First Final Fantasy

[SuperNova]

So, some of you must remember when I was asking about first games of starting some certain series.

 

Time for Final Fantasy, so I have been hearing a lot about about those series and how good they are and I thought about giving them a try. Well and always the advice I am getting from everyone here is really usefull.

 

So starting of I would like from I-IX as they are playable on emulators and I think sth else changes from the rest. So my criteria are:

 

• A good story, I love story driven rpgs soooo....
• Easy difficulty, I don't like difficult games and I don't enjoy them
• Basic gameplay weeeeeellllll, I just wouldn't enjoy complex gameplay features.

 

Thanks a lot.

[Wolfox]

I'm gonna have to say FF4 is a good one, it being my personal favorite

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Difficulty shouldn't be anything crazy so long as you stay away from 100%ing the game or fighting hidden bosses etc... That is the stuff that starts to get up there. Luckily, it's all optional so you can skip it.

1 doesn't really have a lot of story. This came from the old days of RPGs back before a formula really existed. This is prior to the "job" system that FF is famous for creating as well. 

2 is similar if I recall? I never really hear this one talked about. I never hear 3 really either.

4 is apparently pretty good but I've never played it myself. I'll let others go over it.

5, this one is considered the pinnacle of the Job System and is considered by far mechanically the best by a lot of people. It's not too shabby in the story department either as far as I know. THis is one that is commonly in the running for best FF but is probably the least popular of those games. The system is a bit in depth though so, exercise some caution.

6, is one of my personal favourites. It's pretty simple and I'd not consider it that hard. The story is phenomenal. it has some of the best music I've ever heard in games of the era it's just a solid super good game. It forgoes the old Job System for a more set party and what will eventually become the materia system in FF7, the magicite system. These are gems you may collect later on in the game that when equppied to characters allow any party member to learn new spells, get extra stat bonuses when leveling and a few other little bonuses. It gives you a pretty decent amount of customization.

7, I personally despise 7, even from back in the day I never really liked it much. These days it's aged too much for me toever want to go back to it. I'll let someone else that is more connected to this one sell it to you.

8, same as above really. I really don't like this one.

9, I hear this one plays on the nostaliga of the other FF games super hard apparently. So, I've heard that while it's super good ((though having a bit of old age issues.)) it's best to save it for when you've got quite a few FFs under your belt already. I've also not played this one.

The future ones I could give you some info on but... you asked to not have those suggested etc so I will not go over them at this time. I'll only add the caveat that FF11 and FF14 are MMORPGs so if you do go further into the series you can skip those entirely.

[Tartar]

Okay, if your priority is on having a good story, I'd avoid 1-5. While those definitely do have nice stories, especially 4, it's simply not that much of a focus as in the later entries. The difficulties of 1, 4 and 5 are especially high compared to later entries, so I'd avoid these if you want something easy. 4 is especially brutal compared to the rest of the series, and probably the most difficult FF game outside of end-game battles in Final Fantasy 12 and 13. 

 

So now that we've gotten that out of the way as someone who's played most of the later entries in the series, here's my takeaway from the last 4 entries. 

 

6: Is by many considered the best game in the series, if not among the best video games ever made. And frankly, I can't disagree with this. It's got a huge cast of characters who are all very lovable, and a very good and fleshed out world. Difficulty wise, it depends entirely on how much you explore the world. This is very much an RPG game with many optional side-quests and areas that give you access to strong equipment that you won't find on the main path. So as long as you take your time to explore the world you shouldn't have much trouble clearing the game, though if you avoid doing so it becomes much more challenging. 

 

7. I'm slightly torn about this game. The gameplay is severely more shallow than the 6th entry, and the graphics are kinda ugly compared to the 6th and 9th entries who both have beautiful artwork. But at the same time, I'm in love with the characters of this game, and it's got some incredibly powerful and emotional moments, it's also got the strongest opening of any Final Fantasy game, with the first 8 hours being a bombastic ride that just keeps going up and up, at which point the middle section falls short of how good the first and last sections of the game are. Overall the other entries have a better-paced story. That isn't to say that it's a bad game, as I love the world, characters and villains. But overall I'd say it's weaker than the 6th and 9th entries. 

