Ahead On Our Way - The Top 21 Numbered Final Fantasies Countdown

[Purple]

I have to say, as much as people are always keen to say "yeah, you don't play this one for the plot, it's all about them jobs!" I like 5's plot quite a bit? There's maybe a little more heroic-animal-friend-sacrifice going on, but I feel like all the characters are pretty well fleshed out, I like the "finishing what the past generation started" deal, and the whole bit where there's people from another planet and then it turns out it was originally all one planet is cool and well-realized, with stuff making sense on the combined map that just seemed a bit off beforehand.

Exdeath might not be the most compelling villain, but... I think just by virtue of being established early on as the big threat puts him a decent bit ahead of the curve for the series as a whole?



Anyway, I've literally been cutting up a sprite sheet of all the jobs for minis for NPCs in virtual tabletop RPGs for years now.

 

[Falselogic]

I have played Five and enjoyed it quite a bit. I have signed up for the Five Job Fiesta multiple times and never been able to complete it. I'm not surprised this got so high. This game has had a real renaissance for going on a decade now. Well earned.

 

[Peklo]

The Job system is incidental to my enjoyment of FFV (though I do, in fact, enjoy it). I've been banging this drum for at least half-a-decade around these parts, but it's primarily its narrative that appeals and attracts me, to the extent that I reflexively wince whenever it's dismissed even by people who otherwise adore the game, as it so often happens. I've laid out the common threads of why FF casts appeal to me and it's nowhere more emphasized than here, with the party dynamic of four leading to terrific focus in defining the quartet/quintet as an unit because they're not voiceless blank slates but neither are they isolated engines of their personal stories alone--it's them together that matters in all interactions and the story the game wants to tell. The exceptionalities of such a cast arise in the details in how they break the conventions of what kind of individuals and relations could be portrayed as a leading RPG cast, to my mind positively standing out because we've got a queer person in the cast, the group is majority women, the men don't overpower the women in narrative propulsion and motives and there is no romantic angle to define any of their relations with one another. It's just a very good-natured, equal-opportunities romp of an adventure that doesn't mismanage the components of its cast on their own or when taken together. A lot of things took FFV's model as far as its mechanical systems and what they went on to inspire, but very few have followed up on or succeeded at that evoking its character writing and tonality. The best candidate to me is Bravely Default II, in complete contrast with the rest of its series, and which went incredibly undervalued for those aspects, and also similarly accused of being plain and boring--a label that only solidified in my mind that it knew what it was doing.

As far as why V is so highly valued by me in other respects, it's simply because contrary to my usual preferences where a single or few exceptional aspects of a game can be enough for me to consider it fantastic, this is an instance where the series gets the closest to a total package in not neglecting any single design angle of itself and can be critiqued, assessed and appreciated with equal aplomb from any direction one cares to apply. It's beautiful in aesthetics and execution, notably through Shibuya Job illustrations, Nomura monster renditions, and Tanaka environmental art. Its music reaches my preferred tonality out of its contemporaries and exceeds them in instrumental areas like percussion. Its play mechanics possess the well-lauded diversity within them, applied to a framework that just precedes the period of the series that was most defined by "choose attack to win" so there's reasonable pushback to utilize all the combinations there are beyond just experimenting for its own sake. Its dungeon and particularly overworld design are probably the series at its most intricate in the spatial narrative told, the means by which travel occurs, and the density of the unraveling worlds at large. And maybe beyond all of those, it has my uncontested favourite villain in the series, the inimitable Exdeath, the Doctor Doom of Final Fantasy, in all his pompous, gleeful dedication to performative villainy, equally absurd and menacing and the highlight of every scene he appears in. It's simply very difficult to frame FFV as "lacking" in an individual area, even if takeaways of the whole may differ--Final Fantasy IX was the epitaph and memorial for the series as it had been, but this was the formative symbiosis of its codifying elements that became so iconic itself in this concoction that it could be repurposed forever into perpetuity for everything it evoked and distilled together.

 

[Alex]

I love V! I'll probably actually attempt to finish it when the PR drops soon. I love games that let you really get into the mechanics and tweak things and potentially break them open, and the cast of characters is pretty small so you get more time with each of them. And the little sprites are just so expressive, too!

 

[pudik]

oh yes, it is worth echoing that the chunkiness of percussion in the soundtrack is really next level work. Fits thematically, exceeds sonically, just totally perfect

 

[JBear]

FFV4JF turned me around on V. Instead of trying to make the perfect party and then changing my mind a bunch and grinding away at AP, I just stuck to the jobs I had and played on. I’ve now beaten the game 3 or 4 times, and it’s one of my favorites.

Basically all of this. I only played V for the first time when it was released on Playstation, and honestly, it didn't really click for me at first. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time with it, but I found the skill system too broad and felt kind of overwhelmed and just ended up grinding everyone into super-soldiers and then forgot about it. It took the Four Job Fiesta to really unlock the game for me, because I found that it really shone as an optimization puzzle under those constraints, forcing me out of bad tendencies and challenging me to find clever mechanical interactions, of which there are many.

