Update 2: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has been added to the list so the rankings have been updated here.
Updated: Updated the rankings as part 2 of this article have been updated with Final Fantasy XVIs position.
This is going to be my personal choice of the core Final Fantasy games including the sequels that I have played. If you have a different list order to me then by all means please share it in the comments below. I have played Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings and Dirge of Cerberus however I didn’t get far into the first one and despite finishing the latter it was when I was a teenager so I don’t remember anything about it. I do remember not enjoying it at all however and haven’t replayed it so they aren’t included in this list. I have a similar issue with Final Fantasy Tactics. I never finished that game but I do love the game and I guess it’s more of a spin-off title like Stranger of Paradise, World of Final Fantasy and the Theatrhythm series as a result none of those are included in this list. I also never played Final Fantasy XI and so I can’t rank it based on other people’s perceptions. The last thing I will say is, I still ultimately enjoy all these games even if I think some are better than others. Now that the caveats are out of the way, I hope you enjoy my list.
21: Final Fantasy V
I know this will be a controversial way to start this list as I know it’s a well-revered game but I didn’t enjoy it when I finished it. I played this game while going through a series replay and had just finished IV and had heard great things about VI which I hadn’t completed before and I just found V’s art style to look a bit rough in comparison to the other games. It is also sandwiched between much better games. The story never really stuck with me and I know I am in the minority when I say that I found Gilgamesh annoying. I do plan on giving it another try in the Pixel Remasters which could cause me to change my mind but for now, I am content with where I rank this game.
20: Final Fantasy XII
I think this game is semi-controversial. I know some people deeply love this game and more power to you. I know there are plenty of people like myself who are at the opposite end, however. From the main cast of characters I only really like Balthier and Fran. Vaan is just annoying and I am glad he quietens down as the game goes on which I believe also lends credence to the theory of how he wasn’t supposed to be the main character. Just like with Final Fantasy V I don’t particularly like the art direction in this one either. The cast for me never really gels together and becomes a party, it’s just a bunch of people who do their own thing in the vicinity of each other. I also am not a huge fan of the battle system, it feels a little too passive however I do love the gambit system and think it’s quite clever and works incredibly well. It’s a bit like basic programming too. I don’t particularly connect with Ivalice either and whilst the Zodiac Age does improve the game, it doesn’t fix a lot of the core issues that I have with it.
19: Final Fantasy III
I will just caveat this and say I haven’t played the pixel version of this game, only the DS remake. There isn’t much to say about this game other than I feel indifferent towards it but I enjoy the job system.
18: Final Fantasy
It’s a pretty decent game I would say, certainly impressive for its time. A decent way of introducing series staples like the Crystals and Warriors of Light. It’s pretty cool how you can choose the jobs of the party members when you first boot up the game. It tries to tell a good story even if a little cheesy by today’s standards and I guess it got a sort of silly but incredibly enjoyable remake through Strangers of Paradise too.
17: Final Fantasy II
I think this game gets hated a bit too much. Yes, the battle system is broken and yes the story is predictable but it’s far from bad by any stretch of the imagination. I remember enjoying this game a lot more than I expected to when I played it.
16: Lightening Returns Final Fantasy XIII
Lightening ended up being quite a popular character despite mixed receptions to the XIII series overall. She was so popular that even Louis Vuitton decided to use the character in their marketing. Therefore when it was announced she would be returning in the third game of the XIII series there was a bit of a buzz at the time. Despite playing as Lightening on her own in battle the whole time, the mechanics were incredibly strong and it worked quite well. The game was played on a cycle however where you had to replay the same few days over and over again which could prove frustrating to players. I would also question the need for this mechanic as there was something you could unlock that more or less nullified the cycle. The other issue with this game is that the story is almost non-existent until the final act where it does indeed end strong. The locations and music however were stunning throughout.
15: Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII
Zach has to be one of my favourite protagonists in the series. He is incredibly charming. Even the way he meets Aerith and falls in love with her is silly yet adorable. He goes through quite an ordeal and develops significantly as a character. However the story is a bit messy, the antagonist Genesis is forgettable and just wants to recite lines from a book to show he is a poetic villain but in reality, is anything but. Angeal is a lovely mentor but is underutilised. There is some great fleshing out of Sephiroth’s character, however. The combat is fun but a little basic and I have to say it has one of the greatest, traumatic endings in video games however it doesn’t necessarily feel earned.
