Well, like I said, this is one I would not be surprised at all to see higher, I just personally go back to these others more often. I do love X, though!
@@retrobrandon I would be interested to see how the games would be rated today if they were released today. I think the nostalgia factor plays a role and games like FF7 would no longer be number 1 for most people. Of course, it's also because people expect more today and graphics are more important, and many things weren't possible in the past. I can imagine, for example, that you associate more with FF8 than with FFX and for me it's the other way round. But objectively, or at least based on the opinions of the majority, FFX is ahead of FF8. But fortunately this is not an objective list XD. Nevertheless, I believe that many RPGs from the past are still better than some of them today, or at least not much worse.
@@shisuna4030 I completely agree! I’m actually prepping a series of videos based on this issue that I see from myself and other content creators. I’ll be going back to games I haven’t played and others I have to challenge them as objectively as possible. But I absolutely agree, X is a better game objectively, I just personally go back to 8 more often. And that was one of the things about this video that I asked myself. Which ones do I actually go back to and love to play? It’s not that X isn’t on that list, I’ve just replayed the others so much more
@@retrobrandon and there's nothing wrong with that, I personally think Kingdom Hearts 1 is better than 2, especially better than 3, although the other parts are superior in almost every respect. Maybe it's because it was the first game, maybe it's because you've played it more or the others less. However, I think the vibes in the first part are much better, the feeling just gets broken bit by bit and maybe it's the same for you with the newer Final Fantasy parts.
@@shisuna4030that’s understandable, me personally I think kh2 is better in a pure game sense due to how absolutely incredible the combat is due to final mix changes.
So awesome to see VIII and XII so high. Love both of them and replay them a lot as well. You really can't go wrong with the franchise for the most part as all games bring something great to the table. Nice list
Ha 8 and 12 are two I played upon release but never did beat So recently I decided to play them both again Beat 12 (absolutely loved it this time around) and now I'm about 75% of the way through part 8
Final fantasy XV was a gem in potencial. Bring the zones that are there but incomplete, re-use the old optional dungeons in the world of ruins and add more story to that section, help them rebuild before dealing with the bad guy. fix a few things with combat and you are done for a complete edition, you don't even need better graphics ( add raytrycing if you want), and put a few more deep to the story of lunafreya and his brother. and other side characters
Wow - where to even start with this video, let’s first address the elephant in the room, how the hell are you only 2k subs??? That’s insane! The only quality and presentation of this video is on par with content creators with 100k subs+ it’s just fantastic! I was so impressed with the editing and your presentation of the whole video. I can see HUGE things in your future. It’s so so refreshing to see someone who can rank the final fantasy games objectively with their own true personal feelings and placing them where you truly feel they should be based on YOUR feelings rather than trying to appease the fan base and always have 6 7 and 9 top 3. I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever seen any list place 14 in their top 3 and that’s criminal! It should always be in every top 3. I massively enjoyed this video and would absolutely love to see more final fantasy videos from yourself, maybe an entire retrospective video per game, breaking them down game by game, I’d watch every one! U earnt a new sub instantly from this. I’ve been a content creator for over 3 years and I can foresee you overtaking me very quickly! Keep up the great work.
Wow! Thank you so much! This was a massive labor of love for me but I know it can be a hot topic to not put games where people think they should go, so comments like this really make it for me!
With 9, I agree, graphical revamp and slight battle mechanic changes. However, I would also happily welcome a little bit more character development for Amarant and Quina as well as a better wrap up to Freya's arc which just fell flat in the end. Even if it was a late game optional quest tracking down where Fratley went travelling around the world leading up to Puck finding him with no memory.
Totally forgot to mention those, but I completely agree on all fronts! Amarant and Quina end up feeling like forgettable side characters for sure, so I’d love to see more of that. And ABSOLUTELY Freya. Let’s hope we see it happen!
@@retrobrandon Gizmaluke's Grotto/Freya's theme and Burmicia: Realm of Eternal Rain are two of the most amazing tracks to me in all of gaming history. I've listened to some amazing mixes of Burmicia (complete with rain sound), and I just love that theme so much. I think someone has one on TH-cam called Burmecia: A Melancoly Tribute (or something similar) that's fantastic. That along with You're Not Alone and Chrono Cross' Theme of a Shore Bordering Another World (the world map music from Another World which is my number one RPG music piece of all time) are just so good.
Sephiroth is THE most overrated villain of all time. One of the most bada$$ looking for sure and probably one of the strongest... But his story is flat as fakk. There is sooo little depth to him and there is basically no ambiguity. Compared to Edea, Kuja or even Kafka, hes an Amazing *_looking_* card board cut out.
@@F1rstWorldNomaDhe’s an amazing antagonist. When you first played FFVII he was just a sinister presence, mysterious and haunting the characters across Midgar and it was a long time until you finally saw him in your party in the calm flashback, with his awesome power. However since that game he’s just been seen too much and beaten too many times and it’s retroactively diluted his menacing factor, mystery and aura. Bit like Vader.
@@F1rstWorldNomaDI think he's a good villain for the first half of the game but loses all personality and disappears almost completely in the second half until the end.
An amazing list! 9 is my favourite game of all time, so nice to see it celebrated! I agree with your thoughts on a remake - please don’t touch the story, square! Voice acting would be amazing though!
As someone who generally puts VI around the 6 or 7 spot, I’m usually waiting for the bomb to go from the fan base. Especially when they hear IV, V, VII, and VIII are above it. Solid list. Mine differs a bit but always nice to hear differing opinions on entries I don’t hold as high.
Haha I'm not sure there is a list that would be good with the whole fanbase, so I'm always just excited to talk about the series and absolutely respect differing opinions on this one. Thanks for watching!
@@retrobrandon I hear you bro! I also wasn't lucky enough to play back in the day. I highly suggest the mammoth private server HorizonXI if you want that classic MMO experience.
The nice thing about FF14 is that they've made it where you can do the entire MSQ with Trusts (except some 8 man fights, but they're even doing some of those). So they aren't SUPER far from it being single player-able if someone really wants to. Especially if you only play free trial, which is unlimtied (forever as long as the servers are up) and gets the level cap bumped 2 or so expansions back from whatever is current endgame for people paying a sub. So it's not really so bad for that even now.
Totally agree! And I'm more than happy with that for now and would absolutely recommend it. But the dreamer in me would still love a reimagining that was true single-player on disc or cartridge. It'll never happen, of course, but one can dream!
The problem is, the free trial is permanently locked if you ever give them money. You can't spend any money on the game, ever to access the free trial.
@@aztraeuz Yeah, that part sucks. I feel like they should let you do the free trial stuff if you like, but I'm guessing it has some weirdness with if you have something over that level since they'd have to code locking you out of equipping weapons/Job stone for that Job. Which could get messy.
my first introduction to final fantasy was ff7 I was so young when I saw it and was fascinated by it. never got to finish the ff7 classic but got it on the ps4 and just finished it I'm inlove with it I got to get rebirth and crisis core
FF11 indeed forged bonds but its style would not work in our era of MMO. I have played the since the release of the PC version for a few years. it emphasis strongly on teamwork and it is one of the most time consuming and memorable MMO I have played. I had a lot of fun, made many friends which I even met in real life. One couple I knew met and got married through the game. FF11 till date is still my fav MMORPG
I was nervous seeing your ranking and having 16 up there. Then my heart melted when you put 9 on the top!!! It got me started on FF, and the story is unparalleled. I always go back to it.
Retro Brandon, I’ve enjoyed every minute of this 1,5 hour sit back nostalgia video. And after hearing you played maplestory and love nobuo’s music - I knew I wanted to let you know that your video really made my day. Thanks so much
I’m slowly making my way through the series, thanks to the Pixel Remasters. I have loved FFX since I was a kid (it’s my favorite game of all time), but only now am I truly loving the series as a whole! I’m going through chronologically and I’m currently on V, so I’m excited to watch the series as it progressed through time. I’m particularly excited to play the PS1 era games, all of which I’ve only played a bit of.
@@retrobrandon I’m excited, for sure! I’m particularly interested to play VII after just finishing Rebirth. I had played most of VII probably about 15 or so years ago and never finished, so I don’t remember much. The remake has given me a deeper appreciation for the story and especially the characters, so I’m interested to go back and see how the whole thing started! Just gotta get through V and VI first!
Great video! I recently played through all the games for the first time. Mostly agree with you on everything. VI, XII, and VIII were the ones that really stuck with me
This is a really great video! And I know it's a really great video because I disagree with most of your rankings but still liked it! You do a good job of explaining why certain games work so well for you
Thank you for this! :) I had a similar waking up to rpgs as you. I did play and finish Faxanadu (on the Nes) but I never understood what that genre was called and so I never had the chance to look for other games like it. Fast forward to the end of the 90s. A great friend of mine was a real gamer and he played Final Fantasy and loved it. I didn't really understand what it was but he urged me to go and find one of the games at the game shop store where we lived and really invest time in it certainly I would like it. I went and found FF VIII at a low price sale, bought it, played it and loved it. FF VIII is the magic that I compare all other FF and rpgs against and I have since played all FF games (not finishing all of them though) with the exception of XI and XIV (and XVI yet). I deeply thank my friend for urging me into that door back in 1999 (?), I've had so many joyful times because of it :)
Very interesting takes! I really appreciate that your list is very different from most that I’ve seen. Also, thanks for putting the actual best final fantasy at the top. 9 will ALWAYS be my favorite!
i spent waaaaay too much time on blitzball. i failed to beat the game on 3 separate occasions because i got to blitzball and never moved on. i did eventually beat X though.
What a great breakdown! FFXIV is the only game that ever drew literal snot tears from me on multiple occasions because of the incredible story telling and FFXIV Shadowbringers Soundtrack is always top in my playlist. Awesome job, you definitely gained a new subscriber!
