I've been a fan of the Final Fantasy franchise for as long as I can remember. Honestly, the fascination with the franchise in my younger years was poorly founded. I was wrapped up in the series' reputation more than anything. I had limited play time with a few of the games, yet I thought the games were just soooo cool. The first game I really put time into was Final Fantasy X. I bought it the month it came out, and played it to about 3/4 completion before I decided I hated it. By the time I finished middle school, I had played all of the games from VI on to about the halfway point. Around 10 hours in, I got bored, and just stopped playing.

My junior year of High School, a friend and I were talking about the series. He brought up the ending of one of the games, and I stopped him. I didn't want it spoiled, I hadn't finished the game! He apologized, and asked me which games I had finished. I was embarrassed to answer that I'd completed none of them. It was then that I set a goal: beat every game in the series.

At the time, I had just purchased FFIV for the GBA, and had just stopped playing FFXII about halfway through, as usual. I began with FFIV, and played it through, finally beating it on my 17th birthday. Next, I finished XII. I decided the experience would be best if I started fresh in the other games. I bought a copy of FFVI on the GBA, and played it to completion (prior to that, I had played the game to the World of Ruin twice). Next up, FFIX, then VII, followed by V. Finally, I played VIII, which ended my marathon. I got about as far as I had before, to the point where the story goes bonkers with all that orphanage crap. Stupid game killed my drive.

I did eventually finish VIII, a game which I both love and hate. Unfortunately, I never finished my goal. I've decided that it is time. I'm going to work backwards, playing through every entry in the series that I haven't finished. I'll begin with XIII, move on to X (Which I said I would never play again when I set the goal so many years ago), then III, II (the only FF game I've never played), and finally, the original. I'm not counting XI and XIV because F#%! those games.

So, wish me luck. It will be tough. I played the first hour of X just to do it, and boy do I hate Tidus. He's going to make that game torture. I'm going to buy Dawn of Souls on the GBA as a part of this, because I don't own the first or second games. I own III on DS.

If you didn't like X, I doubt you'll enjoy XIII. There are some similarities, even if XIII is the better game.

@Video_Game_King: If anything, I already like at least one character more than anyone in FFX. Lightning won my respect when she punched Snow in the face.

I played through the original in 5 days back in high school. Two snow days followed by a 3 day weekend. I stopped FFII at the final battle and finally finished it 4 years later. Now I've stopped XIII half way through about 40 hours in just due to the fact that I have Ico/SotC and Uncharted 3 multiplayer.

I'm still not sure if I like 7, 12 or CC7 the most out of the ones I've played.

Which ones are your favourites? I'm curious since you played them from a fairly non-hype perspective and with knowledge of the whole series.
 
Personally I've only finished 4, 7 and 13 - 13 is by far my favourite.

Oh god I hate X so much.

Oh god I love XIII so much.

My favourite FF games are 6, 7, and 12.

I have never played 5, 8, or 9. (I'm not counting 11 or 14).

I've never felt compelled to finish the ones I haven't played at this point. I dunno, I just don't care enough I guess.

@9cupsoftea said:

Which ones are your favourites? I'm curious since you played them from a fairly non-hype perspective and with knowledge of the whole series. Personally I've only finished 4, 7 and 13 - 13 is by far my favourite.

IX, VI, and V would have to be my favorites at this point. Though you'd think otherwise based on my post, VIII is also up there. I love that game so much, yet have a deep hatred for it. Honestly, I've probably put more time into VIII than any other FF game because of the junction system.

@Video_Game_King said:

If you didn't like X, I doubt you'll enjoy XIII. There are some similarities, even if XIII is the better game.

rofl good one

At this point, my favorite Final Fantasy games are V and VI. I've never had much interest in the post SNES installments of the franchise for various reasons (obnoxious and unrelatable characters, Nomura's character designs, the PS1 installments are still surprisingly expensive, idiot plots) although I am considering playing through X-2 (not X. That video of Tidus laughing is enough to scare me away) for my blog. Because nonsensical fanservice-heavy J-Pop Job system GIRL POWER action seems right up my alley.

In any case, I wish you luck in your venture. It's not something I could really do, for reasons listed above, but if you write about it I will make sure to keep notice. I dunno. I think the hardest part is when you get into the NES games. The DS remake of III is apparently really grindy, while Final Fantasy II is something of a trainwreck all around. The first game probably won't be that bad though, for as generally dull as it is nowadays.

Godspeed OP, report back in when you're done for your Final Fantasy Merit Badge.

I have never understood why people hate Tidus so much. I've read the varied, often scathing online rants and it just doesn't click with me. He's just a chipper guy, you know? Just happy to be here and help out! ^_^ ^_^ ^_^

I would highly recommend you play through Final Fantasy Tactics, ideally the War of the Lions version with the phenomenal newer translation on PSP or iOS. No full education of Final Fantasy is complete without the best spin-off.

@DiscoGobbo said:

Godspeed OP, report back in when you're done for your Final Fantasy Merit Badge.

I have never understood why people hate Tidus so much. I've read the varied, often scathing online rants and it just doesn't click with me. He's just a chipper guy, you know? Just happy to be here and help out! ^_^ ^_^ ^_^

I would highly recommend you play through Final Fantasy Tactics, ideally the War of the Lions version with the phenomenal newer translation on PSP or iOS. No full education of Final Fantasy is complete without the best spin-off.

I own the original PS1 version of Tactics, I purchased, though I have no idea when I did. Sadly, I've never gotten very far. I've played the crap out of FFTA, though.

Also, Lightning just punched Snow AGAIN. I really dislike him.

I thought the story in Tactics Advanced was written for children, and the gameplay seemed like a watered down version of Tactics. Final Fantasy Tactics has a story centered more on social class inequality and government corruption.

You should know that Final Fantasy Tactics has a terrific soundtrack, produced by the same peeps that did the Final Fantasy XII soundtrack.