I like Final Fantasy. I wouldn’t call myself a super-fan, as I’ve yet to play all the mainline games and would only call about half of them games I actually enjoy, but as a franchise it’s really fascinating to me. Even if I don’t like every game in the series, it’s still interesting to see how each game differs from each other, as every game does something different. It’s a franchise of experimentation, and it’s fun seeing what worked and what didn’t. And with every mainline game finally accessible on PC, I thought I’d write my thoughts on the first six games of the series. These are basically Quick Views that I can compile together in the length of a Review.
I played the pixel remasters of these games most recently, and I’m gonna quickly say right now that if you’re brand new to Final Fantasy games, never played one in your life, play them in order; and play the pixel remasters specifically. They’re not all definitive releases, however they’re faithful recreations of the games as they were originally released (with some bug fixes, quality-of-life changes, and one noticeable update in 6), and most importantly they’re consistent. If you play the ‘best’ version of every game in the series, it’ll be a roller-coaster of different controls, platforms, art styles, and overall game-feel that’ll leave you nauseated by the time you reach Final Fantasy 7. The pixel remasters are near-identical in presentation and controls, making it a smooth experience from one game to another.
However if you don’t care about consistency and just want to play the ‘best’ versions, I will list what I think are the definitive releases at the end of each review.
Final Fantasy 1
The first game in the series is about as basic as you can get. You get a party of four nameless heroes that can choose from six starting classes: Fighter, Thief, Black Belt, Red Mage, White Mage, and Black Mage. I won’t go into detail about what each class does, but I can say this is the most party customization you really get, which invites some fun replay value; especially since the game’s only about ten hours long.
Every Final Fantasy game has at least one gimmick, even if that gimmick is arguably dated by modern standards. In FF1’s case, that gimmick is the combat presentation. Most RPGs at this point were either entirely first-person or employed tactics-based combat. But Final Fantasy popularized the side-camera perspective of party members on one side and enemies on the other. This is nice, as it makes fights more engaging when you can see what’s happening.
Something that surprised me when playing is just how much recurring Final Fantasy things first appeared here. Obviously the classes carried over, but also the enemies you encounter (often D&D enemies like mindflayers, sahuagins, and beholders), the world progression, Bahamut, even town & location names show up again in later entries. They’re especially fun to see if you’re a Final Fantasy XIV player like myself, where remembering locations in an MMO is kind of a big deal; whereas I don’t normally pay attention to location names unless the game tells me to.
One common Final Fantasy staple (at least for the old games) is progression revolving around overcoming environmental obstacles. I’m not a fan of progression where it’s just a wall with an NPC saying you can’t pass them, or anything like that. It’s a lot easier to suspend disbelief when it’s an environmental barrier keeping you moving forward. In FF1, the progression has you build a bridge to get across a river, then you fight pirates to get their ship. But it’s landlocked in a big lake, so you need to see dwarves for explosives to blow open a gap. But you can’t reach the dwarves until you get a canoe to cross rivers without a bridge. Finally you get an airship and can fly just about anywhere. Progression like that feels a lot more natural than just a guard literally gatekeeping you from one half of an island.
I can’t think of anything I particularly dislike about FF1, apart from maybe the grind. Once you get the pirate ship you hit a major level gate, where you need to grind for gil & EXP to get the equipment & levels you need to tackle the first real dungeon. There’s also a (potentially avoidable) grind where you need to buy a quest item with money, but that wasn’t as bad. Apart from that, it’s a lot of fun. Probably my favorite 8-bit era RPG out of the few I’ve played.
The best version of FF1 depends on how you feel about spell slots. Spells work on a D&D style slot system that requires the party to rest for them to recharge, and if you’re okay with that then the pixel remaster is perfectly serviceable. However if you really hate spell slots, the PSP remake ditches them in favor of good old-fashioned MP. It also has a bonus dungeon if that’s your thing, but RPG bonus content tends to be not-great. So be aware that’s not always a plus.
Final Fantasy 2
This game is bad.
Okay, full disclosure: I never beat this one, because I hated it. I try to only write reviews of games I’ve beaten unless it’s something meant to be played forever, but after 3.5 hours I just couldn’t stomach it anymore.
Final Fantasy 2 has multiple gimmicks: The first is despite having four party members, one disappears after a forced-failure fight at the beginning of the game. So until the end, your fourth party member slot gets rotated in & out by various other characters. It’s fine, later Final Fantasy games do similar things, it’s arguably a series staple by this point. That’s not what makes it bad though.