Uh oh, you won't like it that I've never played a Final Fantasy game either 😅 Your editing, humour, and intelligence is SOLID my man, what a fantastic video! 🎉
Edit- after I posted this and you said something else as well- "I refuse to call him Teedus" 💯 Every FF video you make you say at least one thing that literally makes blurt out loud "ME TOO" In this video that line is "I love grinding"
Haha glad you could connect with those! I recently started to revisit Rogue Galaxy and I'm enjoying some grinding in the beginning too. It's a problem that I'll own 😂
I'm currently playing FFXI and it's really being an adventure, I'm really enjoying it and after having completed the second expansion yesterday, I think it could sneak into my top 5 favorite FFs if things get better
@@retrobrandon Maybe it's because of FFXIV and its upcoming Vana'diel-inspired raid or maybe it's always been like this, but the game is full of people (not as crowded as FFXIV) (at least on the Bahamut server) the linkshell I'm in is always full of messages. Playing FFXI feels like playing a mix of FFI, FFII, FFV, FFXII and FFXIV FFI: Talk to the NPCs to find out how to continue the story or how to find a certain object or place. FFII: skills of weapons or magic types are leveled independently when used in combat. FFV: you have a main job and a secondary job that you can mix to create very crazy hybrid classes. FFXII:You can see enemies swarming around the map, the combat system occurs in the open world, without transition to a battle scenario. FFXIV: Many of the monsters and creatures from FFXIV share designs with those from FFXI, so you'll see familiar faces. FFXI maps are open areas similar to what we can see in FFXIV
I know shadowbringers had massive connections to 3, but when I heard the music for 3 when he was talking about it... it finally clicked. I had massive nostalgia when I heard it cause I started 14 with Shadowbringers release. My heart 😢😢😢
Shadowbringers is so so good and how they utilize the old themes is amazing! I still get emotional listening to these soundtracks! Heavensward and Shadowbringers in particular get me good
I was going to give you grief about calling this the "ultimate" mainline ranking despite excluding one of the mainline games, but your segment on XI at the beginning was good enough where I'll give it a pass, hahaha. If I'm ranking base XI, it's towards the bottom of the mainline games. If I'm ranking all of FFXI, it's towards the top. I made a 2 hour overview of all of XI's expansions you might want to check out, as it's a good overview of the whole story without major spoilers. I played XI for the first time 2 years ago so I'm not a veteran of the game, just a fan of the series like yourself. I did 10 hours of video essays ranking the games, but long story short, my top tier games are VII, IX, IV, X and XI (if we include all expansions). I like the controversial games (II, VIII, XIII, XV). I'm mixed on VI. XIV and XII are my least favorite of the mainline games, though I've only beaten ARR up to this point, whereas I beat all of XI.
I'll definitely check it out! Yeah, if you love XI after the expansions, you have to give XIV expansions a go. Heavensward, the first one up, is one of my favorites, but everything from then on is amazing! Thanks for watching and I appreciate deciding against the grief! haha
There's so many good things about all these games. Like a lot of people VII and X were my favorites, but I'd put XII and XV up with them if XII had had less dialogue scenes cut, and if XV had been in all one piece between it's DLC and anime shorts. But development was shaky in the decade after the company merge, so it happens. IX has the most of that FF element. That journey went everywhere and it had perfect swan song effort from Sakaguchi. What a way to capstone PS1!
1. Totally agree about the preference for the old XII licance board vs zodiac age, although the job's system does bring balance to the overall party dynamics! 2. Thanks for not dumping on VIII 3. Should we start adding tactics to the conversation or does that open up Pandoras box? Great video and good work trying to be as balanced as possible throughout! Not easy to do when it comes this of all series.
Haha, FF1 is still in my top 5. It's easily my most replayed Final Fantasy. Something about how simple and clean it is draws me back to it. The PSP and Pixel Remaster are definitely my favorite versions. (The pixel remaster ver can even be modded with an NES or PS1 difficulty mod which is a fun challenge.)
Yeah, I do really love one despite its low spot on the list for me. I’m also considering going through them 1 by 1 again and doing more in depth individual videos on them. The thought of going back to 1 is actually really exciting for me
Haha I know, so are so many others. I do love that game, I just find that I go back to it least often. But I'm thinking of hitting em all individually again and doing videos for each one to really dig in and get specific. Thanks for watching!
Easily my favorite franchise. My favorite is XII Zodiac Age, for the world and all the side content that adds to the freedom aspect. I also love XV. It has some flaws but the roadtrip feeling made it so addicting, I played it almost as much. VII is great, I prefer VIII though. From the Pixel Remasters, my favorite is V, easily. X is great and it was my entry into the series. XIII I really don't like, however its sequel XIII-2 is amazing. Currently in XVI, ha4d to rank for me, but it's definitely a lot of fun.
Haha hey man, I've said it before and I'll say it again. Saying one piece of gold glimmers slightly more than another doesn't mean we're no longer talking about gold. I love this entire series and even at a lower rank, I enjoy going back to those! FF1 is still unexpectedly good considering it's age! Still totally holds up
This is a pretty good list. It's hard to take people seriously if they put one of the first three over any other game since they didn't have much character development or plot yet. I've beaten 1-4, 6, 7, 9, 10. FF5 has a fun battle system and very little plot. FF8 has a cool story and a bad battle system where you waste time drawing magic. MMOs can't compare to a single player RPG for plot and character development. (Maybe WoW is the exception) I've heard 12 is good, but I can't get drawn in by Vaan or Penelo. Also, the plot is really confusing, they name drop so many people and locations.
Finished my first Final Fantasy game ever and - come at me bro lol - yeah it's XIII . Coz accessible battle system , late enough in the releases for a decent vocal and huge lore. To be honest , I LOVED it - and Xiii-X2 is now queued up ready to start for later this year. I like the fact that square enix are getting round to remaking the classic titles so am sure a few more will be on my list before 7 Remake and co which Brianna is keeping me all up to speed on ❤
Hahaha not hate here, my friend! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Saying one piece of gold is shinier than the other doesn’t mean it’s not gold! I’m actually keen to revisit these again since I have em on the Steamdeck! Or if Squenix releases a compilation of the Switch or something, I’ll just buy it again again. Thanks for watching!
it's hard to rate ff11 nowadays, since it's now soloable and you'll never get the same experience that was given back in the day, unless you play horizon XI, but it's classic ff11 75cap era, meaning you will take FOREVER to do simple stuff. I played it 10 years between 2005 and 2015. I gotta say the story is BRILLIANT specially on 2nd expansion and onwards
original ff11 was the ultimate mmorpg that had absolutely zero respect for your time 😂 the tradeoff was that any progression you made had such massive weight to it. It may be a dead idea currently, but needing a proper party to do literally anything is the truest form of an mmorpg. unpopular opinion but as im playing ff14 right now, i prefer both the menu-style combat and the levelling style of original ff11. id rather grind difficult regular mobs with a full party in the open world then grind instanced levelling roulette dungeons 😅
Hey, happy to hear the hot take! That’s one of the best things about this franchise and its fans! To be fair, in XIV, you can always go chase some hunts as well, but I hear you!
Love the way you present your opinions, love the details behind the making of these games! Annnnd love this channel :D Would love to see a video about Square vs Enix and their merging X)
Thank you so much! Excited to keep it going! I do love that idea... I'm thinking I could do a specialty series on some of those unique industry events among RPG companies. Not sure yet, but love the idea! Thanks for watching!
Just here to see where he puts X lol. It’s the only one I’ve played, it’s one I own on three different consoles, it has one of my favourite soundtracks of all time and is absolutely one of my favourite games ever. I’m shocked seeing XV lower than XIII. 37:40 props to you man because I flat out refuse to play blitzball at all other than the time the game forces you to play it.
Hiromichi Tanaka did not come up with Edgar and Sabin, Soraya Saga (she also worked on Xenogears along with her husband, Tetsuya Takahashi) did. As far as I am concerned, Tanaka didn't write any of the characters for FF6. I think you should put this into the notes/subtitles, as this is clearly wrong information. Other than that, I have only watched it up till the FF6 part to comment on this. But so far, it's overall a good and enjoyable video. I'll keep watching, thanks for making this! EDIT: Celes also learns magic naturally through level ups, just like Terra. She merely gets different spells.
Hey, I really appreciate the info! I'm absolutely happy to update the description if any info is incorrect. Haha and I knew that about Celes, but I realize that definitely sounds like Terra can do what she could not. That wasn't intentional. Anyway, for the above about Takahashi, it's my understanding that they were made by Soraya Saga, whose real name is Kaori Tanaka, came up with it. So I went with her real name. Admittedly, the more familiar name would have been better. So I believe it's still accurate? Unless I said Hiromichi Tanaka by habit. In which case, I'll update the description because that is indeed a mistake! Thanks for the thoughtful comment! Let me know if that makes sense and if I mispoke!
On the topic of what a focused single player FF14 would look like, if I were to organize it, the focus should be on everything after the 7th Umbral Calamity all the way to the finale of Endwalker and call if something like, "Final Fantasy XIV: Design of Ancients" and release that as an 80 hour semi-open world campaign. Maybe have it be an evolved ATB system with and emphasis on movement and timing. Rough ideas, but that would probably be something that would work imo. I will probably never happen, but it would be cool.
Oh boy! Remembering now how difficult the first final fantasys were - i got final fantasy 4 for gba but never managed to get a thing straight lol and after some years i tried the ds version and fell in love x)
A well earned sub from me! Incredibly well structured video and amazing analysis of a series that I am very very late to the party for. I probably started in completely the wrong place with the 7 remake, not long finished FFVII Rebirth, and I’m now a couple hours into FFVXI, I realise I’m only a novice, but I’ve already purchased FFX and FFIX ready to go for when I complete XVI!! 26 and only just deep diving into the entire series!
FF13 and the other two games are all S-tier combat tbh Also if you read the datalog everytime there is an update to it, it's impossible to not know what is going on
Congratulations. You are correct. FF9 is THE undisputed GOAT of Final Fantasy. I havnt played any FF beyond 12 but it dorsnt matter, FF9 is perfect and you cabt beat perfect
Great video man! i enjoyed watching it all, but not including the FF7 Remake/Rebirth as seperate games from the OG FF7 is crazy man, especially FF7 Rebirth is propably one of the best games of all time, let alone one of the best FF standalone games.
