Last week, I listed down my personal list of what I would consider to be “bad” Final Fantasy games. Looking at the list, I realized it contains the, shall we say, really old-school entries of the series. That was not intentional but it is logical. Squaresoft was generally starting out with the entire JRPG market. So, while they tried, they couldn’t tell some truly grand stories.
Also, the times, as well as the technology for video gaming, was simpler. As such, some of the worlds and the graphics couldn’t encompass the imagination needed for some of the more complex tales Squaresoft wanted to tell. But, as this list will display, things changed for Squaresoft later. They were crawling during the first five Final Fantasy games. But now they were standing on two feet and Squaresoft was ready to run.
But before I do go through my personal list of the “best” Final Fantasy games, I have to go through some caveats first. Once again, I will be excluding the “side stories” such as Final Fantasy Tactics and Dirge of Cerberus. I know this is a disappointment to the 17 die-hard Dirge of Cerberus fans but that’s just the way it is.
I also will be ranking the games based on how it played when it was released. Basically, I won’t be grading it on how it plays today but on how it played when it was released for the first time. With all that out of the way, let’s go look at the best Final Fantasy games Squaresoft made.
At the start of Final Fantasy IX, a thief, Zidane, and his crew kidnap Princess Garnet from the kingdom of Alexandria. This leads Zidane and crew to get embroiled in the war that has engulfed the entire nation. However, this was is merely a cover as someone working behind the scenes has a more dastardly plot…
Let me get straight to the point: I did not like Final Fantasy IX. Okay, maybe “not like” is a little too strong. I just didn’t care for it that much when I first played it all those years ago. To me, this seemed like a step back from the previous couple of games. We were back in pseudo medieval times instead of the more futuristic settings. Characters had really big, childlike proportions instead of more realistic dimensions. No more rearranging equipment to customize your party members the way you wanted them. In hindsight, that was actually the case as Final Fantasy IX was a look back to the more simplistic times when the games first started. But I hadn’t played any of those early Final Fantasy games yet. So, I didn’t appreciate it and, as such, I didn’t care.
I also didn’t really like Final Fantasy IX’s story as it was kind of hard to follow. The plot has a lot of moving parts and some of them felt overly cumbersome. At a certain point, all of these plot points just collapsed under its own burdensome weight. There was a very mystical element to it all and that didn’t click with me as well.
That’s not to say I hated Final Fantasy IX. There were some things I liked about it. Although I wished they didn’t go back to the more “back to basics” gameplay of leveling up characters, the simplicity of it all was refreshing. Vivi is a black mage so he’s your main magic user. While I didn’t like Zidane’s overall design, I do like how he actually outgoing. This is a big departure from the main characters from the previous couple Final Fantasy games. Still, in the grand scheme of things, I can take or leave Final Fantasy IX. I know I’m kind of in the minority here. But, hey! This is my list! If you disagree, go make your own ranking of Final Fantasy games!
In Final Fantasy VIII, you take control of Squall Leonheart, a sullen student from the mercenary school, Balaam Garden. During his graduation ceremony, he meets the perky Rinoa Heartilly. She actually hired the school to help her mercenary band to assassinate the Sorceress Edea, the ultimate leader of a rogue nation. This attack does have some repercussions and pulls Squall, Rinoa and their friends into a battle for the very survival of the entire universe.
I positively loved Final Fantasy VIII when it came out on the original PlayStation. This was the first game I clocked more than 100 hours in. Heck, it’s probably one of the biggest reasons why I had to replace the CD lens on my system. This was a game that came out at just the right time for me. Character designs were just edgy enough for a teen such as myself to get into. The entire Guardian Force and Junction system was super complex but, when you get the hang of it, it allows you to customize your characters in such unique ways. The futuristic setting was also my speed.
So, why didn’t Final Fantasy VIII crack the Top 3? Well, there are a couple of reasons. While I really love the characters here, they don’t really add a whole lot to the story as none of them really have backstories to them. They seem like window dressing and a bunch of cool guys and gals to hang out with Squall and Rinoa. It’s as if Squaresoft focused so much Squall and Rinoa’s budding romance, they forgot to write for the other supporting cast. They had the time to give them their own love song but not much backstory for the rest of the cast!