 

8. Haven't played this one, sorry. 

 

9. This is by far my favourite entry in the whole series, the characters, the world-building, the music and the graphics just come together in such a good way to make an unforgettable experience. The main characters are my favourite in any Final Fantasy game, and the story, while being overall being weaker than the 6th entry, is better executed with more memorable and emotional moments. I personally didn't find the game to be that difficult, but it was definitely more of a challenge than the 6th and 7th entries, which I greatly appreciated as I breezed through those two way too easily, which made the second halves of those games too easy which overall detracted from the experience. FF9 meanwhile has a very well curved difficulty that always challenges the player while not being unforgiving. 

 

Overall, I'd say you should start with the 6th game as it's got the better gameplay and better overworld and side-quests. I recommend you play the GBA version with the audio of the SNES version patched in. This is the optimal way to play the game. 

 

[Wolfox]

I'll say this, while 4 is hard(especially the DS version). it is a fair game overall. some things are kinda obscure but usually it just depends on exploring everything and strategizing.

[Tartar]

30 minutes ago, Wolfox said:

I'll say this, while 4 is hard(especially the DS version). it is a fair game overall. some things are kinda obscure but usually it just depends on exploring everything and strategizing.

If I may ask, how many games in the series have you played, Fox?

[Wolfox]

Just now, Tartar said:

If I may ask, how many games in the series have you played, Fox?

I will say that it's the only one so far, haven;t had the chance to play any others yet. so my oppinion here may not be that usefull, but at least it didn't ruin my taste about the franchise

[Tartar]

31 minutes ago, Wolfox said:

I will say that it's the only one so far, haven;t had the chance to play any others yet. so my oppinion here may not be that usefull, but at least it didn't ruin my taste about the franchise

4 is an excellent game, it just didn't sound like what OP Supernova was looking for. 

In either case, I can highly recommend Final Fantasy 6 and 9 once you've got time to play them.

[Alphagar]

FF IV. Just trust me.

 

I also loved 10.

Edited June 10, 2017 by Alphagar

[FairFamily]

I played 1,2 a bit of 4, 7 a bit, 10, (10-2 ugh) 12 and 13 and a lot of spin-offs as a pont of reference. I find 10 to be the easiest one to get into especially from a gameplay perspective.

[Eternal Edge]

Hi, local Final Fantasy expert reporting in.

 

I:  It's a pretty alright game if you play either the GBA or PSP port of the game.  Original NES game, while really good for it's time, is trash.  It's not my favorite but worth playing eventually IMO.

 

II:  Same story as I tbh, play either the PSP or GBA port.  For both, the PSP port is better than the GBA but still fantastic either way.

 

III:  Personally, I never quite cared all that much for III.  The DS port of the game is the best way to play it, form what I've heard the PSP version has all sorts of translation issues.

 

IV:  One of my top 5 favorite FF games for sure.  The GBA port is the optimal way to play it, I'd probably recommend this one as a good starting point for anyone that hasn't played the games before.  It's got a pretty good story, introduces the mechanics pretty well, and isn't overwhelming with the amount of side-content available.

 

V:  Another that I don't personally super care about.  The GBA port is, again, the way to go here.

 

VI:  A masterpiece, personally.  It used every bit of the SNES to the max to make the best Final Fantasy of them all, in my opinion.  The GBA port is still the best version of the game to play.  I could go on about all the little details I love about the game, but that isn't exactly what I'm here to do.  As much as I love this game I absolutely would not recommend it as someone's first Final Fantasy.  While it is a ton of fun, and really good, there's so much potential content that you'd miss out on if you don't know what you're doing.  Without going into spoiler territory, Shadow is a very mysterious character in the game and unless you know exactly how to trigger his story sequences they are missable, and if you miss one of them you cannot see any that follow.

 

VII:  Stay away from the PC version with a 10 foot pole.  Broken port, and doesn't really do anything well.  Play it on a PSX emulator.  That being said, it's a pretty good title.  It's overhyped as fuck though.  I still like it but don't think it's this god tier game that everyone makes it out to be,

 

BONUS:  Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core:  PLAY THIS GAME.  PLAY IT.  DO IT.  PSP Emulator.  Get one and play it.   It's a prequel to VII and it's just...so fucking good.