Thanks! Trust me, there's more Final Fantasy content to come. I won't be able to help myself. I just wanted to focus on the main numbered entries and talk about the Remake series separately at some point :)
Wow…. Its the first time that youtuber put twelve above x and 8 and im agree with it, cause for me this is my first ff game and i love it so much, nice content btw
Thank you! Yeah, I know it's a hot take and the comments speak to the love for X. And don't get me wrong, I LOVE X. I just find myself going back to XII more and I really do think it's super fun to play
Best for me is FF9 - Having played almost all the first 10 Final Fantasy games (yes including the original Final Fantasy on NES, not the PS1 Origins remaster), FF9 truly holds something dear to my heart❣ It's the most "Final Fantasy" game for me, with FFVI a close second. I would love a remaster of both of titles especially FF9, as well as Final Fantasy Tactics which is the best Final Fantasy game for me even though its a spin-off (but in the same world as FF9).
Hey, there's that rumored 9 and Tactics stuff from that leak a while back. Here's to hoping! Otherwise, I might bust out the ol' PSP and run War of the Lions again for kicks. Thanks for watching!
I was just thinking about FFXI last night. I imported the Chinese version (or maybe it was the Japanese) into the UK just to play it. Then WoW came along and just blew everything else in that genre away.
I disagree with a few things, especially 10 and 6, but overall, great list. A curiosity: When I played 12 during its release, I absolutely hated the game and never finished it. I only got back to the game when the zodiac remaster came out in the Ps4. I loved it, even got the platinum, and now it's in my top 5 as well. I think it's a complex game that hits different when you're a kid and just don't understand how the game really works.
@@bardockshiny I dunno about that. I really liked Chrono Cross/Trigger, Mario RPG Legend of the Seven Stars, and FF9. Pretty sure kid me was right on the money, even if I appreciate those EVEN MORE now. : )
@@SubduedRadical sure you can like those games, but as a kid you didn't perceived half the qualities those games had. Replaying as an adult you'll get them, that was my point
Brilliant video, really enjoyed it ecen if our opinions don't always align (almost lile people can like different things) Just wanted to praise the polish and time spent making this! Im just one dude but youve got my sub. Ps. FF7 is #1 ;)
I've been playing through all of the games and so far FF13 is easily my favorite and really hope it's gets a trilogy remaster similar to X/X-2 with some graphics updates and quality of life stuff the sequels brought
FF6 is just so grand and amazing. I just finished beating it again and it's amazing. The characters may not be the most developed, but they do get enough screen time to make you like them somewhat. The games final battle with Kefka is the most grand and epic final battle in any FF game. It's like all these friends get together to take down this insane evil god. I think the characters in FF6 are the most powerful out of all the Final Fantasy titles. They just slaughter enemies like crazy and there's SOOOOO many enemies to fight in FF6. Such a 16 bit masterpiece.
Haha I know, right?? Giant crazy Dinosaur? CHAINSAW! 😂 I did and do absolutely love this game. Especially the pixel remaster with those sweet remastered tracks. SO Good!
I feel like most of these games are biased to your nostalgia. But nah.. who am I kidding... FF9 is my favorite game of ALL TIME even outside the series because it was during a really dark place in my life and it resonated with me a lot so I guess I'm using nostalgia too lol.
I feel like ones age has a lot to do with the ranking here. If you ask the people who didn't start with ff7 and came back later to it, it's not nearly as amazing as when you played it the release year
Honestly, I would lose my mind if they ever did that. But I'd be surprised to even hear whispers of this idea ANY time soon if ever. But we keep the dream alive!
I wanted to love FFXVI. I love FFXIV and was really looking forward to FFXVI just based on their previous work. I even bought a PS5 just for the game and got the CE with the Ifrit and Pheonix statue. I didn't mind the action based approach even though I've been a fan since my cousin gave me FF1 on the NES when we were kids. I don't think that FF has to be turn based in order for it to be FF. That being said, I have some major issues with the game that spoiled my enjoyment of it. First, the RPG elements were poorly handled. You touched on exploration and I agree with what you said. I would add that the crafting system and quest rewards were also poorly implemented. There was a point in my first play through where I crafted a sword, went through a series of cut scenes and found that the blacksmith had a new upgrade available right after finishing them. I didn't even use the sword I had just crafted before upgrading it. My second major issue you also hit on in the video. There was a point towards the end where I started to question why I was even trying to save this world. The lack of whimsy and joy really did hurt the experience. FFIX is my favorite in the series and it's main themes revolve around coming to terms with death. It's a serious subject, but there's still a lot of whimsy and fun in the world which contrasts with the darker moments and theme. I think CBU3 could've have really benefited by adding in a reason for the characters to want the world to go on outside of merely persisting to live. My final big issue completely ruined the game for me. I loathe open endings. I think they're pretentious and unfulfilling and in a game where you spend 50+ hours getting to know characters, it's awful not seeing some kind of closure for them. It didn't have to be a happy ending. I love FFIX's bittersweet ending where you get to see the thoughts of a dying Vivi who never gets to say goodbye to his friend Zidane. I just need something that has a bit of closure for the characters I've been traveling with. I don't think it's a bad game. I just think it's disappointing and I wish it had turned out better. I probably won't run out and drop $1,000 to play the next game in the series, so at least I learned that lesson, right? lol
Beautifully said! I definitely agree with the ending by too. I walked away just making my assumption about what it all meant and I’m sticking to it no matter what anyone says because I also hate the ambiguous ending. ESPECIALLY when you’ve done the side quests for the characters and lore. Also, welcome back! I’m pretty sure I referenced you in this video with the FF7 part, so I appreciate your takes and comments!
My favourite FFX game is 10 but ONLY if paired with X-2 (the ultimate best game) But if it had to be a sole game then definitely 8, if only for nostalgia reasons
When I first clicked this video, I was admittedly wondering why XI was unranked, but not wanting to rank it because you've not actually played it is completely fair and understandable. That said, have you gone and played it on steam since this video, since you can do a great deal of it single player with trusts?
I haven’t yet, no, but I’m definitely interested! I’ve just been juggling a bunch of other games I want to make videos on and still need to get back to FFXIV for Dawntrail! Haha but I’m keeping an eye on XI and may boot it up and even do a video on it at some point down the road. Thanks for watching!
Final Fantasy 9 is probably my favorite but I do have one complaint about it I don't know but it's the art style or the color palette or what but dang it sure is difficult to see things like...um doors!
Thanks so much for all your very helpful streams ' Yes I totally remember going through the very First FF1 both on the old NES and the enhanced version on The Final Fantasy Origens gamedisc do the PS1! I am still playing Final Fantasy Remake again because it's definitely the all time Best❤
The remake trilogy is NOT a sequel to AC. It's connecting the story of OG to better fit the compilation works while creating context to why things are the way they are in AC. Good grief.
Tierlists are always about iffy to me because it depends on what the focus is. If its story focused then you can end up with games that have good combat in lower tiers. If it's combat focused then you could end up with games with decent stories in lower tiers too. Doing an "overall" tierlist doesnt eradicate this issue either. My tierlists are combat/gameplay focused, but it just so happens that those titles also have great stories and endings. The exception being 12 which has S-tier gameplay but average story/ending. If one element is so good then it doesn't need the others tbh. That's why 12 is in my S tier despite me thinking the story and ending are B-C tier
Interesting list. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars was my first ever RPG (my folks weren't big on D&D/magic/fantasy type stuff, to put it mildly), FF7 was my second. The first time I played it, my cousin had it on PC and we had a controller plugged in, so we decided who would control the characters as we unlocked them, and we'd each control our characters in battle. When I got home from the visit, I saved up money, bought myself a PS1 and FF7, and the rest is history. I loved 7, 8, and 9 (I was a fan of 9 before it was cool - at the time people hated it). X I always felt meh on. I didn't DISlike it, but I was pretty neutral on it. 12 I didn't like very much, because I hate mission based games (hunts) which feels like busiwork and padding to me (felt the same in games like Crisis Core, too), and kind of lazy design in the sense you're just going to places you already went. THAT SAID: To this day I remember the Sand Sea. It was such a wild thing conceptually to me, and FF12 has always reminded me of Star Wars. Balthier, Fran, Basch, and Ashe as Han, Chewie (complete with life debt), Obi-Wan, and Leia. The only characters that felt really out of place (and ANNOYING to me) were Vaan and Penello. In an alternate reality where Rex (Vaan's brother) lived and was the main character, or Basch, I might have really liked the game's narrative. It was also kind of hard to follow, even though I did beat it. FF7 was the first I ever beat, and my first game in the series, and 9 was the first I mastered, doing MOST of the bonus content (Ozma and Excalibur 2 aside). I...still haven't beaten 8, but I did play my cousin's copy a lot and bought it on Steam not long ago. The dungeons feel so much shorter to me 25 years older, lol. But I really do plan to. FF14 is my jam right now and my "get home from work or veg on weekends" game that keeps giving. I love the cyber/steampunk games, so 7, 9, and parts of 14 I like a lot (and 14 more generally because...well, you see where it is on your own list, so yeah! Enjoying Dawntrail, btw?) FF9 to me to this day is the most "fun romp around the world" entry in the series. It's just...fun. And while mostly lighthearted does have some good life lessons (some crazy stuff there involving death and loss as well as celebrating love and life), and it's one of only two that I think were natively two player - FF9 and FF6 in the menus you can set a controller for the different characters, either controller 1 or 2, so you can play with a friend where you control the different characters in battle WITHOUT having to swap the controller back and forth. And I know it was groundbreaking, but 10 was always kinda meh to me. Again, didn't DISlike, but was neutral on. I think Tidus kind of annoyed me as a teenager on the cusp of being an adult playing it. Felt so whiny and both Yuna and Auron were more compelling characters. That said, I did dodge 200 lightning bolts (I chuckled at the DT reference to that, btw. "I once knew a guy who thought you could dodge lightning bolts if you jumped right after seeing the flash..." from DT Zone 5), but I think the only other ultimate weapon I got was Tidus' (and maybe Auron's?) and the only damage cap I broke was his (from the first Summon, I think it was, though I genuinely don't remember much from that game). I also didn't hate 13 as much as most people did. Come to think of it, my views on 9, 10, 12, and 13 were different than the "mainstream" Final Fantasy fans of the time...) I do think 6 was a fantastic game, and it's definitely in my top 5, but I came to that one MUCH later than most. I really did like 4, but again, much later. Indeed, in a vacuum, I might be tempted to say 4 is the best of the games of the entire series specifically because it holds up extremely well even against much more modern entries, if you can set aside the death fake-outs. Cecil is one of the more compelling protagonists in the entire series, and the game's message is pretty upbeat, as well as the interesting and diverse cast and "guest star of the week" way of rolling through them. I think my own personal list would probably be something like 7, 14, 4, 9, 6 (all close enough it's more an ~= than a > between them, though I'd probably rank them in that order if pressed), my second tier is probably 8, 15, 13, 10, 12, in roughly that order, and the rest (1, 2 other than a brief bit at a friend's house with the PS1 version, 3, 5 other than a brief bit on an emulator, 11 other than trying out the free trial about two years ago [there's something wrong about an Old School MMO that has more or less stripped out all the Old School MMO elements - Trust and "Level to cap then come and talk to us" doesn't work in a game clearly designed around camping and grinding while meeting and chatting with new people in a living world; I bet the game was amazing in its prime, though, and from the people I've talked to who played it then, they agree with that sentiment], and 16) I have not yet played at the present time. Probably won't ever play the exclusive/timed exclusive titles (I can't dodge spoilers for literal irl years - I just watch a TH-cam lets play, lol), but who knows.
