I'd probably say:
Final Fantasy IV is probably my runner up. It was probably the first RPG I ever played (just bits and pieces at a friend's house - didn't actually play it from start to finish until it was out on GBA lol).
IX is good but I never beat it as a kid as it didn't resonate with me like VII, VIII and Tactics did, but I can see it's charm.
Yeah, I'm a sucker for the late PSX era hardware rendering of Amano designs. 
Only rating the story and presentation cuz it's all i care about really.
7 was great, cried real tears, felt real hate for an imaginary character. Was the perfect time for me to experience that story too, so it's really my forever #1. The others were good, but comparably forgettable.
Played 6,7,8,9,10.
(Important to note ff7 was only my second-ever rpg so yeah, nostalgia)-
Hot takes alert:
I have not played 16
XII is great, there's so much side questing to do you can get lost in the sauce with it. I still need to beat it and try out the international zodiac job system.
X
IX
VI
X is my all time favorite though. I'm glad it got a sequel for its epilogue. The world building is phenomenal. The way Pyreflies, Aeons, Fiends, and more are incorporated into Spira makes the world believable.
My only gripe is that in the thousand years since Sin's appearance, only five summoners have succeeded in bringing a Calm. That just seems so unlikely, and it makes more sense to me if there were more successful pilgrimages. Otherwise why bother keeping the pilgrimage as a practice?
VIII almost made my top 3 but was still beaten out by VII. Still it's a fantastic game with a really unique world.
Yeah. I understand the complaints, but it holds a special place in my heart. Probably my favorite game ever.
ff8isthe.best/
tbh I've only played 7, 7 remake, and about half of 10
actually I also tried Tactics but I'm dumb and bad at strategy games so I gave up after 3 levels or so
The great part about fft is that most things in the game can be cleared just by power leveling (or gameshark!)
lol fr. kill all but one enemy, leave them weak so they run away, then just sit your party next to each other and fuck each other up and heal and buff and whatever. just get job exp ez style. you can even pump stats up this way.
also some classes/skills are way more OP than others (monk chakra and revive for instance vs traditional healing like a priest or a chemist)
Tactics
8
14
This is the correct order and I won't hear anything else about it. Tactics is undisputed the best, 8 has Doom Train and Alexander summons and they're so fucking cool it squeaks 8 into second, and 14 would be 2nd if it wasn't impossibly long and expensive.
I like them all so it's tough to choose. I'll split into mainline and spin-offs
Mainline:
Sequels/spin-offs:
I'm usually crucified for this among 
s, but I haven't played any FF games prior to 10. I didn't really grow up on JRPGs and I don't really find the minute-to-minute decisions you make in those interesting compared to the narrative choices you get in a lot of Euroamerican RPGs.
So my order, leaving out Tactics/Tactics Advance (which are great) and the MMOs, is something like:
I like the aesthetics of 12, even the audio that sounds like they're speaking into tin cans. I like most of the characters and that you can switch your party around freely and kind of pretend whoever you want is the MC. The job board system is what people think the sphere grid system was in that it has some actually interesting choices in it that aren't just stat buffs (though there's also a lot of those). Being in Ivalice is ofc a plus cuz it's the best setting. And I wish more games had something like the Gambit system. I think Pillars of Eternity? or some other CRPG had scriptable companions like that so you didn't have to control them manually, which made things way more tolerable cuz I kind of hate real time with pause for how busy it is.
X is just strong all around even though the characters are sometimes cringe. Some day they will make a standalone blitz ball game just for me. I would play the hell out of that just like I played the hell out of the bigot wizard sports game on the PS2. Good cast, good fights, good music. X-2 is pretty much the same but with better gameplay.
Otherwise it's Tactics, Tactics Advance, FFXI. I actually played and liked 13, very recently dropped off of 13-2 halfway through cuz it's worse in every way. Don't like open worlds so couldn't get into either 15 or 16. The Tactics games are just classics though and even though Advance has a lighter tone, I still thought it was very relatable and it was only after that where it really became schlock. I actually like the judge and card system and there was a time I got one of my archers red carded on purpose by sniping a mage that was pissing me off. But it felt so good.
I've played 11 and 14 and I'm no longer interested in MMOs in general and deleted my WoW account I had since vanilla like 5 years ago. But when I did play, both were good games, just very different. And thinking of which one I'd play again if I had the time, it would be 11, because it really reminds me of Ragnarok Online and other old MMOs where experimentation and esoteric quests and stuff like that were still present. It also absolutely requires party play to do anything beyond like level 10 with any sort of efficiency. It's just too bad most private server players are boomers who complain about their wives and blue haired cashiers all day.