Also, the Ancient Cave mod is incredibly fun (with an english patch from Talking Time, as I'm sure most of you are aware), and I played a ton of it.

 

[Lokii]

All FF's are my favorite, but this one is probably my most favorite. As fun and deep and endlessly replayable as the systems are, count me among those who reject the idea that it's lacking in the story department. I wonder how much that comes from the West getting it out of order. Maybe it'd still have the reputation of being frivolous if we got it on the back of IV's melodrama and before VI's operatic excess. I could see it. But maybe not, hard to say. Regardless, in terms of storytelling presentation it builds and refines on a lot of what IV established and even though it shoots for a more "We're on an Adventure!" tone that doesn't mean that its in any way deficient. Coming on the heels of VI and VII though I can def understand how its light touch was perceived as insulting to players who were very concerned with the legitimacy of their hobby. Luckily, it's just too darn good. It had the legs to overcome that initial kneejerk reaction to become something of an entrenched classic and seen as the quintessential Final Fantasy, which it is.

 

[Daikaiju]

V also inspired the first animated media adaptation, which acted as a sequel of sorts.

Final Fantasy: Legend of the Crystals - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Kirin]

I played FF5 for the first time on emulator in the late 90s and unfortunately without an English patch, so I didn't make it very far before moving on to something else. My first proper attempt would be the Anthology release on PSX and, admittedly, something felt off and I quickly switched over to FF6. Picked it up on release for the GBA and, while I had a better time with it there, my playthrough stalled somewhere around Crescent Island.

This is similar to my story, only I first played it on a SFC cart brought back from study-abroad in Japan, and I never got the GBA version because I didn't have a GBA when it came out. So it's another one for the "maybe I'll eventually get back to it again with the Switch Pixel Remasters" pile. I did watch my college friend play all the way through the SFC version though, I think, so I've at least *seen* most of the game. And I do love me some Moogles and Big Bridge Battles for sure.

Also wasn't there a Beastmaster dress in X-2? Something close at any rate.

I did also see the 90s OVA. That certainly was a thing.

 

[Issun]

I wish I had enjoyed FFVIII more than I did, and I suspect if I played it again now I would. (I realize there are various ways to do that but I'm afraid the chances of me actually getting to it are slim.) I played it on release and basically hadn't gotten over my SNES-era attachments, so I tried to play it like a SNES-era game, which really misses most of the points. I treated the systems that are the crux of its character building as a side curiosity, only occasionally doing refining or modding (completionist tendencies also make it hard to put your only copy of a rare game card through the grinder). I also apparently let a lot of the subtleties of the plot fly right over my head, as I feel like I've learned a lot more about it (and come to appreciate it more) by reading other people's reactions over the past twenty years than I did by actually playing it.

Anyway, the result of playing it like a game it wasn't is that I accidentally hit max character level while trying to grind out ultimate weapons, while simultaneously only taking surface-level advantage of the real meat of the game systems, thus making the endgame unnecessarily hard on myself. I did beat it, but just by the skin of my teeth with some lucky limit breaks, and it felt kind of hollow. None of this is the fault of the game, which often nudges you in the right directions; it just wasn't the right thing at the right time for me. I'd probably have appreciated it a lot more if I came to it a decade later or something.

This was mostly my experience with it, too. Subsequent playthroughs have made me love it more and more each time, though.

I love the characters and the world of FFV a lot. Unfortunately, through no fault of its own, the job system compares unfavorably in my mind to that of Tactics, and no matter how I try I just can't shake it. I really need to try the 4JF some year.

 

[Daikaiju]

I did also see the 90s OVA. That certainly was a thing.

Butz wasn't just a name. It was a prophecy...

 

[Omega]

It is time to embrace your doom, fleshlings! Time to find out what is your second favorite Final Fantasy! Let yesterday's tears of joy fuel tomorrow's screams of anguish!

 

[Omega]

I’ve come up with a new recipe!

#2
Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition

a.k.a. The one with the little stag party gone wrong.

601 points • 60 mentions • Highest rank: #24 (Positronic Brain)​

Released onFebruary 8, 2018 (Worldwide)
Producer: Kosei Ito, Takahiro Murakami and Hajime Tabata
Director: Takahito Ebato, Tahakito Murakami and Farl Lee
Composer: Yoko Shimomura

We had to wait for years for games to be remade, but Square learned their lesson with the troubled development cycle with XV and now they are able to remake a game within a couple a years of its release. Originally developed as a way to bring the newest Final Fantasy to Android, it quickly was ported to consoles that couldn’t run the original game, like the Switch, and then to other consoles that could run XV because why say no to free money?

To be fair, part of the development speed had to do with the fact that Square co-developed this game with Taiwanese mobile developer XPEC. They managed to retain most content, including a real-time action system for battles with AI companions, but had to compromise for mobile. The world no longer a single open world, being divided in maps.

Still the game has plenty of things happening. You have dungeons and treasure hunts… no driving around listening to Final Fantasy music, but you do have cooking recipes!

