How to Play the Final Fantasy Games in Order

For over 35 years, the Final Fantasy franchise has captivated followers with its anthology type of storytelling, maintaining issues contemporary with new characters and tales. It even tends to set the time durations someplace between previous and future in every recreation whereas maintaining them related with the identical plot: a gaggle of younger heroes gathering to battle an amazing evil threatening their world whereas they exploring their inside struggles and relationships with one another — a common theme that individuals can relate to.

For those who’re new and wish to get into the Final Fantasy collection, there are 16 numbered video games (with Final Fantasy XVI now out there on PS5), a number of direct sequels, and a prequel to the first recreation. It feels like quite a bit, however we’re right here to provide help to make the journey into the RPG franchise a bit smoother.

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Which Final Fantasy Recreation Ought to You Play First?

the Final Fantasy franchise as an entire may be overwhelming as most of them have a whole lot of hours of content material to play by means of. If you need to ease your self into the franchise, we advocate beginning with Final Fantasy VII. This recreation left an indelible mark on the recreation trade for having the best gameplay and fight techniques to get the dangle of, particularly with the Restrict Break system, and giving us the most memorable characters, like Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barret, and Sephiroth. Its recognition impressed Sq. to create Kingdom Hearts in collaboration with Disney in order that a few of its characters might work together with Disney characters.

Final Fantasy VII even got here out with a feature-length CGI and Final Fantasy VII Remake, which has prettier graphics however retains the identical story with themes of pro-environmentalism, id, and shifting on from loss — components that earlier Final Fantasy tales didn’t have. Both model of the recreation is ok to choose up and play.

How to Play Final Fantasy Games in Chronological Order

If you need to do a deep dive into the Final Fantasy franchise and play all of them in chronological order, right here’s the full checklist of video games and the order in which to play them. Although you may play most of the mainline numbered in any random order and nonetheless be fantastic as there isn’t any direct continuity between them.

1. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin takes place in the kingdom of Cornelia, a darkish fantasy world model of the setting of the authentic Final Fantasy recreation. Jack Garland and his companions and fellow Warriors of Mild, Ash, Jed, Neon and Sophia — every carrying a darkened crystal representing earth, wind, fireplace and water — set out to discover Chaos and destroy him, restoring mild to the world. Regardless of what the prophecy foretold about the heroes, every Warrior grows skeptical about their position.

You may change characters’ jobs on the fly, however with Jack as the participant character you may solely change between two positions. Irrespective of his job title, Jack has a decisive ending transfer that crystallizes enemies and shatters them to restore a portion of his magic meter as soon as the enemy’s break gauge is depleted.

Learn our overview of Strangers of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.

2. Final Fantasy

Centuries after the occasions of Stranger of Paradise, Final Fantasy introduces 4 new younger Warriors of Mild, every of them carrying an orb representing the 4 components which were darkened by the 4 Elemental Fiends. At first, they’re tasked by the King of Cornelia to rescue Princess Sarah from the evil knight Garland, however their journey expands to defeating the fiends and restoring the orbs to their former glory, thus saving the world from everlasting darkness.

Final Fantasy will get its title from collection creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s risk to go away the video games trade and return to college if it didn’t promote effectively, and Sq. Enix coping with the notion of the recreation being its final due to the risk of chapter. Finally, the recreation bought over 1.3 million copies worldwide and grossed over $21 million, saving each the firm and Sakaguchi’s profession.

Learn our overview of Final Fantasy.

3. Final Fantasy II

In Final Fantasy II, Firion, Man, Maria, and Leon grow to be orphans after the Palamecian Empire destroys their hometown and kills their dad and mom, rendering them orphans. They be a part of the Wild Rose Insurrection and, below the steerage of Princess Hilda, who initially deemed them too younger to be a part of the military, journey to cease Emperor Mateus’ plans to take over the world together with his hellspawn.

Not like the first Final Fantasy, the sequel had no character creation or job system as a result of Sq. wished the recreation to be extra story-driven slightly than crammed with heavy gameplay mechanics. This recreation is notable for introducing a few staples that will ceaselessly outline the collection: chocobos and the recurring inventor character Cid.

Learn our overview of Final Fantasy II.

4. Final Fantasy III

One other group of 4 orphaned teenagers — Arc, Refia, Luneth, and Ingus — are drawn to a crystal of sunshine in the Altar Cave after an earthquake hits the village of Ur. The crystals grants the youth a portion of its energy, their first set of jobs, and instructs them to restore stability to the world.

