Final Fantasy, the Video Game franchise that’s as close
to playing a 25-50 episode TV Anime as youre gonna get…besides Chrono
Trigger…and Persona…and Metal Gear Solid, ok, its an example. It’s also a franchise that I’ve had very
little experience with. Even back when I
was doing my Final Fantasy Retrospective back in 2020, I’d only played a couple
of titles (and only finished one or two of them). I’ve always admired Final Fantasy for its
worlds, scope, characters and visual brilliance. So, towards the end of 2020, I took advantage
of an Xbox Live Square Enix Sale and got my hands on a bunch of cross ported
Final Fantasy Games from the Playstation and Xbox 360 eras. I’ve been burning through them slowly but
surely and I’ve played enough to warrant an official Top 5 list for today. So, these are the Top 5 Final Fantasy Games
I’ve Played (So Far). Quick note: I’m
only including games I have played from beginning to end. So while I do have Final Fantasy VII, X and
Type-0, I haven’t touched VII cause it’s the one im most familiar with; I’m
almost done playing X and hope it sticks the landing on an uneven but decent
experience; and I put Type-0 down and haven’t thought of going back for a
while…maybe I’ll get to it after I beat X-2 and XII.
This was the very first Final Fantasy I ever touched way
back in High School.
A friend leant me
the game and I played through the beginning of Disc 2, where I got stuck and
eventually gave the game back.
Now that
I’ve beaten the game…I can see why VIII has it’s fans but isn’t really
loved.
The story is a bit of a mess, the
main cast is terrible and the Junction System for leveling up was needlessly
complicated.
What does work about the
game?
Production wise it’s gorgeous from
its breathtaking FMV cutscenes to the sound design and Nobuo Uematsu’s
score.
I especially like the main theme,
“Eyes on Me” by Faye Wong and it’s remix.
If Square really wanted to make Final Fantasy VIII work overall, they
should have ditched the brooding bag of brood that was Squall (and his not so
great love interest Rinoa) and instead focused on the happy go lucky Laguna and
his team of elite soldiers, whos mission and adventures I cared about a lot
more than the world I was trying to save.
#4-Final Fantasy XIII
I was really excited to play XIII because it looked amazing
and playing a female protagonist for the first time since VI (I guess it’s
debatable who the main character in VI is but many would say Terra) was
exciting.
Well, the game is one of the
prettiest in the franchise and like VIII, the production values of bringing
Final Fantasy to a new console generation (PS3 and Xbox 360) were all
here.
The problem is kind of everything
else.
Lightning is a frustrating lead
who is angry all the time and doesn’t seem to grow as a character.
She’s pissed off when she arrives and pissed
off still by the end credits.
The world
of Grand Pulse and the three different kinds of L’Cie never made sense to me
and the more anyone talked about it, the more I got lost to the point where I
was just in the game for the gameplay.
Still,
XIII has some nice, fast paced action and I didn’t mind the auto control
commands on the rest of your team like everyone else does.
I think this was the second Final Fantasy
game I ever finished to, we’ll get to the other one…now actually.
#3-Final Fantasy XV
I had been dying to play this game since it was first
announced as Final Fantasy Versus XIII as part of a new FF sub series.
As it turns out, they decided to change
things up over the course of a long 10 year development cycle and it kind of
shows in the final product (no pun intended).
XV is a decent game but it feels unfinished in parts, rushed in others
and lacking an overall direction that should’ve been established from the
start.
What I remember best about the
game, and probably most others do as well, is everything you can do not related
to the jumbled plot of XV.
Riding around
in a car that can turn into an airship.
Riding around with your boys on Chocobos.
Camping out, making insanely good looking
dishes for dinner, XV might be the most chill Final Fantasy game ever
conceived.
Really, you could just ride
around and ignore the main plot for days and still get a sense of fulfillment
out of it.
Was it the game we’d waited
10 years for? No…but it was a fun ride nonetheless.
#2-Final Fantasy XIII-2
So while XIII isn’t the most adored Final Fantasy game,
it still did well enough to become the first game in the franchise since X to
get a direct sequel (two in fact and I haven’t played Lightning Returns yet…do
I even want to?).
XIII-2 plays a lot
like its predecessor but uses a bit of a Pokemon style influence by letting you
capture random monsters to act as your third party member in various
roles.
The other noteworthy change is in
lead.
Rather than continue Lighting’s
angst filled rage against the world quest, we instead get her kinder and far
more likeable Serah and her partner Noel, who has his own story that’s far more
compelling than most of the characters in the original XIII (I even ship him
and Serah, that’s how little I care for Snow).
Between better characters, catching up with other faces and hoping
across time fixing catastrophes left and right, XIII-2 didn’t fix all of XIII’s
problems but it fixed enough to make this a vastly superior sequel.
#1-Final Fantasy IX
After the futuristic Scifi adventures of Cloud Strife and
Squall Leonhart, the last Final Fantasy on the PS1 went back to the series
roots and man is it the biggest surprise.
I wasn’t sure what to expect jumping into IX after VIII but just hoped
it would be a better game.
Where do I
even start?
Better story, better
characters, better graphics, deeper themes, amazing music, Final Fantasy IX
blows VIII out of the water in pretty much every area.
Zidane might be a schmoozy ladies man but his
romance with Princess Garnet is so sweet and genuine.
There’s also a very dark atmosphere to the
game despite the cute character designs as IX explores themes of identity,
depression and the meaning of ones existence far better than VIII ever did.
Final Fantasy IX is a game that made me cry
by the end of the last FMV Cutscene because once I finished it, it felt like
I’d completed a journey I’ll never forget with a crew I’m happy I got to play
around with…X hasn’t been nearly as good BUT I’m sure I’ll be revisiting this
list again one day.
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