Starting Final Fantasy

I don't think there's a gap from four to 12, I bought seven just the other day.

Numbered FFs are all separate stories. The only ones to have sequels are X, XIII, IV and there's FFVII Compilation. If it has a normal number, you can start there.

Each one is an individual game (with a few exceptions, like X and X-II, and XIII and XIII-2). Start anywhere you like

every final fantasy game has it's own storyline.

I have only played FFX, FFX-2, FF7, FF8, FF9

start with FF7 or FF8.

I believe that the older ones are better as the fans of the series say... If I remember it correctly... FF 4,5,6 were the most voted to be the best.

Any numbered FF games don't have have a continued story (e.g: the story of FF1 is about saving the world with 4 crystals, while FF2 is about a ruthless kingdom invasion) so.... you can play FF5 before FF1 - FF4 without missing anything.

Actually, there are very few Final Fantasy titles with contiguous stories. Barring those specific continuities [such as X/X-2, XIII/XIII-2/Lightning Returns, and maybe the very first two games if I'm not entirely mistaken], each game seems to have its own individual world. The only bleed-through seems to be the fighting game that came out on the PSP/Vita. You could pick up Final Fantasy VII, skip all the way to XIII, and you would not technically be skipping anything in a set continuity. Each title has its own unique world and story, with the only commonality really being certain monsters. That being said, XI and XIV are both MMORPGs, so there's that.

Just pick a title that looks interesting and give it a shot. You can grab IX on Playstation Network, and it's one of the more underrated titles in the series from what I've been able to tell.

It starts with III because of ports. AFAIK not all have been ported to PC.

Depends if you just want to play a good JRPG or to study the whole franchise. If you just want to play a good Final Fantasy, every entry in the series from 6 to 10 is really good (some really enjoyed 4 as well, but not me).

Ok, not all of FF games are on Steam.

Every game is a different story with different characters and a different world so you won't have any story problems by starting wherever you want. You may not like playing the older games (missing out!!) if you start with the newest ones because of gameplay and "modern" design.

Also there are spin offs (Final Fantasy Tactics) and other games that are story related (but are not the main games) to others (FF7 and Crisis Core).

Personally, I have played them in disorder. First FF6, next FF4, next FF7 and so on...

Enjoy your gaming!!

FF6 is the best, it has superb soundtrack, and also has the best badass villain, Kefka is the only one who was able to destroy the world

Play FF VI, is the best of the series (IMO). Get it for android, or emulate it for GBA or SNES. FF X is awesome too.

If you wanna play em all in order I would suggest:

Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls - GameBoy Advance
Final Fantasy III - Steam
Final Fantasy IV - Steam or Super Nintendo
Final Fantasy V - GameBoy Advance
Final Fantasy VI - Super Nintendo
Final Fantasy VII - Steam
Final Fantasy VIII - Steam
Final Fantasy IX - Play Station (also on PSN)
Final Fantasy X and X2 HD Remaster - PS3 but skip X2
Final Fantasy X! - MMO skip
Final Fantasy XII - PlayStation 2
Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2 - Steam

And there is FF14 id say skip, Final Fantasy 1 to 3 can be quite boring and tedious. If you wanna play the best ones go for 4, 6, 7, 8 and 9. X is hit and miss but I like it.

Good luck! its a long journey!

As others have pointed out with the main series(the numbered ones) you don't have to play them in any particular order cause they're not even set in the same worlds so no matter which you pick you're fine. And no there are not 14 final fantasy games, there's many more. They're just side-stories, sequels and spin-offs so they do not belong in the numbered series. Final Fantasy X for example has a sequel named Final fantasy X-2. Or Final Fantasy VII has several side-games like Crisis Core(prequel), Dirge of Cerberus(side story after the events of FFVII focusing on one of the support characters), a movie named Advent Children etc. Or there's completely unrelated spin offs like FF Type-0 and FF tactics. From the ones on steam I'd personallysuggest Final Fantasy VII since it's the most acclaimed one and gives you a pretty good feeling of what FF is about.

I played everything from I to X-2 and XII. Each game has it's own charm and I found it interesting to replay the games chronologically. For starting out though I recommend anything from VI to IX. VI if you are okay with 2D or VII if you want 3D.

There are a lot of final fantasies that I've not played, but I'll give you my view on the ones that I have played:
Final Fantasy 1: Skip this one. Story is so-so, and it's very very grindy.
Final Fantasy 4: Story seem decent, but unless you like plenty of random encounters, it might get on your nerves. Feels more grindy than it actually is.
Final Fantasy 5: This one has better gameplay than most other FFs, as you get more freedom in how you develop your characters. As you progress through the game, you'll unlock new classes, and your characters & their individual classes level up individually. You also get to use some class skills with other classes that you've leveled up. Story is not amazing, but I actually quite enjoyed this one.
Final Fantasy 6: A big step up in the story department. Several memorable moments, it does not feel overly grindy.
Final Fantasy 7: This one feels like one of those "if you were not there when it was first released, you won't really get it". I played it years after its release, and while I beat it (so it was not terrible), I did not see what the fuss was all about.
Final Fantasy 8: Annoying. The game has an annoying system where you get to "draw" magical energy from enemies, and you use this instead of mana. It ends up feeling rather grindy towards the mid-point of the game. Skip this one.
Final Fantasy 9: My favourite FF. While the gameplay is just alright, I found the setting to be very charming and enjoyable. Highly recommended.

