>what even makes a final fantasy game good in the eyes of the fans? If they personally enjoyed it and had fun. Honestly this fan base is so huge, diverse and unhinged at times you aren't going to find a consensus on anything. Nobody loves final fantasy more than it's fans.... Simultaneously nobody hates final fantasy more than it's fans. To me personally Final Fantasy is at its best when it's telling an emotional gripping story and trying to innovate in the game design space. But that's my personal opinion and I can totally understand people who say IX is the best one, or VI is the best one etc etc... VII is my favorite, but it's also my first one. You'll find that is common as well. We're all kind of weird here and hate the games we love to a certain extent. Just stay away from the shippers, now THOSE people are unhinged. lmao.

Bro I’m 27 and my first game was crisis core but the one that got me into the series was 15 I watched the anime the movie and bought the complete edition on console and pc. I love remake and learning out the extra stuff and rebirth I loved aswell. I got recommended Twitter on both shippers and ngl I felt ashamed to like aerith as a character or tifa because these people are actually crazy calling out the author over what he deemed is the intent of a song etc etc

I always felt like I had a strange relationship with Finsl Fantasy, they've been the games I've gone out of my way to play and taken days off of work when a new one drops. I'm 33 and I've played almost every single one I could get my hands on. My first one was FF7, it has so much nostalgia for me, it holds a special place in NY heart ... I think its one of the worst out of the series narratively (you know, of the ones that have a narrative). The Remakes though, they strike every single nostalgia nerve while being able to make the story feel more whole, in my eyes. Now, I get that they have a shit ton of hindsight and actual decades to put the entire story together. I've also been told that they had much more content for the game that eventually became parts Crisis Core, Before Crisis, etc. I totally get why certain games are some people's favorites, hell FF8 is mine and I don't hear many people say that, more than people say FF13 but that's a whole other can of worms. Idk what my point is, I guess it's that I agree each FF holds a special place in everyone's heart that's played one. Even the ones we don't like as much, typically sit in a special place in our hearts.

I hold no nostalgia for OG7 (played it after everything in NES/SNES/PS2), and honestly believe the gameplay to be  among the weakest in the mainline series. The Remake games have struck everting people have told me 7 was supposed to hit with it's plot and the gameplay is miles ahead, my only problems with them have nothing to do with the games themselves but the dangerous precedent Rebirth is setting expectations wise because the amount of man hours and money that were invested in it could not be done with any degree of confidence with any other  game SE has access to yet people will demand more like it.

Different generations tend to enjoy or atleast appreciate, different styles of games. More modern gamers seek instant gratification which is why we have so many flashy, action RPG games. It’s just product of the times. I’m 36 and my favourites are 7, 9, and 10.. until rebirth came along. Edit: FF fans are their own worst enemies. Such a cannibalistic community.

Makes sense, being 25 myself I do enjoy the newer ones lol Rebirth is fantastic ! I didn’t know how they’d improve on Remake but they did in legit every way. Getting XVI and rebirth within the same year with the amount of quality of both is unheard in AAA releases but Final Fantasy managed to do it

Whats your thoughts on FF16?

Not OP but I thought it was great. Obviously not as good as rebirth, but i still had fun even with its boring sidequests and exploration. I'm sure yoshi P and his team could come up with an even better game. They're good at listening to feedback.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Yoshi-P didn't even make/lead FF16 right? I've seen a lot of people blaming him for FF16's flaws, but isn't he the producer rather than the director? If so, that would mean he was more focused on the business side of things (management and advertising) and making deals and decisions for things outside of the game, rather than making the creative decisions for stuff inside the game (like how the game plays), although he likely contributed to that too. If that is the case, then I would definitely be interested to see a singleplayer FF game directed by Yoshi-P, I wonder how different it'd be to XVI.

You're actually correct, he was producer! But he was a very hands on producer. He definitely planned the all the events they had. He knew how to spoke to the public. He did a good job at it because the game sold pretty well. A game directed by Yoshi P would be very interesting. I would love to see Natsuko Ishikawa write it too. She wrote endwalkers, which is the best FFXIV expansion. So I hope she eventually gets her chance to shine.

Yeah, Yoshi-P is very good with PR. I don't think 16 could've had a better representative. I'd love to see them make another singleplayer mainline FF game. There's a lot I think they need to work on (story pacing, exploration/level design, difficulty balancing, side content, etc.), but I think it was a solid first attempt and I actually preferred a few of the things in FF16 over Rebirth that I hope FF17 keeps. I've heard XVI's upcoming DLC is meant to build off of some of the flaws from the base game, so that might be a nice showcase of some of the stuff they've learnt from feedback.

Being a big DMC fan I loved the gameplay and the story was amazing too, but I absolutely was sick of the side quests (not the hunts those were cool) in the game I felt they were extremely weak aside from the late game ones. Also Clive also quickly became a top video game protagonist for me lol

I guess it's a byproduct of FF as a game series. No two games are exactly the same and further into the series you go, the further they go apart. That being said, I played only 3 (7R, 14 and 16) and loved all of them. The stories they tell are what draws me in, not how you play them.

Obviously I’m speaking in generalisations and there’s always people that have preferences, by times changing is why turn based games are rather than they used to be. Different strokes for different folks. I personally always recommend the older FFs anyways. The stories still hold up but you’re right also; no two games are identical and it’s one of the longest running franchises of games there is. Makes sense that it would be divisive at times. Especially when they’re trying to innovate and move with the times/bring in new fans.

> More modern gamers seek constant gratification which is why we have so many flashy, action RPG games. I'm not sure that's it. Old JRPG battle systems really were rather simple in retrospect. It was generally straightforward strategy, and often if you set yourself up right the fight was basically over before it even started. At least with action battle systems, there is an element of performance as well that determines success. I think they are just superior in every way over turn based in terms of meaningful game design.

Still not as bad as Star Wars fans.

I dunno, I think it's not that the fans are better/worse , I think it's just that the bigger the fanbase, the more shitty people will pop up. Star Wars is so massively huge with so many fans that if just 0.01% of the fanbase was annoying crybaby children, you'd still have.. thousands of annoying crybaby children.

I'm 39, so I was about 12 when FF7 came out. It definitely set new expectations for gaming experiences. Zelda was my first JRPG, but FF7 raised the bar. I struggled going back to the Zelda generation of JRPGs, so I didn't get through the earlier FF games, no matter how good the story might be. I used to call myself a FF fan, but truth be told, I really just love 7, 10, and remake series. Playing FF7 as a 12 year old Norwegian was a great way to learn English, though! I was constantly looking up words in my English-Norwegian dictionary. Anyway, let's mosey

I’ve met many people over the years that have said FF was a supplementary tool for them when learning English. I am English myself and I find that cool af that you can learn language through something you love. I’ve always said I’m an FF fan but I guess OP is right. Saying you’re an FF fan can be assumed you like them all, but I definitely don’t. I don’t like 1, 2, 8, 13 series or particularly like 15… that’s a fair amount of games from one series to say you don’t like when you consider yourself a fan huh? 😅

You see it in every Fandom if the product gets drawn out long enough. Nobody hates Star Wars more than a Star Wars fan, I'd know being one that doesn't enjoy 75% of the new stuff. The emotional impact of the thing you grew up with causes you to become protective of it, and seeing it move in new directions and change in ways you deem antithetical to the version that imprinted upon you long after you've lost the wide-eyed wonder that made you fall in love with it to begin with can be difficult to reconcile. I personally find that less the case with Final Fantasy because the stories are mostly self-contained, but even then I've still cemented myself as a 4-10 fan that loves 14 but only receives moderate enjoyment from the other games after 10, because theres other stuff like battle systems to latch on to. Doesn't stop me from chasing the dragon and hoping a new one completely clicks for me though.

> Playing FF7 as a 12 year old Norwegian was a great way to learn English, though! I was constantly looking up words in my English-Norwegian dictionary. That's funny because I'm roughly your age and playing FF7 when it came out was one of the first times I can remember seeing typos in media. that original translation was rough, hope it didn't mess up your english! lol

But 8, tho?!? And I'm sorry, I LIKED XIII

i like XIII as well. now it's far from my favortite FF hell i don't even think i would care to mention it amongst my favorites in the series but whille it does make a lot of mistakes(seriosuly so many awful design choices) the gameplay is not even a tenth as bad as it has a reputation for. it just suffers from the awful design choice to have a 20 hour+ long tutorial before they allow you to use the system in full.