I freakin love this comment. Thanks for all your thought put into this! I'm considering doing individual videos for each of these and revisiting them sometime in the future because there's so much I missed. Even your mention of 4. I don't think I mentioned it here, but I was so into the Dark Knight -> Paladin shift for Cecil that I was writing stories in middle school based on the concept. The one thing I hope comes across clearly in this video is the ranking is simply a video structure. I freakin love these games and saying one piece of gold glimmers slightly more than another doesn't mean we're not talking about gold! Thanks for watching!
@@retrobrandon Oh yeah, there's so much you could go into for every one of these. That's true of stories in general, but FF has had some great ones. I didn't play 4 until well after I'd played a number of other ones, but that Job change was an EXCELLENT use of what my Freshman Composition professor always said in my 2 college classes with him: Show, don't tell. I LOVE when games USE GAME MECHANICS to tell story. It can be done so neat. Like the tidbit about Rydia not naturally learning the Fire spell in FF4 and how that was due to her childhood trauma of her village burning down so she kind of KNEW it, but had a mental block against using it. Other cases are like when Steiner goes into Trance in FF9 fighting alongside Beatrix in order to protect her. Some games (FF and otherwise) don't always get it right (Steiner doesn't become a combat god, necessarily, which the scene is TRYING to suggest he did in order to protect her), but it's always neat and I always give an approving nod when I see a game tell actual story through gameplay and game mechanics. Using the game world and even game CODE mechanics as an additional tool of the narrative is just something I'm a huge fan of.
10 and 8 were my favorites as well as 12 I put 10 at number 2 after 6. The actual best to me is FFXIV but I don’t count the MMOs. Also Tactics to me has the best story in general. The whole gospel of Judas thing was so sick. I’m big on esoteric scriptures so that alone got me hooked 😂
Great video. I appreciate these high quality deep dives into the games' history whilst ranking them We seem to disagree on a lot but one thing we don't disagree on is that FFIX is the absolute goat lol
And I’m cool with that! There’s a lot of love for this series with so many different opinions. That’s what can make these conversations enjoyable :) Thanks for watching!
I'm still mad at the pixel remaster that did'nt include the extra content in all the games =/ I'm still waiting for the final edition of final fantasy VI
You know it’s a good franchise when there are so many different opinions on which one is the best. I enjoyed reading the comments and seeing what people liked about the different games. Great Video. Also FF2 is the worst and 5 is actually the best. 😮😉
You're not wrong. For me it's a matter of being bummed at what we did get with the mobile game, but I don't REALLY think they should spend more time and money fixing their decisions for now. For real, VI, IV, Tactics, I'm down for them to move on. Thanks for watching!
I’ve just recently took a shot at final fantasy with VII remake, about to finish rebirth. I’m looking to try a turn based FF, which game would you suggest for someone with very little turn based experience?
Hey, that's awesome! I still need to finish rebirth, but these darn retro games keep me distracted... Haha my suggestion would be to go with one of the widely agreed upon best. So if you want to go pixel, go 4 or 6, 6 being widely considered the best of the pixel era, and if you want to go 3D turn-based go VII or IX. I personally love IX the most, obviously, but it might be fun to play through classic VII if you haven't already!
@@retrobrandon The 7 remakes are my first FF games, but they triggered a big interest in the FF universe for me. I recently picked up IX, and VII since they were on sale. I’m thinking I’ll try IX since it seems to be the favorite for most tier lists. Good luck on rebirth! I’ve put way more time into it than I thought I would, definitely got my moneys worth.
If I had 2 FF wishes 1. Like you said, 14 as a single player 2. (And this is actually my number one wish) FF9 remake BUT DON'T DARE MAKE IT ACTION and ruin it like they did 7
21:04 “…kicking against the fate of a predetermined path.” Just like the players. I kid. I think XIII gets a lot of unnecessary hate. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a great game, but it’s not nearly as bad as a lot of the fans of other games make it out to be.
Zingers like that make me rethink my ability to make a video. Too good. 😂 I completely agree. It's pretty low on the list for me, but I enjoyed my time with it. Heck, it was the reason I committed to a PS3.
@@retrobrandonNah man, this is a great video. I may not agree 100% with your order, but it’s your list, and I love seeing other opinions on my favorite game series.
1. Final Fantasy VII 2. Final Fantasy IX 3. Final Fantasy VI 4. Final Fantasy VIII 5. Final Fantasy X VII is my personal favorite as it was the game that not only got me into the franchise but RPGs. But it goes deeper than that. It truly is a masterpiece with an incredible plot, unforgettable cast, fascinating villain, iconic soundtrack and pitch perfect pacing. Having said that, i feel IX is just as great of a game and one could call it Sakaguchi's magnum opus. It truly captures the spirit and heart of what Final Fantasy truly is. Where i feel IX trumps VII is world and town deisgn and i would probably give it a slight edge when it comes to the soundtrack. VI was probably the greatest game ever made at the point of release and certainly has one of the greatest casts in the franchise. So many iconic moments and one of the greatest villains. VIII was one of those games i adored as a kid but one the closer you look at the more its flaws become apparent. The first disk was fantastic but it quickly fell apart after that. The pacing dragged at times and the cast was not as memorable as the VII, IX and VI. The plot was also not as interesting with poor characterization and plot holes. The town design, however, was fantastic. And of course that incredible soundtrack. One of Uematsu's best. X is a game i would certainly recommend as the first game to try for anyone new to the series and the last true Final Fantasy. The franchise died in my opinion when Squaresoft merged with Enix. This game felt like a true Final Fantasy game despite its noticeable flaws like spikes in difficulty, godawful mini games, terrible puzzles and lack of a world map. Still, it has arguably the greatest ending of all time.
I just finished VI for the first time, and it was amazing! So much better than it had any right to be! I would give it a 10/10 for sure
Why wouldn’t it have the right to be one of the greatest ever?
Shocked to see 10 in your 8 spot. Especially since it usually ranks pretty high for people. So interesting how subjective these games are.
Well, like I said, this is one I would not be surprised at all to see higher, I just personally go back to these others more often. I do love X, though!
@@retrobrandon I would be interested to see how the games would be rated today if they were released today. I think the nostalgia factor plays a role and games like FF7 would no longer be number 1 for most people. Of course, it's also because people expect more today and graphics are more important, and many things weren't possible in the past. I can imagine, for example, that you associate more with FF8 than with FFX and for me it's the other way round. But objectively, or at least based on the opinions of the majority, FFX is ahead of FF8. But fortunately this is not an objective list XD. Nevertheless, I believe that many RPGs from the past are still better than some of them today, or at least not much worse.
@@shisuna4030 I completely agree! I’m actually prepping a series of videos based on this issue that I see from myself and other content creators. I’ll be going back to games I haven’t played and others I have to challenge them as objectively as possible. But I absolutely agree, X is a better game objectively, I just personally go back to 8 more often. And that was one of the things about this video that I asked myself. Which ones do I actually go back to and love to play? It’s not that X isn’t on that list, I’ve just replayed the others so much more
@@retrobrandon and there's nothing wrong with that, I personally think Kingdom Hearts 1 is better than 2, especially better than 3, although the other parts are superior in almost every respect. Maybe it's because it was the first game, maybe it's because you've played it more or the others less. However, I think the vibes in the first part are much better, the feeling just gets broken bit by bit and maybe it's the same for you with the newer Final Fantasy parts.
@@shisuna4030that’s understandable, me personally I think kh2 is better in a pure game sense due to how absolutely incredible the combat is due to final mix changes.
So awesome to see VIII and XII so high. Love both of them and replay them a lot as well. You really can't go wrong with the franchise for the most part as all games bring something great to the table. Nice list
Ha
8 and 12 are two I played upon release but never did beat
So recently I decided to play them both again
Beat 12 (absolutely loved it this time around) and now I'm about 75% of the way through part 8
Final fantasy XV was a gem in potencial. Bring the zones that are there but incomplete, re-use the old optional dungeons in the world of ruins and add more story to that section, help them rebuild before dealing with the bad guy. fix a few things with combat and you are done for a complete edition, you don't even need better graphics ( add raytrycing if you want), and put a few more deep to the story of lunafreya and his brother. and other side characters
Wow - where to even start with this video, let’s first address the elephant in the room, how the hell are you only 2k subs??? That’s insane! The only quality and presentation of this video is on par with content creators with 100k subs+ it’s just fantastic! I was so impressed with the editing and your presentation of the whole video. I can see HUGE things in your future. It’s so so refreshing to see someone who can rank the final fantasy games objectively with their own true personal feelings and placing them where you truly feel they should be based on YOUR feelings rather than trying to appease the fan base and always have 6 7 and 9 top 3. I genuinely don’t think I’ve ever seen any list place 14 in their top 3 and that’s criminal! It should always be in every top 3. I massively enjoyed this video and would absolutely love to see more final fantasy videos from yourself, maybe an entire retrospective video per game, breaking them down game by game, I’d watch every one! U earnt a new sub instantly from this. I’ve been a content creator for over 3 years and I can foresee you overtaking me very quickly! Keep up the great work.
Wow! Thank you so much! This was a massive labor of love for me but I know it can be a hot topic to not put games where people think they should go, so comments like this really make it for me!
