Tought about playing FF X next as well - would you recommend it, if i'm more a fan of the "traditional" parts of the series (6-9)?

Loved Tactics so much, played it several times on the the old PS!

Absolutely one of my favorite games of all times, and the best SRPG followed by Fire Emblem Awakening or Three House (yet to decide) :)

I'm pretty much a newcomer to the FF series as well. Was a DQ fan back in the day then got into Grandia + Tales series before eventually mainly getting into WRPGs like Skyrim, Fallout 3, etc. But I'd definitely like to check out some FF stuff eventually to see what the fuss is about. My hardcore FF fan friend tells me VII and VIII are the ones to get but I've played VII for a few hours and wasn't terribly into it. Just doesn't seem to have aged all that well and seems slow-paced for my tastes.

I tend to be more into the quicker paced action RPG stuff which is why I like Tales.

Maybe I should give X a try too as I have heard it holds up today, also heard XII is pretty underrated. And I do need to try VI for SNES, as many say it's one of the best RPGs for that console, and maybe ever.

FF12 is a superb game, it just didn't conform to many FF standards and was the first to feature no random battles, more MMO style play but still had ATB.

6 is also great, if they had remade FF6 and not 7, I'd be more all over that then FF7Remake as I know they are ballsing that up. FF6 I care less about so welcome a remake more. Still a great game with probably the best villain.

Nice, I'm typically not into random encounters so that sounds good, and ATB is cool with me if it's fast-paced enough. Straight up turn-based doesn't usually do it for me, but at least ATB incorporates some more action-oriented elements. Combat in XII looks exciting enough.

So based off what I've researched (and somewhat reinforced by this response), I feel I've pretty much narrowed down the FF games I'd like to try to

XII - seems to most align w/ my RPG sensibilities

VI - tend to have an SNES bias as that's my favorite console and you can't go wrong with a great SNES RPG, & sounds like the pinnacle of the series

and possibly X - looks unique at least and I do remember watching my buddy play back in the day and enjoying the atmosphere

Again, based off my time w/ VII I don't think I'd be into the more archaic, more sluggish/bloated Playstation games, not sure I want to play the really oldschool NES ones, and I definitely would not be into the all-out MMO ones like XI

Great to hear you're loving FFX! Defintely one of the best FF games.

Never thought tho that someones first FF experience these days would've been FFX, if anything FFVII should be the first FF game newcomers should play as it is the biggest FF game still to this day.

If you continue to enjoy and would like to play more FF games then definitely recommend FFVII next before the remake comes out. But any FF games from IV to X are amazing.

Just a reminder.... When/if you play X-2 DO NOT SKIP a single cutscene. EVEN if you have watched it 50 times and died right after it. DO NOT SKIP them or you will regret it at the end of the story.

I hate VII (tho I love the gameplay), I love VIII, IX, X and X-2 (finished them all except X-2 due to skipping a cutscene and not knowing that if I did I would regret it at the end of the game. I found out many hours later about not skipping, it annoyed me so I stopped playing). I hate XII (halfway through got the strongest weapon in the game hit a boss for 9,999 damage insta kill. Insta turned off the console removed the disk and never played it again or finished it.) I hate XIII (played it for 3 hours realised it did everything I hate in a FF game turned it off snapped the disk never played another FF until X and X-2 came out on switch).

That's so weird for me to hear because I grew up on the original three Final Fantasies (I, IV, VI) and they were all incredible. Played part of VII as well which was also awesome. I know SNES/PS1 was the height of Square's powers and almost everything they made back are among the greatest RPGs ever, still funny to hear someone says Final Fantasy is hit and miss, clearly though it's the later ones, PS2 and later.

Youi started with the best Final Fantasy.Good choice!

Better late than never.
And my experience show that it is quite common to have the first FF game you played as your favorite, and it's quite common to love the franchise after playing it.
Now start playing the others with some intervals to avoid burn.