Final Fantasy question: where to begin?

[owlmoose]

I was chatting with a friend about my Final Fantasy X replay (about which more at another time), and she expressed an interest in the series but was wondering where to start -- which makes sense, it's a huge series with no clear starting point since so many of the games stand alone. I have my own thoughts on this subject, of course, but I wonder what the rest of you think.

So here's the question: if you were to rec one and only one Final Fantasy game to someone who has never played anything in the series, which game would it be and why?

On balance, I think I would lean toward FFX, because of the depth of its story, world, and characters, with the caveat that they shouldn't expect the graphics and voice acting to be up to current standards. Although if I knew the player was a big fan of epic fantasy, I might rec FFIX instead, or if they loved political intrigue, I might suggest FFXII. So those are my picks, but then I've never finished FFVI, and my meh-ness toward FFVII is well known.

Update, Tuesday evening: it turns out that my friend doesn't have access to most of the platforms that have FF games made for them, so this discussion is mostly theoretical, alas. But thanks, still, for weighing in, and feel free to keep commenting! It's still an interesting topic and I've enjoyed seeing what everyone has to say.

Comments

[ryry]

With the caveat that FFVI is my favorite, I would suggest FFX. The story in that game is just so magnificent that I think it would appeal to the widest selection of possible players.

I want to suggest FF8 because of the ease of gameplay, the few characters to manage, and the intriguing story (not to mention the amazingness that is Laguna Loire), but the end of that game has the story clusterfuck around on itself, and I think that's weird and confusing. It has been a long time since I've played 8 though; I wonder if my perceptions of it would be different now from the first time I played it. (Which was also when its graphics were considered 'pretty good'.)

[zen_monk]

I second the motion for all the FF8 reasons. Primarily Laguna.

[auronlu]

FFVIII was actually the game that originally hooked me (I was sold at "I had a terrible nightmare. i dreamed I was a moron.")

That said, the graphics aren't retro enough to be cute, and not modern enough to look great, so I wonder if a non-fan would love 'em warts and all. More importantly, as you said, Disc 3 is very bewildering from Lunatic Pandora appearing out of the blue to Squall hopping a rocket and heading to space without any reason given in advance.

[owlmoose]

Hey, some people like "WTF????" games. :) I have to admit that FF8 broke my brain a bit, too, though -- for me it was the whole orphanage thing, I rolled my eyes so hard that I think I sprained something. But yeah, I would hesitate to rec that, too, for the reasons you give and for the ones auronlu mentions as well.

I do agree that the strong story of FFX is a selling point that should put it high on anyone's list of games to try.

[ryry]

THE ORPHANAGE YES. Augh, I had almost forgotten about that. But yes, that only worsened the terrible turn of the story.

Otherwise, the world they build up is fascinating and cool and the story of the sorceresses and the construction of the sorceress/knight relationship is amazing. And I love the "draw" magic system. (I might be the only one though.)