Most people do tend to agree that Final Fantasy X has the best battle system of the turn based battle style. CTB window and ability to switch party members on the fly is sheer genius (you hear that Persona? )
Yeah I agree although I actually had someone say that they believe ATB is what MAKES FF and they also believe that there hasn't been a proper FF game since 9 and they once said that FFX abandoning ATB made it questionable as a FF game at best which I find kinda obsurd and they also feel that the changing gameplays of every FF game after 9 makes the series feel unfocused and makes it feel like the series is suffering some sort of identity crisis as they believe that consistency is REALLY important for any video game series as they said that the ATB system's of 4-9 help the series feel consistent 12 years and they said that there's nothing that makes the series feel consistent in gameplay of 15, 7 remake and 16 when I MUCH rather have ALL the time in the world to select an action as my prefered RPG battles I know you can set it for wait but still
@@poleon2003 I mean the original Final Fantasy was pure turn based. If anything ATB was itself the new implemented mechanic flavor of the year at the time. As far as turn based style goes, FFX just went back to it and mastered it.
@@pyguy7 yeah and they also said that FFX's battle system feels super lazy on how you can switch out any party member and you can immediately use them when they feel there should be a caviot like you missed out on a turn because you did and for the original FF being pure turn based well they feel that the NES era FFs are when the series was still trying to find it's footing and said there's a reason why 4 is considered the first "good" FF game
X has an amazing combat system...... on paper, I'm gonna say it's great during the main story, all fall apart in the postgame however : -Weapon Customization ? Why bother when you have Ultimate Weapons that ignore defense and are already set for you. -The damage formula totally favorize physical attacks over magic, even moreso if you have the celestial weapons. -Build ? There's none all character can max out every stat and learn every abilities. -Statut Effect game ? Shut down cause pretty much every boss in the post game is immune to everything. -Element game ? Shut down to, no elemental weakness in postgame in fact element are mostly resisted immune or straight up absorb. Like I find it really sad that you have all this potential that could make for very strategic fights, and the super bosses end up being nothing more than Stats Banks that have like 2 or 3 moves at most and where the strategy end up being a Quick Hit and Overdrive spam, with maybe occasionnal Aeon summon to serve as a meat shield.
@@gregtroyan Yeah but I think the game never bring the system to it's full potential, thankfully we have mods for that, the recent Master Challenge Mod really show how great the system could have been, if they had be more willing to use elemental and statut effects.
damn the XII hate keeps coming! I would consider gambit making to be part of the battle system. There's a lot of crossover with battle & level system rankings so im interested to see how those rankings will change.
I mean, I don't want to give spoilers for the level system ranking, but I will say that XII does score admirably in some categories. It's not a total wash for that game, hahaha.
Problem with XII is like many FF games, it's too easy and doesn't really force the player into learning the system in depth, XII can actually be really strategic when you play around with the positionning, use trick like switching gear to cut animations, have to adjust your gambits or change equipment mid fight if something unexpected happen, but sadly the base game never force the player to push the system that far unless you're underlevel or undergear. The second problem is that it hides way to many information, like the weapon, the weapon have much more going to them than just their attack stat, some have an higher Combo/Critical rate, some boost elemental damage, some are faster to attack, some factor your character's magic instead of strength, some factor the ennemy's magic defense instead of physical....etc.... and the game never tells you all that stuff.
Honestly adding in auto targeting for Final Fantasy 1 completely destroys the balance of the original game. I found that it made the turn based combat much more engaging, because you don’t just press “A” repeatedly for each fight and run is actually important. FFI is about resource management because there’s no much story to the game, and it is kinda pointless without it. This is why it is better than the other NES FF games.
Combat systems are a hill I won't die on with the series, so I see your point, but I definitely think it makes the game less enjoyable. It's harder and there's more strategy involved, but that it doesn't make it a better experience for me, personally, and for most gamers. However, I do see your point as being valid and can see why one would prefer it.
@@gregtroyan yeah I actually don’t mind auto targeting in the other games. It’s just for specifically FFI, it takes the only real aspect I was into, which was the strategy, and you have left with a pretty barebones game. I actually like the ATB system, as that adds speed into the mix. I haven’t played FFX yet, but I plan on getting to it. I’m also weird in that I found FFIV, considered one of the easier games in the franchise to be more challenging than the original, but that is probably because taking my time with strategy made me do well in the Original game.
