Final Fantasy 9

If there’s one thing nerds love to do, it’s argue about our favorite things and which one is better. SNES or Genesis? Batman or Superman? Mike or Joel? Amongst the myriad of geeky topics than can spur internet flamewars, there’s a particularly contentious one: which Final Fantasy game is the best?

Anyone who has attempted to engage in such a debate has discovered something: your favorite FF game is somebody else’s least favorite FF game – and oftentimes for the very same exact reasons that you love it. With that in mind, we’ve set out to settle the debate once and for all. We’ve taken a long, hard look at all the mainline, numbered FF games – no spinoffs, no direct sequels ala X-2 – and have decided to end all arguments once and for all by describing why each and every one is simultaneously both the best and the worst Final Fantasy game ever. In the face of such irrefutable evidence, all arguments are certain to cease now and forevermore… right?

September 9th means different things to different types of gamers. One camp can easily go the 9-9-99 route and spend all day pining over the life and death of Sega’s Dreamcast. It’s an honorable day of mourning for sure, but the other path is a bit peppier and perhaps leads to fonder memories of a machine that lasted for nearly 10 active years. That’d be the original PlayStation, which launched on 9-9-95 to almost immediate success.

Looking back, what were the system’s standout titles? Most of them are obvious inclusions, as they’ve spawned sequels even into present day, but others have since faded into nothingness and deserve a special anniversary shout-out. And if you feel this list is missing your favorite game (say Legend of Dragoon, Persona or Abe’s Odyssey), blame the rest of the GR staff who took vacations/sick days this week and left me to come up with this alone. It’s their fault XXXXX isn’t on here – I love XXXXX just as much as you!

In Final Fantasy’s decades-long history, the franchise has always been at the cutting edge of graphics, music and storytelling in games. Integral to each game’s success is the summon system, by which players call upon a powerful supernatural ally to aid them in battle. Though characters and locations vary from game to game, many summons return regularly, forming a crucial continuity between old and new titles.

During the past three days we’ve declared the greatest Final Fantasy game of all, hand-picked the franchise’s best LINK TO HERO heroes and jeered at its mightiest LINK TO VILLAINS villains. Today, we’re digging a bit deeper into the series and acknowledging the nearly unsung greatness of their rich, moving soundtracks.

As series with 13 entries and an ungodly amount of spin-off titles, Final Fantasy stirs up a great amount of excitement when a new game arrives. XIII hits the US next week, making it not just the first entry on the PS3/360, but also the first numbered sequel since 2006’s Final Fantasy XII.

If you were to look at the PlayStation Network a few years ago and compare it to its competitors, there wouldn't be very much to say. “It's free” was usually the best argument you could offer. With time, however, Sony's online gaming network has come into its own, adding in features and content that have helped to make it – if not exactly a match for the likes of Xbox Live – at least a worthy contender.

There are lots of excellent reasons to want to blow up an RPG town. If you’re a villain, for example, you might level a place because it’s friendly to some resistance movement, or it’s in your way, or the heroes are stopping in briefly on their way to kill you. If you’re a game designer, you might do it to raise the stakes, or to give players some emotional reason to want the villain dead.

You know the type: spiky hair, sad eyes, too many belt buckles in his ensemble to count. You might meet one or two of these guys in fighting games, or starring in a Prince of Persia sequel; more often than not, you’ll see them wangsting their hearts out in a sprawling Japanese RPG epic.

Final Fantasy might have given us some of the most memorable romances in videogame history - as you can see in yesterday's Top 10 Square Enix Couples  feature - but not all of them have been memorable for the right reasons. Whether intentional or simply misguided, the series has always been host to some of the most awkward pairings imaginable.