With 9, I agree, graphical revamp and slight battle mechanic changes. However, I would also happily welcome a little bit more character development for Amarant and Quina as well as a better wrap up to Freya's arc which just fell flat in the end. Even if it was a late game optional quest tracking down where Fratley went travelling around the world leading up to Puck finding him with no memory.
Totally forgot to mention those, but I completely agree on all fronts! Amarant and Quina end up feeling like forgettable side characters for sure, so I’d love to see more of that. And ABSOLUTELY Freya. Let’s hope we see it happen!
@@retrobrandon Gizmaluke's Grotto/Freya's theme and Burmicia: Realm of Eternal Rain are two of the most amazing tracks to me in all of gaming history. I've listened to some amazing mixes of Burmicia (complete with rain sound), and I just love that theme so much. I think someone has one on TH-cam called Burmecia: A Melancoly Tribute (or something similar) that's fantastic. That along with You're Not Alone and Chrono Cross' Theme of a Shore Bordering Another World (the world map music from Another World which is my number one RPG music piece of all time) are just so good.
I think quina is fine as she is. Some more Freya story would be dope tho.
I wasn’t originally going to leave a comment, but then sephiroth intervened.
He’ll get ya!
Sephiroth is THE most overrated villain of all time.
One of the most bada$$ looking for sure and probably one of the strongest...
But his story is flat as fakk.
There is sooo little depth to him and there is basically no ambiguity.
Compared to Edea, Kuja or even Kafka, hes an Amazing *_looking_* card board cut out.
@@F1rstWorldNomaDyeah he is
I was expecting more honestly
And in the majority of the game, it's just a fragment of jenova
@@F1rstWorldNomaDhe’s an amazing antagonist. When you first played FFVII he was just a sinister presence, mysterious and haunting the characters across Midgar and it was a long time until you finally saw him in your party in the calm flashback, with his awesome power. However since that game he’s just been seen too much and beaten too many times and it’s retroactively diluted his menacing factor, mystery and aura. Bit like Vader.
@@F1rstWorldNomaDI think he's a good villain for the first half of the game but loses all personality and disappears almost completely in the second half until the end.
An amazing list! 9 is my favourite game of all time, so nice to see it celebrated! I agree with your thoughts on a remake - please don’t touch the story, square! Voice acting would be amazing though!
As someone who generally puts VI around the 6 or 7 spot, I’m usually waiting for the bomb to go from the fan base. Especially when they hear IV, V, VII, and VIII are above it.
Solid list. Mine differs a bit but always nice to hear differing opinions on entries I don’t hold as high.
Haha I'm not sure there is a list that would be good with the whole fanbase, so I'm always just excited to talk about the series and absolutely respect differing opinions on this one. Thanks for watching!
I appreciate the FFXI shoutout. best MMO ever!
9, 10 and 11 was the sweet spot of the series for me
I couldn't pass it even if I haven't played it. I still dream of getting to it one day...
@@retrobrandon I hear you bro! I also wasn't lucky enough to play back in the day. I highly suggest the mammoth private server HorizonXI if you want that classic MMO experience.
The nice thing about FF14 is that they've made it where you can do the entire MSQ with Trusts (except some 8 man fights, but they're even doing some of those). So they aren't SUPER far from it being single player-able if someone really wants to. Especially if you only play free trial, which is unlimtied (forever as long as the servers are up) and gets the level cap bumped 2 or so expansions back from whatever is current endgame for people paying a sub. So it's not really so bad for that even now.
Totally agree! And I'm more than happy with that for now and would absolutely recommend it. But the dreamer in me would still love a reimagining that was true single-player on disc or cartridge. It'll never happen, of course, but one can dream!
The problem is, the free trial is permanently locked if you ever give them money. You can't spend any money on the game, ever to access the free trial.
@@aztraeuz Yeah, that part sucks. I feel like they should let you do the free trial stuff if you like, but I'm guessing it has some weirdness with if you have something over that level since they'd have to code locking you out of equipping weapons/Job stone for that Job. Which could get messy.
my first introduction to final fantasy was ff7 I was so young when I saw it and was fascinated by it. never got to finish the ff7 classic but got it on the ps4 and just finished it I'm inlove with it I got to get rebirth and crisis core
FF11 indeed forged bonds but its style would not work in our era of MMO.
I have played the since the release of the PC version for a few years.
it emphasis strongly on teamwork and it is one of the most time consuming and memorable MMO I have played.
I had a lot of fun, made many friends which I even met in real life. One couple I knew met and got married through the game.
FF11 till date is still my fav MMORPG
I love to see this!
Haven't seen the entire video yet, but already big compliments on the editing ✌.
Thank you!
I was nervous seeing your ranking and having 16 up there. Then my heart melted when you put 9 on the top!!! It got me started on FF, and the story is unparalleled. I always go back to it.
Hahaha yeah, 16 being higher is my hot take. That and 10, apparently. But 9 is so so good. Thanks for watching!
Retro Brandon, I’ve enjoyed every minute of this 1,5 hour sit back nostalgia video. And after hearing you played maplestory and love nobuo’s music - I knew I wanted to let you know that your video really made my day. Thanks so much
Man, it's comments like this that make it all worth it. Thanks for watching and thanks for making MY day!
I’m slowly making my way through the series, thanks to the Pixel Remasters. I have loved FFX since I was a kid (it’s my favorite game of all time), but only now am I truly loving the series as a whole! I’m going through chronologically and I’m currently on V, so I’m excited to watch the series as it progressed through time. I’m particularly excited to play the PS1 era games, all of which I’ve only played a bit of.
Love it! Have fun, it's such a great series! It's going to be so cool to see the evolution chronologically!
@@retrobrandon I’m excited, for sure! I’m particularly interested to play VII after just finishing Rebirth. I had played most of VII probably about 15 or so years ago and never finished, so I don’t remember much. The remake has given me a deeper appreciation for the story and especially the characters, so I’m interested to go back and see how the whole thing started! Just gotta get through V and VI first!
@@LizzyLoves91 Love it! You'll have to let me know how it goes somehow! Maybe ping me on Twitter/X or something, I'm genuinely interested!
Great video! I recently played through all the games for the first time. Mostly agree with you on everything. VI, XII, and VIII were the ones that really stuck with me
I love that VIII is one of those that stick with you! Thanks for watching :)
This is a really great video! And I know it's a really great video because I disagree with most of your rankings but still liked it! You do a good job of explaining why certain games work so well for you
Thank you! I put a lot into this one, so comments like these are great to see!
That's was a very interesting way to pronounce Zidane lol 😂
I refuse to give up my childhood pronunciation 😂
Thank you for this! :) I had a similar waking up to rpgs as you. I did play and finish Faxanadu (on the Nes) but I never understood what that genre was called and so I never had the chance to look for other games like it. Fast forward to the end of the 90s. A great friend of mine was a real gamer and he played Final Fantasy and loved it. I didn't really understand what it was but he urged me to go and find one of the games at the game shop store where we lived and really invest time in it certainly I would like it. I went and found FF VIII at a low price sale, bought it, played it and loved it. FF VIII is the magic that I compare all other FF and rpgs against and I have since played all FF games (not finishing all of them though) with the exception of XI and XIV (and XVI yet). I deeply thank my friend for urging me into that door back in 1999 (?), I've had so many joyful times because of it :)
I love this! Thanks for your story!
Very interesting takes! I really appreciate that your list is very different from most that I’ve seen. Also, thanks for putting the actual best final fantasy at the top. 9 will ALWAYS be my favorite!
Haha there are SO many takes on this series, I'm just one of the many. But thanks for watching! Love the 9 love!
Final Fantasy VI and VII are my favorites, equally, nice video keep it up !
Thank you! Those are some classics for sure!
i spent waaaaay too much time on blitzball. i failed to beat the game on 3 separate occasions because i got to blitzball and never moved on. i did eventually beat X though.
I'm glad SOMEONE liked it! 😂
X is in a weird spot where the original creator was no longer involved, so fans ended up loving it or hating it with a passion.
@@Anayoth haha oh I loved the game, but I did not like blitzball 😅
What a great breakdown! FFXIV is the only game that ever drew literal snot tears from me on multiple occasions because of the incredible story telling and FFXIV Shadowbringers Soundtrack is always top in my playlist. Awesome job, you definitely gained a new subscriber!
Wasn't gonna comment BUT... this man is telling it like it is.
Uh oh, you won't like it that I've never played a Final Fantasy game either 😅 Your editing, humour, and intelligence is SOLID my man, what a fantastic video! 🎉
Well now you have a video to reference for when you DO decided to play, right?? ... Right?
Haha thanks, brother!
@@retrobrandon Oh yeah, I'll be coming back here for sure 😉
Omg, I'm so happy FF9 is your nr 1! Because it's literally mine too!!
Can't wait for remake.
Neither can I! Hopefully we’ll see it in the next couple of years or so. And man, I hope they don’t mess it up
Edit- after I posted this and you said something else as well- "I refuse to call him Teedus"
💯
Every FF video you make you say at least one thing that literally makes blurt out loud
"ME TOO"
In this video that line is
"I love grinding"
Haha glad you could connect with those! I recently started to revisit Rogue Galaxy and I'm enjoying some grinding in the beginning too. It's a problem that I'll own 😂
I'm currently playing FFXI and it's really being an adventure, I'm really enjoying it and after having completed the second expansion yesterday, I think it could sneak into my top 5 favorite FFs if things get better
Ooooooh, you have me even MORE intrigued with at. I'll need to find the time at some point!
@@retrobrandon Maybe it's because of FFXIV and its upcoming Vana'diel-inspired raid or maybe it's always been like this, but the game is full of people (not as crowded as FFXIV) (at least on the Bahamut server) the linkshell I'm in is always full of messages.
Playing FFXI feels like playing a mix of FFI, FFII, FFV, FFXII and FFXIV
FFI: Talk to the NPCs to find out how to continue the story or how to find a certain object or place.
FFII: skills of weapons or magic types are leveled independently when used in combat.
FFV: you have a main job and a secondary job that you can mix to create very crazy hybrid classes.
FFXII:You can see enemies swarming around the map, the combat system occurs in the open world, without transition to a battle scenario.
