WHAT PLAY YOU!? Version 3.0

[BomberPat]

I love Final Fantasy IX, in spite of Zidane being a creep, and in spite of the story being complete nonsense. I think the supporting cast are more than strong enough to cover for Zidane, the world is really fun, and it's the only Final Fantasy game where it manages a large party well enough that "now you're going to have to play as a group of characters other than just the three you've spent half the game levelling up" never feels annoying. I like the little Active Time Events that show you other things going on in the world outside of your adventure.

When it came out, I'd gone back and played the earlier games for the first time, and I'd been pretty fed up with VIII, so moving away from the po-faced seriousness and the kind of sci-fi vibes of the previous two games and getting back to a world full of fantasy characters, princesses, knights, mages, and airships, all felt like a love story to the series that came before it - given how from X afterwards they start really tweaking the formula, I've always thought of IX as the swansong for the Final Fantasy series as it was. I really like how light-hearted IX is, and how it uses that to really sneak some emotional gut punches in - never mind Aerith, the first time I cried at a video game was in the Black Mage Village, and not even during my first playthrough.

I found X quite frustrating at the time. I didn't like the characters, I didn't like the voice acting, I didn't like the story, I didn't like the loss of the world map, and I found the optional bosses far too over the top. I've never been tempted to play it again, and while I did eventually play XII, X was really my jumping off point for the main series. There were things I enjoyed about XII, but I couldn't tell you a single thing about the characters or the stories now - I think it's the only Final Fantasy game where I was enjoying grinding and combat more than the story.

 

If I had to rank them, with the caveat that I started with VII so it was always be my baseline for how JRPGs work, and cutting out the NES games and everything after X because I either didn't play or don't remember them, my order would look something like this:

VII > IX > VI > IV > VIII > V > X

Though I haven't played IV or V in years, so that's largely on vibes - IV is one I remember loving the story of, but maybe I would find the game frustrating now, whereas V is one that I always find hard to get into, but accept that I'm missing something and that there is something really good in there somewhere.

 

 

I recently got through a replay of FF7 Remake, and a first play of FF7 Intergrade. I tried to do as much as possible, but with no walkthrough or hints, and I haven't gone back to get all the things I missed, I may do that eventually, though I'm not that kind of a completist with these games any more. I think the story is flawed and odd, but I enjoyed it maybe more than I did on first playthrough, and I'm looking forward to playing Part 2 when I get round to buying it. I find a lot of the FF7 expanded universe quite dull - all the sequels and prequels, and everything to do with Zack, and all the cliché anime villains they populated SOLDIER with - but Remake seems to get the balance pretty good.

[The King Of Swing]

FFVII Remake being a great game is a hill I'm willing to die on. One of my favourite games from the PS4 gen, along with Nier Automata. 

Still haven't completed Rebirth. I'd don't even dislike it, it's just too much all at once and quickly grinds me down. 

Might just bump the difficulty down in a future playthrough, to get it over with. 

I hope SE better balance everything in the third game. Whenever that comes out. 

[RedTwoster]

12 hours ago, BomberPat said:

recently got through a replay of FF7 Remake, and a first play of FF7 Intergrade. I tried to do as much as possible, but with no walkthrough or hints, and I haven't gone back to get all the things I missed, I may do that eventually, though I'm not that kind of a completist with these games any more. I think the story is flawed and odd, but I enjoyed it maybe more than I did on first playthrough, and I'm looking forward to playing Part 2 when I get round to buying it. I find a lot of the FF7 expanded universe quite dull - all the sequels and prequels, and everything to do with Zack, and all the cliché anime villains they populated SOLDIER with - but Remake seems to get the balance pretty good.

Rebirth is an editor away from being a sensational game. I really enjoyed it, but some of the later dungeons are needlessly long and utterly tedious. They’re not challenging, just padded out with large amounts of nothing. Without spoiling it, there’s part of the game where half of the party goes to a certain location and lets the other half sleep in (or something like that - I may be misremembering the reason, but you do leave them behind) and you assume there’s a storyline reason for this. It’s a looooong trip to that location.

When everyone else wakes up, you have to  then have them make almost the exact same journey to the exact same location. It’s unnecessary and boring. The game is still great, but there are too many moments like that for me to truly love it.