 

VIII:  My least favorite of all the games.  I think there's a steam version of the game but I haven't tried it.  Just stick to the PSX version probably.

 

IX:  My second favorite game right behind VI.  It's a loveletter to every game before it, with references and little nods to all the previous games.  I'd suggest to play this last of all of these if you want to understand allt he little references, but otherwise it can be played anytime.

 

Now I know you said you wanted to stick to emulation, so I wanted to make sure you know that PS2 emulation DOES work.  (Sorry if someone already said this, I honestly didn't read past your post before typing this.)  That being said, I do want to mention:

 

X:  Probably my third favorite game.  PS2 emulation of it is fine, though if you want to pirate the Steam version, X-HD is beautiful.

 

X-2:  Don't.

 

XI:  MMORPG, I don't think the servers are even up anymore?

 

XII:  Another really good game, the license system is probably my favorite of any of the job systems that any Final Fantasy has used.  It's only on PS2 at the moment, that being said try to get a hold of the International Zodiac Job System version of the game.  They added quite a bit of content.

 

 

 

 

 

So as a whole, for you I think I'd suggest the following order, given your preferences you listed.

 

IV, III, I, II, VI, VI, IX.  They're all easy to emulate and I've personally enjoyed them.

 

 

As a bit of extra content, here's my favorites listed in order.

 

IV, IX, X, IV, XV, XIV, XII, III, VII, I, II, XIII, V, VIII

 

XI isn't on that list because I never got a chance to play it.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

2 minutes ago, Eternal Edge said:

 

So as a whole, for you I think I'd suggest the following order, given your preferences you listed.

 

IV, III, I, II, VI, VI, IX.  They're all easy to emulate and I've personally enjoyed them.

I know I posted earlier but ye I mostly agree with Edge on this. Like everything this dude said would be my thoughts most likely if I had more knowledge. So I'll just throw it out there that I'll second this.

[Eternal Edge]

In my order I just realized i said VI twice, that second VI was supposed to be VII.

[Godot]

I personally suggest 6, 7, 9, or 10.

 

Do not play 12, 13, or 15 first.

[Revolver]

On 6/11/2017 at 9:13 AM, Eternal Edge said:

BONUS:  Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core:  PLAY THIS GAME.  PLAY IT.  DO IT.  PSP Emulator.  Get one and play it.   It's a prequel to VII and it's just...so fucking good.

Erm... well, about Crisis Core. Mind if I explain why Crisis Core might not be for everyone?

I did tried playing it, but there is something about it that I just don't like about. As someone who prioritizes gameplay over story when it comes to video games. Crisis Core is just plain boring gameplay wise(in my opinion, of course). You walk around, get random encounters. So far so good... until DMW comes around.
I don't mind getting buffed by a pachinko machine, but if the game decided to pause the game every 5 seconds just to force me seeing that machine may(OR MAY NOT) roll a power surge annoys me. Not to mention that the challenge of the main game just seems lacking. Most of the time, you'll simply run around an enemies to critical on their butts. The missions, which also being the other big part of the game other than the main quest, is also repetitive. You just go there, kill the enemy that is visible outside of battle, and that's about it.

And of course, let's not forget the infamous...
 

Spoiler

activating combat mode...
Activating Combat Mode...
AcTiVaTIng COmbat MoDe
ACTIvaTiNG CoMBAt MOde
ACTIVATING COMBAT MODE
...
CONFLICT RESSOLVED

(No seriously though, I got annoyed by this so much that I hugged walls just to avoid random encounters.)

The game also suffers from a difficulity problem, where it'll be either too easy(Normal), or too difficult(Hard).
 

@SuperNovaI'd probably suggest playing Crisis Core only if you prioritize the story much more than the gameplay(I can't evaluate the story yet because I have yet to play FF7. That game is just too old to even look at for me. :/), and you can deal with the rather repetitive and lackluster gameplay.

Welp, but it all up to you whether to play it or not to, though.

[Maelstrom]

1 hour ago, Revolver said:

Most of the time, you'll simply run around an enemies to critical on their butts.

 

So... it plays like a souls game?

[Revolver]

2 minutes ago, Maelstrom said:

 

So... it plays like a souls game?

But without the constant dying and with a pachinko machine? Maybe yes. Because Crisis Core is incredibly easy unless you play it on hard.