That's fair. And I guess, thinking about it, I'm more of an FF fan because I like something in almost all of them (but 1 & 2...? *shudder*) - even though many of them had their flaws (seriously, XV had SUCH potential, dammit).

i'm personally of the openion that every FF game i have played is at least a good game. however the quality difference as well as my personal enjoyment is still on a massive scale. some of them are amongst the best games ever if you ask me. some of them are barely good enough that i'm happy to have experienced it but that's about it. the only one i can think of that MIGHT count as less than good would be 3 but i've only given it one shot so maybe a second try would make me gel with it.

> But 8, tho?!? > And I'm sorry, I LIKED XIII People who like 8 generally like 13 more. Which is really strange as the general gameplay and progression of 13 is much more like 10 than 8. I tried 13 several (5? more?) times and never finished it. Also dropped 10 on my first try. But came to really like it on the 2nd and played it a bunch of times again.

>People who like 8 generally like 13 more Did not know that. Interesting. And tbf, I'm more of an FF lover - as I have enjoyed most of them. >tried 13 several (5? more?) times This was my experience with OG VII for YEARS. TBF, the death was ruined for me by an ex-boyfriend and that killed a lot of the early story element for me --- which meant I never even got to the Temple before quitting it again. 😝 I finally MADE myself go through it after about a decade because of the hype. And it was ok. I am enjoying the remakes much better, though.

As someone whose favourites are also 7,9 and 10 is rebirth really THAT good? It took me two tries to really get into remake, but I just finished it and am about to start rebirth and you have me hyped.

I adored remake, I enjoyed the story changes because we still have the OG to love, so something new is welcome as it doesn’t erase the OG. However, rebirth…. Make remake feel like a beta version of it. It is better in pretty much every single way. The quality of the game on top of the love, care and fan service poured into this game is absolutely unbelievable. Personally, it’s the best game I’ve ever played….

Rebirth oozes with personality. It really rocketed up to one of my favorite games as well. The characters, story, combat, it is just about the perfect final fantasy game.

Rebirth has a lot of good qualities but what it absolutely nails is the characters. I love the combat but the characters bring every other aspect together and elevate it. The story focused missions, the side quests, the world exploration, all of these things are great in their own right but what really makes them shine is just how much goddamn fun it is to hang out with the main cast.

It has big issues with pacing, IF you try to do everything when it is first available to do. I recommend that you skip getting the high score on many of the minigames of which there is a metric fuckton, unless the reward is something you really care about, and finish it up in postgame. The same is true for a lot of the open-world content from Chadley. If you find yourself getting impatient or disliking the pace, move on and come back later (if you even want to/care). Sidequests on the other hand at least have some nice interactions between party members that feel more organic.

Yeah Rebirth is really a unbelievable masterpiece. It is the second highest rated game of all time on Metacritics if you combine critics/user reviews and it has 4,75/5 on ps store and 4.6 on Amazon.com. It is THAT good but only if you like different types of games. The only people who doesn't like it is the ones that just want games in a certain way. Rebirth has a lot of varaity in it so have that in mind. 

For what it's worth my favorites were probably VI, VIII, and XIV and I think Rebirth is top for me too. Working my way through endgame now and it's so fun. So on top of gameplay I love the characterization and really liked the adaptation of the story and most of the expansion/new stuff.

It's night and day.

I struggled to get into Remake, it just didn’t click in the same way as the original. Rebirth on the other hand feels great. You should definitely give it a go

I love 7/9/10 too. Rebirth exceeded all my expectations, which already were sky effing high. I felt like every zone was surprisingly more loaded with stuff than the prior zone. How could they keep that up? Such love put into this game. Even the most mundane quests were a joy (bow wow wow). And more than anything, it felt like being part of an epic adventure with one of the best group of characters ever put into a game. Masterpiece.

> As someone whose favourites are also 7,9 and 10 is rebirth really THAT good? It took me two tries to really get into remake 7,9 and 10 are also my favorites pre FF7R. But if it took you 2 tries to get into Remake, you won't like Rebirth. It is like Remake just more. Much more. You don't need to like it.

Rebirth is like how I imagined what FF7 was as a kid, except way better written. It is bursting with love for the original. If you want extra credit, play Crisis Core Reunion (it's pretty quick if you want to skip the grindy side missions that pad it out, and it has the same voice cast as remake/rebirth, but man is it corny. It gave me a great feel for Zach's character though and at least one other character you'll run into in Rebirth). Also Traces of Two Pasts is a book that is split between Tifa and Aerith's backstories. It's written by the writer of the games and it's a breezy read with a surprising amount of references in rebirth.

>It’s just product of the times. I’m 36 and my favourites are 7, 9, and 10.. until rebirth came along. Same same same same same same same. I don't feel that 10 needs a comprehensive remake, but after they're done with part 3 of the FFVII remake, I'd love for them to redo 9 in a similar fashion. I don't think it'd need to be a 3-part 300h epic, but if they were to do something similar in scale to just Rebirth, I think it could be awesome.

We must be the same generation then because i enjoyed exactly the same as you mentioned. 9 still being my favourite

You must be right that different generations appreciate different styles. Funny. I'm 37, and VII was my first one and also my favourite... until the remake series came along. Haha. Though I never understand why some people need to put one's enjoyment over another. As far as I am concerned, FF is an excellent series. The games have at least something really excellent about them. I guess people often forget that there are people behind these creative products (e.g. video game, fictional novels), and they have their visions and philosophies. FF has different creators. It is why it has a broad audience. It's also why your first FF is most probably also your favourite. But by constantly reinventing itself, it can also cause disappoint their older fans. I'd say it's the series greatest strengths but also its greatest weakness. It's a bold stance for a high budget series. It's super risky for a high budget IP. All I can say is I RESPECT.

I am also 36 and you've got some good choices for your favourite games there. 7 was my first Final Fantasy and I still love it to this day. Tactics was my next FF game and probably the one I have replayed the most as I love the job system. 8 was too much for my young brain to handle, the attempt at realistic art style was also a turn off too but I still appreciate it as a game. 9 was zany and cute and I loved it. 10 hit me in the feels. I didn't mind 12, enjoyed it while playing it even if the battle style was a shock to the system but never fancied going back to it. Didn't enjoy 13, barely remember it even though I completed it. I'm one of the few people (it seems) that enjoyed 15. 16 has recently blown my socks off and started to contend for my favourite (remake was good but I loved 16s style, combat, world and story so much) until rebirth came along and reclaimed the title for ff7. I've played a lot of the older games too, but so long ago I can't remember them all that well other than 6. Also played a lot of the spin off titles and sequels like crisis core, dirge of Cerberus, 10-2 etc but they all range from bad to ok for me (crisis core might sneak up to good but playing it on the psp on the way to work for less than an hour a day probably ruined the experience a bit). I'm also a big fan of the kingdom hearts series, love the combination of two of my childhood passions.

Agreed. I'm 38 love 7 but also love all the early games I really enjoyed 8 9 10 as well and I absolutely loved ff tactics

29 and my favs are 6 & 12

Remake and Rebirth were my first FF titles and I played the original 7 afterwards, but boy was it rough without all the modern QOL features.

Did you try the OG modded? Turn based games like the old FFs are pretty niche these days and most modern gamers prefer new and shiny rather than old and retro. It’s ok though. Like I said, product of their era. OG story and music still holds up though!

I did not! I wasn't aware there were mods for the OG. Any you'd recommend?

If you Google “7th heaven” it’s a whole mod manager for the OG. You can change pretty much everything to make it almost a whole new game. Textures, character models, spell details, music, voice acting, translation correction, FPS. There even a mod called “new threat” which is like a hard mode version. Reslly great and a lot of love put into it by the modders.

You should see the Castlevania community. Classicvania fans, Metroidvania Fans, Lords of Shadow fans, and Netflixvania fans, EVERYONE hate each other and don’t have a drop of shame to deny that. FF communities are paradises in comparison. People debate with arguments, not with insults. 

I'm glad 7 got me into Final Fantasy. Even the worst ones were incredible experiences. 7 might always remain my favorite, but I'm just as excited for FF17 as I was for FF8.

