I’ve played I, II, IV, V, VI, X, XII and XV. VII, IX and XIII are still on my list of games to play eventually, maybe VIII if I’m ever in the mood.

I initially skipped VII because it is just too popular, I already know the entire story - including sequels, prequels and the movie. IX kept crashing on my PC and XIII wouldn’t even run - I’m still waiting for a collection on any console I own.

As for the ones I’ve played, X is the best one hands down. It is incredibly flawed, but still my favorite. The gameplay is the best in the entire series, I actually never liked the ATB even on wait. Instead we’ve got a great dynamic turn system and the constant swapping of party members was a great addition. The entire party felt useful. I also think the sphere grid is the best level up system in Final Fantasy. It has a great story too, although the really interesting bits about Sin aren’t actually explained a lot, instead we waste an enormous amount of time on Seymour who I found utterly boring in comparison. Other than that, X’s biggest flaws are Blitzball and the Cloister of Trials - both of which are so clunky, they kept me from completing the game more than once.

From the pixel era, I think VI is the best one - mostly because of it’s story. Followed by IV and V. However, I like all of the games I played despite the implementation of the ATB or whatever you’d even call II.

Lastly, I think both XII and especially XV get a bad rep they don’t necessarily deserve. I quite enjoyed them despite their flaws. My biggest gripe with XII is that the game plays itself after you’ve programmed your team, especially with the speed-up button modern versions have. There wasn’t much gameplay in my second half. XV honestly only suffers from being too fragmented, half the story is hidden in movies, comics, animations and such. Other than that, I really came to like it once I accepted its action gameplay. I’d even call it my second favorite game overall and would like another game with the same system. (It may be noteworthy that I played XV completely blind, I only looked at trailers and the development history after I finished it.)

I won’t get into all the spin-offs, but generally speaking, a lot of them are awesome. X and XV may be some of my favorite mainline FF games, but certain spin-offs are on my favorite games of all time list.

Best: 6. The music, characters, and Kefka are just the best.

6 was also my first. While I’ve tried to go back and play 1 through 4, none of them hooked me like 6. 7 is probably my second favorite, but I did not like the remake, especially the combat. After 7, most of them were just ok at best. 5 is also adequate. Never played the MMO ones, though my partner does, so I get grape memes and such by proxy. We’ve also played through 6 while reading the lines to each other in character, and split the side content of 15 while doing the main plot points together. We tried to go through the 7 remake together, but it was such a slog that we put it on “have the CPU win all the battles” just to get it done.

Haven’t played 15 or 16 (or the MMOs).

My favourites are 7 and 9.

I enjoyed 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 10-2, and 13, but I don’t know if I’d want to play 3 or 13 again.

My least favourites are 2 and 8. I actively disliked those ones.

I have played most final Fantasy games from Final Fantasy I to XVI missing 3-4 games in between. Startet the series with Final Fantasy X, which is up to date one of my favorite game of all time. It’s my first game so maybe i don’t see it objective. But i like WOFF, Final Fantasy IV, VII, IX or the VII remake series as well a lot. Worst game is for me Final Fantasy XII, which just had a rather boring story and a horrible battle system.

I have played every mainline game, barring the MMOs (but you knew that). The only one I haven’t finished is XIII.

Final Fantasy’s very nature is change. Every entry is different from the last, and that’s what I love about it. I’ve found some–often lots–of enjoyment in all of the games. However, it’s a frequent feeling that one of the games are “perfect”, but with some critical flaws. It’s not uncommon for said flaws to be incredibly frustrating.

Case in point.

Final Fantasy I-III are a solid trio. I like II the most, because I’m weird, but it’s obvious these games are the NES ones. I still like them a good bit, and believe they’re worth playing. At least, the Pixel Remaster versions are. This is true for I-VI, but the SNES games hold their own better.

Final Fantasy IV is a great balance of gameplay and story quality. It’s also challenging. However, it’s just a little mid.

Final Fantasy V. Excellent gameplay. Fantastic music. Interesting world. Boring plot. Gilgamesh.

Final Fantasy VI. Great music. Outstanding story. Incredibly well designed world. The gameplay is fundamentally not good enough. Suffers from cavern syndrome.

The PSX games are generally great–specifically IX–but the dungeons backpeddled hard because of the single-screen nature.