Final Fantasy III is the first numbered recreation in the collection to characteristic the job-change system, permitting gamers to change how the characters would battle monsters all through the recreation. As a substitute of staying in one job or class, they may discover different job choices and see which one fits every character. The 2006 Nintendo DS remake retained the components of the authentic recreation, however gave the characters extra well-rounded personalities.

Learn our overview of Final Fantasy III.

5. Final Fantasy IV

Final Fantasy IV facilities on Pink Wings captain Cecil Harvey, who questions the King of Baron’s motives after he and his knights steal the Water Crystal in a raid on Mysidia. After the king strips him of his title as punishment for disloyalty, Cecil units out on a quest with Kain Highwind and the allies they meet alongside the means to cease the sorcerer Golbez from seizing the different crystals in order to save the world.

This recreation launched the Lively Time Battle (ATB) system, which permits characters to carry out a transfer when their gauge is full. Whereas a celebration is proscribed to 4 folks in the earlier video games, Final Fantasy IV allowed a celebration of 5 characters.

Learn our overview of Final Fantasy IV.

6. Final Fantasy V

Adventurer Bartz Klauser comes throughout a fallen meteor and finds 4 strangers, together with King Tycoon’s daughter Lenna, and set off on an journey to save the Crystals from falling aside, a phenomenon attributable to Exdeath, an entity attempting to free himself from imprisonment and achieve the energy of the Void. The group turns into Warriors of Mild and focuses their consideration on defeating Exdeath and stopping the Void’s energies from plunging their world into darkness.

Final Fantasy V expanded on the job system, giving gamers greater than 21 jobs to select from. To make the job system much more attention-grabbing, you may mix a talent you be taught from a sure job with a unique talent from one other job in order to defeat difficult dungeons and executives.

Learn our overview of Final Fantasy V.

7. Final Fantasy VI

Set in a steampunk-style world crammed with know-how resembling that of the Second Industrial Revolution, Final Fantasy VI facilities on a insurgent faction generally known as the Returners preventing the Gesthalian Empire, which gained the energy to take over the world by experimenting on magical creatures generally known as Espers. The Returners, together with amnesiac former imperial soldier Terra Branford, work to free the areas below Gesthalian management utilizing the magic they search out and put a cease to the empire’s reign.

Final Fantasy VI, which was launched as Final Fantasy III in North America and closely censored due to Nintendo of America’s insurance policies at the time, has 14 playable characters to select from all through the story, making it the largest forged in the collection’ historical past. It additionally offers with mature themes of immoral army dictatorship, use of chemical weapons in warfare, the pursuit of a magical arms race, private redemption, and the renewal of hope and life. That is additionally the first Final Fantasy recreation to not be directed by Sakaguchi, who handed the reins over to Yoshinori Kitase.

Learn our overview of Final Fantasy VI.

8. Disaster Core: Final Fantasy VII

Set in Midgar seven years earlier than the occasions of Final Fantasy VII, Disaster Core: Final Fantasy VII facilities on fresh-faced SOLDIER Zack Honest, who’s assigned to search for lacking SOLDIER and defector Genesis Rhapsodos, who went off on a rampage for causes unknown. Throughout his search, he discovers Genesis’ origin, Venture G (or the Jenova mission) and the way it’s related to the two aforementioned high-ranking SOLDIERs, and finally battles him and different merchandise of the mission, which entails injecting Jenova DNA into them.

Disaster Core: Final Fantasy VII was notable for exploring the delicate facet of Sephiroth, the most profitable SOLDIER beloved by everybody earlier than he went insane after discovering the unnatural circumstances of his creation and shortly fell from grace, in addition to a few of Cloud Strife’s life as a SOLDIER earlier than leaving Shinra Electrical Energy Firm. It was initially a PSP-exclusive title, however managed to get remastered as Disaster Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion for PS5, PS4, Xbox Sequence X/S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Change in honor of the twenty fifth anniversary of Final Fantasy VII.

Learn our overview of Disaster Core: Final Fantasy VII.

9. Final Fantasy VII

In certainly one of the most iconic video games of the collection, ex-SOLDIER turned mercenary Cloud Strife joins Avalance (led by Barett Wallace) in the battle to cease Shinra from lining the firm’s pockets by mining all the mako from the planet to use as an power supply. Cloud initially fought for private achieve and to hold a promise he made to Tifa Lockhart once they had been children, however finally developed friendships with different members of Avalanche, together with Aerith Gainsborough, and works with them to save Midgar from each Shinra and Sephiroth, who was hellbent on destroying the planet in order to be reborn as a demigod.