14: Final Fantasy IX
I sadly always feel a little indifferent to this game. I know this is a lot of people’s favourites but I think coming off the back of Final Fantasy VII and VIII the story felt lacklustre to me. It especially falls in the second half of the game. I despise Zidane. I can’t relate to him at all and I don’t find him scratching his arse semi-frequently funny. However, for every Zidane in gaming, there is a beautiful Vivi who is genuinely one of my favourite characters in the series and is incredibly adorable. I love his relationship with the lovable oaf that is Steiner and how you can combine their powers to give Steiner’s sword elemental powers. I think it’s the weakest of the PlayStation 1 games by far, the original RNG was too high resulting in battles that happened a little too frequently. Freya is the most disappointing thing in this game for me. When she arrives on the scene she was incredibly captivating and she has a tragic yet entertaining origin story but sadly she is completely forgotten about with time and fades into the background. There is a rumoured remake along the way which I will certainly be playing if it becomes true however until then I will just listen to Roses of May on repeat.
13: Final Fantasy XIII-2
This was a game I initially loved when it first came out. It’s one of the few platinum trophies I have on the PlayStation. However, a recent replay made me realise that whilst the story has some great ideas in its use of time travel where the past on occasion affected the future, the execution of the story was a bit messy. Caius however is one of the better antagonists of the series with a great voice actor executing the delivery terrifically. For me, a mark of a good antagonist is where I can sympathise with them but not empathise with their decisions. This is something I feel strongly about Caius. The game also has a weird graphics downgrade from XIII which I presume was to help the game fit on one disc for the Xbox 360 as Final Fantasy XIII was split across 3 discs.
12: Final Fantasy X-2
The sequel to one of the more memorable games in the series was originally highly anticipated. It was a first for the series at the time. Checking back in on the cast of memorable characters sounded amazing but alas most of the cast aren’t in the game for large chunks of it. Only Rikku and Yuna remain in the party along with the newcomer, stoic Paine. The game also had an incredibly different atmosphere from its predecessor, it was quite feminine or camp. One of the more famous scenes in this game is Yuna singing and dancing. At the time all of these differences sadly translated to the game being deemed as bad. I think with time however as society has opened its mind more. Fortunately, with there being plenty of women gamers in the gaming community now and the community having become more diverse, this game has finally become accepted unlike when it was first released. There are plenty of things to like about this game, the music is fantastic. The main party are incredibly close and supportive of one another. The battle mechanics and job system worked incredibly well and made for fast-paced battles. Although, sometimes the engine struggled to keep up. I remember many times killing all the enemies but because I had started casting an ability the victory theme didn’t play until the casting finished. The story has decent moments but it’s a bit all over the place, unlike its predecessor. I have enjoyed this game several times however and will play it again in the future.
11: Final Fantasy XIII
This game is a bit of a mess. There is enough in there to make it an enjoyable but massively flawed experience. It has one of the better soundtracks of the series, possibly my second favourite but that changes from day to day. Lightening and Fang are incredibly strong characters whilst I find the rest of the cast kind of annoying. The story is really interesting however it is delivered incredibly badly. An example of this is I think it was a bad idea to have L’cie, Cie’th and Fal’Cie as different lore names in the game. They all were used liberally in the game and still to this day I have to take a second and digest what each phrase means because they all sound too similar. Parts of the story only make sense once you read the data logs summarising a story event. This game is visually stunning and it holds up well today. The paradigm system in the game was incredibly fluid and let you change the party’s jobs and tactics on the go. The battle system was more about changing tactics rather than specific attack types and worked incredibly well.
I have been warned that I am reaching the limit of a post therefore I will post this here and post the second half tomorrow. I hope you have enjoyed this so far, catch you soon and if you enjoyed this article, please check out my other work and consider subscribing for free. Part 2 of this article can be found here ranging from 8-1. Let me know what you think in the comments below and if you have a moment, please consider following us on here and Twitter/Mastodon.