I Have Never Played a Final Fantasy Game. Which One Should I Start With?

[SystemsReady]

If you want a mean-spirited RPG, play Digital Devil Saga. Final Fantasies are fairly easy as far as JRPGs go, even FFX. A lot of people do challange games where they don't level the sphere grid just to make the game hard.

Shin Megami Tensei in general makes people cry, lol. It's a good thing I played and beat FFX before jumping into Persona 3 FES because wow...The Answer is incredibly cruel.

[KyleJCrb]

Mystic Quest!

Agree with this dude.

[Cecilff2]

The only FF game to have a sequel was FFX, which was FFX 2. Aside from that, you are correct. Nothing is linear or connected. I would advise playing VI first.

IV had the After Years which takes place 17 years after the original ends. It's quite a bit of a grind compared to the original. And while it used mostly music from the original game, the new tunes it did add were

.

[orlouge82]

Chrono Trigger.

Yes; however, a few rough bosses doesn't make the whole game unforgiving. Dark Souls is unforgiving; FFX is merely mean-spirited on occasion. Either way, I still enjoyed the game enough, and I think it could actually be a fair intro to the series, though not necessarily representative of the majority.

You clearly didn't spend a bunch of time maxing out your sphere grids in the Omega Dungeon. One hit kills on all of the final bosses. Now, the Arena monsters WERE unforgiving, I'll give you that.

[Kenogu Labz]

Eh, you can break most Final Fantasies with a little grinding.

[Gollgagh]

In every FF that I've played (excepting Tactics, I guess), if you never run from a battle, you should hardly ever find yourself under-leveled for an encounter.

[Argle]

IV had the After Years which takes place 17 years after the original ends. It's quite a bit of a grind compared to the original. And while it used mostly music from the original game, the new tunes it did add were

.

I have the After Years on my PSP version of FF4, I've never played it because I'm not sure I want to potentially ruin the FF4 experience by playing a mediocre add-on.

[BardicKnowledge]

I have the After Years on my PSP version of FF4, I've never played it because I'm not sure I want to potentially ruin the FF4 experience by playing a mediocre add-on.

After Years is fantastic. Assuming you've beaten FFIV, it is _well_ worth your time. The "Interlude" is the weak link on the PSP package; go in to it with the understanding that it was meant as a two-hour jRPG originally released for cell phones. It does tie FFIV to After Years fairly well though, so it's worth the two hour jaunt through the game.

Seriously though, if you have _any_ amount of nostalgia for FFIV, you'll love After Years. The only issue at all is that the final dungeon is a little long...but there are convenient teleporters to warp back to savepoints and item shops every few floors, so even that is well mitigated.

[Darkomega99]

crystal defenders is fun too if you enjoy tower defense games