Y'all aren't appreciating how good video game writing has gotten. Final Fantasy 1 basically has the worst story possible. It basically boils down to elemental demons did random elementally-appropriate bad things for no reason hundreds of years ago so you gotta kill them. And there's a SURPRISE TWIST at the very end.
About four centuries ago, a group of people known as the Lufenian used the wind crystal's power to craft a giant aerial station ("Flying Fortress") and airships, and watched their country decline as the wind crystal went dark. Tiamat, the fiend of wind, waged a battle against them, taking over their flying fortress and the Mirage Tower. A Lufenian called Cid hid an airship on the south continent.
About two centuries ago, Kraken, the fiend of water, used violent storms to sink the water shrine that served as the center of an ocean-based civilization to use it as his personal hideout and to darken the water crystal.
Shortly before the Light Warriors embark on their journey, Lich, the fiend of earth, darkens the earth crystal and plagues Melmond as the plains and vegetation decay. At an unspecified point, a sage called Lukahn tells of a prophecy that four Warriors of Light will save the world in a time of darkness. Marilith, the fiend of fire, awakens two centuries early as a response to the Warriors of Light's appearance and darkens the crystal of fire.
The four Warriors of Light appear, each carrying a darkened crystal, one of each element. They arrive at Cornelia, a powerful kingdom that has witnessed the kidnapping of its princess, Sarah, by a rogue knight named Garland who wants to conquer the kingdom. The Warriors of Light travel to the ruined Chaos Shrine in the corner of Cornelia, defeat Garland, and return Princess Sarah home. The grateful King of Cornelia rebuilds the drawbridge, enabling the Warriors of Light passage east of the country.
Traveling east, the Warriors of Light learn a dark elf wizard named Astos has been terrorizing the area surrounding the southern continent's inland sea, Elfheim, stealing a crystal the witch Matoya needs for sight, putting the prince of the elves into a coma, and stealing the crown of a minor western king. As they travel, they liberate the town of Pravoka from a band of pirates and acquire the pirates' ship for their use. The Warriors of Light travel across the water, but remain trapped within the Aldean Sea, in the center of a large continent. A large rock blocks the only exit from the sea. There is a group of dwarves in Mount Duergar trying to remove the rock, but they find themselves unable to proceed without Nitro Powder.
The Nitro Powder is contained in a locked room in Castle Cornelia, the only key to which is held by the sleeping elven prince. They retrieve the stolen crown, only to find the minor king was actually Astos. After defeating Astos, the Warriors of Light recover Matoya's crystal and return it to the witch, who makes them an herb (Jolt Tonic in later releases) to awaken the elven prince. The prince gives the warriors the Mystic Key, with which they travel to Castle Cornelia and retrieve the Nitro Powder, which they take to the dwarves to help them finish the canal. With the rock cleared, the Warriors of Light proceed into the greater world.
Sailing to Melmond, the Warriors of Light seek out and destroy the Fiend of Earth, the Lich, who is responsible for the earth's rotting. The Warriors of Light enter the volcano Mount Gulg and defeat the Fiend of Fire, Marilith, who was awakened two hundred years prematurely by the defeat of Lich. The Warriors acquire an airship and visit the Cardia Islands to meet with the dragon king Bahamut who tasks them to survive the Citadel of Trials and getting a Rat's Tail as proof of their deeds. When they return he upgrades their job classes.
The Warriors defeat the Fiend of Water, the Kraken, in an underwater palace near Onrac, and Tiamat, the Fiend of Wind, in the Flying Fortress. The Four Fiends defeated, and the crystals restored, the Warriors find their quest is not yet over: The power of the four restored crystals is still being absorbed by an unknown entity through a time portal located in the Chaos Shrine.
Once they travel 2,000 years into the past, the Warriors of Light meet the four arch-fiends newly created by Chaos. They defeat them, before Chaos can send the arch-fiends into the future to bring Garland back to the past, shortly before he would die during the fight with the Warriors of Light, and darken the crystals to steal their energy. Chaos turns out to be Garland who was not killed, but brought back into the past by the Four Fiends and empowered by the energy stolen from the four crystals to become Chaos. Garland created the time loop to live forever.
The Warriors of Light, upon defeating Chaos, return to their own time. Having broken the time loop, peace returns to the world. While the people are unaware the ordeal took place, and though the Warriors themselves do not recall their adventure either, order has been restored, and the darkness has been vanquished.
My actual hot take answer is Persona 5. I'd say Persona 3 but I literally do not remember a single story event in it.