Captain Fabulous said:
I must confess that I didn't like any of the Final Fantasies I played, although I still have to try out III because it was before they started using that stupid active battle system. I hate navigating menus on a time limit, which is the reason I never finished Chrono Trigger, despite liking everything else about the game.
The most recent FF game I've played is VI, which honestly bored me. Not the storyline, just the battles. They felt like a chore. This is completely hypocritical, since I love Pokemon, but maybe consider shutting your face?
The last area of FF III is utter bullshit. The four minibosses before Cloud of Darkness get to attack three times before you can, and if you're unlucky, all three will hit the same party member and insta-KO him/her. By that point in the game, the only decent place to grind for reasonable amounts of XP is IN that last section, and you can't leave once you enter. Hell if I'm gonna grind for 10+ levels without the ability to save.
Anyhoo. FFVI was my favorite of the 2D FF's. The battles are pretty bland until you finally start learning magic (where EVERYONE can start learning magic, not just Terra/Celes through leveling), which takes longer than it should. Kefka's a fun villain, even if his development is pretty flat, he pretty much just wants to see the world burn for the hell of it. Maybe I just have a thing for the batshit-crazy, I dunno.
If you could call FFIX retro, I'd choose that. Mainly because I love the overall atmosphere/feel/theme/something of the game, it brought Final FANTASY back to its FANTASY roots. I uh... never actually beat it though. I burned myself out playing chocobo hot-and-cold to find Chocobo Paradise and never really had the will to finish the main storyline after that. I was on the last disk, too...