Playing a Final Fantasy game in 2023

Alright dudes,

I'm looking to kinda rediscover my childhood a little by playing a Final Fantasy game in this year. Now, when I was a kid, I played FF1 and got to the last boss but couldn't beat it. I then played IV, V and VI and never finished one of them. Again, I'd get right close to the end, then never finish them. No reason why, I just never ended up closing them.

I played a LOT of VII, VII, IX and X growing up. Played each one multiple times and loved each one. Never finished the XIII games either, despite liking what I played of the original one.

Now, with the Pixel Remasters being out, and the FF7 remake being out, I'm eager to hear which one you guys would recommend for me now.

I have a little bit of nostalgia for each one, but I'd like to hear if anyone's played any of them recently, and which ones you'd recommend

I have a Series S and a Switch to play on :)

If you've never played Final Fantasy Tactics... THAT one! It's incredible. Emulate the PSX version IMO, the translation is divisive but I much prefer the original one to the overwrought grandiloquence of the PSP/iOS version. And it's not a Final Fantasy, but if you never played Chrono Trigger, DO THAT! The FF7 remake is kinda cool too, but I just don't see how they ever complete that at the current rate of story drip from the first remake episode. FFXII has some interesting ideas as well, and is set in Ivalice, the FFT world.

So far as the pixel remasters go...

I is solid, if made a little easy by comparison. It's fine but you really need that nostalgia to be able to enjoy FFI these days. II is a better game than people give it credit for but it's also super weird and easily misunderstood.

III had really noticeable balancing issues in its remaster, which seems to be caused by trying to combine decisions made in the original and in the DS remake. They might have addressed some of it in patches but I'm not sure and as it is it's probably the only one of the pixel remasters I would straight avoid. Besides the main draw of FFIII was that it introduced the Job system and if you want that you should just play...

FFV, which is the best classic FF in my opinion. I play it every year as part of the Four Job Fiesta event and the pixel remaster is a great version on it.

I never got around to playing the VI remaster, but I've not heard of any problems with it and hey FFVI is beloved for a reason you probably know where you stand with that game if you ever played it at all.

Played the 6 Pixel Remaster not long ago, the remastered soundtrack is honestly divine - though I'm a sucker for opera soundtracks.

I intend to play the 2 and 4 Pixel Remasters at some point. Maybe 3 again now that World of Darkness isn't quite the slog it used to be.

I can definitely relate to getting really far in FF as a kid only to stop close to the end. I only recently started actually finishing FF games. Sometimes it's worth it, not always - I maintain FF13 just isn't worth the time investment.

Tbh, if I could play Four Heroes of Light on a modern console, I'd love to, as the job system in that game was tits

Another vote for Final Fantasy Tactics here, my favorite in the series. If you want to do a numbered game instead, I would personally go FFV. It’s been over a decade since I played it, but I have fond memories of it.

Chiming in to parrot the other posts that say either Tactics or V.

Tactics has a compelling story with gameplay that you do not find in other Final Fantasy's(Finals Fantasy).

V is also unique in that it really lets you play around with the Job system introduced in III. And it's certainly more enjoyable than III by far. Although, my experience with III is only through the Famicom version and that game is ROUGH, so, maybe the re-releases might be more palatable?

I haven't played any of the remasters, but I played most of the Final Fantasy's when they came out. The only ones I haven't played are FFII, FFIII, FFT: Advanced 2, played a little bit of Advanced I and the FFXII spinoff games for the Vita and Gameboy Advance.

In my opinion, IV, VI, Tactics, VIII, IX, X, and both original FFVII and the FFVII: Remake are worth playing.

But if you're like some of the people who commented and prefer gameplay over an epic story, then FFV and FFXII might be more your speed.

And though, I'm sure to be in the minority, FFX-2 is actually really good once you get into it and not rush through the main missions like a lot of people did, which is why many didn't like it outside of people complaining about the Charlies Angels theme. You might need a guide though to fully get the best ending.

Honestly you kind of played the best Final Fantasy has to offer (as of now).

Skip I-III because their systems are vastly improved upon in the later games.

IV is an inferior version of VI, but it's not bad.

V is a good choice if you only care about gameplay.

VI is a classic and must play.

VII Remake haven't played yet.

XII is... okay? Story is heavily inspired by Star Wars Episode I. Very forgettable villain. Feels like playing a single player MMO if that is your cup of tea.

XIII hard skip. Sure there are positives like the excellent piano and violin score and nice looking graphics, but very weak story and cast.

XV not good, confusing plot. Story in the base game is incomplete and can only be fully understood by watching the Kingsglaive movie, the anime and playing all the DLCs.

The gameplay is the highlight of V to be sure but the story is an extremely well paced Saturday morning cartoon and that just makes it a whole lot of fun when the rest of the series mostly trucks in melodrama.