Also, the entire story is a mess! I know Final Fantasy stories can get rather convoluted but this one was just undecipherable! When I was playing all those years back then, I was confused at what Sorceresses were and why they were bad. Why was there this big, bad, muscular Sorceress in space? How the heck did Squall survive getting impaled by a big icicle? What the heck is time compression? It’s only after I discovered the Internet that I figured out what was happening. But while I was playing? A lot of that simply went over my head and really sucked out some of the enjoyment of playing, especially, during the last disc. Because of these two reasons, Final Fantasy VIII deserves the fourth spot.
Final Fantasy X follows Tidus, a Blitzball player who is magically transported forward in time after a creature known as Sin attacks his world. He joins a party who’s main goal is to protect Yuna, a summoner who is going on a pilgrimage to hopefully learn how to defeat Sin. However, it appears that they must pay a heavy price in order to pacify Sin…
My expectations for Final Fantasy X were pretty high, mostly because it was the first in the series to be on the PlayStation 2. I wasn’t disappointed. I loved Final Fantasy X when it first came out. It was weird at first as it ditched the “traditional” Active Time Battle system the games have been using for a long while. Replacing it was a system where party members (and enemies) with higher agility will take their turn faster. I loved this because you can easily abuse this with Haste spells to make your party members slaughter enemies before they take a turn! You can also switch out party members in the middle of battle. This made leveling each person in your group much easier as you don’t have to switch out people after each encounter.
You may say I was obsessed with Final Fantasy VIII as I clocked in 100 hours with it. Well, I was positively addicted to Final Fantasy X as I put in 120 hours into my first playthrough. This was the first game which I hundred percented. Completed everyone’s Sphere Grid and maxed out all stats? Done and done! Secret Aeons? I got them all! Celestial Weapons? I dodged 100 lightning bolts and more to do that! Beat Dark Aeons and the super secret boss? Took me hours but I did that, too! Sure, I had to use the Internet to look for how to get all of these. Still, I did all of these things to do everything the game had to offer!
For a modern entry in this series, Final Fantasy X’s story was very easy to follow. Yes, there were a few twists here and there. But even these twists were explained really well. The secondary characters, while still mostly relegated to the background, had much more personality than most of the other entries in the series. The only reason why Final Fantasy X isn’t higher on this list is because, frankly speaking, they next two entries are just better when it comes to handling characters and their motivations. Still, Final Fantasy X was a super fantastic JRPG.
We all know the story by now. Former SOLDIER Cloud Strife is hired by Avalanche, a resistance group with the goal of taking out the Shinra Corporation. Cloud then runs into Aerith Gainsborough, a seemingly simple flower girl, which is is why it’s so suspicious why Shinra is after her. However, it appears Shinra isn’t the worst thing you have to face. That would be Sephiroth, a former SOLDIER as well with the goal of destroying the planet.
Fun Fact: my first experience with Final Fantasy VII even before I owned the original PlayStation. My first experience with Final Fantasy VII’s gameplay was on a VHS tape I got from my friend. As it was “raw footage” and I didn’t understand what was happening, I actually dismissed the game! Silly me! It’s only when I started playing the game myself I understood why my friend loved it so much.
Like with a lot of gamers, this was my first Final Fantasy. There was a lot to be amazed at because of this. The first time Cloud and the party leave Midgar and step out into the open world sticks out. Just a few minutes ago, you were traversing corridors of trash and climbing up 50 flights of stairs. Now, you’re in this daunting open world and can move virtually any place! Backgrounds weren’t static but moved around as you moved. That first time you hear One Winged Angel is something you will never forget. The Materia battle system made it so you can create some really sick builds for each of your party members.
The story was complex and the twist of Sephiroth being the big bad really caught me off guard! I didn’t expect a twist this huge in a video game before! And, of course, I do have to mention the big twist involving Aerith. No, not that one regarding her heritage. No, I’m talking about that one… Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. I mean, Squaresoft had the guts to do that near the start of the game? Wow!
But what made Final Fantasy VII a grand and memorable experience for me was the characters. Every character has their own story to tell. And, if you’re willing, you can give them an ending to their story. This made each and every party member not just tools to completing the game. This made them people you cared for and wanted to survive.
