[ShadoWolfe]

I played every Final Fantasy up to 9 as a kid, and never played 10-12.

Went straight from 9 to 13 and was kind of whiplashed.

Each of the earlier ones was incredible for different reasons

FF4 is legendary, dramatically changed the entire genre, and has an incredibly compelling story and world
FF5 had the job system that was super fun, but the story was lacking compared to FF4 and FF6
FF6 took all the good aspects from the previous ones and expanded on them, with one of the best gameplay, plots, playable characters, world, and lore of any game to date
FF7 is an incredible game, and brought the isometric "3d" style to the series. plot was incredible, characters were compelling, and it was fun. It was my favorite for a bit, but
FF8 blew it out of the water imo. just the best Final Fantasy in the entire series by far. stunning graphics for the time, an incredible plot that, to me, was more compelling than FF7. Everything in this game was masterful. Card collection, character adaptability with the guardian force system, draw points, junction system. Just amazing through and through. To this day I will hum some of the tunes from how much it stuck playing it as a kid.
FF9 was just 10 steps backwards imo