I'm usually crucified for this among

s, but I haven't played any FF games prior to 10. I didn't really grow up on JRPGs and I don't really find the minute-to-minute decisions you make in those interesting compared to the narrative choices you get in a lot of Euroamerican RPGs.

So my order, leaving out Tactics/Tactics Advance (which are great) and the MMOs, is something like:

1. Final Fantasy XII
2. Final Fantasy X
3. Final Fantasy X-2

I like the aesthetics of 12, even the audio that sounds like they're speaking into tin cans. I like most of the characters and that you can switch your party around freely and kind of pretend whoever you want is the MC. The job board system is what people think the sphere grid system was in that it has some actually interesting choices in it that aren't just stat buffs (though there's also a lot of those). Being in Ivalice is ofc a plus cuz it's the best setting. And I wish more games had something like the Gambit system. I think Pillars of Eternity? or some other CRPG had scriptable companions like that so you didn't have to control them manually, which made things way more tolerable cuz I kind of hate real time with pause for how busy it is.

X is just strong all around even though the characters are sometimes cringe. Some day they will make a standalone blitz ball game just for me. I would play the hell out of that just like I played the hell out of the bigot wizard sports game on the PS2. Good cast, good fights, good music. X-2 is pretty much the same but with better gameplay.

Otherwise it's Tactics, Tactics Advance, FFXI. I actually played and liked 13, very recently dropped off of 13-2 halfway through cuz it's worse in every way. Don't like open worlds so couldn't get into either 15 or 16. The Tactics games are just classics though and even though Advance has a lighter tone, I still thought it was very relatable and it was only after that where it really became schlock. I actually like the judge and card system and there was a time I got one of my archers red carded on purpose by sniping a mage that was pissing me off. But it felt so good.

I've played 11 and 14 and I'm no longer interested in MMOs in general and deleted my WoW account I had since vanilla like 5 years ago. But when I did play, both were good games, just very different. And thinking of which one I'd play again if I had the time, it would be 11, because it really reminds me of Ragnarok Online and other old MMOs where experimentation and esoteric quests and stuff like that were still present. It also absolutely requires party play to do anything beyond like level 10 with any sort of efficiency. It's just too bad most private server players are boomers who complain about their wives and blue haired cashiers all day.