For me, it’s probably (mainline entries only, minus the online games):

VII - VI - XVI - XV - V - IX - XII - VIII - X - IV - XIII - III - I - II

If I’d included sequels and spin-offs, XIII-2 would be pretty highly placed. 

 

[Cousin Jim Bob]

Any Dragon Quest fans here? Notice DQVII Re-imagined is just about to come out and was wondering if was worth a look ?

I've not played any in the series.

Edited February 4 by Cousin Jim Bob

[FLips]

@BomberPatyour experience with XII is almost note for note the same as me. I did everything there was to do in it, invisible weapons I had to manipulate my PS4 to get, superbosses I had to fight for hours, 100 trials, the lot. I can't tell you with confidence the story or name of any of the characters from it though.

With the benefit of recent plays of them, my current ranking would be VI > VII > IX > X but if we're including all of them, I'd put IV and XII above X at this stage too. Didn't think much of XV or the demo of XVI, the gameplay isn't what I want from a Final Fantasy. I know VIII has it's fans but for me personally, any game you have to deliberately play "incorrectly" to get the best out of it is off to a losing start, and the story even by FF standards is all over the place. I played up to Disc 3 about 10 years ago and haven't tried since.

VII Remake I really enjoyed, but Rebirth completely lost me and I never bothered to finish it. Regardless of the quality of the games though, the practice of taking a fairly short RPG, spreading it over at least 3 games and spacing them out as remakes over more than a decade is grotesque and embarrassing.

Edited February 4 by FLips

[Chest Rockwell]

Enjoying the new content for Ball X Pit, seeing as I had done pretty much everything but couldn't help still having another run from time to time when watching TV.

[RedTwoster]

12 hours ago, Cousin Jim Bob said:

Any Dragon Quest fans here? Notice DQVII Re-imagined is just about to come out and was wondering if was worth a look ?

I've not played any in the series.

I played the 3DS remake, and while I’m under the impression they streamlined this version, I’m not inclined to play it based on that game alone.

Don’t get me wrong - I really liked it…at first. At around the 50 hour mark the game felt like it was about to wrap up, and rightly so. It goes on for another 80-90 hours. I got to the point where I had invested so much time in the game that I couldn’t give up, although I really, really wanted to.

A streamlined version of it could be excellent, but I’ve had my fill.

If you’ve not played any DQ games, XI is an excellent starting point and is one of the best RPGs on Switch. My favourite game in the series is the DS version of 5, but bizarrely there’s no legal way to play even the original version of the game on modern consoles. If that ever happens, I couldn’t recommend it enough.

I’m playing through the 3 remake at the moment and I’m really enjoying it, although it’s decidedly old school and definitely an acquired taste. Don’t play that one for its story, basically - it’s pretty threadbare.

[The Gaffer]

On 2/4/2026 at 9:28 AM, BomberPat said:

never mind Aerith, the first time I cried at a video game was in the Black Mage Village, and not even during my first playthrough.

Vivi's letter to his friends - which makes up the bulk of the direct narrative of the ending - absolutely destroys me. 

IX probably has the most satisfying, all-encompassing ending to a video game ever. It's hard to think of anything that comes close. Bittersweet, logical, all the heavy hitters get a say in it.

The timing of the score, the symmetry of how its structured - much like the game's opening - around a stage play, "Bring my beloved Dagger to me!" It's fucking sensational. 

Edited February 5 by The Gaffer

[Supremo]

Forcing myself to play through Alan Wake Remastered because I’d never played it and have heard so much good stuff about Alan Wake 2, which is now free on PS Plus. Felt I needed to do the homework first. Remastered as my main course, then the sequel as dessert.

It hasn’t aged too bad. Atmosphere and story is amazing, but gameplay is atrocious. Such a slog. Constantly getting unfairly killed by a random floating car being thrown at me from behind. Fuck off!

[RedTwoster]

19 minutes ago, Supremo said:

Forcing myself to play through Alan Wake Remastered because I’d never played it and have heard so much good stuff about Alan Wake 2, which is now free on PS Plus. Felt I needed to do the homework first. Remastered as my main course, then the sequel as dessert.

It hasn’t aged too bad. Atmosphere and story is amazing, but gameplay is atrocious. Such a slog. Constantly getting unfairly killed by a random floating car being thrown at me from behind. Fuck off!