@@thomasffrench3639 I definitely like the gameplay of IV a lot more, and it depends on what version of the game you play which is harder in the end. I think X will feel a bit easy for you, if I'm being honest.
@@thomasffrench3639 Depend which version of IV you've played, the original US release of IV on the SNES was dumbed down and make easier compare to the original FFIV, to the point of removing some abilities to "not confuse the player", GBA and PSP release were also easier overall, the 3D Remake of IV however is much harder overall, especially if going blind.
My ranking :) (with scores) Final Fantasy IX (5) Final Fantasy III (6) Final Fantasy (7) Final Fantasy V (7) Final Fantasy II (8) Final Fantasy IV (8) Final Fantasy IV: The After Years (8) Final Fantasy Dimensions (8) Final Fantasy XV Final Fantasy VI (8) Final Fantasy Dimensions II (9) Final Fantasy VIII (9) Final Fantasy VII (9) Final Fantasy X-2 (9.5) Final Fantasy X (9.5) Final Fantasy Tactics (10) Final Fantasy Tactics A-2: Grimiore of the Rift (10)
Nice list and I like the score system. I opted not to do that myself, but I like that you did. I beat Dimensions recently and am playing Dimensions II right, and I actually like the combat quite a bit for both of those games. I'm surprised you haven't checked out Tactics Advance. You gotta finish the trilogy! :D Still, a very nice list with a very reasonable ranking. I'm glad you also dug TAY.
Im not an ff13 but the battle system is fun. Knowing which paradigm to use on which enemy and getting a five-star rating is always very satisfying. I started back in the ol nes days with the OG ff1 but ATB will always be my favorite, CTB my second favorite. When playing tactical games like final fantasy tactics and wasteland2 I prefer who ever has the highest speed goes first. Wasteland 3 turn me off because it was like I go then the enemy goes kind of like warsong tho I prefer to play warsong over wasteland 3 any day of the week.
I believe X and Rebirth are the goats of FF combat, they are so enjoyable. I will be disappointed if 17 doesn’t use Rebirth's combat. 9 and 12 have the worst combat IMO. For me those were just a blatant step backwards
In retrospect, IX ranked a little high in this ranking. Quina's blue magic really did a lot of the heavy lifting for me ranking the combat so high. XII's combat was...a choice. Hahaha.
For XIV, you are definitely missing out only playing a level 50-60 version of any job, but not missing so much that you are likely to have a huge perspective shift.
Yeah. I play XIV once a week with a buddy of mine going through ARR. I haven't jumped into other expansions yet because I'm busy with writing a couple screenplays and I want to finish Another Eden before I fully dive into XIV, but after playing the crossover with XV in XIV recently, I think I might move the combat below XII. I fundamentally don't like the combat mechanics in XIV and sadly the more I play of the game, combat wise, the less I like it. Still, if the story is good enough, I can plow through.
I respect this ranking a lot and don't find too much to disagree with here, or rather, I completely get this perspective. It's a very reasonable ranking.
Glad people are loving X here in the comments thats my favorite not just FF but favorite game of all times but imo the best Final Fantasy combat system is (fight me purists) *REMAKE* (it will probably be Rebirth in a year) agreed on XII Gambits aren't engaging during combat for the most part wich is an anticlimactic things to put *in a game* I love XIV's combat system but i understand that rotations forcing us to go for the optimal way of playing each role (especially in endgame content) isn't good combat design (MMOs should get rid of DPS checks for reasons like this) XV has one of the worst combat systems i have ever seen in a popular AAA game i love the flashines of it but you can't die so no difficulty (the only combat system of popular AAAs i find worst than XV are the newer Zelda games they have each and every problem that FFXV has PLUS the glass weapons making them even worse and Tok added one extre layer of awfulness to it with constant menus pausing the real time combat of the game because it's necessary for most of the things you do in the game they're not bad games due to the exploration but the combat ... yikes) as for the other turn based FFs they're mostly flawed by Square Enix making them needlessly easy and turning what was supossed to be "strategic turn based combat" into a sequence of pressing X to hit the attack command and then 2 to 3 turns (or ATB actions later heal) little to no encounters require different agreed on the combat of XIII the combat was decent (i still don't love the game tho the cast ain't great but the combat was a step up) so yeah once again imo VII Remake is the best one by far especially in hard mode (wich you probably didn't include because it's a sequel of sorts idk i haven't finished the video yet) Remake does has its flaws tho like the health of bosses not going down past a point because a cutscene is required and super attacks we can't do a thing about except heal since they're a cutscene so we can't even block them (hopefully this gets fixed in Rebirth) I got to the end of the video despite X being my favorite imo the combat of VII is better the Materia system is just too good some people like the guy at 4-8 Productions have done amazing things with it that i can't even hope to attempt in X like imo VII had the best RPG combat system of all times just because of the things i have seen there the depth is out of this world
you were very harsh on XIV which combat i quite enjoy, might be the favourite action based combat i've seen in an rpg actually. I do agree with your top pick though, X was the peak of combat for the FF series. for me the absoulte worst combat is XI, most fights consisted of me just standing there and waiting for the enemy to die. I heard some stuff about skill chains but seemed such a pain of pull off I just ignored it.
