Current Events > Between 12, 13, 15, and 16, which Final Fantasy is most worth playing?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Surprise bonus option.

16 or SoP.

Because I haven't played them so I can't definitely say they're as bad as the rest.

XII is my favorite of those for sure.

12 (as long as it's the Zodiac Age. The original is really bad) or 16

16 and SoP are my favorite of that bunch. SoP is most definitely a more budget entry though.

12 is just a bad game. I never played the ones after it (aside from 14 which is a mmo) because of how bad 12 was.

XIV

Definitely 12

I went with 12. I really enjoyed the license board and that whole system.

its close between 12 and 16, im leaning towards 16 atm. I feel like 12 felt unfinished, especially towards the end

13 has the worst character in video game history

12 >= 16 > 15 > 13 (might actually swap 15 and 13, idk).

I really loved 16, though it doesn't necessarily have the FF feel whereas 12 absolutely does

12 if TZA. 16 otherwise

13 >>>>> 15 >>> 16 > 12 > SoP
Judging by music alone.

I played the Zodiac Age version of FFXII a few years ago and really enjoyed it, to the point that it might be my third or fourth favorite in the series, though I've heard the original version was much worse (not that it matters here, since you specified the modern version). I haven't played XVI or SoP, so I can't comment on those, but I would definitely put XII above the rest; XV was... playable, though I also didn't play it until a few years ago, when it was 'complete', and as for XIII... XIII is my least favorite of the series.

12 was fun it felt like a offline mmo at times but with macros as for combat at the time. I have the Zodiac Age but I barely played it.

*sigh* I could ramble more. I like the idea of big exploration.

FF7 Remake & Rebirth

12 assuming it's TZA

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

12 fucked up the cast entirely. Should have been:

Ashe as the MC
Larsa is the one who rescues her from the escape.
Reks isn't killed but takes the over the pariah role of Bosch where he's falsely branded a traitor. By the time he joins the party he'll be several years older as well.
Balthier and Fran join like normal.
Elza (Joins after Reddas Death).

Just delete Gabranth from existence. Such a stupid plot. Have his role just been Bosch the whole time.

there. Final Fantasy 12 has been saved.

Tyranthraxus posted...

Final Fantasy 12 has been saved.

That isn't the game's major problem though regarding story and characters. It's not which characters they picked, it's that the characters are underwritten for the scope of the game. There is far too few time actually spend on them in order to make them interesting and fully realized characters. Even without engaging with the side content, you have hours upon hours of gameplay between cutscenes with the party never truly interacting much beyond the main plot. So you're left with a party that just doesn't leave much of an impact beyond Balthier & Bash, the only characters with actual ties to a villain for most of the game.
The way I see it, "saving" FFXII would require adding things like FFVII's Golden Saucer date where characters actually interact with each other beyond giving their opinion on the usage of WMD.

Tyranthraxus posted...

12 fucked up the cast entirely. Should have been:

Ashe as the MC
Larsa is the one who rescues her from the escape.
Reks isn't killed but takes the over the pariah role of Bosch where he's falsely branded a traitor. By the time he joins the party he'll be several years older as well.
Balthier and Fran join like normal.
Elza (Joins after Reddas Death).

Just delete Gabranth from existence. Such a stupid plot. Have his role just been Bosch the whole time.

there. Final Fantasy 12 has been saved.

What should have happened was Ashe being given the Laguna treatment from FF8. 20-30 minute scenarios that detail her attempt at getting back influence throughout the kingdom and halfway through the game she joins the main party.

I say FF13. That combat system was a lot of fun and the music was fantastic. It's one of my favorite games in the franchise.

15 with all the DLC is better than half the games in the poll and I won't elaborate on which ones

13 is actually my favorite to replay haha.

Stranger of Paradise is definitely worth a playthrough, at least for the gameplay because it's fun as hell. Story is pretty bleh. DLC has some pretty good additional jobs to make gameplay even better.

I didn't care for 12 tbh.

13, while I liked the trilogy many did not, so that's up to you.

I'd pass on 15.

16 is pretty decent.

ChrisTaka posted...

15 with all the DLC is better than half the games in the poll and I won't elaborate on which ones

This is false.

12 is actually a great game just not up to the standard of the ones that came before it. Only 14 is up to that standard.

Never played 16

12 and 13 are mediocre

15 was just straight up bad

12 or 13 I guess. between the 2 I might have actually liked XIII a bit more.

I suppose it really depends on what you like in games, they all have very different strengths and weaknesses, but as a generic answer I'd lean towards 13 since it has my favorite combat system of the four of them and, love them or hate them, it has the most memorable characters. It also has the best soundtrack of them, narrowly beating 16, IMO.