With the retention of ATB and the introduction of Materia, Final Fantasy VII grew so standard that the majority of its characters appeared in the Kingdom Hearts collection and spawned the CGI sequel movie, Final Fantasy VII: Creation Kids. It additionally spawned the full-blown remaster, Final Fantasy VII Remake, which can be launched in three components. The primary half was launched in 2020, whereas Final Fantasy VII Rebirth got here out on Leap Day 2024.

Learn our overview of Final Fantasy VII.

10. Final Fantasy VIII

On this contentious follow-up to Final Fantasy VII, a gaggle of younger SeeD mercenaries led by Squall Leonhart (or Leon, as he’s recognized in the Kingdom Hearts collection) assist out a gaggle generally known as the Forest Owls, an endeavor that escalates right into a battle by Sorceress Edea, who has seized management of a robust army state and intend to destroy time itself. As they battle to cease Edea, Squall struggles together with his position and falls in love with Forest Owls chief Rinoa Heartilly.

Final Fantasy VIII nonetheless incorporates ATB as a part of its gameplay, nevertheless it overhauled the character leveling system. So far as spell-casting goes, the recreation threw out the Magic Factors-based system, making characters accumulate, draw, and create magic from gadgets to energy themselves up utilizing the junction system as a substitute. That is additionally the first recreation to incorporate a vocal theme into its soundtrack with “Eyes On Me” by Hong Kong pop star Faye Wong.

Learn our overview of Final Fantasy VII.

11. Final Fantasy IX

In the first Final Fantasy recreation of the millennium, a thief named Zidane Tribal is tasked with kidnapping the Princess of Alexandria, Garnet Til Alexandros XVII, as part of a conflict wage in opposition to the neighboring nation of Lindblum. His thief troupe finally ends up changing into the princess’ guardians, and Zidane groups up with Garnet to defeat her mom, Queen Brahne, who began the conflict.

Regardless of Final Fantasy IX being launched in 2000, when most recreation franchises transitioned from 2D to 3D graphics by then, Sq. Enix designed the recreation to seem like a retro-style RPG. Nevertheless, it nonetheless managed to render CGI graphics for the characters and all the pieces else in the world of Gaia.

Learn our overview of Final Fantasy IX.

12. Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X is certainly one of the most beloved video games in the collection subsequent to Final Fantasy VII — and we’re not simply saying that as a result of it’s the first Final Fantasy recreation for the PS2. The story revolves round star blitzball participant named Tidus, who’s taken to Spira — a world impressed by the South Pacific, Thailand, and Japan — by Auron after his hometown of Zanarkand is destroyed by a colossal monster named Sin. He joins summoner Yuna and her guardians on a quest to defeat Sin and produce about the Calm after studying its true id is Tidus’ lacking father Jecht.

This recreation changed ATB with the Conditional Turned-Based mostly Battle system that makes use of an Act Checklist in which characters’ turns are decided by their stats. It additionally launched a brand new leveling system known as the Sphere Grid, which units characters down a particular path with stats and skills and permits them to unlock all their talents as soon as it opens up.

Learn our overview of Final Fantasy X.

13. Final Fantasy X-2

In the follow-up to Final Fantasy X, Yuna turns into a sphere hunter and a member of the Gullwings, comprising Rikku and Paine. She units out to discover Tidus — or at the least, a mysterious man who appears like Tidus — however will get caught in a political battle that the Gullwings should resolve earlier than it escalates to a conflict involving a secret weapon that was constructed to destroy Spira.

As well as to being the first recreation in the collection to be an official recreation sequel, Final Fantasy X can be the first to characteristic an all-female forged and have a number of potential endings. It introduced again ATB, however enhanced it to enable characters to interrupt enemies whereas getting ready to assault. It additionally launched dresspheres and the Garment Grid, which permit characters to change their character class mid-battle to alter the course of the battle.

14. Final Fantasy XI

Sq. Enix took a web page out of World of Warcraft and made Final Fantasy XI an MMORPG as a substitute of an everyday console recreation. Gamers might customise their characters and make it into certainly one of many races of being roaming the land of Vana’diel — Humes, Elvaan, Tarutaru, Mithra, Galka, and so on. The plot revolves round defeating a demonic chief known as the Shadow Lord, who rose from the ashes of the Crystal Conflict and despatched his beastmen armies off to terrorize the land, albeit in a much less organized trend.