Revisiting XIV (been playing with a friend) makes me want to be even more harsh on it. I think I'm fundamentally not a fan of the combat mechanics in that game and the more I play it, the less I like it. I haven't replayed XII in a while, but it's a race to the bottom with those two combat wise.
Bro you didn’t include FF7 Remake in your video. That game has the best combat system in the franchise. It’s also my favorite combat system in any video game too. It’s incredibly deep and addicting and hope it’s the future of the franchise
In my intro video for the series (I did 16 videos) I mentioned it would be the mainline games and OG Tactics only, not sequels or spinoffs. The video series ended up being longer than 10 hours just including all of those games.
Interesting ranking with some good insight. I’ve never played the MMOs so I can’t speak for them, but my ranking from best to worst would be: Tactics, XIII, X, IX, VI, IV, V, III, I, VIII, II, VII, XII, XV I would say that my taste in the FF series is pretty controversial compared to the general consensus.
Combat mechanics isn't the hill I'll die on in the series, other than proclaiming XIII's combat to be underrated and XII's to be overrated. Picking Tactics as your number 1 is a fine choice.
But yeah, that was a pretty low-effort clip. I've played through ARR doing rotations and avoiding enemy attacks, but I like the combat so little that when I needed to grab footage I put in very little effort into fighting the random enemies.
7 was my first and it made me a huge fan of the series. 9 and 10 are often considered the best entry points, along with 4. 12 is very different and not indicative of the series overall, but if it looks like something you vibe with go for it.
wow, we are so not agree , for me the one and only combat system that i liked from the entire franchise is FF12, i dont really like the story, i only like the combat sooo much and i greatly hoping they make another one like dat for me FF12 combat is 12 out of 10 score , whole all the other FF is 3 to 4 out of 10 , except for FF13, i give that a minus 99 score
@@gregtroyani play all 13 games including the suppose to be related psp ff type 0, and i hate all of it , its too demanding, you have to keep switching paradigm , and keep setting the attack pattern, its not playing, dats practically working , so tiresome
Final Fantasy if it ever does go back to turn based should really take notes from Persona/Shin Megami Tensei cause I think they have way better battle systems than most FF games ever did. Digital Devil Saga in particular basically had a similar concept to the sphere grid but more customizable
IX ranks so high because of how fun the blue magic is in that game. I do think I probably ranked it a little too high, but also, I'm more of story-first guy and acknowledged at the beginning I don't have as strong opinions on mechanics. With IX ranking so high, I remember having more fun doing the battles than the battles in VI and VIII, so that was why I ranked it where I did. But when watching the video back I was like, "Yo, maybe this is too high."
I understand a lot of people love FF9 (and I don't blame them even if it isn't my favorite), but I don't know who in there right mind would rank the combat from that game so high. Square straight up half assed it, compared to Vll and Vlll. Not saying it's a bad game by any means, but I don't think anyone is going to play the game and right home about how great the combat is. Its about the world, characters, and story, plain and simple.
Interesting your taste is almost the complete opposite of mine - I love FFXII’s system and really dislike X’s - but some of the things you loved about X were things I love about XII (being able to switch out characters, being able to control and play as espers / summons, etc.).