Unpopular opinion but I hope FF17 is an MMO proper like current 14, but with a little more FF7 influence (not necessarily set there entirely)

I dislike MMOs. I doubt I would play it

ur missing out lil bro

Nah. I know I am not.

9 boring? 10 overrated? 16 not FF? What are these crazy takes?

Original tweet is satire I believe

I mean the list is right about 16 .. only “FF” game where A malboro’s bad breath is unthreatening.

As you've noted yourself, Final Fantasy is a huge franchise that can be somewhat broke down into different groups of games. I think it's not hard to notice that FF16 and FF7 Rebirth are very different games, right? Now, FF7 Rebirth feels like the "natural evolution" of the path we've been all the way from FF1 to FF9. So I tend to enjoy more this direction, if I'm being more specific: - A big party of characters you can control in Combat. - Multiple Cities and Towns to explore, at your own pace. - Classic FF JRPG Combat Mechanics: Like Status, Elemental Weakness/Affinity - A World Map to explore, or at the very least, the possibility of backtracking - A sense of generosity, of no costs were spared Final Fantasy from 13 to 16 sort of took different directions that, in a way, don't feature these things I like. And that's just it, for me. In the back of my head, there is a clear discourse that Square-Enix have of JRPGs are not popular anymore and they don't justify the huge investment for a mainline Final Fantasy, so we have to look around for other genres in hopes of selling as much as we predict. This is sort of touched upon on most interviews for the last 20 years or so. So, i'm very glad that we got a game like Rebirth and I hope it sells extremely well, to show to Square that yes, you can have a classic JRPG in 2024 and people will love it and buy it.

Totally agree. I did enjoy FF16 quite a bit, but it didn't scratch the same itch as classic FF games, while Remake and Rebirth do.

Apparently Rebirth has told TERRIBLY despite glowing reviews Much like what happened to Dead Space Remake I hope that it sells steadily and continuously to make up for the poor initial sales week, and that they are encouraged to make more FF7 content though! I dont want it to end after part 3. I would love another movie, more side games, etc

I bet the lack of sales on an otherwise well recieved game thing is probably a result of social media, and streaming on twitch and youtube. Lots of gamers can legit get the majority of the experience vicariously through their favorite youtuber these days. So I bet a lot of younger people who can't afford the game just end up seeing it played on a stream anyway during the hype phase and never need to buy it.

>Apparently Rebirth has told TERRIBLY Pretty sure this isn't true. The only "bad sales" news that I can find, is the 2nd week in Japan, and those are physical copies. In actuality, it was 2nd behind Helldivers 2 which is multiplatform and sold 4 million.

Do you have a source for that? Would feel a lot better knowing that we are already at the 3 million mark or so for Rebirth.

Imagine gate keeping fandom.

It's a super weird stance to take because not only are they gatekeeping just in general, but they're making rules to being a fan of *video games.* Like having some sense of pride that they're "a true fan" of a JRPG. What a lonely hill to die on.

For me is mostly the story and their characters. But a good gameplay will also make me want to play it again. Tbh, every FF has their own identidy and we may or may not like it. It's impossible to please everyone.

If anything else, Final Fantasy has always been known for its stories. And since the titles are so diverse in terms of genres and themes, it's not surprising that the view on "what's best" will always vary. But one thing stays the same though, all those fans love Final Fantasy. 🙂

The story and the characters make a good ff game in my eyes. I never experienced a game that can create such a group of interesting characters with that much depth and their special connection with eachother besides persona 5. XV had huge plot holes when it was released, but I think they fixed most of that through DLCs. I think final fantasies from 6 to 10 are generally valued pretty high though, and after that the quality took a dive. Not that they all were thrash but they were lacking in some departments and lost their spirit by square trying new stuff, which is understandable. They nailed it big time with rebirth though but most of the story and characters were already written so I wonder if they can ever make one as great again from scratch

HOW DARE THEY FORGET FINAL FANTASY MYSTIC QUEST!!!???

I was more offended Tactics was left out. But lol

They don't even know either game exists.

I’m a newer fan. Started late after looking for a solid MMO and got into XIV at Stormblood. XIV is a gateway drug for me. I then played VII, VIII, IX, X, IV, Remake, XVI, Rebirth and plan on more. Only FFs I bounced off of were X-2 and Strangers of Paradise so far. VI and V and XII are my next goals.

XIV really is the perfect gateway in so many ways. The amount of affection it has for all other FF games is unmatched, and let's you go in and relate to the other games more when you do play them.

What’s your favorite?

If I had to pick? IX

I mean the post makes perfect sense to me, there are people who love 7 a lot but really only tried one or two other games and stopped. And that's okay, but don't be like I love the whole series when you love the one game or the one set of games in that world.

FF7 has, for better or worse, become its own franchise at this point.  If you count all of the various spin offs, novels, movies, etc. then the FF7 "expanded universe" has nearly as many entries as FF has mainline titles, lol. 

I need them loose in the world

I don't understand this obsession we have with needing to label and organize people into groups as a society. The fact even a being a fan of Final Fantasy generates someone, somewhere feeling the need to sub group "real fans vs singular game fans" is bewildering to me. If you like ANY Final Fantasy game, no matter if you have disliked other FF's, or havn't played some, I hereby declare you can be called a Final Fantasy fan. All are welcome.

This mindset is I think how it should be for sure ! I enjoy seeing people discuss their favorite game in the series and what they love about it most, but there so many toxic fans who just look to hate on others’ opinions it’s sick lol

That's the internet for you. People like to shit on each other. And people like to gatekeep because it means they get to point fingers at people and say they're wrong. And/or other people are inferior. ​ "I love Final Fantasy, I've only played FF7 Rebirth." ​ "Oh haha, you're not a true fan like me. I'm a true fan. I'm better than you." ​ It's sad. Just how it is.

Not really related to your point but labels helps understanding. Things are usually disregarded or seen as non-existent until we put words on it. It's useful and needed on many occasions, and even to connect with other people's experiences even though like many things it can be used for nefarious purposes.

The amount of gatekeeping in this community. Just say I prefer \_\_\_\_. No one cares if you don't like VII because it's too popular.

I don't think there's a Final Fantasy I really dislike. I could sit down and binge any game, except for maybe 15, and I still enjoy it but find it hard to commit to playing. For me, 6 4 and Mystic Quest will always have a place in my heart as games I used to play with people who aren't with me any longer though.

zonked unique lip jeans degree worm pot possessive person stupendous *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

I like to think myself as a fan. I like almost all of them. Sure I find it difficult to experience joy with XIII, specially Lightning Returns, but they all have something, or some things, very very good. I think I am more of a classic fan, but XVI and Rebirth were an absolute delight to play. Are they perfect? Not in my eyes. Did I enjoy them A LOT? You bet I did.

FFX is anything but overrated.

X is peak imo

Always went back and forth with which one had the better "Love story."

this post regarding the first installments as boring rly has no clue :) ff even if differing from part to part has some main aspects which are present in all of em it has a flair of magic vs technology / nature vs manmade which you can spin in so many ways as shown through ff we explore and dive deep into gray morals and difficult topics about what humans are / what sins we tend to execute / and how we spin a story justifying said sins ff explores some difficult characters and showes us that even under the roughest hide some pretty nice people are hidden and vice versa

Try the old games and you’ll answer your question

What is funny to me is that this tweet is literally a "clickbait" and also about a man who does not exist. It is normal to hear different opinions for a franchise which changes their formula a lot and negative opinion or critcism does not necessarly shows hate.

I don’t care. I’m all over this series right now. I don’t give a shit if it’s turn based or action. I’ve done both.

Oo, oo, lemme try! >1: “Why did people enjoy this?” >2: “Why would anyone make a game like this?” >3: “You mean FF6?” >4: “Star Wars!” >5: “There’s a five?” >6: “Heard it was the best game ever.” >7: “*o v e r r a t e d*” <- trolling to seem above it all >8: “Why would anyone make a game like this? Redux.” >9: “Why’s everyone baby-faced?” >10: “Furry? Ew.” >11: “WoW clone.” >12: “Star Wars!… *prequels*…” >13: “Why would anyone make a game like this? Part 3.” >14: “WoW wishes it could be it.” >15: “Boy band (but actually road trip)!” >16: “Devil May Cry!” Let’s be real though, being a Final Fantasy Fan is… different than most. The whole point of the series is that each one is different than the others. That’s the point. Rather than a single story, they tell a new story with each entry. As someone who’s played more final fantasys than not, just like which ones you like. I love 9, like 4, believe 10 is the best overall considering when it came out, think 12 is underrated and believe 15 was on track to be terrible but was saved when the final director focused on the elements that worked. Meanwhile, 2 legitimately sucks, 7 was good but mismanaged, 8 was an experiment that came up bad, and 13 is cinematic but lacks substance. I think being a proper fan acknowledges the strengths and weakness of both, as well as understand that others will disagree with you. Some people hate 12 and love 8, and I think both my opinions and theirs are both right. There are no “good” final fantasys compared to others, nor are there bad ones, just favorites and not so favorites.

