How Many Final Fantasy Games Are There? Correct Order & Where To Start

Here's everything you need to know if you are a newbie and wondering how to get started with Final Fantasy series.

Anyone who has enjoyed more than one Final Fantasy title would know that no two games of the same franchise are the same. Over a total of 32 years with varying styles and channels, Final Fantasy has been proclaimed to be among the best-selling and perhaps most cherished video game series of all time. Square Enix created the lineage in 198 by launching Final Fantasy for the NES. Since then, the fantasy multiplayer online game has fostered plenty of sequels, spin-offs, remakes, ports, movies, and more.

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Seeing the craze spawned everywhere you must be tempted to give it a try but puzzled about where to start and how to experience the smoothest Final Fantasy joyride. Don’t fret, this article will walk you through how many Final Fantasy games are there? From where to start playing? What is the correct order? And which is the best game from the wide Final Fantasy catalog?

How Many Games Are There In Final Fantasy?

With tons of sequels, spin-offs, ports, films, remakes, and more you might be confused and find it tricky to figure out the Final Fantasy gaming category. To help you sort out the confusion let me state you have a wide option of 94 distinct Final Fantasy titles to choose from and these 94 games cover 15 primary Final Fantasy series, 5 video releases, and 2 anime shows. It also includes its direct sequel called X-2 which can also be deemed as a primary Final Fantasy game while the remaining 71 titles spin-off, mobile games, and others.

Which Final Fantasy Game To Play First?

There is no thumb rule as to which game should be played first. You can start with any Final Fantasy title since all the games in the series are stand-alone and hardly share any common elements and game features.

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Correct Order To Play Final Fantasy Games

Like mentioned earlier, Final Fantasy games are stand-alone and one can play in any random order. If you wish to follow a structure then you can start with the 1st game followed by the others. The chronological order for the Final Fantasy series is listed below.

  1. Final Fantasy (NES)
  2. Final Fantasy II (NES)
  3. Final Fantasy III (NES)
  4. Final Fantasy IV (SNES)
  5. Final Fantasy V (SNES)
  6. Final Fantasy VI (SNES) – sold in the U.S. as Final Fantasy 3.
  7. Final Fantasy VII (PlayStation)
  8. Final Fantasy VIII (PlayStation)
  9. Final Fantasy IX (PlayStation)
  10. Final Fantasy X (PlayStation 2)
  11. Final Fantasy XII (PlayStation 2)
  12. Final Fantasy XIII (PlayStation 3)
  13. Final Fantasy XV (PlayStation 4)

Yes, I know I mentioned a total of 15 primary games but usually, FFXI and FFXIV, which are vastly multiplayer video games that smash from the standard single-player JRPG formula, are excluded. The reason is pretty simple; they don’t follow up the events of early releases.

Which Is The Best Game In The Final Fantasy Title?

It is impossible to point out the best game in the series however if we go by the Metacritic ranks, the best to least ranked order goes something like this:

  1. FFIX
  2. FFVII
  3. GBA Version
  4. FFX
  5. Tactics Advance & FFVIII

If you want to follow the critics you can consider any of the above-listed games to be the best and otherwise, all the titles in the series are worth your time.

Hope I have helped all the newbies with all the possible questions concerning Final Fantasy. Do check other gaming blogs on GamesAdda.