The second gimmick of FF2 is it uses a keyword system. This is one of the things that’s bad, but not egregiously bad. Basically sometimes NPCs will say things with words you can remember, then you can say these words to other NPCs to progress the story. The problem with this system is it’s limited by NES hardware. To remember a word, you have to select it manually to save it to your memory. If you don’t remember to do that, you have to talk to the NPC again. This can suck when you see a word from one NPC and need to travel across the map to another NPC, only to discover you didn’t save the word and need to go all the way back. It can also turn the game into say everything to everyone just to find progress, which is equally frustrating.
The third gimmick is the progression system. Rather than level up traditionally, you level up individual skills a-la Elder Scrolls or Kingdom Come: Deliverance. I like this kind of system, especially if the game starts all your skills at their lowest level, but FF2 does it really poorly.
For one, spells level up using this system. There’s no upgraded versions of varying spells, there’s just the base spells you can buy, and you have to level them up by casting over and over. Not only that, but HP and MP also level up with this system. When you take damage or cast spells, HP & MP go up. This does mean you can exploit the system by letting low-level enemies damage you, or by deliberately attacking yourself & healing, but it’d be a way better system if it was just the weapon skills that leveled instead of your vital stats & spells.
I should at least say some good things, but it’ll be brief: FF2 introduced a lot of common Final Fantasy staples: Cid, Chocobos, Dragoons, Ultima (as a spell), a lot of its bestiary, and was the start of the series experimenting with narrative. Though the less I say about Final Fantasy stories, the better.
Wait, that was supposed to be positive.
Oh, I got another good thing: I love the progression. The whole game revolves around a single town as your main hub, as almost every city you visit gets destroyed by the big bad empire. The game has a really dark tone that I’m a fan of, considering the series tends to be kind of nonsen- fuck I’m trying to be positive.
Okay I’m out of nice things to say: The biggest thing that makes FF2 so unbearable is the level design. Every, single, zone, in the entire game, is filled with completely empty square rooms, that you spawn directly in the middle of, where you endure absurd enemy encounter rates just to escape. If the enemies were tolerable it’d probably be okay, but the pixel remaster specifically patches status ailments doing nothing, so enemies can stun-lock you permanently as your HP drains from 400 to 0, ten HP at a time.
This is what made me quit. I reached the dreadnought, encountered enemies that can paralyze, and I haven’t picked it up since.
Naturally I don’t think any version of FF2 is going to be good. But if you must play it, the PSP version is supposed to be the best. At the very least FF2 is arguably the worst of the worst when it comes to mainline Final Fantasy games, so there’s no harm in skipping over it.
Final Fantasy 3
Another disclaimer: I didn’t play a ton of the pixel remaster, however I did play a bunch of the 3D remake in 2017. I’ll get to their differences at the end, but here’s what I think of the game in general.
Coming from the trash fire that is FF2, Final Fantasy 3 is a breath of fresh air. FF3 is to Final Fantasy what season 3 is to the Simpsons. It’s when the franchise really starts to take shape and form an identity.
Final Fantasy 3’s gimmick is the job system, legally distinct from Dragon Quest 3’s vocation system. Basically instead of choosing your class right from the start, you unlock new classes as you progress and can switch between them on-the-fly outside of combat, leveling each job individually. Fortunately Square learned their lesson after FF2, with jobs leveling separately from the party member. The job system is fun, but if you’ve played Final Fantasy V or Tactics it definitely feels dated by modern standards.
FF3 also introduces more series staples: Moogles, summons, the fat chocobo, and almost all of the classes introduced in the job system: Scholars, Geomancers, Dark Knights, Bards, Summoners, and Sages.
The game actually has some interesting gimmicks with the job system, but it also does some really forced & dumb things. A good interesting thing is entering a dungeon where the party has to shrink in size, giving themselves the Mini status effect. This makes their physical attacks do nothing, so to do meaningful damage you make everyone a caster. A bad forced thing is the boss fight against Garuda, where the only way she can be damaged is a Dragoon jump. The gimmicks range from “this is clever and makes sense” to “this is really forced & boring.” And at the end of the day that’s all they are: Gimmicks.
One thing FF3 does really well is the scale. You spend the first bit of the game on an island that you’re led to believe is the whole open world, then you get an airship really early on and discover you’re actually on a floating island above a massive ocean with two mainland continents. It’s a cool reveal, though it’d probably be cooler if there were more than one floating island and not just your own.