So, why is Final Fantasy VII, despite everyone singing its praises, not the top Final Fantasy on my list? The ending. Okay, I’m putting up a SPOILER WARNING… even though this game has been out for ages.
So, after going through hell and back, defeat Sephiroth even after getting hit from the sun exploding, Cloud and the gang hope it was enough to save the world from destruction. It seems like it wasn’t… or maybe it was? Just before we find out if indeed save the world, we flash forward 500 years in the future to see Red XIII, one of your party members, running with his children. They come to a hill overlooking the ruins of Midgar, covered in greenery. Birds fly overhead. The game’s logo flashes on the screen as we hear children eerily laughing.
What the hell happened?
Did Cloud survive? Did the people manage to live even though Meteor was about to crush the planet? We didn’t get a conclusive answer to what happened to the characters were grew to love until years later with Advent Children. That was a long time coming! If it weren’t for all of these unanswered questions, maybe Final Fantasy VII would’ve gotten the top spot. As it is, the best Final Fantasy is…
The Empire, in their bid to control the world, have been collecting Espers, creatures from long ago, as they hold the power of Magic. During one excursion, Terra, a mind-controlled Empire solider who can inherently use magic, has her slave crown knocked off. She is found by a group called the Returners, a loose organization trying to fight the Empire. Terra and her new comrades now have to take on the Empire as well as the machinations of the insane Kefka, who is more than willing to destroy the world if it means he can rule over it.
Isn’t it weird that Final Fantasy VI, a game that was made before any of the other entries on this list, is something I would say is better than any of them? Well, that’s simply because, in a weird way, Final Fantasy VI manages to outshine them in practically all aspects. Even with this game using sprites instead of 3D models, Final Fantasy VI has some of the beset sprite work I’ve seen in a video game. There are little details you can still see on the characters despite being a bunch of colorful dots.
The music and sound, despite not having CD quality tunes and digitized sound effects for the most part, are excellent. There are some digitized voice samples, such as Kefka’s laugh and, because of how weird it sounds, it does make you feel uneasy. Even though they use chiptunes for the music, everything just sounds great. I have to highlight the Opera scene because, for the time, this was phenomenal. The way they work in the music into the singing takes some imagination. But when it works? Wow!
Final Fantasy VI has a total of 11 canon playable characters and two optional characters. What’s really amazing is that all of the 11 canon playable characters have fleshed out backstories! Terra has the most “story” as the game does generally focus on her. But everyone else doesn’t feel like a background character. Everyone has their own motivations and goals in life and you want to see them through to the end.
I also have to talk about the big twist in the middle of the game so, once again, SPOILER WARNING for a very old game. Terra and the heroes confront the Empire’s Emperor but, in a surprising twist, Kefka kills the Emperor and disrupts the balance of the magical statues that are keeping the world in balance. This causes the world to pretty much destroy itself, killing millions and splitting the party into different directions!
This shook me and a lot of other players. Nothing could have prepared you for this! The heroes essentially failed! From that point, you’re goal is to now just take out Kefka as he’s now declared himself to be the ruler of the planet!
What’s even more great is the fact your party is scattered. It’s at this point you control Celes, one of your party members and she essentially becomes the main character as she tries to search for as many of her former comrades to defeat Kefka. It’s also around this point that most of our heroes motivations are given some kind of resolution… if you find them! Yes, you don’t have to find everyone to beat Kefka. But you know you just have to find everyone, right? No man left behind!
Once you do defeat Kefka, you are treated to probably one of the best end credits scenes ever. As Kefka’s Tower starts to crumble, all of our heroes (and I mean all of them) trying their best to help each other escape the tower alive. This gives closure to everyone and makes recruiting everyone back all the more satisfying.
It’s actually Final Fantasy VI’s ending that edges out Final Fantasy VII. While Final Fantasy VII’s ending left you confused, Final Fantasy VI’s ending leave you with a very happy heart. With all of that, I just have to conclude that Final Fantasy VI is the best Final Fantasy game of all the “old school” entries.
What’s your favorite of the “old school” Final Fantasy games? Let me know in the comments section below!
3rd World Geeks 