My first Final Fantasy (and the game responsible for my love of video games) was FFVII. I had honestly never before played a game with a world that interesting. As soon as I saw Aeris walk out of the alley and the city of Midgar came into view I got excited. Then of course hearing the bombing mission song, I knew something epic was in wait for me. Avalanche jumps off the train and takes out some guards (R.I.P. Jesse, Bigs, and Wedge T_T). Cloud flips off and Barret goes " C'mon newcomer. Follow me." I was like "EEEEEGGAASSPP!" I played the hell out of that game and loved every second of it. I'm a big fan of all the spin offs too!
FFVIII: I remember seeing a cardboard cut out of Squall, Rinoa, and Seifer (like on the cover) I freaked out. The draw system was a little annoying but I still love the games. I always laugh at the scene in the transport right before the SeeD field exam. Where Zell and Seifer at messin with each other. "chicken wuss" lol. Also, I really liked the whole romance between Squall and Rinoa. Infact, the scene I probably associate the most with FFVIII is the ballroom dance scene. Oh, and FFVIII introduced Laguna, nuff said xD.
FFIX: At first I didn't even want to play the game because of how the characters looked. But I eventually warmed up to it and i'm glad I did. The cities/kingdoms in FFIX were beautiful. The worlds really felt alive, and I was excited to be walking through it. The combat seemed a bit more refined and everything was really smooth. The story was great and I distinctly remember trying to figure out if Kuja was a guy or a girl. Those hips haha. Vivi was was adorable too, always triping :p.
FFX: I enjoyed 10 as well. I'll never forget the scene where Yuna performs the sending. "People die, and Yuna dances." The battle theme gets stuck in my head from time to time even now ha. I loved the game and I played through it alot, but i've replayed the others since but not this one since I lost my ps2 in a flood. Shame, mabey i'll get the HD version when it comes out.
FFXII: I adored this game. Loved the setting (thanks FF Tactics and Vagrant story teehee). I know a lot of people didn't like the gambit system, but you could always turn it off sooo? The one problem I had with the game was that I didn't care for Vaan all that much. I didn't hate him or anything, but I always preferred to run around as either Balthier or Basch.
FFXIII and FFXIII-2: Okay, I don't HATE FFXIII like a lot of fans do, but I don't necessarily love it either. I felt (I believe someone said it earlier in the thread) that they felt like anime soap operas. Way to cliche in my opinion. In fact, i could get past the battle system and how linear it was (though I prefer world maps >_<) but the biggest turn off for me was definitely the cheesey dialogue and characters. When playing any other FF, if someone else was in the room and a cutscene was going on, they were immediately impressed or thought I was watching a movie or something. I LIKED showing them the cutscenes. But with FFXIII and FFXIII-2 I was almost embarrassed if someone was in the room with me, sometimes i'd get embarrassed playing by myself lol. Not bashing them they were decent games but they didn't feel "Final Fantasy ish" enough to me.
I have played the nes games recently too. FFVI felt amazing. I was immediately addicted to that game! FFIV was also really fun and my friend loved the hell out of it so it always gave us something to talk about. FFIII (the DS one) was really fun and I was glad to see the job system back in place! FF1 and 2 I had played on my gba and it was really interesting to see where the franchise I love so much had got its roots. I have yet to play FFV, not for any reason, just never had a chance to play.
Out of every Final Fantasy game I have played however, Final Fantasy:Tactics was by far the one that I put the most amount of hours into. The job system is so freaking addicting and I love the fact that you can hire your own troops and give them names. The story was very mature and the characters all had very real and interesting motives. It is by far my favorite strategy game ever and definitely one of my favorite Final Fantasy games of all time.
I believe Square will get things back on track. They messed up (in my opinion) with FFXIII and FFXIII-2 and they know it. They got feedback from it and hopefully they will learn from it. As a franchise, I'm not too worried. I know more good things will come. There, that's my piece :p
