re: Can someone who is a Final Fantasy connoisseur give me their opinion on 1-9?

9 is lauded because it returned to the crystals lore and went back to super-deformed characters and art style. A lot of people saw this as a return to form while keeping the best parts of later entries. The way FF was going after 7 and 8 was more realistic, futuristic/steampunk and they were going towards the more realistic approach on the design and them BAM 9 comes out and it's basically a homage to what FF started as.

Add to the fact it's a great story as well and it's an awesome game.

My favorite two are IV and Tactics. Tactics is often overlooked but to me it has the best story of any final fantasy, and getting to pick your characters class was great.

I also really like IV or II in the US. The story was excellent, and who wouldn't want to travel to the moon in a giant whale?!?!

7 is the classic that everyone knows, it's good, there's a few spots in the plot that make no sense whatsoever, the graphics have not held up well

VI or III is another must play, good story a ton of characters to play and a batshit crazy antagonist

You should also play the first one on the NES, you get literally no direction in this game whatsoever, and shite will kill you quickly, but it's the first and when you beat it you will feel a sense of accomplishment

9 is good, it's kinda goofy but worth a play

The rest I don't like.

Most of this thread gives a pretty good overview of the general consensus of the Final Fantasy games. Don't listen to the guy who said FF6 was the "hipster's choice". It's legitimately top 2 in almost everyone's book, and has been for ages. In my opinion it has the best combination of gameplay, story, characters, and music of all the series.

Also, if you can find it give Chrono Trigger a shot. Fantastic game.

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I don't think I have ever saw somebody put 9 at the bottom. Over 1 2 3 and 5 that is crazy to me. But to each his own.

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I thought 9 was a great idea that came off kind of chaotic. I didn't feel it had the scope of something like 7-8 or the real charm (outside of Vivi) of 4, 5, and 6.

Granted FF9 is still an awesome game, and still a Top 50 RPG. But I think the reach to go back to the roots came off as a little over-produced in the end. IMO.

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No way man. I've been hearing people say 6 is the best for the past 20 years.

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Yes, but in the past 5 years or so, it's started to appear on more and more best games of all time lists (including finishing above FF7 which is usually represented as the top FF). As more of the side FF games/movie released, I felt more fans of the older games started to be more vocal about FF6.

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I love FF4 as well and it's up there in the all time best JRPG's but FF6 isn't overrated. The characters in 6 alone make it one of the best and Kefka's arc elevates it IMO. Plus the part where you all split up and have to follow each character solo for a while, the opera scene, shadow...I could go on. It's rated very high for a reason. I think rightfully so.

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When I say overrated, I don't think it's bad. It's just gotten this representation as the best FF ever and I just don't see it. Just didn't feel the same attachment as other games in the series. I do plan on replaying it because of the rampant praise it's gotten to see why I wasn't able to enjoy it.

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Tier 2

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FF7


I don't even know how to respond to this nonsense.

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I've said this on here before, Final Fantasy 7 is both one of the best and one of the worst things to happen to the series. It had a lot of great things, it was different, new, and took the series to some interesting places. It made Final Fantasy extremely popular....

But Square then spent the next 20 years trying to replicate Final Fantasy 7 over and over and over again. Sometimes those things worked, 8 and 10 (but neither game is as good as 4 and 6), many times it was just weird....12, X-2, 13, etc. While they were all "Final Fantasy" it went from being a series that was dedicated to Big Heroes, Big Worlds, Moogles, Chocobos, and a certain innocence about the struggle between good and evil (think back to characters like Rydia, Terra, the many happy incarnations of Cid, etc.) to this over-produced slick emo world-building concept. It lost all of the magic and adventure and replaced it with more pseudo-"realism." It lost a good portion of it's color and charm in the process, which to me, just wasn't nearly as interesting, regardless of slogging through every one of them.

It's not that Final Fantasy 7 is a bad game, it's a great game. It's just kind of soulless compared to those in Tier 1, that's what puts it into Tier 2.

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Yes, but in the past 5 years or so, it's started to appear on more and more best games of all time lists (including finishing above FF7 which is usually represented as the top FF).

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It's always been there from what I've seen. There's also the idea that maybe people are finally warming to it? Happens all the time with media. Think about a movie like It's a WOnderful Life, which lost money in the theaters at the time of its release. Now it's a Christmas classic.

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As more of the side FF games/movie released, I felt more fans of the older games started to be more vocal about FF6.

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There have always been fans of 6 there are massive websites dedicated to it, special emulation mixes of it, constant requests for updates, etc. It has always been one of the more popular FF's.

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Regardless, the remake of 7 is something I'm interested in. I'm just curious if I decide to pick it up am I going to be totally lost or will I be able to jump straight into it?

