What is your favourite Final Fantasy game?

With Christmas approaching I am probably going to grab FFXIII in anticipation for the sequel and try to complete as much as I can for the bonuses given for beating the first game. I then began to look back on all the previous Final Fantasies I've played and I'm curious, what is your pick as your favourite of the series?

Personally FFXII is my favourite hands down. Which is funny because when I got it I wanted to return it because I absolutely hated it at first. Vaan is UGLY as hell and Penelo looked just stupid with those pigtails. The combat system felt so awkward and I just wasn't into it. Then on top of that the beginning of the plot was revolving around...politics. Politics? In a Final Fantasy?

But I decided to suck it up and give it a chance. At least make it to the first boss. As I progressed I found it to be more and more interesting. Boss battles were actually really intense and involved; rather than just waiting for turns and pressing attack or cast spell, you have to move around and assign gambits (commands) to each of your party members. When Baltheir, Fran and Ashe joined the party I was much more content with the main characters because I didn't have to stare at ugly Vaan or Penelo the whole time.
Then the story picks up and it's actually pretty interesting. It's not the cliche plot of MUST SAVE THE WORLD FROM EVIL and there's actually plot twists.

The gameplay was absolutely fascinating. The entire world is MASSIVE. There are so many dungeons and bosses to go through it's ridiculous. I loved that each of the Espers (summons) were boss battles that you had to defeat in order to acquire them. The game lasts for so long too, which I loved. Many times I thought I was nearing the last dungeon only to find there's still more to do storyline wise. There's a good amount of challenge present in the game. I remember when I stumbled upon a Gilgamesh battle and I was pretty underleveled for it but tried my best and it took FOREVER but I finally killed him. Had so much fun the entire battle.

The amount of sidequesting in this game is perfect. My favourite sidequest was by far bounty hunting, where you have to go to a specific area and find a stronger than average monster to kill. The first ones are easy but they progressively get more and more difficult. The final ones are HARD AS HELL to kill and the last one literally takes around 2 hours to finally defeat. There are also hidden Espers to find in secret dungeons, so it's not a good idea to just rush through the main story because there are so many things you miss out on. There's even a trophy system where you can collect trophies for accomplishing certain tasks. Weapon crafting is also present and is a lot of fun but can be time consuming.
You can easily dump over a hundred hours of gameplay into FFXII. I'm so glad I gave it a chance past the beginning because it turned out to be a complete masterpiece.

My second favourite would probably be FFX. While the battle system isn't as involved as it is in FFXII and it's rather linear gameplay the story is so interesting that you're compelled to keep playing to find out what happens. It's almost like a movie in a game, which some take as a bad thing because there were so many cutscenes, but I personally enjoyed it. Also ultimate weapon hunting was fun. I played so many games of Blitzball for Wakka's ultimate weapon I fell in love with the minigame. I liked all of the main characters as well, apart from Tidus being a whiny peach sometimes, but I looked past it.
When X-2 came out I had to have it just to see what happened in the sequel but it was...rather disappointing. They basically made Yuna a giddy annoying girl and the dialogue was BRUTAL. I only really liked Rikku because they didn't change her character too much. The story was rather lacklustre however they improved on the gameplay and battles with dresspheres and collectables. The thing I hated though was that so many missables were present because actions you take affect the story. Not a big fan of that type of thing because I hate knowing I just missed something and having to make a new game+ just to get it. So basically FFX had great story, mediocre gameplay and X-2 was vice versa.

I've also played I and III (DS versions) and VII (emulated). DS versions are okay but I enjoy the Playstation versions much better. VII was good but not as omgamazing as some people make it seem to be. Maybe that's just me.

Anyway I'm not sure why I just wrote an entire blog review rather than just leaving it as a question but I was bored and had this on my mind. So Southperry, what's your favourite of the series?

five, by far. i'll elaborate later when out of school, haven't played from 7 to 12.

V, even though I haven't finished it, I loved being able to get skills from other jobs.
VII comes in second because of the Materia system, I enjoyed it. The story was also decent.

Five was awesome

Wow lots of V love so far. Maybe I'll emulate it this weekend since I should finally have free time...I've never played it before nor have I heard much rave about it.

I love VII. Cloud and Sephiroth are excellent characters, and one of the best videogames I've played so far.

Also, DAT MOVIE.