Assist for the PS2 and Xbox 360 variations of Final Fantasy XI ended in 2016, however followers can nonetheless play it on PC. Rumors circulated final 12 months that the recreation would shut down, provided that it’s over 20 years outdated, however director Yuji Fujito acknowledged that that was not the case. In different phrases, it’s nonetheless alive and effectively and beloved by many retro Final Fantasy followers.

Learn our overview of Final Fantasy XI.

15. Final Fantasy XII

Final Fantasy XII is about in the kingdom of Ivalice, the place the Archadia and Rozarria empires are preventing an infinite conflict with one another. When Dalmasca is annexed by the former nation, Princess Ashe kinds a resistance motion and meets Vaan, who goals of changing into a sky pirate, teaming up with him to rally in opposition to the tyranny of the Archadian Empire.

Final Fantasy XII took three years for Sq. Enix to develop after Final Fantasy X-2 was launched, and it paid off. It gained a number of Recreation of the 12 months awards and spawned the Nintendo DS sequel, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, in 2007. Over a decade later, the remastered model of the recreation, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, launched on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Change, and Home windows.

Learn our overview of Final Fantasy XII.

16. Final Fantasy XIII

Lightning, the collection’s first feminine protagonist apart from Yuna in Final Fantasy X-2, is a former soldier residing in the floating world of Cocoon whose sister Serah goes lacking after she’s branded an enemy of Cocoon by the authorities, Sanctum, for coming in contact with a god-like creature from Pulse. As Lightning searches for her sister, she’s joined by a band of allies to rally in opposition to Sanctum for authorizing a purge on residents who additionally got here into contact with Pulse, leaving the destiny of the world in danger.

This recreation wasn’t acquired effectively not as a result of it had a feminine lead, however slightly as a result of it had complicated battle techniques — Command Synergy Battle and Paradigm Shift — and linear maps. Even so, it was well-received and spawned two extra direct sequels.

Learn our overview of Final Fantasy XIII.

17. Final Fantasy XIII-2

Three years after the occasions of Final Fantasy XIII, Serah takes the lead and groups up with Noel Kreiss, a younger man from the distant future, to journey throughout time and area to discover Lightning. In the meantime, Lightning finds herself in Valhalla, a realm between demise and chaos at the fringe of time in the distant future, dominated by the goddess Etro, who she protects as a knight throughout a conflict with Caius.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 retained the Command Synergy Battle and Paradigm Shift techniques, however they had been improved upon to make battles circulation higher. Mog Clock was added to the combine, which prompts gamers to assault monsters on the area earlier than time runs out to achieve the higher hand in battle.

Learn our overview of Final Fantasy XIII-2.

18. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

In the final installment of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy, Lightning awakens from her 500-year hibernation to uncover that the world is about to finish in 13 days. She is chosen by the god Bhunivelze to save everybody, however alongside the means she learns the fact about the world’s destiny and Bhunivelze’s actual motives.

Gamers slammed this recreation as a result of it featured a ticking clock that signifies how lengthy you had till the recreation was over, placing a strict time restrict on missions and facet quests. Its saving grace was the closely modified model of the Command Synergy Battle system, which employed real-time options, like freely taking management of Lightning’s actions and assaults.

Learn our overview of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

19. Final Fantasy XIV

Final Fantasy XIV has a number of storylines, however the primary one entails the participant character touring 5 years into the future to escape the destruction of Eorzea at the arms of the primal dragon Bahamut. They enter Eorzea in the Age of Calm and work to rebuild the land, however should cope with the risk of invasion by the Garlean Empire.

The circumstances surrounding Final Fantasy XIV’s improvement had been fairly sophisticated — particularly because it’s the second MMORPG title in the collection. The unique 2010 recreation was embroiled in controversy as a result of it was launched in an unfinished state, though its servers remained lively till November 2012. The following 12 months, Sq. Enix launched Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn with favorable acclaim and went on to produce 4 expansions: Heavensward, Stormblood, Shadowbringers, and Endwalker. A fifth enlargement, Dawntrail, will launch this July.

Learn our overview of Final Fantasy XIV.

20. Final Fantasy XV

The earlier installment revolves round Noctis, a prince from the kingdom of Lucis is about to marry his childhood buddy Lunafreya when he goes on a quest to rescue the Crystal from Niflheim, who stole it throughout an assault on the Lucian capital of Insomnia, killing his father in the course of, on the eve of peace negotiations between the two empires. Throughout his journey, he learns of his future to use the Crystal’s powers to save the realm of Eos from everlasting darkness.

