My Top 5 Final Fantasy Games

Hey guys!
I thought that I would start with this list as the Final Fantasy series is one of my favourite franchises of all time and with the many games out under the FF banner, I think I could have this list. I won't just roll them off and give them a rating; I will give an in-depth reason as to why they are on my list. So let's begin!!

5. Final Fantasy XII

To start off this countdown we have the very last Final Fantasy that was on the Playstation 2 and to be honest it wasn't the best one released in my opinion, even if it was the latest. The graphics at the time were amazing and the story was actually quite interesting, even if it did seem 'Star Wars'-esque. The one thing that really let it down for me was that Battle System. It was completely different to what we Final Fantasy fans had come to expect. While I admire that it was a change and a lot of people enjoyed the difference, I was not one of those people. The whole Gambit thing was a good idea, but having hardly any for the early part of the game made it very restricting to do anything fun. I also think that all the side quests and the Hunts were a great idea but I do have a problem with it in that if you concentrated on the Hunts and leveled up for them, the rest of the main game story would be a walk in the park, even with the game capping your items and spells to use via the License Grid - which I thought was a pretty great idea too. While I enjoyed the change and the story, the game-play and battle system was just not for me but I did enjoy the game enough to be on my top 5 list.

4. Final Fantasy IX

I remember playing this game for the first time and I was instantly drawn into the whole setting and story of it. I recall later on many years later that it was a homage to the past games in the series, and it wasn't until I played the earlier FF games that I had seen why it was given that status. I enjoyed the battle system and the story that went with it. Like most games I did feel that after a few replays, it was a bit of a chore to get into the game until after Lindblum but that may just be me. It isn't higher in this list personally because I feel that the characters were not balanced enough that you felt you had to use all of them at some point without being forced to. Near right at the start of the game your team consisted of Zidane, Vivi, Garnet/Dagger & Steiner. I honestly think that 9/10 players will have that exact same team throughout the entire game right up until the end, leaving the other 4 characters unplayed unless you had to play as them. They had personalities to make them stand out but in the battles they were just not as good as those four I personally found. The game was a great play and the battles didn't seem too hard or too easy and this may be the most balanced game in terms of difficulty curves. Another thing I found a little bad in this game was the fact that the antagonists kept changing and the final boss was not even mentioned until the very end just before you faced it. That was kind of an anti-climax in my opinion. This game was evenly balanced in terms of difficulty and progression and the story was enthralling but the fact that half of the characters didn't even feel needed really let this game down a big amount.

3. Final Fantasy VI

I never played this game on the SNES but I did get the game when it came out on the Playstation and I absolutely loved it! The story of the game was deep and it pulled me in from start to finish and it had one of the most entertaining casts of characters in any game, never mind just the Final Fantasy franchise. This included the villains and NPC's as well as the playable ones, including Kefka, who has to be one of the best villains in video game history. In actual fact, this I believe was the first Final Fantasy game I ever completed. I had FFVII before this game but never finished that one before due to having to start over again at times due to me missing an item and needing to get it (damn OCD & perfectionism!). Like many games in the series, it did take a while to get into the story but once I did it was a whirlwind of twists and amazing plot. I did find that some of the battles were easy at points if leveled up a bit more than usual and I do have to admit I often grind at some points in games and this was no exception. I do feel that at times in this game, you can be over powered, especially during the early part of the game. Another thing that I feel is a bit bad about the game is that some characters are not as interesting and good for battle than others, lacking in skills and attributes, leading to having a set team for most part of the game. Overall I did enjoy the game a lot with the story and exploration, however the battle system itself was a little samey and repetitive.

2. Final Fantasy X

This was the first Final Fantasy on the Playstation 2 and it did not disappoint in terms of both graphics and gameplay. While I was not a big fan of the Junction System of FFVIII, I did think that the Sphere Grid was very fun to play. While I only really played with the Standard Sphere Grid, I felt that the Expert Grid would give a good twist to gameplay, having those who are normally tanks and magic users swapping places. The addition to customizing weapons and armour introduced in mid game was a nice touch that made it a fun little part of the game. I did find the lack of having weapons get more powerful in strength a little bit negative on this game though - same goes for the armour and the defence attributes. Another thing that was a little let down was that to complete the more harder side quests, one had to completely over level in every department and this would mean that the end of the game would be easier than anything encountered in the whole game. The story was a little confusing near the end of the game but I did get my head around it after a while. This game added some different elements to the Final Fantasy while not essentially taking it out of the FF normality. The story was gripping and the addition of the Sphere Grid and Customization really made you control the flow of the game and the characters which was a very nice touch.

1. Final Fantasy VII

This is my all round favourite game in Final Fantasy history. It was the first one I ever played but not the first one that I completed, as explained earlier in the post. The story was gripping and one thing I loved about it compared to many other FF games is that the antagonist was the main bad guy for most of the story. The whole Materia system was a great gameplay addition and it really lifted any restrictions on the characters skills and abilities which several titles on this series have. I felt that this game had enough side quests without it getting to the point where you can easily do the main game. I have played this game many times and still don't get bored of it as easily as other games do because of the twists and turns in the story. The whole concept of mixing Materia to form some strategy’s was a great idea, I just wish that it was more of a focal point as some battles consist of spamming the Magic/Summon skills. Once you get the Knights of the Round Materia, any battle can be one easily, including the final battles - so it's lucky that it comes right near the end of the game and doesn't make the game piss easy. Overall, even though I am older and see the flaws the game had, I still rate it my Favourite Final Fantasy game of all time... for now!

What is your top Final Fantasy games?
The British Gamer. Signing Off.