern sense of story.

IV and VI may have the best stories of the whole series

VII-IX can't really go wrong with any of those story wise.

X definitely has story, but it also is the first with voice acting which can make it really jarring if it bothers you. Might want watch a couple youtube videos before deciding to play.

Xii's story is pretty good, very MMO esque playstyle

Xiii I have sitting on my shelf unstarted, but from what I hear it may have too much story.

Four through ten then Tactics then twelve, and in whatever order you like.

My favorites are V (gameplay-wise) and VI (story-wise). IV is good, but the even difficulty may turn the game into a frustrating experience. The first 3 games are OK, but they're too barebones by modern standards.

I can't say anything about Final Fantasy from VIII onwards, but fuck VII. Terrible, convoluted plot, annoying characters, boring party system... I would stay away from it, but some people love the shit out of it.

And the Tactics series is great. War of the Lions is a good port of the original game. Tactics Advance and A2 are often disregarded for their "lighthearted" story, but they are good games.

I played a bit of 9 today actually, I had started it a few weeks ago and decided to put some more hours in, though I have finished it before (one of few FF games that I have finished).

I really like 9 and I'd say the artstyle holds up better than any of the other ones on PS1. Exclaimation marks that pop up makes things easier to find in the environment and I feel like you can interact with more of it as well. The gameplay is old school so probably a pretty good introduction to what the series was/is about. You've got your black mages, white mages, summoners, knights and thieves etc. so everyone's roles are pretty straightforward. Things that stood out to me as not great when I'm now replaying it is how while you get a generally good sense of what each character is about, I keep feeling like there's something...missing, in either their motivations or their interactions. I'm not sure what it is yet, might just be lack of depth, or it could be that I'm used to more chatting between party members. Also the random encounters take a few more seconds to load up than you want them to, which gets annoying after a while.

If you'd rather play something from the new era FF10 is interesting with the way it handles your party and how you swap between characters, battle transitions are fast, if I remember, and it's one of the few later Final Fantasies that use a completely turn based battle system.

I've never been able to finish any of them, so I don't know if I can recommend one specifically. However, I'm enjoying III on the iOS, so there's that.

FF 1, 2 ,4 , 5 and 6 are all available on the GBA (the way i played them) and the PSN I think along with 7-9. FF4 would be a good start. That or FF6. 7 is good but a bit dated graphically, but i kind of like that, it makes it camp.

I have finished 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, and 13. I'm on the last dungeon of 3's DS remake, and have played some of 5 and 8. The order I played them was roughly the order they came out. Though I started with the FF1 and 2 remakes, then tried to play them in order. Starting with FF1 an 2 isn't recommended.

I've liked all that I've played, though, story wise i think FFX is the weakest, FF8 has a really dumb magic system especially compared to 6 or 7.

Thanks everyone ;) I think I know what to play now :)

I'll be busy playing FF now.. :P

@Hizang said:

Final Fantasy 10 is the only one I have played and enjoyed, it's going to be released on the PSN store soon so I'd wait for that.

By soon you mean they haven't even announced a date, right?

Okay, here goes...

• FF I: Not very heavy on the story, and there's a few annoyances that they fixed in later games. You can choose what characters to play from the start. It worth the 5/600 Wii Points on VC, if you have a Wii.
• FF II/IV: More focused on story, you play as a knight. I find the Engrish in this game a little bothersome, but maybe they fixed that in the DS version. Again, if you got a Wii, this is 8/900 points on VC.
• FF III/VI: Many consider this to be the best in the series, and I'm not gonna dispute them. Kefka is probably one of the best villains in video games. 8/900 points on VC.
• FF VII: This is my personal favorite, and it's due for a new release on PC (probably this year). I like the characters, I like the world. VII is a change in the series as they went from 2D to 3D, they also changed a lot of the aestetic of the series.
• FF VIII: I don't like it. None of the characters are appealing to me, the story is riddled with plot holes and drawing magic sucks. It looks a lot better than VII, but that's about the only good thing I have to say about it.
• FF IX: Haven't played it. Many people say good things and it seems to be a call back to the games before VII.
• FF X: I don't know about X. I don't like most of the characters and the story makes sense only as long as you don't question things. Character progression also makes character individuality non-existent. It has a good combat system though, and if you find it in the bargain bin, it's not a bad game.
• FF XII: I like this more than X, mostly because the story is better, as are the characters in your party. The only problem with this game is that your character's involvement in the plot is pretty superficial.
• FF XIII: I bought it and then my Xbox broke, so I've probably haven't played more than 3 hours of it. From what I hear, this game is 75% tutorial and that's certainly true from the three hours I've played.