Being able to switch out party members was a pretty useful part of XII, but I admit to not really enjoying the summon mechanics in it. I do like Gambits but the actual battles just don't do it for me. What's your overall combat ranking?
I do enjoy battles in FF. I enjoyed 12's gambit system a lot more than XV's. XIV is pretty interesting if you really play the game. So if you don't know you shouldn't even talk about it or rank it as you can't rank something you don't know about. I do think X is the best though.
Since I had beaten all of the games, I felt it was fair to rank them based on my experience, and I did begin the video with the caveat that I'm not much of a combat guy, and I gave the disclaimer that I'm not overly familiar with the MMO genre or an expert in XIV's mechanics. I feel playing 40+ hours of ARR is fair enough for me to give an impression of the combat system in relation to the other games, especially if I acknowledge my limitations as a player (which I did). :P XII's gambits are excellent and would have DRASTICALLY improved XV.
@@gregtroyan the thing is that the combat does change A LOT in higher levels. There's a lot more to it that what ARR gives you. Battle mechanics change as the expansions progressed. I played 500 hrs + and I'm nowhere near as advanced as other players that play the raids. Mechanics also change a lot depending on the class. As a Tank there's so many options as you become more advanced that basing it on ARR is like judging FFX's battle system based on the intro to Zanarkand without party members to exchange. I do understand that the basic mechanics might not be your thing, but it's way more interesting , complex and advanced than most titles in the franchise.
@@juanvalverde5245 That's all fair. However, I'll say that the Zanarkand intro in FFX is under 20 minutes of gametime (and in terms of battles, less than 10 minutes). So, let's say ARR is 40 hours. That means XIV's 2400 minutes vs X's 20 minutes. That's 120 times longer to develop the battle mechanics if you want to make a 1 to 1 comparison of those sections. : P I'm primarily a story player, so I'll readily admit this is one of the least important categories for me. I'll definitely concede that XIV is way more complex mechanically than most games in the series when it comes to combat, but that's not really a selling point for me as a player.
@@gregtroyan The reason I specifically mentioned that part is because during the intro, you get a good feel of the battle system, but you still are yet to learn the main mechanics that make X special, which is the character swap. ARR is like that, you learn just the basics. What you get in HW, SB, SB and EW is sooooo different, so much more complex that it makes ARR feels just like the very very basic stuff, which it is, just ask any XIV veteran and they'll always tell you the battle system really evolves into something else by level 70. There's soooooo much more to it. I would recommend you watch some videos on it so you see what I'm talking about. For the record I'm not trying to convince you of anything, you like what you like and that's that but I do want you to know how much more there is to it. ARR is really that basic.
@@juanvalverde5245 My plan is to return to XIV and beat the rest of the game, so I expect to learn the mechanics naturally through that. It's possible I may do a couple new ranking videos after beating the rest.
If you enjoyed this video, be sure to check out the other rankings in the series!
czcams.com/play/PLXjn34wFCMP-6Kl56Fn2Ig3msOHqZAVhv.html
Most people do tend to agree that Final Fantasy X has the best battle system of the turn based battle style. CTB window and ability to switch party members on the fly is sheer genius (you hear that Persona? )
It's a fire combat system. Absolutely brilliant.
Yeah I agree although I actually had someone say that they believe ATB is what MAKES FF and they also believe that there hasn't been a proper FF game since 9 and they once said that FFX abandoning ATB made it questionable as a FF game at best which I find kinda obsurd and they also feel that the changing gameplays of every FF game after 9 makes the series feel unfocused and makes it feel like the series is suffering some sort of identity crisis as they believe that consistency is REALLY important for any video game series as they said that the ATB system's of 4-9 help the series feel consistent 12 years and they said that there's nothing that makes the series feel consistent in gameplay of 15, 7 remake and 16 when I MUCH rather have ALL the time in the world to select an action as my prefered RPG battles I know you can set it for wait but still
@@poleon2003 I mean the original Final Fantasy was pure turn based. If anything ATB was itself the new implemented mechanic flavor of the year at the time. As far as turn based style goes, FFX just went back to it and mastered it.
@@pyguy7 yeah and they also said that FFX's battle system feels super lazy on how you can switch out any party member and you can immediately use them when they feel there should be a caviot like you missed out on a turn because you did and for the original FF being pure turn based well they feel that the NES era FFs are when the series was still trying to find it's footing and said there's a reason why 4 is considered the first "good" FF game
@@poleon2003 Well, there are a lot of folks with opinions on the internet. Some of them aren't very good.