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FF7 was the first one I played. Starting from scratch and literally not knowing what I was doing was half the fun. Makes you pay attention and pour over the story line to ensure you don't miss anything.

It's a win/win.

FF7 to my knowledge, pretty much stands alone.

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This just isn't true. Majority of people haven't even played it. The general top two Final Fantasy games are FF7 and FF10.

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This just isn't true. Any RPG list of the past 20 years has included FF6 in the Top 10 guaranteed. Yes, 7 may have been 1, but 6 has always been in there.

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As Freaxzen's posts show, as the the newer games have released, older fans are flocked more to the more traditional titles.

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I never said that, I said that some media properties get more recognition over time because more people have a chance to be exposed to them/opinions change. You can't say that it's because "older fans flock to them." By your assumption, what if the "flocking" is caused by new fans actually getting to play 6? Or by a group like reviewers finally recognizing that 6 is a great game (which they always have).

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I just don't think it's as good as people say.

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And that's great.

Let's take a look at history:

LINK

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Famitsu - SNES: 37/40

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EGM - SNES: 36/40

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Major non-Nintendo publishers when it was released.

(For comparison - FF7 was a 38/40 in both when released. - LINK

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he game garnered rave reviews upon its original release. GamePro rated it as 5 out of 5, stating that "characters, plotlines, and multiple-choice scenarios all combine to form one fantastic game!"[89] The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly granted it a unanimous score of 9 out of 10 and their "Game of the Month" award, commenting that it had set the new standard for excellence in RPGs. They particularly praised the graphics, music, and the strong emotional involvement of the story.[42] It won several awards from Electronic Gaming Monthly in their 1994 video game awards, including Best Role-Playing Game, Best Japanese Role-Playing Game, and Best Music for a Cartridge-Based Game.[92] Additionally, they later ranked the game ninth in their 1997 list of the 100 greatest console games of all time.[100] Famitsu scored it 37 out of 40, making it one of their two highest-rated games of 1994 (along with Ridge Racer).[85] For their part, Nintendo Power declared the game "the RPG hit of the decade", noting its improved sound and graphics over its predecessors, and the game's broadened thematic scope.[101] Moreover, they suggested that "with so much story and variation of play ... fans may become lost in the world for months at a time".[102]

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Ok so late 90s it was well regarded, let's fast forward...

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Final Fantasy VI is often regarded as one of the best titles in the series and one of the best role-playing video games ever created. In 2005, IGN placed Final Fantasy VI 56th on their list of the 100 greatest games, as the second highest ranked Final Fantasy title on the list after Final Fantasy IV.[111] In 2006, Nintendo Power ranked it as the 13th top 200 game on any Nintendo platform, suggesting that it might be the "best" Final Fantasy ever.[112] That same year, readers of the Japanese magazine Famitsu voted it as the 25th best game of all time.[113] In 2008, Final Fantasy VI took the #1 spot on G4 TV's "Top Must Own RPGs" list.[114] That same year, ScrewAttack named Final Fantasy VI the third best SNES game, beaten only by The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Super Metroid.[115] In 2009, Final Fantasy VI was inducted into the IGN Videogame Hall of Fame, becoming the second Final Fantasy game to do so (the only other Final Fantasy to do so was the original Final Fantasy).[116] In 2012, also IGN put Final Fantasy VI as number one on their list of the top role-playing video games, stating: "There are too many moments in Final Fantasy VI worthy of celebration to name them all.

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Might as well bold the whole thing.

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In 2009, Game Informer put the SNES version of Final Fantasy III eighth on their list of the top games of all time, opining that it "perfected the 2D role-playing game."[118] It fell from its seventh-place ranking the staff gave it in 2001.[119] In 2012, the staff of GamesRadar ranked it as the ninth best SNES game, stating that "for it to remain so effective and so moving for so long after its 1994 release means it is a true work of art, and demands to sit high atop any list, regardless of platform (we did already name it the 14th best game of all time)."

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So yeah I don't know what you're talking about.

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This just isn't true. Majority of people haven't even played it. The general top two Final Fantasy games are FF7 and FF10. As Freaxzen's posts show, as the the newer games have released, older fans are flocked more to the more traditional titles. I just don't think it's as good as people say.

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Ok, perhaps I overstated my case with the "almost everyone's book"

But I do take issue with the notion that it's only a recent thing that FF6 gets lots of love, or that it is somehow undeserved. Since it's release, I've almost always seen it at the top or close to the top of any ranking of RPG's or Final Fantasy games. I can understand someone not liking it, but it's definitely legitimately acclaimed and has been for a long time.