It retains the basics of the leveling system. You gain XP that is “cashed in” after a level while resting at a campfire- You can use the opportunity to cook and get bonuses for the next leg of the game. Sounds like a simplified mechanic, but works well with the nugget nature of mobile gameplay.

The party remains the same. You still play as Noctis, whose kingdom gets attacked by the Empire while he’s traveling to get married. Locked out of the throne Noctis has to liberate his kingdom.

Most of the story for XV remains in this remake, and there’s even some new original content her and there, although the simplified gameplay and the chibi design are a bit divisive.

Not divisive, the soundtrack. Yoko Shimomura stepped into the composer’s plate this time and the game retains her music, knocking out some great tunes.

I understand the story is not bad, either, but I wouldn’t know. My playtime in this game is zero hours - having just played the original XV I didn’t feel the need to dive into a game that was similar to what I had just played but smaller.

Something Old

The bestiary will be very familiar to veterans of the series - despite the modern setting, we still get the usual Final Fantasy beasts.

Something New

The camp based leveling system is new, although not as exploitable as the console one.

Something Blew

As the remake for mobiles of the most recent FF game, it’s too early to see which ideas hit an evolutionary dead-end here. XVI appears to be heavily-action based as well, so it will be interesting to find out if we get a Pocket edition out of that one.

Score

7 / 10 recipes

 

[Omega]

.... I was not expecting this one.

Still, this is what is in Positronic's list of writeups. Surely he wasn't so incompetent he would miscount the votes.

Anyway, read the entry, remember the memories, set Me free!

 

[Falselogic]

Never heard of this one.

 

[Lokii]

I appreciated this version of the game so that I could experience it in proxy before I got my hands on PS4. Pretty neat idea and I'm glad it exists. A well deserved #2 slot.

 

[Kirin]

And hey, for those of us who missed SNES-sprite character proportions, here we go!

 

[Omega]

... Wait, you're not... You are liking this?

 

[Omega]

Well, then I guess I can take advantage of this. Look at the number #1 and despair!

 

[Omega]

Wait, what?

#1
Final Fantasy V-2 Legend of the Crystals

a.k.a. The one where they steal Cid’s brain.

602 points • 61 mentions • Highest rank: #25 (Positronic Brain)​

Released on March 21, 1994 (Japan)
Producers: Tetsuo Daitoku, Yuki Takae and Yojiro Shirakawa
Director: Rintaro
Composer: Masahiko Sato

Quick! What was the first Final Fantasy with a direct sequel? Nope, not X! It was V, and it looks like you guys remembered that because while body liked this enough to place it at the top of your lists, enough people mentioned it in order to place at the top!

So the series takes places two hundred years after V. Everybody’s dead! Particularly Cid, whose brain got stolen by a bad guy who is using it to steal the power of the crystal. But fear not, a brave adventurer, a girl with a glowing butt, a band of sky pirates and Mid’s ghost are here to stop him!

So, yeah, that was an anime that happened.

In any case, this was what America’s first exposure to V was. This OVA was released in our shores several years before we got V. Heck, it was released before VI came out! So while technically everything is explained so you don’t need to have played V, the series loses a lot if you don’t have the emotional attachment to V.

But then again, that means you need to deal with the fact that somebody stole Cid’s brain and has had his spirit hostage for two centuries. So maybe it’s better if you don’t have the context.

Something Old

Cid and Mid are characters in this series, but our heroes only show in a quick freeze frame bonus when (spoilers!) Cid’s spirit is freed from the bad guy’s grip.

Something New

This was the first Final Fantasy media spin-off. Several would follow. Some of them more successful than others. For a while Square really pushed for these (XV was released with an animated prologue, for example) but seems to have backed off with XVI.

Something Blew

No other Final Fantasy protagonist ever has had a glowing butt.

Score

0 / 2 VHS tapes

 

[Torzelbaum]

No other Final Fantasy protagonist ever has had a glowing butt.

However we did have a glowing Butz.

... Wait, you're not... You are liking this?

Of course. It's III times better than V !

 

[RT-55J]

Final Fantasy 64 was robbed!!!

 

[Purple]

No other Final Fantasy protagonist ever has had a glowing butt.​

There is absolutely no way this is true. FF9's limit breaks alone...

 

[Kirin]

Here I was thinking Omega was gonna try to sneak Mystic Quest in here somehow.

 

[4-So]

Mystic Quest is good, though. He'd never do such a thing.

 

[Falselogic]

Mystic Quest is good, though. He'd never do such a thing.

Honestly, it's one of my fav FF. Moreso as the years go by.

 

[Daikaiju]

Come to the Mystic side, my people.

 

[Kirin]

Oh, I’m not down on MQ either (heck the music alone), it just seems like the kind of thing it’d think would rile us up.

 

[Torzelbaum]

Oh, I’m not down on MQ either (heck the music alone), it just seems like the kind of thing it’d think would rile us up.

Q is not a Roman Numeral!

...

But M is.

 

[Omega]

Why are you not riled up? You should be wailing, kicking and screaming and denouncing that a series with these entries is not worth of your love. You are supposed to be losing hope and wish for the series to end!