Trouble is, it's a PS3 game that suffers from the "make tiny pretty hallways" game design of the time, making it extremely linear, and the narrative is not their best work besides. And while it was designed as and works as a standalone story, they obviously made the two sequels so it feels a little overwhelming.

I also like 12 and 16, which do some things better and some things worse. I don't really have anything nice to say about 15, but I also only played it at launch.

ChrisTaka posted...

15 with all the DLC is better than half the games in the poll and I won't elaborate on which ones

I played it with all the DLC, and walked away from it thinking "why was most of the character development relegated to expansion packs?". And the Episodes have no effect on the base game either.

TheSavageDragon posted...

That isn't the game's major problem though regarding story and characters. It's not which characters they picked, it's that the characters are underwritten for the scope of the game. There is far too few time actually spend on them in order to make them interesting and fully realized characters. Even without engaging with the side content, you have hours upon hours of gameplay between cutscenes with the party never truly interacting much beyond the main plot. So you're left with a party that just doesn't leave much of an impact beyond Balthier, the only character with actual ties to a villain for most of the game.
The way I see it, "saving" FFXII would require adding things like FFVII's Golden Saucer date where characters actually interact with each other beyond giving their opinion on the usage of WMD.

But with the cast I've picked you've got a more structured dynamic with various points of view contributing to a party dynamic. One of the biggest reasons character development went nowhere is because of Vaan who has no connection to the plot besides "my brother was killed in the war" like boo hoo you and millions of other dalmascans what makes you so special? And Penelo who's only identity is Vaan's side piece and brief DID.

The way Vaan just accepts that bullshit evil twin story is also just really bad writing and to make matters worse we know Balthier knew the whole time and we know Basch knew Balthier and we know Reddas also knew and NONE OF THEM ACTUALLY SAY ANYTHING but Vaan just accepts it.

To make matters worse Basch's story is heavily redundant with Balthiers'. This is probably why they never said anything about it in character because the game needed you to believe for most of it that Balthier was a free agent with no history except sky piracy.

Instead with my cast you get the following new perspectives and story:

Ashe - doesn't really change any, she was fine from the beginning.

Larsa - while his perspective doesn't actually change, adding him to the main roster will give you more of it and makes it clear that even people who benefit from WMDs still object to their use. Larsa can take the place of Penelo for the kidnapping scene and makes more sense why Balthier would help.

Reks - is now a cynical burnt vet motivated by revenge and supports Ashe in her quest to use the Deicite against Vayne where as before Ashe was effectively alone in this goal.

Balthier - can assume the relevant portions of Basch's story that were left over after Reks took the front loaded stuff.

Fran - needed a bit more character development with the viera at large but otherwise wasn't a bad character.

Elza - Basically joins the group to get justice for Reddas' death. She assumes the role of judge in the ending as Basch is the one killed defending Larsa in this scenario and Balthier doesn't want to do it.

In the ending you can have Ashe & Reks getting hooked up to lead the newly liberated Dalmasca.

Maybe I'll just write up the whole fucking thing and put it on AO3

Tyranthraxus posted...

One of the biggest reasons character development went nowhere is because of Vaan who has no connection to the plot besides "my brother was killed in the war" like boo hoo you and millions of other dalmascans what makes you so special? And Penelo who's only identity is Vaan's side piece and brief DID.

That's only 2 out of a party of 6 though.
And you go on to say Fran "needed a bit more development" while she just barely manages to be beyond the level of Vaan and Penelo in terms of writing. The only things she really has going for her are her design and being Chewie to Balthier's Han Solo. The character development goes nowhere for half of the party, so I don't see how removing those characters would magically make it so that the new party members are actually developed beyond a scene or 2.

To use your Rekts as an example of inserting him into the game as it currently is written....he'd be talked out of it by Balthier or Fran after a scene or 2 of him heavily supporting it and then that conflict gets forgotten about for the remaining 60% of the game.
That's not to say I dislike your ideas or I am opposed to them. I just don't think it would solve anything as the problem isn't just a few characters, the problem is that the game's narrative chooses to focus on the larger scope of the story rather than the characters in the story along with the massive scope of the world and the relatively few cutscenes in between large segments of just roaming the world.

SoP is oddly more fun than the rest by virtue of the MC constantly telling everyone to stfu during plot reveals so that he can go destroy Chaos.

For the rest, I'll go with 12 I guess. Man, FF has kind of sucked for awhile now

12 = 13 >>>> 16 >>>>>>>> 15

12 is the only one from that list I've beaten (or for that matter put more than a few hours into), so that. I loved certain parts of it and liked it enough overall to play through several times, but it was clearly the beginning of the end of the franchise's heyday even before 13 dropped.

ironman2009 posted...