I haven't played Tactics Advanced, VIII, IX, or X yet so it's subject to change. I also wanna revisit the first 6 pixel remasters at some point.
🥇 Twelve
🥈 Fifteen
🥉 Bravely Second
I played twelve to 100% completion as a kid (except killing Yiazmat) so it's formative to what fantasy games are to me. The incredible worldbuilding of Ivalice is something that I've yet to see done in another game.
I adore the boy band of fifteen and even though I think the plot is trite and perfunctory, it's still one of my favorite games because the camaraderie is so strong. It really captures the (final) fantasy of having friends and time to spend with them.
Do the Bravely games count? I think they do. Anyway, the second game has the most fun combat system out of any jrpg I've played. The plot's cheesy, but it executed it very sincerely which is refreshing and I'll never forget the moment where
endgame spoiler
you break the dimensional barrier between the game and the Celestial Realm and you see yourself through the cracks in reality. As in, it's literally YOUR FACE on the screen being rendered in real time through the 3DS front-facing camera.
Bravely has at least as much Final Fantasy DNA in it as FFV, so yeah, probably.
Come to think of it, it's really strange how the bravely games didn't get numbers, but the two MMOs did
Mystic Quest, Crystal Chronicles: My Life as King, and World of Final Fantasy, because I am 5 years old.
OK, real answer is the boring Elder Millennial Who Grew Up With an SNES staples: 4, 6, and 7, but not necessarily in that order. And I do genuinely miss that WiiWare My Life As King city builder/hero management game sometimes because it was very chill. But otherwise, yeah. Death to Shinra, Kefka gets an Atma Weapon/Offering combo applied directly to the face, and ROBOT SPACESHIP WHALE FROM THE MOOOOOOOOON MOTHERFUCKERS
Edit: FF1 Pixel Remaster isn't half bad, either. It removes a lot of the tediousness from the original, which, yeah, that cuts the playtime down by around 60%, but it's possible to actually finish the game without wanting to jab your own eyes out with knitting needles, which is nice.
tactics, 6, 4
10 is very close to 3rd
I need to sit down with 10, I don't think I gave it a fair shake.
it's very melancholy. the whole thing is just kinda depressing without getting into spoilers. great game, fun battle system, loved the summons (even the secret ones!)
but also if you finish X you can play the sequel X2 which gives you 3 pretty ladies in your party with a sick job system, the story is whatev
Pro tip/hot take for FFX2: don't worry about getting the "perfect" ending - just play the game as-is
If you want to hear some discussion about what people like about it (and don't care about spoilers), Abnormal Mapping has a pretty good episode.
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy Tactics A2
VI, IX and II. VIII I like but is a hot mess
II is an interesting choice, most fans don't like it.
I've always loved it. Darker themes, and the Rose rebellion march is a banger.
XII - not being the main character (or half of the party being the main character) made for really interesting dynamics as the party were swept through each others' worlds, and I loved how it implemented rtwp. More games should have a gambit system.
X - Easily my favourite turn based battle mechanics in a game. Turn order and manipulation, overkills, overdrives, kicking a ball at someone's head and calling it an attack, Auron. The Zanarkand sequence at the start might be my favourite opening to a game, too.
Origin: Stranger of Paradise - I will not accept that this is some "alternate universe" or reimagining of the first game, as far as I'm concerned it's a banger of a prequel with a story that does a great job of deconstructing the heroes of light trope and overcomplicating the plot of the first game enough to bring it in line with other entries. The Souls-like gameplay changed up the classic formulas in interesting ways, and implemented the classic classes really well within that.
4,5,2
There was only one final fantasy game, a story about the Warriors of Light who must defeat the fiends who darkened the elemental crystals.
I'm ready to be burned at the stake for my list.
Oh shit i missed something very relevat to my interests. Honestly my list fluctuates all the time and like, the possiblity of including Tactics makes it even worse
I think
is pretty solidly true for me
But 3 could be any of IV, VI, VII, or Tactics for me depending on mood.
I also have huge soft spots for XII and XIII and think both are underated (for different reasons, also XII has been more appreciated in recent years).
Tabletop, DnD, board games, and minecraft. Also Animal Crossing.
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