All classic Final Fantasy games ranked

The classic Final Fantasy games — 1 through 6 — are all timeless classics, for one reason or another. While the Square Enix RPGs had a pretty rocky start, they were nonetheless impressive video games and constantly innovated in the role-playing game genre. When it comes to how we’re ranking these, it’s partially by personal preference, and what these games brought to the franchise as a whole based on the original release.

Though this list is focused on the original six classic games, I want to highlight another in particular: Mystic Quest. That’s right, it’s a great game, even if it’s incredibly simple. In fact, that’s why it’s so great. It was a great introductory RPG with incredible music, simple gameplay, and a whole lot of heart.

Sorry, all you FF2 fans out there — Final Fantasy 2 is mediocre at best. It’s still among the most interesting RPGs I’ve ever played, but it’s incredibly clunky and frustrating. The levels system was pretty unique for the time, but it was also never clear what you do to level up your stats efficiently. Depending on what version you played, certain methods were available.

The story itself is perfectly fine. I like the characters and the world it presents. It falls flat on its face with the addition of your final party member. By the time he shows up in the game, your party is assuredly way beyond him, making him an anchor to weigh the party down instead. The game was remarkably unintuitive to the point of being infuriating.

I still remember getting the Final Fantasy 1 strategy guide in the mail, because of Nintendo Power magazine. I didn’t have the game, and wouldn’t for many years, but I did borrow it from a friend. What a huge game it felt like!

You could do so much with just a few party