Ranking Final Fantasy Games by Combat/Battle Systems (MMOs and Tactics Included) 

If you enjoyed this video, be sure to check out the other rankings in the series! ru-vid.com/group/PLXjn34wFCMP-6Kl56Fn2Ig3msOHqZAVhv

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? )

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.

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.

God the PSP versions of I and II are gorgeous

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.

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)

X is 100% #1 👏

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

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)

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.

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.

Good videos by the way! Sorry If I sound negative....

I agree with this list almost completely lol

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

Hi, i havent play any FF game, which would you recommend? Im between 7, 9, 10 and 12

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

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.

Agree , 10 has the best system now Honkai : star rail use similar battle system

Hahaha you really don't like final fantasy XII 😂😂 that's definitely like the most mixed game in the series

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.).

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

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.

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

this guy hates gameplay

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.

10,9 and 6 I’m not a fan of MMOS