Everyone has differing opinions about the Final Fantasy series. I always considered them "Baby's First RPGs" - inoffensive mainstream games that you play to introduce yourself to the genre, before moving on to more challenging fare. For the most part, the FF games are extremely easy, take few chances with the genre, and - until recently - have demonstrated a dire aversion to any sort of gameplay innovation.
So, in other words, if you've already familiar with the world of JRPGs, I'd recommend giving them a miss and picking up a copy of Persona 3 or Shadow Hearts instead. If not, then take the advice of the above posters.
"'Casual games' are something the 'Game Industry' invented to explain away the Wii success instead of actually listening or looking at what Nintendo did. There is no 'casual strategy' from Nintendo. 'Accessible strategy', yes, but ‘casual gamers’ is just the 'Game Industry''s polite way of saying what they feel: 'retarded gamers'."
-Sean Malstrom