Meanwhile, all of my opinions are great. :D
X has an amazing combat system...... on paper, I'm gonna say it's great during the main story, all fall apart in the postgame however :
-Weapon Customization ? Why bother when you have Ultimate Weapons that ignore defense and are already set for you.
-The damage formula totally favorize physical attacks over magic, even moreso if you have the celestial weapons.
-Build ? There's none all character can max out every stat and learn every abilities.
-Statut Effect game ? Shut down cause pretty much every boss in the post game is immune to everything.
-Element game ? Shut down to, no elemental weakness in postgame in fact element are mostly resisted immune or straight up absorb.
Like I find it really sad that you have all this potential that could make for very strategic fights, and the super bosses end up being nothing more than Stats Banks that have like 2 or 3 moves at most and where the strategy end up being a Quick Hit and Overdrive spam, with maybe occasionnal Aeon summon to serve as a meat shield.
I think X's combat system is far stronger than the fights in X. You bring up a lot of good points.
@@gregtroyan Yeah but I think the game never bring the system to it's full potential, thankfully we have mods for that, the recent Master Challenge Mod really show how great the system could have been, if they had be more willing to use elemental and statut effects.
damn the XII hate keeps coming! I would consider gambit making to be part of the battle system. There's a lot of crossover with battle & level system rankings so im interested to see how those rankings will change.
I mean, I don't want to give spoilers for the level system ranking, but I will say that XII does score admirably in some categories. It's not a total wash for that game, hahaha.
Problem with XII is like many FF games, it's too easy and doesn't really force the player into learning the system in depth, XII can actually be really strategic when you play around with the positionning, use trick like switching gear to cut animations, have to adjust your gambits or change equipment mid fight if something unexpected happen, but sadly the base game never force the player to push the system that far unless you're underlevel or undergear. The second problem is that it hides way to many information, like the weapon, the weapon have much more going to them than just their attack stat, some have an higher Combo/Critical rate, some boost elemental damage, some are faster to attack, some factor your character's magic instead of strength, some factor the ennemy's magic defense instead of physical....etc.... and the game never tells you all that stuff.
Honestly adding in auto targeting for Final Fantasy 1 completely destroys the balance of the original game. I found that it made the turn based combat much more engaging, because you don’t just press “A” repeatedly for each fight and run is actually important. FFI is about resource management because there’s no much story to the game, and it is kinda pointless without it. This is why it is better than the other NES FF games.
Combat systems are a hill I won't die on with the series, so I see your point, but I definitely think it makes the game less enjoyable. It's harder and there's more strategy involved, but that it doesn't make it a better experience for me, personally, and for most gamers. However, I do see your point as being valid and can see why one would prefer it.
@@gregtroyan yeah I actually don’t mind auto targeting in the other games. It’s just for specifically FFI, it takes the only real aspect I was into, which was the strategy, and you have left with a pretty barebones game. I actually like the ATB system, as that adds speed into the mix. I haven’t played FFX yet, but I plan on getting to it.
I’m also weird in that I found FFIV, considered one of the easier games in the franchise to be more challenging than the original, but that is probably because taking my time with strategy made me do well in the Original game.
@@thomasffrench3639 I definitely like the gameplay of IV a lot more, and it depends on what version of the game you play which is harder in the end. I think X will feel a bit easy for you, if I'm being honest.
@@thomasffrench3639 Depend which version of IV you've played, the original US release of IV on the SNES was dumbed down and make easier compare to the original FFIV, to the point of removing some abilities to "not confuse the player", GBA and PSP release were also easier overall, the 3D Remake of IV however is much harder overall, especially if going blind.
My ranking :) (with scores)
Final Fantasy IX (5)
Final Fantasy III (6)
Final Fantasy (7)
Final Fantasy V (7)
Final Fantasy II (8)
Final Fantasy IV (8)
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years (8)
Final Fantasy Dimensions (8)
Final Fantasy XV
Final Fantasy VI (8)
Final Fantasy Dimensions II (9)
Final Fantasy VIII (9)
Final Fantasy VII (9)
Final Fantasy X-2 (9.5)
Final Fantasy X (9.5)
Final Fantasy Tactics (10)
Final Fantasy Tactics A-2: Grimiore of the Rift (10)
Nice list and I like the score system. I opted not to do that myself, but I like that you did. I beat Dimensions recently and am playing Dimensions II right, and I actually like the combat quite a bit for both of those games. I'm surprised you haven't checked out Tactics Advance. You gotta finish the trilogy! :D
Still, a very nice list with a very reasonable ranking. I'm glad you also dug TAY.