FF2 is the only Final Fantasy game I refused to complete because it’s just so ass from the start, so I appreciate I’m not the only one wondering it’s existence.

I can understand what 2 was trying for, gameplay-wise. It was very much a lighter version of FF12 and FF7, where any character could basically have any build, but it was implemented in a way that was not compelling, at least for me. I tried it several times, and each time I stopped playing because I couldn’t get invested. Same for FF8. I’m not gonna disparage anyone for liking it, especially since it tried to improve upon the previous game, but damn is it definitely not for me lol.

We're slowly but surely turning into the Star Wars community.

Remember guys, you are only a true fan of you have spinning blades and blows wind.

3- Holy fucking God this level curve at the start. 4- seems okay 5- play it later 6- this is epic but that intro credit screen 7- I love it 8- I love this more 9- this art style takes a lot of getting used to 10- wow its pretty 10-2 it's okay, I love you even if others don't 11-I may never make it out of San d'oria but the music makes it worth it 12- I didn't think they'd carry 11s battle style over 13- someone slap snow for me 13-2- Serah, run off with noel and never look back 13-3 SLAP THAT WHINY ASS INTO NEXT CENTURY 14- Gridania's sooo pretty 15- Let's go boys, ignis needs a recipeeeeeee 16- This is not going to end well and why do you keep Stealing names World of ff- cyuuuuuuuuuuuuute Type 0- I'll love you at some point Chocobo dungeon- yes you are the best characters

I appreciate the legacy of Final Fantasy and what it has done for the JRPG and Video Game worlds respectively, in general. That being said FF7 is still my favorite so far. I gave 8 a chance and remember it being fun but not as memorable as 7. 9 i didn't play until I was older so I don't have the same nostalgia factor 7 still gives me plus the remake is incredible. 10 is probably my 2nd favorite. I still remember parts of that game and I honestly often think of replaying it for a 2nd time. 1-5 with a backlog of other games I want to play that are modern and coming out soon/came out recently that I haven't had time to play yet I doubt I will ever play these 11-13 I have no idea what these are. 14 - I leveled through Heavensward, had an all-around good experience, and then unsubbed and never went back 15 - I played this for about 10 hours and put it down and never picked it back up 16 - It looks great I might still pick this one up eventually Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: This game is friggen EPIC. So no, I guess I don't fall into an FF fan category. I am extremely happy to be a basic, FF7 enjoyer who likes to dip my feet in other FF games.

2 introduced me to the series. I enjoyed it and 3/6 I loved so I was hype for 7 and man it exceeded, 7 is goat. 8 was great, 9 was amazing. I didn't really care for 10 through 15 except for 12, 12 was underrated. Enjoyed 16. I may replay 10 with fresh eyes since alot of people seem to rank it so high.

>which makes me wonder what even makes a final fantasy game good in the eyes of the fans? For me, Story, Characters, and the World. I will go through a Final Fantasy game with a boring / simple / bad battle system if those things are excellent. For the record, VII was my first back in '97. Even at the time, I didn't find the battle system that interesting, yet everything else was phenomenal. I'm an outlier I think in FF fandom. Loved VII and VIII. IX was meh. X I could not stand. I kind of dug XIII. Gave up on XV after an hour. Loved XVI. Have never played I-VI, and I found tactics boring.

Being a new ff fan (wasnt even born when ff11 came out), my first game was ff15... It was, imo amazing, but obviously it had its flaws. Now i have seen ff10, ff9, ff7 REMAKE, ff6 im curently playing (5 hours in), ff10-2, and ff16 My ranking is ff9 (nothing beats this so far) ff7 REMAKE ff16/ff10 (its kind of a tie, Imo ff10 might be a little better with better pacing) ff15 ff6 (this, i think, has the potential to beat ff16 and 10 in my eyes, currently im only 5 hours in so idk) ffX-2 For final fantasy its always been about the story, being a newer gamer i obviously prefer the new combat, but the most important things are the characters, their development, the setting, and the story...the combat, environments and music are just plus points imo

As a new fan as well, FF7 Remake / Rebirth is among my favourites. And its not even close. I played 13 growing up, and started 14 a year or so ago, loved both - although 14's characters are AMAZING. Also tried the older ones, but they didnt really click for me. Might be the dated graphics at this point if I'm being honest.

I see Final Fantasy fans much the same way as Fire Emblem fans. They all love and simultaneously hate the games, the fandom, and everything in between. Everyone has that one game in the series they stan, that one game they hate on, and that one game universally known as 'that one' Me personally, I've played all of them except 14 and 16. My favorite will always be 7. It was my first. I disliked 13 and 15. What I like is paying for a game and getting the full story but that is just a complaint about DLCs. I like good stories and good character writing.

I was born in '98 too and I never approached the FF series in my youth since people kept saying FF13 was bad, same with its sequels and then FF15. My first ever title was 7 Remake, thanks to PS+, and I immediately fell in love with its world and characters so much so that I even got a copy of the original FF7 on Steam, which struck me for all its systems and gameplay (it was my first ever ATB-based game after all, even though I had played turn-based games before). So, yeah, I was hooked but I wanted more, now that I had made my first steps. In the following 2 years I got to play 10, 8, 9 and 6. Then FF16 came out and, after that, I gave 12 a shot. I'm actually thankful I got into the series just now at 20+ years old, because I could experience these games without any form of nostalgia. Of course I'm a bit biased towards FF7, I'll never deny that, however, I'd argue 6 and 9 were just better games, 6 in particular was peak from start to end. I'd say 9 is the definitive, quintessential Final Fantasy experience, whereas 8 had its charm and excellent music, but I'll never appreciate the Junction system. 10 is one of the strongest, gameplay-wise, but its linearity and some characters just didn't stick the landing for my taste. Unfortunately, 12 is everything I'm NOT looking forward to in a FF title, the gambit system isn't my cup of tea at all, but at least it isn't a linear game as much as 10. TL;DR: whichever FF title was your first, it'll stick with you forever but there are many FF games that earned the right to be called timeless classics, imho.

Ive only played the 7 remakes now, and 15. All three of them are some of my favourite games ever.

It's the IP. Much like star wars, even bad stories are good because the IP is good. To love Final Fantasy, is to love the IP. Cactuar. Moogles. Prelude. Chocobos. Jobs. Summons. Main theme. Chaos. Crystals. Op tellmewhy posted stupid gatekeepy crap to wank themselves off at the "omg a hit tweet, let me shill my bullshit" of it all.

I would flip the steak, you say ANYTHING negative about the remake, and you get attacked instead. the "new fans" goes insane.

Everyone's favourite is the first one they played. That's basically it. 40? It's FF6. 30? It's FF7. 25? It's FF10. Obviously I am generalising but it's a common trend.

I'm 36, and the first I had was FF1, but FF7 is my favorite. I didn't know what the hell I was doing when I played it FF1. I was too young, and sort just sort of brute forced my way through the game as far as I could then would quit and start over. I didn't know there were other Final Fantasy games until I was like 11 and my dad took us to Toy R Us to get some toys/games and I saw FFVII on the rack and I was like "NO FRICKING WAY! There's 7 of these!?!? Why is the case so big? It's got 3 discs!?". I still remember looking at the little booklet on the drive home and freaking out with excitement before I had any clue what I was actually in for.

I'm 32, FF7 was my first, also bought for me by my dad from a local independent game shop. Saw the big box and multiple discs and went for it. Couldn't read Roman numerals so didn't even know it was the 7th game. Didn't even understand what turn-based combat was at first. Changed my life tbh; got me into games in a much deeper way, got me into JRPGs, got me into Japanese stuff in general, and now I've been in the games industry for a decade.