FFXIV: Many of the monsters and creatures from FFXIV share designs with those from FFXI, so you'll see familiar faces. FFXI maps are open areas similar to what we can see in FFXIV
I know shadowbringers had massive connections to 3, but when I heard the music for 3 when he was talking about it... it finally clicked. I had massive nostalgia when I heard it cause I started 14 with Shadowbringers release. My heart 😢😢😢
Shadowbringers is so so good and how they utilize the old themes is amazing! I still get emotional listening to these soundtracks! Heavensward and Shadowbringers in particular get me good
I was going to give you grief about calling this the "ultimate" mainline ranking despite excluding one of the mainline games, but your segment on XI at the beginning was good enough where I'll give it a pass, hahaha.
If I'm ranking base XI, it's towards the bottom of the mainline games. If I'm ranking all of FFXI, it's towards the top. I made a 2 hour overview of all of XI's expansions you might want to check out, as it's a good overview of the whole story without major spoilers. I played XI for the first time 2 years ago so I'm not a veteran of the game, just a fan of the series like yourself.
I did 10 hours of video essays ranking the games, but long story short, my top tier games are VII, IX, IV, X and XI (if we include all expansions). I like the controversial games (II, VIII, XIII, XV). I'm mixed on VI. XIV and XII are my least favorite of the mainline games, though I've only beaten ARR up to this point, whereas I beat all of XI.
I'll definitely check it out! Yeah, if you love XI after the expansions, you have to give XIV expansions a go. Heavensward, the first one up, is one of my favorites, but everything from then on is amazing! Thanks for watching and I appreciate deciding against the grief! haha
There's so many good things about all these games. Like a lot of people VII and X were my favorites, but I'd put XII and XV up with them if XII had had less dialogue scenes cut, and if XV had been in all one piece between it's DLC and anime shorts. But development was shaky in the decade after the company merge, so it happens. IX has the most of that FF element. That journey went everywhere and it had perfect swan song effort from Sakaguchi. What a way to capstone PS1!
Agreed! Thanks for watching, I appreciate it :)
@@retrobrandon always happy to enjoy FF! More power to ya!
Great video Brandon! I never did finish FF9
Sounds like you need to get too it, my man! 😉 Thanks for watching, brother!
Damn good video, man. My list would be different (as would most people’s) but I can’t argue with the number 1 spot.
Haha yeah, that's the beautiful thing about these rankings. Thanks for the watch, appreciate it! :)
1. Totally agree about the preference for the old XII licance board vs zodiac age, although the job's system does bring balance to the overall party dynamics!
2. Thanks for not dumping on VIII
3. Should we start adding tactics to the conversation or does that open up Pandoras box?
Great video and good work trying to be as balanced as possible throughout! Not easy to do when it comes this of all series.
Haha I'd love to talk about Tactics, but that'll be another video. I think 16 is enough to go through for one video 😉
Man. That ranking was like if you spun a roulette wheel to determine placement. Mind boggling.
Haha, FF1 is still in my top 5.
It's easily my most replayed Final Fantasy. Something about how simple and clean it is draws me back to it.
The PSP and Pixel Remaster are definitely my favorite versions. (The pixel remaster ver can even be modded with an NES or PS1 difficulty mod which is a fun challenge.)
Yeah, I do really love one despite its low spot on the list for me. I’m also considering going through them 1 by 1 again and doing more in depth individual videos on them. The thought of going back to 1 is actually really exciting for me
Absolutely amazing video !
But so sad to see FFX only on 8... it deserves so much better :(
Haha I know, so are so many others. I do love that game, I just find that I go back to it least often. But I'm thinking of hitting em all individually again and doing videos for each one to really dig in and get specific. Thanks for watching!
Easily my favorite franchise.
My favorite is XII Zodiac Age, for the world and all the side content that adds to the freedom aspect.
I also love XV. It has some flaws but the roadtrip feeling made it so addicting, I played it almost as much.
VII is great, I prefer VIII though.
From the Pixel Remasters, my favorite is V, easily.
X is great and it was my entry into the series.
XIII I really don't like, however its sequel XIII-2 is amazing.
Currently in XVI, ha4d to rank for me, but it's definitely a lot of fun.
I feel like everyone underestimates ff1, I love it and it's not extremely long so it's fun to replay
Haha hey man, I've said it before and I'll say it again. Saying one piece of gold glimmers slightly more than another doesn't mean we're no longer talking about gold. I love this entire series and even at a lower rank, I enjoy going back to those! FF1 is still unexpectedly good considering it's age! Still totally holds up
This is a pretty good list. It's hard to take people seriously if they put one of the first three over any other game since they didn't have much character development or plot yet. I've beaten 1-4, 6, 7, 9, 10. FF5 has a fun battle system and very little plot. FF8 has a cool story and a bad battle system where you waste time drawing magic. MMOs can't compare to a single player RPG for plot and character development. (Maybe WoW is the exception) I've heard 12 is good, but I can't get drawn in by Vaan or Penelo. Also, the plot is really confusing, they name drop so many people and locations.
Finished my first Final Fantasy game ever and - come at me bro lol - yeah it's XIII . Coz accessible battle system , late enough in the releases for a decent vocal and huge lore. To be honest , I LOVED it - and Xiii-X2 is now queued up ready to start for later this year. I like the fact that square enix are getting round to remaking the classic titles so am sure a few more will be on my list before 7 Remake and co which Brianna is keeping me all up to speed on ❤
Hahaha not hate here, my friend! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Saying one piece of gold is shinier than the other doesn’t mean it’s not gold! I’m actually keen to revisit these again since I have em on the Steamdeck!
Or if Squenix releases a compilation of the Switch or something, I’ll just buy it again again. Thanks for watching!
I've only played 3, 7 & 10. I've only beaten 3, so that's my fav.
it's hard to rate ff11 nowadays, since it's now soloable and you'll never get the same experience that was given back in the day, unless you play horizon XI, but it's classic ff11 75cap era, meaning you will take FOREVER to do simple stuff. I played it 10 years between 2005 and 2015. I gotta say the story is BRILLIANT specially on 2nd expansion and onwards
original ff11 was the ultimate mmorpg that had absolutely zero respect for your time 😂 the tradeoff was that any progression you made had such massive weight to it. It may be a dead idea currently, but needing a proper party to do literally anything is the truest form of an mmorpg.
unpopular opinion but as im playing ff14 right now, i prefer both the menu-style combat and the levelling style of original ff11. id rather grind difficult regular mobs with a full party in the open world then grind instanced levelling roulette dungeons 😅
Hey, happy to hear the hot take! That’s one of the best things about this franchise and its fans! To be fair, in XIV, you can always go chase some hunts as well, but I hear you!
great video. 11 is also the only one i havent played. our top 3 is similiar, except id probably put 10 up there instead of 7. subscribed
I appreciate the sub!
Love the way you present your opinions, love the details behind the making of these games! Annnnd love this channel :D
Would love to see a video about Square vs Enix and their merging X)
Thank you so much! Excited to keep it going! I do love that idea... I'm thinking I could do a specialty series on some of those unique industry events among RPG companies. Not sure yet, but love the idea! Thanks for watching!
Just here to see where he puts X lol. It’s the only one I’ve played, it’s one I own on three different consoles, it has one of my favourite soundtracks of all time and is absolutely one of my favourite games ever. I’m shocked seeing XV lower than XIII. 37:40 props to you man because I flat out refuse to play blitzball at all other than the time the game forces you to play it.
Hiromichi Tanaka did not come up with Edgar and Sabin, Soraya Saga (she also worked on Xenogears along with her husband, Tetsuya Takahashi) did. As far as I am concerned, Tanaka didn't write any of the characters for FF6. I think you should put this into the notes/subtitles, as this is clearly wrong information. Other than that, I have only watched it up till the FF6 part to comment on this. But so far, it's overall a good and enjoyable video. I'll keep watching, thanks for making this!
EDIT: Celes also learns magic naturally through level ups, just like Terra. She merely gets different spells.
Hey, I really appreciate the info! I'm absolutely happy to update the description if any info is incorrect. Haha and I knew that about Celes, but I realize that definitely sounds like Terra can do what she could not. That wasn't intentional.
Anyway, for the above about Takahashi, it's my understanding that they were made by Soraya Saga, whose real name is Kaori Tanaka, came up with it. So I went with her real name. Admittedly, the more familiar name would have been better. So I believe it's still accurate? Unless I said Hiromichi Tanaka by habit. In which case, I'll update the description because that is indeed a mistake!
Thanks for the thoughtful comment! Let me know if that makes sense and if I mispoke!
Great video - love the detail you put in!
Thank you! This one was a massive project!
On the topic of what a focused single player FF14 would look like, if I were to organize it, the focus should be on everything after the 7th Umbral Calamity all the way to the finale of Endwalker and call if something like, "Final Fantasy XIV: Design of Ancients" and release that as an 80 hour semi-open world campaign. Maybe have it be an evolved ATB system with and emphasis on movement and timing. Rough ideas, but that would probably be something that would work imo. I will probably never happen, but it would be cool.
👀 My friend, this would be AWESOME! Now I will pine even more for that which will never be...
Oh boy! Remembering now how difficult the first final fantasys were - i got final fantasy 4 for gba but never managed to get a thing straight lol and after some years i tried the ds version and fell in love x)
The DS version was so good! Square had my number with all those remakes. I just kept buying and playing em again 😅
And as a kid i was also confused with the spinoffs and different storys :D the tactics or later on bravely default are also amazing 😁👍🏾
A well earned sub from me! Incredibly well structured video and amazing analysis of a series that I am very very late to the party for. I probably started in completely the wrong place with the 7 remake, not long finished FFVII Rebirth, and I’m now a couple hours into FFVXI, I realise I’m only a novice, but I’ve already purchased FFX and FFIX ready to go for when I complete XVI!! 26 and only just deep diving into the entire series!
This is awesome! Enjoy it all!
FF13 and the other two games are all S-tier combat tbh
Also if you read the datalog everytime there is an update to it, it's impossible to not know what is going on
Congratulations.
You are correct.
FF9 is THE undisputed GOAT of Final Fantasy.
I havnt played any FF beyond 12 but it dorsnt matter, FF9 is perfect and you cabt beat perfect
So gels of your Players Guides' in the video. Also big love for the FF 1&2, IV, V, and VI releases on GBA! I love em' too. Still have my copy of IV!