@@gregtroyan hahaha I definitely gotta check it out haha, thanks for the nice words!
Im not an ff13 but the battle system is fun. Knowing which paradigm to use on which enemy and getting a five-star rating is always very satisfying. I started back in the ol nes days with the OG ff1 but ATB will always be my favorite, CTB my second favorite. When playing tactical games like final fantasy tactics and wasteland2 I prefer who ever has the highest speed goes first. Wasteland 3 turn me off because it was like I go then the enemy goes kind of like warsong tho I prefer to play warsong over wasteland 3 any day of the week.
I believe X and Rebirth are the goats of FF combat, they are so enjoyable. I will be disappointed if 17 doesn’t use Rebirth's combat.
9 and 12 have the worst combat IMO. For me those were just a blatant step backwards
In retrospect, IX ranked a little high in this ranking. Quina's blue magic really did a lot of the heavy lifting for me ranking the combat so high. XII's combat was...a choice. Hahaha.
God the PSP versions of I and II are gorgeous
Indeed.
X is 100% #1 👏
For XIV, you are definitely missing out only playing a level 50-60 version of any job, but not missing so much that you are likely to have a huge perspective shift.
Yeah. I play XIV once a week with a buddy of mine going through ARR. I haven't jumped into other expansions yet because I'm busy with writing a couple screenplays and I want to finish Another Eden before I fully dive into XIV, but after playing the crossover with XV in XIV recently, I think I might move the combat below XII. I fundamentally don't like the combat mechanics in XIV and sadly the more I play of the game, combat wise, the less I like it. Still, if the story is good enough, I can plow through.
I would probably rate them as follows: X, XIII, VI, VII, VIII, IX, IV, V, XIV, XII, I, III, II, XV (i've never played XI)
I respect this ranking a lot and don't find too much to disagree with here, or rather, I completely get this perspective. It's a very reasonable ranking.
Glad people are loving X here in the comments thats my favorite not just FF but favorite game of all times but imo the best Final Fantasy combat system is (fight me purists) *REMAKE* (it will probably be Rebirth in a year)
agreed on XII Gambits aren't engaging during combat for the most part wich is an anticlimactic things to put *in a game*
I love XIV's combat system but i understand that rotations forcing us to go for the optimal way of playing each role (especially in endgame content) isn't good combat design (MMOs should get rid of DPS checks for reasons like this)
XV has one of the worst combat systems i have ever seen in a popular AAA game i love the flashines of it but you can't die so no difficulty (the only combat system of popular AAAs i find worst than XV are the newer Zelda games they have each and every problem that FFXV has PLUS the glass weapons making them even worse and Tok added one extre layer of awfulness to it with constant menus pausing the real time combat of the game because it's necessary for most of the things you do in the game they're not bad games due to the exploration but the combat ... yikes)
as for the other turn based FFs they're mostly flawed by Square Enix making them needlessly easy and turning what was supossed to be "strategic turn based combat" into a sequence of pressing X to hit the attack command and then 2 to 3 turns (or ATB actions later heal) little to no encounters require different
agreed on the combat of XIII the combat was decent (i still don't love the game tho the cast ain't great but the combat was a step up)
so yeah once again imo VII Remake is the best one by far especially in hard mode (wich you probably didn't include because it's a sequel of sorts idk i haven't finished the video yet) Remake does has its flaws tho like the health of bosses not going down past a point because a cutscene is required and super attacks we can't do a thing about except heal since they're a cutscene so we can't even block them (hopefully this gets fixed in Rebirth)
I got to the end of the video despite X being my favorite imo the combat of VII is better the Materia system is just too good some people like the guy at 4-8 Productions have done amazing things with it that i can't even hope to attempt in X like imo VII had the best RPG combat system of all times just because of the things i have seen there the depth is out of this world
I have a friend that love ff10 so much that she named her daughter Yunalska. She changed the "c" to a "k" be she wants to be different 🤣
you were very harsh on XIV which combat i quite enjoy, might be the favourite action based combat i've seen in an rpg actually. I do agree with your top pick though, X was the peak of combat for the FF series. for me the absoulte worst combat is XI, most fights consisted of me just standing there and waiting for the enemy to die. I heard some stuff about skill chains but seemed such a pain of pull off I just ignored it.