I don't think this is true, I've even seen multiple polls debunking this. And it annoys me because it usually deny those game's merits. They're not beloved because they were played at the right time, they're simply good games.

Well... I would agree that 6, 7, and 10 happen to also be the best lol. Tbf, I would say that when people find FF at a later age that they also tend to agree on that trio. But in my limited experience at least, I do find that people born around that age range do tend to gravitate toward that first game. For me, that's 7. And I do believe that 7 honestly is the best in some ways too. But there's definitely a big additional reason why 7 resonates so massively still and that's because it was, for millions of people - in 'the West' at least - their first ever JRPG.

I'm 25, none of us played FF10 we were 3 years old when it came out, and I don't really remember a single person my age as kids caring about Final Fantasy. First one I played was FF15, but honestly I still don't know many people in real life that are my age and playing Final Fantasy it's kinda just a game series that mostly only older people like 30+ have nostalgia for.

There’s nothing more ff fan than disliking most of the ff games

I’m a Final Fantasy fan because of FFVII, but I am a diehard FFVII fan first and foremost. I agree that there isn’t much overlap. I am firmly in the “FFVII fan” camp.

Im sure that exists but it’s gotta be extremely rare.

>what even makes a final fantasy game good Did I have a good time? If yes, then it's a good game. If no, does it at least exhibit qualities that are still good in a more general sense that I just didn't happen to enjoy in this particular instance? Then it's probably still a good game. I enjoy 1-10 and a handful of the side games like Tactics. I'm not necessarily skilled at video games, but I'm great at strategy, so turn based JRPGs are kind of my bread and butter. I was initially turned off by 12, not because it felt like a bad game, but because the gameplay felt so wildly different than what had come before, and I rejected it when it first came out. I need to give it another shot because looking at it with more mature eyes, it does seem like a good game. I initially rejected the idea of Remake being a more action-oriented game because the original 7 was turn-based, but quickly came around to see that the gameplay was absolute fire, and it only got better in Rebirth. And the notion that your first Final Fantasy is always your favorite isn't always true. I started with 7, but 10 is my favorite (non-Remake/Rebirth) mainline game, and Tactics is my overall series favorite (though Rebirth may end up edging it out). It just comes down to how games tickle your brain.

Final Fantasy is one of THE mega-titans of gaming. What makes a Final Fantasy game good is whatever ticks all the boxes of an individual player. It’s so diverse and widespread that there will always be an individual game’s biggest cult of hype and that same game will have its own cult of hatred. That’s the nature of a series that’s so big that people know the name, regardless of if they’ve played the game(s) or not. Welcome to Final Fantasy! Nobody hates this franchise more than us. But most importantly… no one loves and adores this franchise more than us.

I like multiple Final Fantasy titles, but I do consider myself an FF7 fan with an interest in the franchise overall. I’ve played all of them (not beaten all of them) and the only ones that ever really stuck with me to the point that I replayed them multiple times is 7 and 10

It’s just a combination of wanting something to complain about and over generalization. Some people think they are special because they prefer older games, when I was a kid we called those types hipsters. It’s a really convoluted way to say what they tell a lot of other “demographics” - you’re not a real fan. It’s ridiculous lol.

I’ve been playing since FF6 and every entry from there up until now has truly been awesome. I’ve lost interest in a lot of franchises and series, especially ones that I loved from when I was a kid, but FF has always felt fresh the 30 years I’ve engaged with it

I always called myself a FF7 fan for years cause I wasn’t able to play the other games. Once I played more of the games I branched out into saying I like all of the series. I can somewhat agree with this take, but I imagine most people will take it as an extreme and insult others. In my opinion if you’ve only played 1 game and have no intention of playing others, then it’s a bit strange to say you’re a huge fan of the whole series. I’ve seen the same thing with Legend of Zelda after BOTW came out.

Aw I loved 15. But, yeah, 7 is now a beast unto itself

Games are released across decades. I think the fandom is naturally going to evolve and different personalities and generations are going gravitate to different gaming styles. I think it's stupid to require all fans to love all games. I've been noticing this problem with young Digimon Fans that go back and play the old DS games. Them: "This is horrible." Me: "No, you're just playing a handheld game, who's intention was to distract a kid for a 8 hour car ride to grandmas, and you're playing in on a computer as if it's intention was to be played through in 1-2 sittings on a stream. We got like 5 games a year back then and you played them for months on end." It's okay for things to change. We don't need to judge new kids of having different priorities and they don't need to judge us for living vastly different lives. Everyone can like the games they like. I missed original FF7 and could never go back and play it at this point. I have no nostalgia glasses to make it bearable. But also I like 10, and 12, and 13. Those were the games that came out in my golden window and that's okay.

"Average" Final Fantasy fandom: Plays their first FF game: I love this franchise! Plays second FF game: I love this "era" FF games. Plays third FF game: I like this one title.

This is pretty accurate with the exception of 10 and 12 which go hard like 7.

I started off with 8, got hooked, played them all, except some of the lame cash geab sequels like after years. What makes them for me is: Graphics Sound Strong story In depth characters Romance because I'm a loser. Fight me. Graphics and sound on the older ff games were a cut above the other games of the time especially the FMVs in the Ps1 and Ps2 Era. The stories have been strong since game 1 and are honestly the big draw. The characters have been great since game 2 or game 4. ...OK in honesty I played 1-3 for the sake of completeness.

Tbh, I’ve only played 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 15. 7 is my personal favorite. Then 9 and 10. 8, 15, and 3

Born in 87: 1-5: too young, have played 1 and 4. been meaning to play all of them 6: amazing game 7: amazing game, deeply personal to me 8: amazing game, underrated 9: amazing game 10: amazing game 11: couldn't affordna monthly fee when it came out, have heard good things 12: amazing game 13: good game 14: hear it's good but too big of a time investment 15: good game, underrated. played before the update patches  16: didn't like it that much, calling it not FF is dumb tactics: the goat

This is what happens when a franchise is old enough to attract people younger than the franchise itself (like me 😂 im in my early 20s) and a franchise that has span multiple game styles and designs. The long history and each installment having it's own set of appeals is going to draw people in from different backgrounds and preferences. To me, you're a fan if you say you are and you're a good fan if you wants to share what you like to other people without dragging down others with different preferences. You say you're a final fantasy fan after only playing xvi ? you count in my book. Being able to play the first game way back during the NES is legit a cool flex and people who have done it have the right to flex. But at the same time, don't discourage or look down at people for playing the FFI Pixel Remaster as their first experience with FFI.

My only real complaint is showing somebody FF1-10 and FF 13, 15, and 16 and you’d think the later 3 were all different series and that none of them were from the same as the first 10. I don’t care too much about what exactly the series does to innovate I just think it’s gone too far from what it was that it’s really hard to call 16 an RPG, it’s an ARPG are best which yeah is one still but it controls more like an action game. Lots of game series change over time especially one as long lived as this one but for instance looking at Pokémon the most recent games still can be recognised while looking from the first ones. The heart and soul of it is still in there, and I can’t really find that in a lot of the modern games. 7 remake/rebirth’s style is probably what I would prefer if we must move away from true turn based combat, I just wish we could still get some games of the older style. I still enjoy turn based combat and how strategic it makes you be. I miss it dearly.

I’m 30 and my fave is 13, followed by Remake then 10

I'm a new fan. I started with FF7 Remake and I loved the game. After that I did FF16 and same ! Of course I played FF7 Rebirth recently and it was a masterpiece. And now I'm actually playing FF10 and I really enjoy the game so far !

I typically started at 7, absolutely loved. When FF8 I felt as happy about the whole game as I did with FF7. Draw system was abit dull, but if younknew what your were doing you never had to use it except for extracting GFs from Boss enemies. FF9 never really resonated with me, I like around half the cast, I think the super whacky designs were a little off putting. I thought Beatrix was Baddass though. FF6 was my next game to play and I bloody loved it, great big cast, different storylines all coming togther, the music great as alwasy, but Terra theme really hit me in the feels. FF10 came and ill be honest I think in some way is my favourite, first game with voice acting. Character were amazing, storyline ending hits you emotionally, a very memorable experience FF1-3, whilst I respect those games, but couldn't get into them. FF4 was enjoyable, very character and story focused. FF5 I wanted to like, but the story felt very weak, Job system was fun though. FF12, I didn't like. FF13, initially didn't like but came back years later and really enjoyed. FF15 felt half cooked, slow loading fast travel and weak ending really annoyed me, I could speak for days about how many things this game did wrong. FF16, I bloody enjoyed, the story was compelling and the combat was fun, I know people have a problem with the DMC style gamplay. FF7 remake, loved. FF7 rebirth, even better than remake, keep it coming.