Great video man! i enjoyed watching it all, but not including the FF7 Remake/Rebirth as seperate games from the OG FF7 is crazy man, especially FF7 Rebirth is propably one of the best games of all time, let alone one of the best FF standalone games.
Thanks! Trust me, there's more Final Fantasy content to come. I won't be able to help myself. I just wanted to focus on the main numbered entries and talk about the Remake series separately at some point :)
Wow…. Its the first time that youtuber put twelve above x and 8 and im agree with it, cause for me this is my first ff game and i love it so much, nice content btw
Thank you! Yeah, I know it's a hot take and the comments speak to the love for X. And don't get me wrong, I LOVE X. I just find myself going back to XII more and I really do think it's super fun to play
Wow! What a great movie, haha, IX’s also my favorite and yeah, my personal favorite scene in all of gaming is Not Alone.
Hahaha it is a movie, isn't it. I didn't set out to make it this long... I just couldn't shut up 😂
Best for me is FF9 - Having played almost all the first 10 Final Fantasy games (yes including the original Final Fantasy on NES, not the PS1 Origins remaster), FF9 truly holds something dear to my heart❣ It's the most "Final Fantasy" game for me, with FFVI a close second. I would love a remaster of both of titles especially FF9, as well as Final Fantasy Tactics which is the best Final Fantasy game for me even though its a spin-off (but in the same world as FF9).
Hey, there's that rumored 9 and Tactics stuff from that leak a while back. Here's to hoping! Otherwise, I might bust out the ol' PSP and run War of the Lions again for kicks. Thanks for watching!
I was just thinking about FFXI last night. I imported the Chinese version (or maybe it was the Japanese) into the UK just to play it.
Then WoW came along and just blew everything else in that genre away.
I disagree with a few things, especially 10 and 6, but overall, great list.
A curiosity: When I played 12 during its release, I absolutely hated the game and never finished it. I only got back to the game when the zodiac remaster came out in the Ps4. I loved it, even got the platinum, and now it's in my top 5 as well. I think it's a complex game that hits different when you're a kid and just don't understand how the game really works.
lol yeah. You really shouldn't trust your opinion as a kid on anything xD
@@bardockshiny I dunno about that. I really liked Chrono Cross/Trigger, Mario RPG Legend of the Seven Stars, and FF9. Pretty sure kid me was right on the money, even if I appreciate those EVEN MORE now. : )
@@SubduedRadical sure you can like those games, but as a kid you didn't perceived half the qualities those games had. Replaying as an adult you'll get them, that was my point
Based XIV placement that’s my favorite FF shadowbringers and endwalker made me cry
Cried like a baby. 100%
Brilliant video, really enjoyed it ecen if our opinions don't always align (almost lile people can like different things)
Just wanted to praise the polish and time spent making this! Im just one dude but youve got my sub.
Ps. FF7 is #1 ;)
Thanks so much! Hahaha can't argue with 7 at top for some people. I'm here to spread some love for the series, so happy to see deviating lists!
I've been playing through all of the games and so far FF13 is easily my favorite and really hope it's gets a trilogy remaster similar to X/X-2 with some graphics updates and quality of life stuff the sequels brought
I’d honestly love that!
FF6 is just so grand and amazing. I just finished beating it again and it's amazing. The characters may not be the most developed, but they do get enough screen time to make you like them somewhat. The games final battle with Kefka is the most grand and epic final battle in any FF game. It's like all these friends get together to take down this insane evil god. I think the characters in FF6 are the most powerful out of all the Final Fantasy titles. They just slaughter enemies like crazy and there's SOOOOO many enemies to fight in FF6. Such a 16 bit masterpiece.
Haha I know, right?? Giant crazy Dinosaur? CHAINSAW! 😂
I did and do absolutely love this game. Especially the pixel remaster with those sweet remastered tracks. SO Good!
bro nice video, you are an inspiration because you have similiar hairline to mine but still managed to push through and become successful. Keep it up
XI is the one I've played the most. 20 years in, still coming back to it. Try the EdenXI private server a go!
Yeah, I've heard great things!
@@ImmortalDraylo No
I feel like most of these games are biased to your nostalgia.
But nah.. who am I kidding... FF9 is my favorite game of ALL TIME even outside the series because it was during a really dark place in my life and it resonated with me a lot so I guess I'm using nostalgia too lol.
Haha show me a list that isn’t biased to nostalgia! I don’t think it exists 😂 But thanks for watching!
I feel like ones age has a lot to do with the ranking here. If you ask the people who didn't start with ff7 and came back later to it, it's not nearly as amazing as when you played it the release year
Your idea for a streamlined single player ff14 would be so cool. I love the story of 14 but definitely prefer single player games
Honestly, I would lose my mind if they ever did that. But I'd be surprised to even hear whispers of this idea ANY time soon if ever. But we keep the dream alive!
I wanted to love FFXVI. I love FFXIV and was really looking forward to FFXVI just based on their previous work. I even bought a PS5 just for the game and got the CE with the Ifrit and Pheonix statue. I didn't mind the action based approach even though I've been a fan since my cousin gave me FF1 on the NES when we were kids. I don't think that FF has to be turn based in order for it to be FF.
That being said, I have some major issues with the game that spoiled my enjoyment of it. First, the RPG elements were poorly handled. You touched on exploration and I agree with what you said. I would add that the crafting system and quest rewards were also poorly implemented. There was a point in my first play through where I crafted a sword, went through a series of cut scenes and found that the blacksmith had a new upgrade available right after finishing them. I didn't even use the sword I had just crafted before upgrading it.
My second major issue you also hit on in the video. There was a point towards the end where I started to question why I was even trying to save this world. The lack of whimsy and joy really did hurt the experience. FFIX is my favorite in the series and it's main themes revolve around coming to terms with death. It's a serious subject, but there's still a lot of whimsy and fun in the world which contrasts with the darker moments and theme. I think CBU3 could've have really benefited by adding in a reason for the characters to want the world to go on outside of merely persisting to live.
My final big issue completely ruined the game for me. I loathe open endings. I think they're pretentious and unfulfilling and in a game where you spend 50+ hours getting to know characters, it's awful not seeing some kind of closure for them. It didn't have to be a happy ending. I love FFIX's bittersweet ending where you get to see the thoughts of a dying Vivi who never gets to say goodbye to his friend Zidane. I just need something that has a bit of closure for the characters I've been traveling with.
I don't think it's a bad game. I just think it's disappointing and I wish it had turned out better. I probably won't run out and drop $1,000 to play the next game in the series, so at least I learned that lesson, right? lol
Beautifully said! I definitely agree with the ending by too. I walked away just making my assumption about what it all meant and I’m sticking to it no matter what anyone says because I also hate the ambiguous ending. ESPECIALLY when you’ve done the side quests for the characters and lore.
Also, welcome back! I’m pretty sure I referenced you in this video with the FF7 part, so I appreciate your takes and comments!
My favourite FFX game is 10 but ONLY if paired with X-2 (the ultimate best game)
But if it had to be a sole game then definitely 8, if only for nostalgia reasons
When I first clicked this video, I was admittedly wondering why XI was unranked, but not wanting to rank it because you've not actually played it is completely fair and understandable. That said, have you gone and played it on steam since this video, since you can do a great deal of it single player with trusts?
I haven’t yet, no, but I’m definitely interested! I’ve just been juggling a bunch of other games I want to make videos on and still need to get back to FFXIV for Dawntrail! Haha but I’m keeping an eye on XI and may boot it up and even do a video on it at some point down the road. Thanks for watching!
Wow, this is the first list I’ve seen ranking 12 and 14 so high and rightfully so.
8 being that high is insane imo, especially higher than 10, especially with your complaint being 10 was tedious.
Final Fantasy 9 is probably my favorite but I do have one complaint about it
I don't know but it's the art style or the color palette or what but dang it sure is difficult to see things like...um doors!
Haha I feel like there are a LOT of old PS1 RPGs that have this problem. I totally get it!
Thanks so much for all your very helpful streams ' Yes I totally remember going through the very First FF1 both on the old NES and the enhanced version on The Final Fantasy Origens gamedisc do the PS1! I am still playing Final Fantasy Remake again because it's definitely the all time Best❤
13 is SERIOUSLY underrated
The remake trilogy is NOT a sequel to AC. It's connecting the story of OG to better fit the compilation works while creating context to why things are the way they are in AC. Good grief.
This made me immediatly open up my deluxe edition of FF16 and play it
1:47 “sweet sweet Sakaguchi Saw an…(Sakaguchi San) I see 👀 what you did there….!
Very good list. #1 is the only true option. Final Overrated X still a bit too high bt I am already satisfied seeing it not enter Top 5.
Tierlists are always about iffy to me because it depends on what the focus is. If its story focused then you can end up with games that have good combat in lower tiers. If it's combat focused then you could end up with games with decent stories in lower tiers too. Doing an "overall" tierlist doesnt eradicate this issue either.
My tierlists are combat/gameplay focused, but it just so happens that those titles also have great stories and endings. The exception being 12 which has S-tier gameplay but average story/ending. If one element is so good then it doesn't need the others tbh. That's why 12 is in my S tier despite me thinking the story and ending are B-C tier
Interesting list. Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars was my first ever RPG (my folks weren't big on D&D/magic/fantasy type stuff, to put it mildly), FF7 was my second. The first time I played it, my cousin had it on PC and we had a controller plugged in, so we decided who would control the characters as we unlocked them, and we'd each control our characters in battle. When I got home from the visit, I saved up money, bought myself a PS1 and FF7, and the rest is history.
I loved 7, 8, and 9 (I was a fan of 9 before it was cool - at the time people hated it). X I always felt meh on. I didn't DISlike it, but I was pretty neutral on it. 12 I didn't like very much, because I hate mission based games (hunts) which feels like busiwork and padding to me (felt the same in games like Crisis Core, too), and kind of lazy design in the sense you're just going to places you already went. THAT SAID: To this day I remember the Sand Sea. It was such a wild thing conceptually to me, and FF12 has always reminded me of Star Wars. Balthier, Fran, Basch, and Ashe as Han, Chewie (complete with life debt), Obi-Wan, and Leia. The only characters that felt really out of place (and ANNOYING to me) were Vaan and Penello.