The one massive, glaring negative of Final Fantasy 3 is the late-game. Once you unlock your last airship, the game slows to a crawl where you clean up all the side content you missed, then go up one long, obnoxious dungeon that didn’t even have any save points until the pixel remaster added some. However despite that, I still recommend playing FF3 at least once. Despite the sluggish beginning & end, it’s a really solid middle that I enjoyed quite a bit.
The best version to play is hard to gauge. Not counting the Famicom original, the only versions of Final Fantasy 3 are the pixel remaster and the 3D remake; the latter originally came to DS, then got ported to PSP, iOS, and eventually Steam. The biggest changes the remake has is the party members are all named characters with their own backstories, and there’s some balance changes to enemies & bosses. They feel so different though that I think you can play either or both.
Final Fantasy 4
If you don’t think FF3 was the start of the series taking shape, Final Fantasy 4 solidifies its identity even more. Coincidentally you could probably say the same about the Simpsons. Jokes aside, Final Fantasy 4 is a common starting point recommendation for the very reason that it’s the first one to truly feel like a Final Fantasy game, while also not being deliberately offensive mechanically. Despite the simplicity I actually like it a lot, and could very well be in my top 5 favorite Final Fantasy games.
Final Fantasy 4 is arguably the most ‘normal’ game in the franchise, in no small part to how its main gimmick ended up being a mainstay for five more games after it: Active Time Battle. Instead of being strictly turn-based, every enemy & party member has their own meter that slowly generates in real-time. When it’s full they get a turn, and it resets to zero once said-turn is made. Simple, easy to understand, and would’ve made FF4 stand out more if it wasn’t reused for five more games after that.
Despite its gimmick being appropriated, FF4 does have some unique qualities to it. Rather than have a full party at all times, it fluctuates from 1–5 party members, with characters that come & go as you progress. There’s no class customization, no way to pick & choose who to take with you, the most you get is buying equipment and sometimes being able to choose between weapon types for certain characters. I don’t hate this, but it’s a little jarring for the game to be so rigid when the games before it were really free-form.
The only thing I’d call genuinely bad is the magnet cave. There’s one dungeon at around the game’s mid-point where you can’t wear any metal equipment, instead going through with leather & wood. It doesn’t take long, but having to unequip & re-equip your stuff is obnoxious and slows the pace down tremendously. Hell, I almost forgot about it until someone I follow on Twitter reminded me it exists. Other than that though, FF4 is really fun. Highly recommended, if only to see what ‘normal’ looks like for Final Fantasy.
Final Fantasy 4 has both a 2D and a 3D variant just like FF3 did, but unlike FF3 not only are there a lot more 2D versions (the best version of which being on PSP), but the differences between 2D & 3D are a lot more noticeable. It has voice acting, character abilities are changed, new abilities are added, and is arguably more charming to go through. However it’s also a lot harder than the 2D version, even after ports of the 3D remake reduced the difficulty. You can pick either one, but know you’ll be in for a harder time if you go 3D.
Final Fantasy 5
This is the best one.
Final Fantasy 5 appropriates not just active-time from FF4, but also the job system from FF3; and FF5 runs with the job system. Instead of leveling indefinitely to 99, jobs have a point where they’re considered ‘mastered.’ This is higher & lower depending on the job (sometimes absurdly high), but with each job level-up they unlock a side skill, and when mastered the freelancer inherits the job’s main stats. These side skills can be equipped regardless of the job you’re playing, effectively letting you dual-class.
There is so much potential for customization in FF5. Being able to equip any class at any time obviously adds a lot, but being able to mix & match jobs & side skills across four party members gives you so many more possibilities, and just about anything will work assuming you understand the mechanics of the game. People have beaten it while only reaching level 5, beaten it while only using one job, beaten it without using any jobs apart from the starting freelancer, I don’t think there’s any party build that doesn’t work.
On top of all this, FF5 feels the most like a Final Fantasy game out of any other in the series. FF5 brings back Moogles and makes them more than just an out-of-place NPC, it introduces Tonberries, Gilgamesh, Shinryu, the Omega weapon, Blue Mages, Mystic Knights, Dancers, Samurai, Chemists, Carbuncles, and incorporates almost every other series staple from the games before it. This game has more Final Fantasy things than any other Final Fantasy game; at least before going 3D.
However there is one big caveat: For most of the game it’s a fairly smooth & easy ride, but once you reach endgame it gets to be kind of a grind. Jobs & characters both have separate EXP meters, and not every enemy gives the same ratio of character EXP to job EXP. So when you reach endgame you’ll likely have to grind in two separate locations to get ready for the final boss, which I almost guarantee you won’t be ready for on a first playthrough.