Revisiting XIV (been playing with a friend) makes me want to be even more harsh on it. I think I'm fundamentally not a fan of the combat mechanics in that game and the more I play it, the less I like it. I haven't replayed XII in a while, but it's a race to the bottom with those two combat wise.
Bro you didn’t include FF7 Remake in your video. That game has the best combat system in the franchise. It’s also my favorite combat system in any video game too. It’s incredibly deep and addicting and hope it’s the future of the franchise
In my intro video for the series (I did 16 videos) I mentioned it would be the mainline games and OG Tactics only, not sequels or spinoffs. The video series ended up being longer than 10 hours just including all of those games.
Tbh I liked Kingdom Hearts and X2 more lol
Interesting ranking with some good insight. I’ve never played the MMOs so I can’t speak for them, but my ranking from best to worst would be: Tactics, XIII, X, IX, VI, IV, V, III, I, VIII, II, VII, XII, XV
I would say that my taste in the FF series is pretty controversial compared to the general consensus.
Combat mechanics isn't the hill I'll die on in the series, other than proclaiming XIII's combat to be underrated and XII's to be overrated. Picking Tactics as your number 1 is a fine choice.
no wonder you didnt enjoy xiv when in the clip you showed you didn't even do any of your rotation or dodge any enemy attacks
I hate doing rotations. I find it to be incredibly tedious.
But yeah, that was a pretty low-effort clip. I've played through ARR doing rotations and avoiding enemy attacks, but I like the combat so little that when I needed to grab footage I put in very little effort into fighting the random enemies.
The more of XIV I play, the less I like it (combat-wise), and I would rank it below XII if I re-did this video today.
Hi, i havent play any FF game, which would you recommend? Im between 7, 9, 10 and 12
7 was my first and it made me a huge fan of the series. 9 and 10 are often considered the best entry points, along with 4. 12 is very different and not indicative of the series overall, but if it looks like something you vibe with go for it.
@@gregtroyan thanks, btw which has best gameplay? I love strategy
@@panditas7679 Try Final Fantasy Tactics or Final Fantasy V for strong gameplay.
@@gregtroyan in my console i just have from 7-15 so i cant play older games or tactics
VI is the best because the story actually makes sense lol.
Hahaha you really don't like final fantasy XII 😂😂 that's definitely like the most mixed game in the series
I like Final Fantasy XII, just less than a lot of other games in the series. Hahahaha. I still think it's very good, though.
@@gregtroyanall good lmao just made me laugh, I haven't even played it haha
this guy hates gameplay
Honestly this is true.
wow, we are so not agree , for me the one and only combat system that i liked from the entire franchise is FF12, i dont really like the story, i only like the combat sooo much and i greatly hoping they make another one like dat
for me FF12 combat is 12 out of 10 score , whole all the other FF is 3 to 4 out of 10 , except for FF13, i give that a minus 99 score
How far did you get in 13?
@@gregtroyani play all 13 games including the suppose to be related psp ff type 0, and i hate all of it , its too demanding, you have to keep switching paradigm , and keep setting the attack pattern, its not playing, dats practically working , so tiresome
Final Fantasy if it ever does go back to turn based should really take notes from Persona/Shin Megami Tensei cause I think they have way better battle systems than most FF games ever did. Digital Devil Saga in particular basically had a similar concept to the sphere grid but more customizable
Agree , 10 has the best system
now Honkai : star rail use similar battle system
Interesting. I thought that game would be more action oriented like Genshin. Very cool to hear.
@@gregtroyan furthermore, people who always been disliking turn based combat ended up praising the battle system in Honkai : star rail
like Asmongold
FFXIII has the worst battle system, follow by FFXV and FFXII. For the best, FF Tactics is the best, follow by FFIV, FFVI and FFVII
Hard disagree on XIII being the worst, but I think the rest of your takes are pretty reasonable.