Final Fantasy XV acquired important approval for its gorgeous visuals, gameplay — like driving round the world in the Regalia and the Lively Cross Battle system — and its visceral soundtrack, together with a rendition of “Stand By Me” by Florence + The Machine used as the recreation’s theme tune in addition to a number of contributions from Afrojack. The sport spawned a number of spin-off video games, the anime collection known as Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV, and a characteristic movie Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV.

Learn our overview of Final Fantasy XV.

21. Final Fantasy 16

The most recent Final Fantasy recreation in the franchise has arrived, and it has primarily redefined the collection. With a third-person motion type and quick, reflexive fight, there are loads of new issues to love about Final Fantasy 16.

For those who’re questioning whether or not or not you may hop proper into the collection with this recreation, the reply is a definitive sure. Whereas the gameplay could also be fairly completely different than earlier titles, the characters and story fulfill that core Final Fantasy feeling.

Learn our overview of Final Fantasy 16.

How To Play The Final Fantasy Games By Launch Date

If you need to play the Final Fantasy video games in the order in which they got here out, right here’s the checklist of video games by launch date. Maintain in thoughts that the majority titles had been launched in Japan first, adopted by the U.S. at a later date. The primary six video games are remastered for the Nintendo Change in Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster.

1. Final Fantasy – December 18, 1987 (JP) / Could 1990 (NA) – Famicom/NES
2. Final Fantasy II – December 17, 1988 (JP) / April 8, 2003 (NA) – Famicom, PlayStation
3. Final Fantasy III – April 27, 1990 (JP) / August 24, 2006 (NA) – Famicom, Nintendo DS (remake)
4. Final Fantasy IV – July 19, 1991 (JP) / November 23, 1991 (NA) – Tremendous NES
5. Final Fantasy V – December 6, 1992 (JP) / October 5, 1999 (NA) – Tremendous Famicom, PlayStation
6. Final Fantasy VI – April 2, 1994 (JP) / October 11, 1994 (NA) – Tremendous NES
7. Final Fantasy VII – January 31, 1997 (JP) / September 7, 1997 (NA) – PlayStation
8. Final Fantasy VIII – February 11, 1999 (JP) / September 7, 1999 (NA) – PlayStation
9. Final Fantasy IX – July 7, 2000 (JP) / November 14, 2000 (NA) – PlayStation
10. Final Fantasy X – July 19, 2001 (JP) / December 18, 2001 (NA) – PS2
11. Final Fantasy XI – Could 16, 2002 (JP) / March 23, 2004 (NA) – PS2
12. Final Fantasy X-2 – March 13, 2003 (JP) / November 18, 2003 (NA) – PS2
13. Final Fantasy XII – March 16, 2006 (JP) / October 31, 2006 (NA) – PS2
14. Disaster Core: Final Fantasy VII – September 13, 2007 (JP) / March 28, 2008 (NA) – PSP
15. Final Fantasy XIII – December 17, 2009 (JP) / March 9, 2010 (NA) – PS3, Xbox 360, PC
16. Final Fantasy XIII-2 – December 15, 2011 (JP) / January 31, 2012 (NA) – PS3, Xbox 360, PC
17. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII – November 21, 2013 (JP) / February 11, 2014 (NA) – PS3, Xbox 360, PC
18. Final Fantasy XIV – August 27, 2013 – PS3, PS4, PS5, PC
19. Final Fantasy XV – November 29, 2016 – PS4, Xbox One, PC
20. Final Fantasy VII Remake – April 7, 2020 (PS4) / June 10, 2021 (PS5)
21. Disaster Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion – December 13, 2022 – PS5, PS4, Xbox Sequence X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Change, PC
22. Final Fantasy XVI – June 22, 2023 – PS5
23. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth – February 29, 2024 – PS5

Upcoming Final Fantasy Games

Whereas this longstanding online game saga is not going anyplace anytime quickly, we’ll most likely have to wait a pair extra years for Final Fantasy XVII. In the meantime, it is fairly probably we’ll see extra remakes, particularly as Sq. Enix pushes for a multiplatform technique.

After all, Sq. Enix hasn’t forgotten about its MMORPG. Dawntrail, the fifth enlargement for Final Fantasy: XIV On-line, will launch on July 2, 2024. It has been over a decade since the authentic launch of Final Fantasy XIV, so take a look at our information on how to put together for the enlargement.