Despite that though, FF5 is easily my favorite in the series and is highly recommended to everyone. If you’re new to the series… I’d say start with FF1 and the pixel remasters. But if the NES games get on your nerves… I’d say skip to FF4. But after FF4, play Final Fantasy 5. Easily the most overlooked game of the series.
FF5 got four different releases, of which I think the best version is the GBA port. Unlike most RPGs, the bonuses you get in FF5 are actually really good. Just be sure to use a romhack to fix the music, since it gets crunched pretty badly on the hardware.
Final Fantasy 6
I’m gonna be butting heads by saying this, but I don’t really like 6.
You may have noticed that I avoid talking about the stories of these games. That’s because, in all honesty, I really don’t like the stories they tell. I’m not big on storytelling in general when it comes to video games, but I’ve found Final Fantasy stories to be especially boring, nonsensical, and impossible to take seriously.
That said, the story in Final Fantasy 6 is actually pretty good. Without spoiling anything, there’s a lot of unexpected turns and events where someone not-me would have an emotional reaction to, and I’m not just talking about the opera. Story’s good. That’s all I really have to say about it.
Oh, and since I’m keeping track I guess, FF6 introduces Cactuars, Machinists, Magitek, Rune Knights, Bismarck, Lakshmi, Phoenix, Midgardsormr, Alexander, Odin, Ultima (as a boss), and swapping out party members. Also an early form of limit breaks called a Desperation attack, but the conditions for them to happen are so specific you’ll probably never see one.
So why don’t I like FF6? Well, I’m someone who absolutely requires good gameplay for a game to keep my attention, and FF6’s gameplay is… variable. Its main gimmicks are twofold:
For one, the cast is huge. Not even counting temporary characters, there are fourteen party members you can recruit over the course of the game, and each one is a specific class with their own unique skills. Like I said in FF4, I don’t hate this. In fact I’d like it more here since you have more control over who’s in your party.
Emphasis on I would like it more, but it’s completely overshadowed by the second big gimmick: About five hours into the game, you unlock the Magicite system. As you progress, you unlock crystals with a set of spells associated with them. Equip them on a party member, and they’ll start gradually learning the spells as they earn AP (separate from EXP, just like FF5). I’m not a fan of this, on the basis that the spells kind of overshadow the unique class abilities. Everyone’s mechanical differences become irrelevant as they learn all the same spells & morph into identical casters.
That alone makes me not a fan, however the crystals also give a second bonus: When a party member levels up with EXP (again, separate from AP), the crystal they have equipped will give them a specific stat boost. So not only do you have to juggle to make sure everyone learns the spells you want them to, you also have to make sure they have the right crystals equipped so they get the stat boosts you want. It’s just confusing and not fun.
So yeah, I don’t like 6. This is a fan favorite, and if story alone is enough to keep you engaged then give it a try. But I’m personally not into it.
Final Fantasy 6 has two, arguably three versions you could call definitive: The SNES original as translated by Ted Woolsey, the GBA port with a new translation & bonus content, or the pixel remaster with the GBA translation, quality-of-life controls, and an enhanced opera scene.
I normally don’t mention translation differences, but people are surprisingly divided on the two different translations. The Woolsey crowd says it feels more human, while the GBA translation is more lore-accurate with proper Final Fantasy terminology. I personally can’t tell a difference.
The GBA version fixes bugs, but is also much brighter and has the same sound problems as FF5; both can be fixed with romhacks. The pixel remaster is similarly bright (especially in the overworld) but it’s the kind of difference you’d only notice in side-by-side comparisons. Supposedly the SNES original is best played with the Ted Woolsey Uncensored romhack. But in all honesty, I really don’t care enough about 6 to have an opinion on which version is the best.
Will I talk about the rest of the series?
I don’t know yet. I like Final Fantasy 7 enough, but after that I kind of stop caring. I definitely like the later entries, but after 7 (hell arguably starting with 7) the games start to get radically different from each other. It bounces back a bit with 9, but 8, 10, 13, and 15 are all games that stray from the formula considerably, and are hard to even recognize as Final Fantasy games. I did start replaying 7 after I got bored of 6, but that’s gone on indefinite hold and I’ll probably just skip forward again. Who knows?
Either way I hope my ramblings are insightful to you. I’m almost certain my opinion will differ from yours somewhere, so lemme know how you feel.