Wow lots of V love so far. Maybe I'll emulate it this weekend since I should finally have free time...I've never played it before nor have I heard much rave about it.

back from school, here's why i love V so much:

it's SIMPLE, there's no overly indepth storyline, everything in the story can be explained in a few sentences.
however, it's fun, the characters are charismatic, and joke a lot around. the job system was also amazing for it's time, it was simply the best, and so fun because you trained your classes depending on your likes (unless you grinded your ass) and the difficulty ramped up pretty nicely if you didn't balance your classes or abused the "easy classes" at the very beginning, not to mention, it plays with the ATB gauge, which is pretty important for some boss fights, as attacking at bad moments, or not saving your heals could mean your destruction.

later on if you abuse the system, it gets easy sure (loldualcastmime)

but the big thing about V is it's funny chars, great job system, and simple yet appealing storyline (which, even so, has some pretty big plot twists) not to mention, the advance version's extra dungeon, and the introduction of the "great bosses" shinryu and omega.

also gilgamesh, because LOL GILGAMESH, this game introduced him, and it's been a riot ever since.

i also love 6, storyline is amazing in that one, but i don't like the beginning much, 4 was cool (advance version's secret moon dungeon made the game for me though, the DS version sucks), and 3 was great, i played the DS version, fun, but overall pretty linear and meeh.

VIII Although often hated I love its art, the story was interesting (not the main pomegranate of the love story but the randomness of being at A then at L and after that at G) and the characters are nice, although it might just be it being my first and also haven't finished IV-VI.

Final Fantasy VIII was amazing. The characters, the music, the world, the junction system and Ultimecia, the GF summons, the Ragnarok, the battles... i can go on and on

X is also one of my all time favourite games of all time due to pretty much everything in it, the only fault i had with that game is that it had to end, simple as.

XII wasn't too bad really, i enjoyed the game itself but disliked the characters and the world, any final fantasy or spin-off game set in Ivalice just puts me right off, the whole setting is just awful. But as i said, the battling and the music and the license system were all great

9 the story was amazing the characters were amazing and likeable for the first time in a while the main hero wasn't an emo idiot with some tragic past and when he does go emo( for about 10 mins) there was an actually reason not "some dude burned down my town" or "I cant impress this girl", a real reason. I did like the whole armor skill ability system

Next up would be 10 the reason being Aroun that is all that is all that needs to be said not even death can stop this man from keeping his word.

Next would be 7 story was good the characters were likeable game play was good.

IV & VI.

FF Tactics, Tactics Advance, VII (just because it flowed so nicely), VIII (Music and what the f'uck plot) and IV. I've never had the patience to go through XII, and I-II-III feel too slow.

VI is REALLY GOOD, but I've never managed to finish it, so I can't say completely.

XII for most of the same reasons. I could go on and on and on about it but yeah, it is by far the best in the series. Mostly because it was created (originally) by Matsuno and not Nomura. Then Nomura ruined it and added Vaan but it still came out pretty good.

Just wish Matsuno had seen it through to the end... could've been the best game ever.

Final Fantasy V. Best game in that series...for me anyhow.

Fun characters, Story isn't way too serious like some of the games which apparently people didn't like but meh. Job system allows tons of customization on each character and strategies in battles. Being overpowered near the end is completely possible though which is actually pretty fun. Active time battle system which is still pretty good compared to some things they have done for battles systems these past years. Clash on the big bridge the original.

VI would be second..

Anything in Ivalice (Tactics Advance, Tactics A-2, 12, etc), the unreleased III that was remade for the DS, and the one with Buttz.

X and XII are my top 2 favs. VIII and VI are close behind.

The lack of IX fandom is surprising, really.

I liked IX, followed by V.

IV because it was mostly the Final Fantasy that let me know of the whole series.

VIII Comes second because the art, the music and the story where pretty good (For me)

And then it goes for the Ivalice placed FF (Tactics, Tactics A-2 and XII although that last one became a drag when i was finishing it).

V and VI comes behind those, the systems and the story where good.

Cant say much on the VII because i never actually finished that damn game.

X was good, but X-2 wasn't really that great (Although it served as a good kill time)

I had the I-II Bundle that came in the Advance Game boy but never finished neither (too long or too drag especially the II)

Didnt finished the III either (Barely started it)

And due to a serious lack of PS3 in my life, havent played the linearly "No need for towns" apparently pomegranatety XIII

And sadly, i dont look for anything especially good for this franchise in the future tbh it was way too much milked in a bad way, and since these last generation games go mostly for "Graphics, Graphics, Graphics, Graphics, Graphics, Graphics, Graphics, Graphics, Story? what story? Graphics, Graphics, Graphics, Graphics, System? Wuts that? Graphics, Graphics, Graphics, Graphics, Graphics..." >.> (At least in my eyes it looks like that)

The lack of IX fandom is surprising, really.

I liked IX, followed by V.

Scientist have been wondering it also, I guess its because it just good, not much to love it or hate it but I agree I liked that game though it isn't my fave.

VI and X.