Ranking 6 and 8 below 9s combat is a joke. 9 has has the slowest and most brain dead combat in the series after 1
IX ranks so high because of how fun the blue magic is in that game. I do think I probably ranked it a little too high, but also, I'm more of story-first guy and acknowledged at the beginning I don't have as strong opinions on mechanics. With IX ranking so high, I remember having more fun doing the battles than the battles in VI and VIII, so that was why I ranked it where I did. But when watching the video back I was like, "Yo, maybe this is too high."
I understand a lot of people love FF9 (and I don't blame them even if it isn't my favorite), but I don't know who in there right mind would rank the combat from that game so high. Square straight up half assed it, compared to Vll and Vlll. Not saying it's a bad game by any means, but I don't think anyone is going to play the game and right home about how great the combat is. Its about the world, characters, and story, plain and simple.
Honestly, it's Quina's blue magic that really gets me to rank IX's combat so high. I was still probably too enthusiastic, tho.
I prefer characters having distinct roles over everyone basically playing the same
I agree with this list almost completely lol
I'll take it!
Interesting your taste is almost the complete opposite of mine - I love FFXII’s system and really dislike X’s - but some of the things you loved about X were things I love about XII (being able to switch out characters, being able to control and play as espers / summons, etc.).
Being able to switch out party members was a pretty useful part of XII, but I admit to not really enjoying the summon mechanics in it. I do like Gambits but the actual battles just don't do it for me. What's your overall combat ranking?
Good videos by the way! Sorry If I sound negative....
No worries, I hope my response in regards to your commentary around XIV was reasonable. : )
@@gregtroyan Great response, thanks
10,9 and 6
I’m not a fan of MMOS
I do enjoy battles in FF. I enjoyed 12's gambit system a lot more than XV's. XIV is pretty interesting if you really play the game. So if you don't know you shouldn't even talk about it or rank it as you can't rank something you don't know about. I do think X is the best though.
Since I had beaten all of the games, I felt it was fair to rank them based on my experience, and I did begin the video with the caveat that I'm not much of a combat guy, and I gave the disclaimer that I'm not overly familiar with the MMO genre or an expert in XIV's mechanics. I feel playing 40+ hours of ARR is fair enough for me to give an impression of the combat system in relation to the other games, especially if I acknowledge my limitations as a player (which I did). :P
XII's gambits are excellent and would have DRASTICALLY improved XV.
@@gregtroyan the thing is that the combat does change A LOT in higher levels. There's a lot more to it that what ARR gives you. Battle mechanics change as the expansions progressed. I played 500 hrs + and I'm nowhere near as advanced as other players that play the raids. Mechanics also change a lot depending on the class. As a Tank there's so many options as you become more advanced that basing it on ARR is like judging FFX's battle system based on the intro to Zanarkand without party members to exchange. I do understand that the basic mechanics might not be your thing, but it's way more interesting , complex and advanced than most titles in the franchise.
@@juanvalverde5245 That's all fair. However, I'll say that the Zanarkand intro in FFX is under 20 minutes of gametime (and in terms of battles, less than 10 minutes). So, let's say ARR is 40 hours. That means XIV's 2400 minutes vs X's 20 minutes. That's 120 times longer to develop the battle mechanics if you want to make a 1 to 1 comparison of those sections. : P
I'm primarily a story player, so I'll readily admit this is one of the least important categories for me. I'll definitely concede that XIV is way more complex mechanically than most games in the series when it comes to combat, but that's not really a selling point for me as a player.
@@gregtroyan The reason I specifically mentioned that part is because during the intro, you get a good feel of the battle system, but you still are yet to learn the main mechanics that make X special, which is the character swap. ARR is like that, you learn just the basics. What you get in HW, SB, SB and EW is sooooo different, so much more complex that it makes ARR feels just like the very very basic stuff, which it is, just ask any XIV veteran and they'll always tell you the battle system really evolves into something else by level 70. There's soooooo much more to it. I would recommend you watch some videos on it so you see what I'm talking about. For the record I'm not trying to convince you of anything, you like what you like and that's that but I do want you to know how much more there is to it. ARR is really that basic.
@@juanvalverde5245 My plan is to return to XIV and beat the rest of the game, so I expect to learn the mechanics naturally through that. It's possible I may do a couple new ranking videos after beating the rest.