That’s exactly how I felt. I enjoyed the story, but I was ready for it to be over! 

Alan Wake 2 is significantly improved from a gameplay perspective, and if you really want to do your homework, Control exists in the same universe and AW2 acts as a sequel to that game too in some ways - not to the point you actually need to play it, but there are connecting threads between the games that you’d miss if you’ve not played it.

Thankfully, Control is great fun from a gameplay perspective so it should feel as frustrating to play as AW does.

There’s also an AW spin-off - Alan Wake’s American Nightmare - which I’d definitely read the plot summary of before starting 2) 

I played Control at the same time as AW2, mainly because I really wanted to know what happened next. 

Gameplay wise, I thought Control was better, story/atmosphere wise, AW2 trumps control. But they’re both worth playing.

[Ironic Indie Lad]

On 2/4/2026 at 10:12 PM, Cousin Jim Bob said:

Any Dragon Quest fans here? Notice DQVII Re-imagined is just about to come out and was wondering if was worth a look ?

I've not played any in the series.

There is a fairly substantial demo (4-5 hours) available.

I played it on Switch 2 and thoroughly enjoyed it to the point I have bought the full version.

THOUGHTS ETC:

I really love the art style. Apparently they made dolls of all the characters and based the look of the game on the dolls. Its somewhat reminiscent of the Links Awakening remake from a few years back.

All the areas have a diorama feel to them. You can rotate the camera to see the areas from different angles. Reminds me of the Captain Toad Treasure Tracker levels and also the excellent Xenogears (which needs to be released again NOW)

Music and dialogue is all very charming.

Its an unashamedly old school 80s/90s feeling classic JRPG. If that's your thing, I think you would love this. That being said theres a lot of customisation in terms of battle speed, healing after every battle, experience and money gained etc. It isn't necessarily a slog like playing the original versions of some of these games can be.

If you are in any way interested in the fascinating history of Dragon Quest then I really @thedatalog on YouTube. Some really good videos on Dragon Quest and other early RPGs (Ys, Phantasy Star etc) on there. 

[RedTwoster]

1 hour ago, Ironic Indie Lad said:

All the areas have a diorama feel to them. You can rotate the camera to see the areas from different angles. Reminds me of the Captain Toad Treasure Tracker levels and also the excellent Xenogears (which needs to be released again NOW)

I’m amazed that this hasn’t happened yet, given the popularity of Xenoblade Chronicles. It seems like an easy win for Square Enix. 

Then again, it’s still not possible to play one of their most beloved games of all time - Chrono Trigger - on modern consoles, so maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised by that. 

[Jazzy G]

I see Dovetail have announced a Thomas game based on Train Sim World. They've obviously already announced a deluxe edition as well with more characters. Looks interesting, but it if barely ran on an Original XBox One I'm not looking forward to seeing how it'd run on a Switch 2. Could be fun, could be unplayable dogshit. I also wonder whether this means they're seeing whether they'll be able to start clogging Switch 2 memory cards up with routes, locos etc. 

 

 

Edited February 6 by Jazzy G

[Ironic Indie Lad]

Just to chime in with my own personal Final Fantasy rankings, seeing as I have played or re-played many of them over the last 2 years.

VII or VI is the best. Depends on what day you ask really. Great worlds, great stories, great characters, endlessly satisfying battles and two absolute all time classic soundtracks.

IV would be next for me and its not even that far behind.

X is next. Huge departure from the top 3 but I really enjoy the battle mechanics in this one. Theres some very clever boss fights and I enjoy the levelling up system. It also quite simply has immaculate sunny vibes.

IX I enjoyed a lot the first time I played it. I did a recent playthrough and enjoyed it much, much less.

VIII is probably the most divisive. I am on the negative side of the debate here. I really just dont enjoy the progression in this and can't get past that. I quite like the setting and characters but not enough to get beyond my issues with the progression and battles. 

V is really good to be fair but its easily the least remarkable of the 3 Super Nintendo ones. 

 

 

[TildeGuy~!]

IX will always be my favourite, Rebirth is one of the best games made in the last 20 years, Remake is also up there for me.  VII is tons of fun, I really enjoyed VIII but the mechanics for equipping characters are terrible.  Not played any before VII - guess I’ve been waiting for the pixel remasters to come down in price.