In an alternate reality where Rex (Vaan's brother) lived and was the main character, or Basch, I might have really liked the game's narrative. It was also kind of hard to follow, even though I did beat it. FF7 was the first I ever beat, and my first game in the series, and 9 was the first I mastered, doing MOST of the bonus content (Ozma and Excalibur 2 aside). I...still haven't beaten 8, but I did play my cousin's copy a lot and bought it on Steam not long ago. The dungeons feel so much shorter to me 25 years older, lol. But I really do plan to. FF14 is my jam right now and my "get home from work or veg on weekends" game that keeps giving. I love the cyber/steampunk games, so 7, 9, and parts of 14 I like a lot (and 14 more generally because...well, you see where it is on your own list, so yeah! Enjoying Dawntrail, btw?)
FF9 to me to this day is the most "fun romp around the world" entry in the series. It's just...fun. And while mostly lighthearted does have some good life lessons (some crazy stuff there involving death and loss as well as celebrating love and life), and it's one of only two that I think were natively two player - FF9 and FF6 in the menus you can set a controller for the different characters, either controller 1 or 2, so you can play with a friend where you control the different characters in battle WITHOUT having to swap the controller back and forth.
And I know it was groundbreaking, but 10 was always kinda meh to me. Again, didn't DISlike, but was neutral on. I think Tidus kind of annoyed me as a teenager on the cusp of being an adult playing it. Felt so whiny and both Yuna and Auron were more compelling characters. That said, I did dodge 200 lightning bolts (I chuckled at the DT reference to that, btw. "I once knew a guy who thought you could dodge lightning bolts if you jumped right after seeing the flash..." from DT Zone 5), but I think the only other ultimate weapon I got was Tidus' (and maybe Auron's?) and the only damage cap I broke was his (from the first Summon, I think it was, though I genuinely don't remember much from that game). I also didn't hate 13 as much as most people did. Come to think of it, my views on 9, 10, 12, and 13 were different than the "mainstream" Final Fantasy fans of the time...) I do think 6 was a fantastic game, and it's definitely in my top 5, but I came to that one MUCH later than most. I really did like 4, but again, much later.
Indeed, in a vacuum, I might be tempted to say 4 is the best of the games of the entire series specifically because it holds up extremely well even against much more modern entries, if you can set aside the death fake-outs. Cecil is one of the more compelling protagonists in the entire series, and the game's message is pretty upbeat, as well as the interesting and diverse cast and "guest star of the week" way of rolling through them.
I think my own personal list would probably be something like 7, 14, 4, 9, 6 (all close enough it's more an ~= than a > between them, though I'd probably rank them in that order if pressed), my second tier is probably 8, 15, 13, 10, 12, in roughly that order, and the rest (1, 2 other than a brief bit at a friend's house with the PS1 version, 3, 5 other than a brief bit on an emulator, 11 other than trying out the free trial about two years ago [there's something wrong about an Old School MMO that has more or less stripped out all the Old School MMO elements - Trust and "Level to cap then come and talk to us" doesn't work in a game clearly designed around camping and grinding while meeting and chatting with new people in a living world; I bet the game was amazing in its prime, though, and from the people I've talked to who played it then, they agree with that sentiment], and 16) I have not yet played at the present time. Probably won't ever play the exclusive/timed exclusive titles (I can't dodge spoilers for literal irl years - I just watch a TH-cam lets play, lol), but who knows.
I freakin love this comment. Thanks for all your thought put into this! I'm considering doing individual videos for each of these and revisiting them sometime in the future because there's so much I missed. Even your mention of 4. I don't think I mentioned it here, but I was so into the Dark Knight -> Paladin shift for Cecil that I was writing stories in middle school based on the concept. The one thing I hope comes across clearly in this video is the ranking is simply a video structure. I freakin love these games and saying one piece of gold glimmers slightly more than another doesn't mean we're not talking about gold!
Thanks for watching!
@@retrobrandon Oh yeah, there's so much you could go into for every one of these. That's true of stories in general, but FF has had some great ones.
I didn't play 4 until well after I'd played a number of other ones, but that Job change was an EXCELLENT use of what my Freshman Composition professor always said in my 2 college classes with him: Show, don't tell.
I LOVE when games USE GAME MECHANICS to tell story. It can be done so neat. Like the tidbit about Rydia not naturally learning the Fire spell in FF4 and how that was due to her childhood trauma of her village burning down so she kind of KNEW it, but had a mental block against using it.
Other cases are like when Steiner goes into Trance in FF9 fighting alongside Beatrix in order to protect her.
Some games (FF and otherwise) don't always get it right (Steiner doesn't become a combat god, necessarily, which the scene is TRYING to suggest he did in order to protect her), but it's always neat and I always give an approving nod when I see a game tell actual story through gameplay and game mechanics. Using the game world and even game CODE mechanics as an additional tool of the narrative is just something I'm a huge fan of.
Exdeath was a tree that became sentient after it was used to seal lots of evil spirits rather than nature incarnate.
10 and 8 were my favorites as well as 12 I put 10 at number 2 after 6. The actual best to me is FFXIV but I don’t count the MMOs. Also Tactics to me has the best story in general. The whole gospel of Judas thing was so sick. I’m big on esoteric scriptures so that alone got me hooked 😂
Got me a tactics video on the roadmap here! I love it so much! haha thanks for watching
Great video. I appreciate these high quality deep dives into the games' history whilst ranking them
We seem to disagree on a lot but one thing we don't disagree on is that FFIX is the absolute goat lol
And I’m cool with that! There’s a lot of love for this series with so many different opinions. That’s what can make these conversations enjoyable :) Thanks for watching!
Not a 6 supremacist and you like og 12 more than zodiac you sir just got a subscriber
Finally XVI getting the love it deserves! One of the most (if not THE MOST) underrated final fantasy games
It’s so good! I don’t know why it gets so much hate!
Is Ff16 a FF game? For me it's part of a secondary title, good game but shouldn't be in the main line
I'm still mad at the pixel remaster that did'nt include the extra content in all the games =/ I'm still waiting for the final edition of final fantasy VI
I love 8. Probably the only one that does haha. It’s my favorite. Probably followed by X
I love 8 too! There's too much hate for that game. I still love going back and playing it!
You know it’s a good franchise when there are so many different opinions on which one is the best. I enjoyed reading the comments and seeing what people liked about the different games. Great Video. Also FF2 is the worst and 5 is actually the best. 😮😉
Hahaha you got me! I definitely ranked these incorrectly! 😉
For real, though, I do really love 5 despite its placement for me.
@@retrobrandon lol it’s all good it’s all about peoples different preferences. Even the “bad” FF games still have enjoyable gameplay.
@@Gary_P2 100%! And it's hard to do a video like this without having to reiterate over and over again that you LOVE THE ENTIRE series 😂
FFVII has had too many iterations throughout the years. It's time to give that level of love to another in the series. Like VI for example.
You're not wrong. For me it's a matter of being bummed at what we did get with the mobile game, but I don't REALLY think they should spend more time and money fixing their decisions for now. For real, VI, IV, Tactics, I'm down for them to move on. Thanks for watching!
I’ve just recently took a shot at final fantasy with VII remake, about to finish rebirth. I’m looking to try a turn based FF, which game would you suggest for someone with very little turn based experience?
Hey, that's awesome! I still need to finish rebirth, but these darn retro games keep me distracted...
Haha my suggestion would be to go with one of the widely agreed upon best. So if you want to go pixel, go 4 or 6, 6 being widely considered the best of the pixel era, and if you want to go 3D turn-based go VII or IX. I personally love IX the most, obviously, but it might be fun to play through classic VII if you haven't already!
@@retrobrandon The 7 remakes are my first FF games, but they triggered a big interest in the FF universe for me. I recently picked up IX, and VII since they were on sale. I’m thinking I’ll try IX since it seems to be the favorite for most tier lists.
Good luck on rebirth! I’ve put way more time into it than I thought I would, definitely got my moneys worth.
Replaying ff7 on switch. And it still holds up today!
If I had 2 FF wishes
1. Like you said, 14 as a single player
2. (And this is actually my number one wish) FF9 remake BUT DON'T DARE MAKE IT ACTION and ruin it like they did 7
100% agree!
I really like FF9 and 4, so good
21:04 “…kicking against the fate of a predetermined path.” Just like the players.
I kid. I think XIII gets a lot of unnecessary hate. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a great game, but it’s not nearly as bad as a lot of the fans of other games make it out to be.
Zingers like that make me rethink my ability to make a video. Too good. 😂
I completely agree. It's pretty low on the list for me, but I enjoyed my time with it. Heck, it was the reason I committed to a PS3.
@@retrobrandonNah man, this is a great video. I may not agree 100% with your order, but it’s your list, and I love seeing other opinions on my favorite game series.
1. Final Fantasy VII
2. Final Fantasy IX
3. Final Fantasy VI
4. Final Fantasy VIII
5. Final Fantasy X
VII is my personal favorite as it was the game that not only got me into the franchise but RPGs. But it goes deeper than that. It truly is a masterpiece with an incredible plot, unforgettable cast, fascinating villain, iconic soundtrack and pitch perfect pacing.
Having said that, i feel IX is just as great of a game and one could call it Sakaguchi's magnum opus. It truly captures the spirit and heart of what Final Fantasy truly is. Where i feel IX trumps VII is world and town deisgn and i would probably give it a slight edge when it comes to the soundtrack.
VI was probably the greatest game ever made at the point of release and certainly has one of the greatest casts in the franchise. So many iconic moments and one of the greatest villains.
VIII was one of those games i adored as a kid but one the closer you look at the more its flaws become apparent. The first disk was fantastic but it quickly fell apart after that. The pacing dragged at times and the cast was not as memorable as the VII, IX and VI. The plot was also not as interesting with poor characterization and plot holes. The town design, however, was fantastic. And of course that incredible soundtrack. One of Uematsu's best.
X is a game i would certainly recommend as the first game to try for anyone new to the series and the last true Final Fantasy. The franchise died in my opinion when Squaresoft merged with Enix. This game felt like a true Final Fantasy game despite its noticeable flaws like spikes in difficulty, godawful mini games, terrible puzzles and lack of a world map. Still, it has arguably the greatest ending of all time.
Love to see this, these are great takes!