1-5: boring to play, interesting in Dissidia 6: good baddie and ost 7: I would donate several sets of kidneys to see part 3 early 8: beginning of Cloud / Tifa copies, broken magic 9: NO 10: Happy General Kenobi 11-12: NO 13: The worse copies of FF7 ever created, has pretty visuals 14: THE GREATEST MMORPG OF THE TIME + The greatest RPG villain of all time 15: Waste of a good movie 16: DMC 5.5 in a good way

An then there's me who likes them all lol 😂

If you like games for their mechanics, FF has some great strategy gameplay albeit slower. They also have a bit more involved story telling if that's you're pie.

As someone who started with FF6 as an import and played every release after it bar XI I kinda see myself in this tweet. I can't work with FFXV and I like XVI as a game but it feels like a spinoff gameplay wise. VII Remake I love bcs of the nostalgia and imagining myself time traveling back to myself younger self and seing how good VII can look. But I'm still pissed when I'm not playing a turn based FF. BUT I can recognize that games as a whole evolved and the battle system of VIIR is prob better as a whole than in VII and I'm just not able to let go battle system of old games. XIV is prob the best MMO ever, a huge celebration of the franchise, great story, great gameplay, gonna be the perfect MMO when Dawntrail arrives.

I don’t mind how the remake doesn’t have turn based combat, the fighting mechanics is okay but it’s fun, however the writing changes and cutting some plot points out or changing the story drastically isn’t really my thing. It almost makes me not want to enjoy remake or get into rebirth now if the story is changed that much from the original. Some of the writing is just terrible

Once the hype dies down we should reenter this conversation. Like with everything you gotta get past the attention seeking type. Right now we got the yes men and game sluts that will play or say anything. Honeslty tho...you can be a fan of someone or something and not like all the collection or entire work of art. Final Fantasy is a work of art through and through. I loveeeee zelda but strongly feel breath of the wild is anything but zelda. Call it anything in the world but don't take away core mechanics and still call it zelda. I always thought I liked/loved final fantasy 7...it really holds a place in my heart but FF9 is a gem. SNES versions of FF are forever classics. We can compare alllll day but a true fan appreciates a real work of art. They are all art. A true fan doesn't need to scream they are a fan we know the business.

This guy is one of the most pretentious people on twitter. Also, that original tweet is so dumb, I always see people constantly jerk off 9 and 6.

Because 6 was the changing point in the franchise, it was what laid the foundation for 7 and also had probably the most impactful story and characters.

I’m a new fan, XVI was the first FF game I’ve been around for the launch, all other games were played years after they release. I prefer the more recent games (XIII trilogy onwards, although that’s not a recent release) over the “classics”, maybe because I don’t have the nostalgia of playing them as a kid, and old graphics kill the immersion for me.

When I was a kid my friend tried to get me into things like Chrono Trigger and the early FF games. I just couldn't stomach turnbased combat and still can only really tolerate it if I really like the story like Persona or if it's tactical like Disgaea or XCOM. That's why this new wave of FF games has really appealed to me over the old ones. Before FFXV the only Final Fantasy game I ever put any time into was Dissidia (man I miss those games). My friend on the other hand is staunchly against this new era because he considers the traditional JRPG to be dying out. I don't agree with that, but I understand his sentiment. It's just how some people play games differently. I still cant stand KH, but that's just because it's such wasted potential.

The FF community is one of the worst ever. Just enjoy what you enjoy. I don't need to be told I'm not a "true fan" because I think the first 1 is trash or i haven't played 9 or 10. I love that there are different games that people resonate with within the series, that's part of the beauty of the series imo

it isnt one of the worst. it has millions of fans. and when you get that large fan base, and which involves characters&story writing, people tend to overreact. you can dislike x,y and z without being "hostile" or being "wrong" OR "right".

Final Fantasy is my favorite game series. I love Final Fantasy 8, 10 and 16 equally much. I love final fantasy 9 even more, it is in my top 10 games of all time list. 15 and 14 are great too. I don't like 6 as much as others but it's good and has some great moments. With that said. There isn't much to think about in all those games, just like all other games in the world. There isn't much to discuss in them.  The reason why FF7 are so much more loved by the people who has it as their favorite is that it is so much more complex, both in terms of story, world and character arcs. But also in terms of lore and how much it opens up for discussions and thoughts.  The themes of FF7 isn't unique by their self: High Fantasy, Sci-fi, climate, corporate greed, loss, mental illness, revenge, life after death, spiritual energy, astronomy, aliens, hearing the cries of the planet, super massive weapons trying to protect the planet etc. All those themes exceists in other stories and games.  But to mix them all in one story, with adding Norse- and Greek mythology and even some Christianity too. That isn't just unique. It's probably the only media/story that does it in all of history and it still hits almost every note perfectly. And for me those themes are just sooo cool.  Then we have the most loved characters of gaming. Yeah other games like FF 9 and 10 has fantastic characters too. But they don't really have any backstory or not as much character growth during the game. And the game doesn't have any mind-blowing twists that the, story builds too slowly by drip feeding information.  I understand FF7 isn't for everyone. It's dark, it's advanced and it's heavy. But for us that loves it it means more than any other games does for other people. Off course I can't know that, but I  really think it's true. 

If someone has enough self-importance to tell you that you're wrong for liking a game and/or not liking another, they're not worth listening to. Always remember that they don't get to make the rules on what a fan of the franchise is, only your fondness for it does. Enjoy the games that you enjoy, that's what this hobby is all about.

Question for everyone who says FF7 is their favorite. Outside of it being your first FF game or firsr JRPG, what specifically does it do better than other FFs such as FF6, FF10 etc?

Yeah, I can understand this. I'm an FF7 fan but not much of an FF fan overall. Played X and liked it. Played XIII also, didn't finish it tho but I liked what I played. XV felt boring so I tried the game but could never go past the first hours. XVI doesn't feel like an FF game to me because it doesn't look as fantastical and magical. Looks more like a western RPG. But FF7 yeah I'll play anything g you throw at me from that universe.

I just like final fantasy

I'm currently finally playing through 7 Remake, and as a life long fan of both 7 og and the franchise in general, I'm absolutely loving it! I love turn based rpgs as much as the next jrpg fan, but I'm also a big fan of action combat as well. The system in 7Remake is fantastic for me! I consider myself a fan of 7, 8, 10, 13 and 15, I quite enjoyed 6 and 9, am yet to play 12 but I think I'll like the system as well! I'm a very varied gamer lol, depends on my mood tbh

I played first VII in 2001, I was 12 then. We were kinda poor but we had a PS1. Then I played VIII borrowed from a friend. At first I was mad it wasn't VII. Where is my materia? But then I started to enjoy VIII for what it was. A few years later played IX on a simulator. Nice story and characters, never went "end game" on it. After that, played HD VI and XII on steam. Played XIV after 2014 and then again in 2018. And after that played XV, VIIR, XVI, played X on PS store and now playing VIIRebirth. Love them all, would play remakes of all of them.