You don't need to play any of these in any particular order. They are separate games. Also as for side games:
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance: I don't get why this one is so popular. I own it, and even though I got relatively far into it, it just felt time consuming and shallow. With shallow I mean that during combat, there does not seem to be much tactical depth. I was just sending my troops forward, and I won. Not much thinking involved.
Final fantasy Fables Chocobo's Dungeon: A charming rogue-lite-ish about a chocobo. Randomly generated dungeons, a so-so story, and to be honest rather lackluster gameplay. It gets repetitive, and if you've played pretty much any other roguelike or roguelike-like, you'll probably find this one to be overly simplistic and shallow.

I'd go in order, from the first to the last :)

About the versions:
I-II-IV on psp
III on ds/pc/mobile it's the same version
V-VI --> I have yet to play them so I can't say anything about them
VII and VIII -> steam
IX -> psx
X -> there should be an hd collection, go for that
XI -> skip it it's online
XII -> ps2, but never played it
XIII -> garbage, play it wherever you like :D

V and III were a bit boring and you should avoid XI(MMO), XIII(just horrible) and XIV(MMO).

Also skip XII if you don't like politics.

I think you should probably start off by playing Final Fantasy IX, then VII, then VIII, then IV, V and VI. XIII is a game you either hate or love.

Personally, I find IX and VII quite boring, although I consider the former to be the best game in the franchise. X is my favorite.

FF VI it was release for Android if you want to acquire. Great RPG, great graphics for its time. I really like FF VIII (the futuristic scholar theme) and FF-X. FF-Tactics is very nice and different from the traditional RPG system.

FF was incorrected numbered in USA because they skipped some games:

• Final Fantasy (NES) was released in Japan & USA (2 years later).
• FF II (NES) - Japan only.
• FF III (NES) - Japan only.
• FF IV (SNES) - Released as 4 in Japan, as 2 in USA (it was the second game with that name in USA).
• FF V (SNES) - Japan only.
• FF VI (Snes) - Released as 6 in Japan, as 3 in USA.
• FF VII (PSX) - This is where the numbers adjust. Japan & USA call it 7.
• All the others were right.

You can see that evolution with that image: Final Fantasy Timeline

Chrono Trigger & Chrono Cross have better stories and battle systems to me.

I ALLWAYS play all the games of a series in order if i can, it just fell like the rightr thing

Poor dude, I feel for you :3

There's only one rule to playing FFs. Stay away from Mystic Quest.
And unless you feel like paying monthly subscriptions stay away from FF11 and 14 as well, especially 11.

Tactics is your typical SRPG and very much a spin-off non-essential part of the FF series. But it's an ok SRPG that many love so if you want an SRPG then you can try that. I personally didn't enjoy it much though.

its better begin for the first game and continue playing in order, maybe FFI can be rude for new players in the series, but after all, its a good game.

By the way, Final fantasy Adventure and Final fantasy Legends, are not part of the series.

Summary of almost every Final Fantasy game I've played:

Basically you start off with some small task involving fighting an evil creature/person and deliver something, but then it turns out there's something more pressing tied into that small task. So then you travel the world, discovering hidden mystical items/summons and fighting Evil Bad Guy Responsible for the War/Problems. The mystical items/summons usually are somehow tied to the stability of the planet itself. There's probably that one resort or Eastern themed town that's out of the way from the main worldly problems. There might be a battle arena but that's pretty much optional.

The main hero is typically a swordsman but you still get some magic spells/skills to fall back on. There's magic users, thieves, martial-artists. Sometimes there is an awesome class called Dragoon which is pretty much a quick high-jumping heavy-armored lancer. Then there's the Musician/Dancer class that I have no idea if anyone actually likes but it keeps popping up. There are at least one or two girls in the party (they usually healers/mage and thief/martial classes), and maybe a non-human animal ally who sometimes is the last of his kind and has a tragic backstory. You get to ride giant chicken-ostriches that can cross certain terrains based on their color (with black/gold being the best) or heal you (usually white), small ships that usually get wrecked, and awesome airships that you can fly to anywhere. Also there's these weird bat-winged koalas with a single pom sticking out of their heads called Moogles that sometimes pop up.

White Magic is restorative, buff, cure debuff., and a enemy scan spell Black Magic is primarily elemental offensive but also has debuffs. Red Magic is a hybrid of White and Black but is ultimately weaker. Blue Magic is enemy attack copying but requires being hit with the enemy skills. There are some other Magic variants, but these are the four core. Summoning special monsters usually is an optional skill-set, but yields potent single move high MP attacks. Only problem is that the better Summon spells are often hard to acquire and some have hellish optional-boss side-quests.

Also, the final boss has about three stages, so be prepared for the long-haul. The near end-game optional bosses are often harder than the final boss. The best equipment for your characters will often require frustrating side-quests or a lot of money.

This is all a matter of opinion. Some tips to help you choose:

So you want 2d? 1 through 6 (some remakes have updated older games to 3d)
3d: 7 and later.
Voice acting? Starting with 10 and later
Realistic looking non-"chibi" characters? 8 and later, except for 9
Some are more or less fantasy and science fiction randomly through the series. e.g. off the top of my head, 1 has no sci-fi until the final stage area, 9 might not have any at all. 7 and 13 are entirely sci-fi more or less and the fantasy/magic elements are given a scientific explanation as to their existence.