I've played them all (except for Japanese # 3) and the only one I never finished was VIII.

I would have to say the best one is III (US), aka VI (JP). Story? Gameplay? Characters? It's got the best of everything. And it's the only FF that I bothered to play through twice.

Of all the Final Fantasy games I've played my favourite has to be FFVI. But I've yet to play FFIII and was disappointed that Final Fantasy Chronicles included Chrono Trigger instead of FFIII.

Don't get me wrong. I love Chrono Trigger but I felt it deserved to be rereleased on it's own whereas FFIII should have been packaged alongside FFIV. Any word as to why we've yet to see a rerelease of FFIII? Does Square have something special planned for it (like what they've just done for FFI & II in Final Fantasy Origins) or are they just going to ignore this game?

For those who've played it, it's not as bad as I've been told Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest is, right? (I ask this only as a possible reasoning for the game not to have been included as part of Final Fantasy Chronicles.)

^ FFIII was released on the PSX on Final Fantasy Anthology which also included FFV.

Look for it - it can still be found at a decent price (the SNES version plays a bit better, though).

edit - oops, sorry - I ment the US FF3, which would be JP FF6 - yes, they've ignored this title so far - maybe they'll put it out in another collection with Secret of Mana and other Saga games.

Oh yeah, i meant FF II and V being different - V had a pretty lame story, but the job system was incredible. So incredible, in fact, that almost every RPG/strategy game has copied it. FF II had the most odd-ball level up system out of all the games, but it was still fun!

Chrono Cross had the best level up system ever. It was innovative and incredibly well balanced at the same time.

BTW, even though both FF Anthology and Chronicles suck, they're worth owning.

Why do you say they suck? Because of the loading times?

They suck because of the load times, the slowdown during battles, and the music took a bit of a step back from the original. It's obvious that instead of translating the game to the PSX, they're running it off of an emulator.

On EGM's scoring system i'd give it a 3 because it was such a disappointing, mediocre effort. But it's still worth owning.

Also, with Chronicles, the "hard" mode of FFIV isn't nearly as good as the fan-translated ROM that's been on the internet for years.