X is too… I don’t know. I love X, but something is just missing here. I don’t know how to put that into words. It’s probably just that PS2 jank. The game feels a little weird. Else? Beautifully executed combat, incredible progression, good enough world that still suffers from PSX syndrome, and–oh, there it is. No overworld. It’s dungeons and hallways, then what is practically a PNG with dots.

XII. Incredible in all respects, but the story beats just aren’t quite there. Most of the games have a more engaging story loop. Possibly the most perfect game in the series, when the only real criticism is that the story isn’t perfect, but everything else is.

XIII, no. Don’t think I hate it, though.

XV feels half baked, but the potential for an incredible game is there. It’s obviously there. Regardless, it’s fun. I liked it. I wish it was better, but I’d rather the game exist in its current state than not exist at all.

XVI. Good lord, where do I even begin? Best lore in the entire series, easily. Best protagonist and antagonist, best cast at that, arguably the best music, fun combat, dogshit progression, world and side quests. Something is wrong when the NES game has a more engaging progression loop than your literal flagship PS5 title. This is a sore spot, as I absolutely love XVI… but I can’t stress enough how absolutely agonising it is having the entire combat system offer exactly one weapon, one style of combat the entire way through. Everything is based on the eikonic abilities, which is fun, but the time spent waiting for those to recharge is the same fucking SLASH, SLASH, SLASH, SLASH, pause, repeat, magic burst. It’s infuriating. This is the least balanced game in terms of the quality of its foundation, it’s seriously all over the place.

I love this series, despite its flaws. It’s really hard to get me to play fourteen of something, so they clearly had an effective formula. My favourite is XII, naturally. Follow with V and IX.

6 is my personal favorite, though I’ve not played them all. I enjoyed the MMOs for a while, but haven’t played any single-player game newer than 7 back on playstation. I did buy JP 2 or 3 that wasn’t released in the US, but I just never had time to mess with it. I always think about playing a newer one, but the lack of time to devote to it generally stops me (and, if it requires a console, that’s probably not going to work since I only have PC and a switch).

@tamlyn i tried playing the ff4 and i was having a hard time finding its appeal. i felt that i was just thrown into some world and things were happening without my control, as though i was some fantasy taxi driver with cecil as my car

Nothing but respect for reinventing itself every single time. Incredibly fucking cool.

I only finished final fantasy 7. It’s the only one I ever finished and I think it’s one of the best games ever made.

What stands out to me the most about the mainline series today is that it’s gone nearly 30 years with a track record of having quality games. While the games have had flaws and, more recently, time in development hell, the overall product has been at or near top-tier production quality in the industry (with the sole exception of Final Fantasy XIV’s 1.0). That’s remarkable considering how many different producers, directors and ideas the series has had. The series has become more experimental as of late, which has ruffled some feathers in the fandom. If that’s the direction they want to keep going in, I’m all for it amidst a sea of stale IPs in gaming that play it safe and churn out cookie-cutter productions.

My favorites in the main series are VI and X. It’s interesting to look back on VI and see how it was among the first to drive cinematic techniques in video games, be in awe at what Uematsu squeezed out of the SNES sound chip, and appreciate its timeless qualities like its sprite art. X is one I like more and more as time passes. I’ve explored the genre a lot more since I first played the game in 2003, and while I tend to find gameplay systems elsewhere I like more than those in Final Fantasy, FFX’s story remains one of my favorites in gaming. It’s amazing how much replay value the story offers on a second run, too. Really well-crafted stuff.

I’d say the series is facing a transitional point now, but that feels redundant considering it’s always changing. Sales have been on a major decline in Japan, and both Rebirth and XVI are going to need major showings on PC to stay ahead of breakout global performances from NieR, Dragon Quest, and growing competition from Atlus. I didn’t like a lot of Remake, so I’m not eagerly anticipating a PC release for Rebirth, but I did love everything about the recent FFXVI demo. Hopefully I’ll enjoy that one when I’m able to pick it up down the road; I’ve seen a lot of complaints.

In any case, Final Fantasy wasn’t my entry point to the genre and it’s not my favorite JRPG series now. Still, it’s what made me fall in love with the genre in the 90’s. I’ll always appreciate it for that.