13 has the worst character in video game history

doyouhaveanyideahowlittlethatnarrowsitdown.jpg

Interestingly, I've played all the games around their release. After playing 16 for a few hours, I found it far surpassed the others on the list for me. I completed FFXII back in 2006 and found it very underwhelming. I'm fully on board with the idea that there could have been a better story by changing perspectives and expanding a lot on the relationships between the cast; either Ashe or, ideally for me, Balthier would've been optimal main characters. Larsa, Reddas, and Vossler too could have been interesting additions. FFXIII just felt mediocre, confusing, and limited. I dropped it very soon after buying it at launch in 2009, and wondering what was left for the series.

As for FFXV, the gameplay was horribly botched, and it may be my biggest disappointment of the past generation. I spent tens of hours trying to bring myself to like it, before feeling overwhelmed by how shallow and barren the world and its idea of acting in it was. If they had focused on what worked and not diluted it, it could've been a far more enjoyable entry.

Unironically, if you like action games, Stranger of Paradise.

If you like traditional RPGs, FF13.

If you liked Vagrant Story, FF12.

12 for me basically just came down to exploring I guess. Sure Basch shoulda been the main character and Balthier is cool af but I liked just battling and exploring.

I definitely prefer a story but back then I just forgave how bad a lot of the character development or story was.

Its funny, 12 was such a horrendous entry in the FF series that it made a number of fans quit and seemed like the end. They basically went from 10, which was huge (even if Tidus laugh was horrible), into a MMO many didnt care about, into this game with bad characters and broken combat. It was ambitious, but it failed miserably for the time.

Fast forward many years later, and the franchise has gone so far downhill people look at 12 with fondness.

12 followed by 13.

I didnt like 15 much and never played 16 because of it.

BDSMKane posted...

Its funny, 12 was such a horrendous entry in the FF series that it made a number of fans quit and seemed like the end. They basically went from 10, which was huge (even if Tidus laugh was horrible), into a MMO many didnt care about, into this game with bad characters and broken combat. It was ambitious, but it failed miserably for the time.

Fast forward many years later, and the franchise has gone so far downhill people look at 12 with fondness.

FFXII was highly praised at the time.

Yeah, a lot of FF fans disliked it, but plenty of people thought it was a fantastic game.

I fucking loathed FF16. Finished that game out of raw spite.

The rest of those aren't great either, but I'd probably go with 12.

Easy. XII.

I enjoyed 16 and 15. Never finished 12 but I've been meaning to give it another go with the remastered version.

15 is hard to recommend though because it's a multimedia experience

Tanthalas posted...

FFXII was highly praised at the time.

Yeah, a lot of FF fans disliked it, but plenty of people thought it was a fantastic game.

Yep. The PS2 version has a 92 on Metacritic. The game is incredible and felt like the future of Final Fantasy - a perfect blend of Japanese and Western inspired elements. Everyone thought the groundwork was there to bring FF into a modern era.

And then FF 13 happened and the series hasn't been the same since...

I at least like all the main entries but 13, 15, and 16 all leave a lot to be desired. FF 16 is easily the best of the bunch though.

LowRyder2005 posted...

As for 15, ah. The gameplay was horribly botched, and it may be my biggest disappointment of the past generation for me. I spent tens of hours trying to bring myself to like it, before feeling overwhelmed by how shallow and barren the world and gameplay were. Had they taken what worked and not diluted it, it could've been a far more enjoyable entry.

One of my favorite bits from Conan's Clueless Gamer was how he ripped Final Fantasy 15 so mercilessly that he felt compelled to personally apologize to members of the dev team when he found out they were there visiting.

BDSMKane posted...

Its funny, 12 was such a horrendous entry in the FF series that it made a number of fans quit and seemed like the end. They basically went from 10, which was huge (even if Tidus laugh was horrible), into a MMO many didnt care about, into this game with bad characters and broken combat. It was ambitious, but it failed miserably for the time.

Fast forward many years later, and the franchise has gone so far downhill people look at 12 with fondness.

Fair point though 12 is when I tried the series again, but 13 seemed to do critically and fanwise(?) worse. 12 mostly was that fun game bad story and characters which sure sounds damning but it was fun enough for me to explore and do things. I thought the characters were OK. I didn't like Vaan or Penelo much but at the time I didn't dislike my time spent with them either.

I guess maybe that's why I didn't play the Zodiac Age on the PS4 much though I have it and a nice strategy guide actually. I had just moved on but I look back on thinking the game was aight.

15 in last place, as it should be. Its the worst game in the entire series imho. Id rather play 1 and 2 even