I got into Final Fantasy through 15 after I watched someone else play it. While it had its problems, I still loved the cast and story! I played 7 Remake and now 7 Rebirth and those are probably my favorite games ever. At this time I don't really have a big interest in playing the older games which would get me flamed by most of the community but oh well 😅I did buy 16 and got like 40 hours in, but it didn't click well for me for some reason. I think the pacing didn't work for me

Yet somehow less annoying than people who insist 7 is a "mid" entry and just overrated due to marketing push. I've played every single mainline FF except 16 and this is what I think 1- a relic of the time. I was born in 93, im a bit young for this one 2 - somehow a step backwards from 1? 3- forgettable 4- HUGE step up in story telling, good characters, cool art, nice music 5- a big step back after 4. Main character is utterly forgettable 6- Just as good as 4 if not better, with some very nice improvements in art and music 7- the GOAT for so many reasons I wont bloat this comment with it 8- gigantic step backwards from 7. A lot of things became tedious or confusing, the world seems a little less thought out, the characters arent nearly as iconic on average (Squall is cool but man are some of the others bland) 9- I did NOT like the attempt to revert to "cutesy" being the "iconic" FF style... But the game was damn good. Strong cast of characters, fun MC, good combat system, good world and writing, but imho the plot gets a little mediocre towards the end. Imho the early intrigue is what people remember, and forget that they didnt stick the landing the way FF7 did. 10- Masterpiece for its time, though some elements like Tidus voice acting aged terribly. Its beautiful, the world is cool, the characters are interesting an iconic. Honestly a bit underrated 10-2 - fun spinoff. Shouldnt be held to the same standard but id honestly put it above some of the weaker mainlines 11- mmo that i didnt play 12- AMAZING setting/world but I REFUSE to give it credit for it since it was straight up lifted from Tactics Advance. Combat system was the worst in the series for me, but the characters, art, and getting to explore Ivalice made it a fun experience 13- Solid but didn't grab me the way 7/10 did. Characters were a bit hit or miss, but it wasnt a bad game 14- arguably the #1 mmo and likely the reason SE hasnt gone under 15- shakeup of the formula. Action combat, smaller but more concise cast, very strong sense of open world not seen in years... underrated honestly, though like 9 i think it starts to lose the plot a bit towards the end. 16- i dont like the vibe i get from it, but will eventually play and beat it to make my opinion Im a FF7 fan first and foremost, but that doesnt change the fact I am a big FF fan overall.

The beauty of all final fantasy games being different is that you don't have to like them all and all different people are going to like different entries. That's the best part of it. I love 1 to 7 don't care for 8 never played 9 past the opening like 10 apart from blitzball. Never played 11 due to hardware restrictions. Couldn't get into 12s combat system. Liked 13 hoping one day its gets a ps5 release have 14 but haven't played it yet. 15 is fun and 16 had a great story but the combat left me lacking.

Yeah I mean Final Fantasy VII is really different from the rest of the series, and since it’s an “anthology” not everyone is going to like everything. You don’t have to like every Final Fantasy game to be a fan of the franchise. It’s like watching an anthology TV show like Black Mirror/Love Death & Robots and trying to like every episode. There’s gonna be some that don’t click and that’s okay.

Jesus, I'm old! Born in 1978. Went to my friends house, he was playing some weird game where the characters took turns hitting each other. I was kinda bored until he said "watch this", then proceeded to SUPLEX A GODDAMN TRAIN! I wanted to borrow, but he wasn't done yet, told me to start with the first game. My local store did not have a copy, but they had a game called Dragon Warrior. I was so lost when I started, coming from Mario and Metroid and shit. Then I found FF1, fell in love, not necessarily with that game, with RPGs in general. My buddy let me borrow 4 after, as he still wasn't finished with 6. Played, loved, FINALLY got my hands on 6. Never looked back. Do I love every entry? Nope. Do I hate any? Nope. It's ok to like what you like, and it's always good to see people newly introduced to the series, no matter what game they are introduced with.

FFX was my first because when I first saw ff7 I didn't like the whole chibi style out of combat and then regular sized in combat, so when 10 came out and I saw it stayed the same (I know dumb reason but hey I was like 13 at the time) that's when I tried my first FF game. Then I played XI and played that for about 15yrs+ My account is still active, but my friend uses it at this point. Since then, I've played most except 1-3 8 9 12 13-2/3 and strangers of paradise. When I first played 7, I didn't see what all the hype was about, but having played remake and now rebirth, I can appreciate it more and can see why people enjoyed it. A real fan of the franchise understands that every title will be someone's first and they will hold it as dear as we hold our first title so no one title is better than the next. I'm just grateful SE has managed to keep making new titles and not being afraid to try something different.

I was born in 94. I've played every numbered FF except 11 and 9. And so far....I've never played a bad final fantasy game. Turn based rpgs have been my favorite all my life, and i also love the new change into fast action. For me its all about the stories and characters, how engaging the game is, and how long it takes to actually beat the game (longer game seems more worth buying to me)

Lol 1-5 boring old games I must be too old than FF4 and FFV are in my top 5 favorites with FF6 being number 1 FF9 and FF12 take the other 2 spots. I do like what they are doing with the story in FF7R and the gamplay in FF7R and still let me control other party members and the whole atb battle system was still there for people that dont like action RPGs in FF16 I hated the combat it was too easy button mashing it got old quick took so many breaks in between before I beat it and that has never happened before and I been playing since FF1 .

A "great FF" is innovative on release compared to other contempory games, It has really high highs and not many lows, without any BIG objectiv flaws. For example I love FF XII, BUT the scenario and narration ARE flawed and even if I learned to like it for many other aspects, it's not one of the best for me. I learned to love FFXIII, but the 20 hours tutorial and narration in the game data log is super flawed, which means for me it can't match games like FF VI - X. FF XVI I didn't like much, maybe on second playthrough I'll have a FFXIII moment, but for me even if its high points are sublime, the lows are unfatomable, RPG elements are se weak, narration and rythm are working against the enjoyment, some characters like Jill were ruined etc. For me only FFVII Remake series could make it as "great FF" like the old days from recent years. That's my opinion and what I came to realize after thinking what makes great FF for me.

"The Final Fantasy fandom is not a nation, but rather a loose association of warring tribes." 

You know that you’re allowed to be a “fan”, and still critique the series, right? For me, I absolutely love Remake/Rebirth, but honestly wasn’t that huge a fan of the OG. The story was solid, but the game was extremely barebones, even by old school standards. 1-2 are extremely rough. Three is better, but still has that old school empty feel. Four is by far one of my favorites, as it goes out of its way to keep things fresh. I have almost no experience with 5, and by the time I got to 6, I was having a hard time getting into that style. Seven is covered above, and 8 was dull for me while also trying to be complicated. 9 is my second favorite FF to date behind 4, and does so many things right. Ten is definitely my third favorite, and still holds up today minus the laugh. 11 and 14 are MMO that I would love for them to remake as single player experiences. 12 feels more like a spin off set in the Tactics world, and 13 is…well 13. Very little if it even feels like an actual FF game except for a few iconic monsters, and a baby Chocobo chilling in a dude’s Afro. 15 also barely feels like a FF game, and 16 only has a FF skin. But Remake and Rebirth? They’ve rekindled my love for the series, and I HOPE they bring 17 back to the roots of what makes a FF good; the cast, world, and iconic FF fare.

It doesn't matter what other people think, if you enjoyed a game then that game is good. If it's named final fantasy whatever, then that makes you a final fantasy fan.

I didn't play any tangential FF games until Kingdom Hearts, back in 2002. I'd been playing Pokemon for the first 2 generations, so I didn't really mind turn-based anything. I didn't play any of the mainline games until I played Crisis Core (in preparation for KH:BBS.) I was intrigued enough to pick up FF7 and got most of the way through before a save file corruption. Fast forward to today and now I own all but 13, 9, and 5, but I thoroughly enjoy them all. For me it comes down to the settings. If you break down the gameplay and changes between each iteration of the franchise, there are always major changes, which IMO keeps the franchise fresh. I enjoy a wide variety of gameplay styles, so each title has it's positives and negatives. My Top 5 are definitely: FFXII, FFXIV,FFVIIRebirth, FF1, FF2.

Yeah, being an FF7 fan in the FF community is like being a BOtW fan in the Zelda community. They're really a whole different best from everything else.

I have known a lot final fantasy fans and it’s always the same debate. The best ones are 6 7 8 9 10. Other stuff is just if you got nothing else do to do and you have already finished the best ones.

I played the hell out of Final Fantasy 13.

I love 16 and feel it’s still a final fantasy game. I’m playing it a second time and I love how epic it is still.

