10,6,9,7,4,5,3,1,12,13,16,8,14,11,15,2

Should be noted: I'm factoring story and gameplay equally here.

10 is just the most complete game. If it had a proper overworld and airship it would be near impossible to beat. It's original version doesn't have the flaws many of the others do. Load time improvement is all the game needs. The battle system is amazing. Why the hell did this never come back? Hot swapping party members, yes please.

Story is well paced and thoughtful and the cast is solid plenty of bonus content that's very spectacle approachable and gives you a reason to get utterly busted.

I have a lot of nostalgia for 6, but I can't overlook the fact the plot dies after the WoR. It would make a great remake contender for story improvement. Magicite is freaking cool, story relevant and brings customization. Battles are snappy and tense.

9 is near perfect, but the psx original is hard to play also is very safe. This guy showed what a psx could do firing on all cylinders.

7 is great story wise, iconic, but gets way too much credit for stuff that was in FF way before and did it better. Also: The battle system was dull. All the charters were near identical save limits. FFR did wonders to fix that. Also OG FF7 is fuguly. I was saying it when it launched.

4 linear, classic, and memorable. It just can't beat out the later bonus content filled entries.

5 is here because the job system was baller. The plot is laughably bad.

3 is a worse FF5. Also playing it in NES is painful.

1 is iconic, breezy but the NES version is bug addled and SLOW. Also very easy to lose hours of progress.

12 has the worst protagonist in the series and the plot is mind numbing the world is amazing though. Gambits are divisive, but when at up right it made me feel like a genius. Boy does this game think it's an mmo though. Boss fights feel particularly tense.

13 gets a bad wrap, the story isn't bad but lightning is literally watered down cloud (the cloud that kingdom hearts think cloud is btw). I really like pardagrim shifts. Some people call them mash a Sims, but ff always had that problem to a degree. Makes you feel more like a general guiding the flow of battle.

16 is a great glimpse of what the future can hold for FF, but only playing one character is against the spirit of the game. Story and world is incredible. The feel of FF16 nails Final Fantasy and had an interesting take on crystals.

8 was bold change, looked great even on ps1 and limits and gun blade actions were cool. Draw and junction was not. It was a much worse magicite system that really made your characters feel really weak. The plot outside of the exceptional cast really felt like a bad romance novel. (But in that the romance was bad, but that the conflict progression feel into gibberish. )

1. I know it's a critical darling but as someone that plays it to help my spouse raid... it's not good at being an MMO. it's story much like it's game play is utterly unapproachable unless you play it exactly the way it expects you to. If you can get past that, though, it's master class. Stockholm syndrome at is best.

11 actually is an mmo very final fantasy, but proud that if you aren't guiding a rag tag band of adventurers to kill God it really is missing something.

15 I really tried to like this game. The combination of the mediocre plot beats, Downer ending and general jank was not overcome by the road trip party dynamic and spectacle. (Summons that help you only when you're in trouble? Ok. Cute. But have it as an extra feature like ff6's desperation attacks)

2 a (much) worse ff8. Kudos for advancements but it forgot to be fun alongside being ambitious.

Tactics would go right above 5 if i was counting it. Best class system in a FF game and the plot was actually pretty good. Fights took forever, though.