I know a lot of people disagree with me on VIII and X (I like X, but I don't think it's as good as other games in the series).

I would start with 6, which was 3 in the U.S. when it launched I believe. I never cared for 7, but really enjoyed 8 because of the summons system which I understand is what most people don't like about the game. Aside from that...GUNBLADES! What more do you need? I never really connected with a FF game after that though.

9 is my favourite so i am going to say that.

7 is also great

Final Fantasy VI also has the nice distinction of being stupid easy on the SNES thanks to some programming bugs.

Start with 6 as its the best of the old school games as well as being the easiest to get into. 4 is overrated. If you like 6, then try 5 as it has a great combat system. Don't really bother with the first three unless you are hardcore; those games have not aged well. Some might call them archaic. Then play the newer ones in the order that they came out; that would be 7, then 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 13-2. There ya go !

There was a thread that was kind of similar to this already. If I were you I'd play either 6 or 10, whichever looks more appealing to you. I think they're the most accessible, hold up better than some of the others, and they're pretty good entries in the series.

Play __________* game(s) instead.

*(Insert appropriate game or series to make a witty comment here)

I'm all about combat systems so I recommend 5 and 10.

Go with 3, 4, 7, 9, and 10. I've heard great things about 6 and Tactics, though I've never played them.

@LikeaSsur: Pretty much.

I'd highly recommend playing 9 and 10.

I started with 10 and I think it's a great RPG with great story, characters and great gameplay mechanics. It's definitely one you should play.

I played 9 after playing 10 then 7 & 8. I never really cared for them. 9 on the other hand was a real gem. A fantastic game start to finish with some great characters, a great story and a return to the roots of the series. With that being said, I'm actually looking forward to playing 9 on the Vita when the update comes out soon.

For me start with 6 and if u enjoy them keep going all the way to 13-2 (skip 11 The mmo) But all others are very good games

7 and 9 are the pinnacle of the Final Fantasy series, and gaming in general.

Slightly below that, 10 and 6.

Then all the others except 12

Then every other game ever.

12 last, shit tier

9.

You could go watch all the see GT Retrospectives on FF and see what you like.

4, 6, 7 and 9

1, 2, 5 and 8 are all at least decent and probably worth playing at some point, but the above ones would be a better introduction. Skip the rest.

6-10 and then stop and never look back.

Anyone who says 12 or 13 is lying to themselves.

@luwifer:

The answer is actually quite simple: It doesn't matter. You can start with any one of them and your response will always be one of these two: totally enjoy it and it will be your favourite Final Fantasy game ever (and no matter what others you play and what SE does with the franchise, the first one that you will truly like will always be your favourite); or you will hate it, you will then not take the game seriously or anyone else who actually likes it seriously and when someone asks whether they should get into Final Fantasy then you will omit it completely knowing full-well that they may enjoy it and hate the ones you like.

This is what always happens.

Every single Final Fantasy game has their own merits with some vastly different game mechanics as the series went on (and story is completely subjective: what someone else will slam as a horrible story, another will love above all else - because people don't want the same styles and tropes to appear as others do; one of the most common splits on Final Fantasy players is if the stories with political intrigue are the "good" stories or if the ones focusing on individual characters and the trials or a core group are the "good" stories. The answer being that it depends what you like).

The only advice I can give you is to just pick the one you want to start with. You want to start from the beginning? Then great, do that, and don't ask online forums about it because they will try and change your mine and the really shitty people will even judge you for it. But it may be better for you to just pick the one that looks most interesting to you, pick the setting you most enjoy, pick the characters that seem most appealing to you; because as I said earlier - the first one you play is almost always going to be one of your favourites forever and completely influence your opinions on the other ones in the series from their on out.

Don't listen to these clowns. Start and stop at Mystic Quest.

smh at people saying to start with VI. Nothing against VI, but IV and V are amazing rpg's and should not be missed.

IX is probably the best introduction, since it takes inspiration from all games previous to it. X is a personal favourite, but I'd stick to games from between IV-IX first, since they have more in common. VIII is not a great place to start though, that one takes a lot of getting used to.

I would recommend starting with 6, not my favorite but its the that got me into gaming in the first place.