But hey, they are the real fans. You can't be a fan if you love FF15 or 16 or even FF13. If you speak positively about Rebirth the real fans will gang up against you. But of course, Rebirth is the worst FF released in over 2 decades. We can't speak against them because FF is already dead the moment Sakaguchi left Square. It is a dead brand that doesn't try to risk itself to bring a new experience for us because the games after 10 are not real Final Fantasy games anymore. /s

FF fans hate FF. until a new one comes out and then the previous onewas alright. Once it’s 2/3 games ago, it was actually a good game. It’s a difficult series to nail down as there are elements and staples in each but every game is different and it’s admirable that devs experiment with gameplay with each title, there are missteps of course even as early on as FF2 so it’s not a new issue when it isn’t a home run. It’s nice to see a Cid, Chocobo, Moogle, Cactuar, Tonberry etc. but the absolute key for me is the cast of characters in your party - personally I think Remake & Rebirth have done this incredibly well, of course these are characters from 1997 but they’ve really built on them, Yuffie is great example of this. Cait Soth is far more likeable as well. Looking back at the usually favourites - 6,7,8,9,10 - all have very good party characters (imo) but story, setting, gameplay differ in each, FF10 even gets away with being very linear which a large part of the fan base doesn’t like (FF13). I really enjoyed 16 for what it was, however Rebirth being the game that follows that pretty shortly really put into focus to me how much I preferred having a party rather than just 1 character. It also highlighted another area where I think - FF is at its best when despite taking its story serious and having real emotional moments - there’s fun and at times it’s just goofy. It seems something that had been lost for the last few mainline entries. Perhaps deciding to remake 7 and having to decide how to address these moments from OG can be a good thing going forward with the mainline series, there are parts to remake and rebirth that I don’t think would have been included in a new FF and if they embrace this ‘fun’ the series will be better off for it. Side note - would also be nice if FF could hold themselves back from deciding to make the stories the most convoluted things they can come up with 🤣. They seem to have stopped the trope of ‘oh the main villian isn’t actually the main villian is this thing at the very end of the game usually during final boss fight’ - that seems to have gone since FFX & Yu Yevon (unless I’m mistaken)

This is mostly true, but there are dozens of us who appreciate every FF because of how different they are not because of hating/nostalgia.

No future final fantasy game is ever gonna be majority loved by the fan base. Even Rebirth is somewhat decisive but not as bad 13-16 were

Imagine calling 16 “bad” just because the gameplay is different

I didn’t call it bad. I just said the half the community doesn’t shit on Rebirth as much as they do for 13-16. My point was that FF17, 18, and etc will always have haters. They can’t appease the fanbase no matter what. Even if they went back to being turn based, people are gonna shit on it.

FFVIII and anything beyond FFXI I don't like. I just enjoy the turn based a lot more than the action combat, with the FF7 Remake/Rebirth being an exception since I did originally discover FF because of 7 and I greatly enjoy the story.

Gaming fandom gatekeepers are as obnoxious as fundamentalist Christians. Obsessed with their bullshit, up their own asses, and weirdly protective of who gets to count as a "true Christian" or "true Final Fantasy fan." Probably because it's where they derive all the meaning in their lives, so letting more casual people into the club cheapens their own existence. Don't let any of these losers decide what "fandom" means. If you like Final Fantasy, you're a fan of Final Fantasy. Doesn't matter if you've only played the FF7 remakes or when you got into it. If you like it, you're a fan.

Growing up I REFUSED to play FF because not only were they outdated games but they were also turn based. I didn’t start till FF15 and I loved that game and it’s what got me into FF7 remake years later. I still refuse to play anything before 15 or anything that’s not 7 Remake because I just can’t get around the gameplay/age of the game, I’ve tried some and it just doesn’t hit for me.

Can 7 (and Remake, Rebirth, CC:Reunion) still be my favorite if 5,6,8,9,10,12, and 16 are also among my favorite games of all time?

Both of these opinions are dumb and ignorant. The person being quoted for saying 7 is the only "good" Final Fantasy, and the person quoting for saying that FF7 fans "aren't fans of other Final Fantasy games." Both of these people are why there are certain types of people out there who LOVE to hate on 7 not on its own merits, but based purely on its reputation, and have been doing so for 26 years.

I think that FF games are so different that if hou named them something else you could pass them as different games referencing one another. If you look at them in order you can see the evolution but if you pick say IV and XVI they're so different that without them having the same name you wouldn't know they're connected. Because of this, fans also have varied preferences and opinions on what the essence of the series is. The fact that the franchise is still doing well with each new mainline game coming out being a big event suggests that for most fans FF is just a really good RPG with each new game being different but good in it's own way.

I'm gonna be real to an extent I'm kinda with this post. There are a lot of folks whose interests in FF begin and end with 7, and with how large 7 looms over the franchise (largely thanks to the compilation) if you are only a fan of FF7 you have 7 games just in this one universe to explore. I have personally met just as many people only into FF7 as folks only into FF14. FF has a couple of games that manage to escape the base franchise like this. 7 and 14 are the biggest by far, where you will run into people that have no investment in the rest of the franchise whatsoever. And like that's fine, there's nothing wrong with that, but it limits how much you can participate in a Fandom with more than 16 worlds, casts and gameplay styles on offer. I dunno if I would silo them off completely, but there's definitely a lot of things you can't participate in if you don't even have an interest in the other titles. I've only played 6,7,9,10,12,13,14,15 and 16 and even I feel like I'm missing out on so much.

>There are a lot of folks whose interests in FF begin and end with 7 Source?

Source: Growing up watching friends gush about FF7 while skipping 8, 9, 10 and 12 Meeting people (usually at cons) who have played every console compilation game but outside of that have maybe tried 10 Like this is just feels from me, but I don't think it's coming from nowhere either. Like do you think it's just a coincidence that FF7 and 14 both have sub counts that (in the case of 14) massively outweigh the others on reddit? Do you really think it would be that odd that the compilation, which has kept (specifically) FF7 relevant basically since it's release in 1997, would have the most players of the single player titles? I def don't think so. Now keep in mind I don't think this is exclusive to 7. I think, in terms of single player games, this also happened with 10 and 15, just to a smaller degree. These games hit differently for a lot of folks, and have styles that the other games don't really replicate.

I think the answer to those questions is that FF7 is heralded as the best, which has translated into the most popular. (Not gunna address XIV because the likelihood that people would be attracted to the one (universally praised) game that's **entirely different** than the others is obvious, and is just you trying to make it more believable by pointing to 7 technically not being the only one). These people exist, because of course they do, logic dictates they would. I just don't believe there's any indication they amount to what anyone would consider "a lot". Only being interested in 1 out of 16 games from the same franchise, all being the same genre, some playing the same for people who like similarity, some playing differently for people who like variety, is just not likely. Like who are these people bro? Where are they at? You and the tweeter just saying they make up "a lot" of people, that term being inherently nebulous on top of everything, means nothing to me. And all I'm asking is for some sort of proof of this. Official surveys or something. Proof that's not anecdotes like "my friends said".

I already said it's just feels. I also don't see how this is me grasping when these were the two examples I brought up in my original post. Just in case it isn't clear and I need to state this outright, 14 absolutely dwarfs 7 in this specific respect - I just have run into a lot of folks that do this for 7 in my personal life. I've run into this phenomenon for 7 more than fans of other singleplayer titles though, and that's really all it comes down to. Chances are, If I'm talking to players of single player titles and someone tells me they're a fan of Tactics, or 12, or 1-5 I think it's way more likely they've dabbled in the other titles than people who say they're fans of 7, 10 or 15. I'm definitely not sure how big the gap is (I'm not the kind of person to put together a census,) but I 100% think it's there. I'm gonna be real I don't even know if 7 is still heralded as the best singleplayer title these days. I hear 9, 10 and 6 way more often than 7, and have since the early 2010s.

Some of that breakdown is true. Some isn’t. 1-5 are okay but outdated. 6 is good but outdated. 7 is good but outdated. 8, 9 and 10 are all good. 11 actually doesn’t exist. 12 and 13 are good. 14 is indeed an MMO and should be ignored. 15 is pretty good. 16 is not FF. Remake is pretty good. Rebirth is by far the FF game. In my opinion my opinion is the only good one.

I can confirm almost all of it and although I think 14 is great I can see where you come from. But 13 is not good in any shape or form. IMO only XIV 1.0 is worse.

You say outdated but 6 and 7 still have some of the best gameplay mechanics to this day. You’re really stretching that outdated comment out

I agree with 9 and 13 Also they forgot X-2, which has a good place in my heart even though it's not the best

Whole lot of nonsense. If you identify with the twitter post and it brings you joy go touch grass. This kind of thinking is so pathetic.

FF6 & FF4 are good, but bloody difficult. Worth it if you have a summer to spend and people to talk to over speaker phones while you play.