you only listed 12 :p

Final Fantasy IV (DS) and Final Fantasy VII (PSN). They're my favorites, I'd probably suggest starting with IV on the DS it's easier to get into and it's got voice acting but VII has awesome music all the way through so yeah it's your choice.

Honestly? I recommend starting at the beginning if you can. Final Fantasy I is really simple but still fun especially if you play the Gameboy Advance or PSP version. After that you can likely skip 2 and 3, since those were so different and in my opinion not as good. IV was fantastic and a really good introduction to the mature phase of Final Fantasy. That had a fantastic story with rich characters and a lot of stuff to do. you can likely skip 5 because it's not as good as the others (still good though), and play VI. VI was easily the most mature of the series in spite of its 2D sprites and relative shortness. Seriously, VI is my alltime favorite Final Fantasy game and alltime favorite game. if you're only going to play one FF game, play this one.

Once you're done with that, play VII, VIII, IX, X, and XII. Avoid XIII like the plague, and unless you're into MMORPGS, don't bother with XI.

So play these ones:

I
IV
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
XII

I Recommend doing them in that order, but if you must jump to the good stuff, start with VI, then VII and X. I really, REALLY Love XII as well, but for some reason people seem to think it sucks because the gambit and license system are weird.

How silly of me. I did not put 11 purposely as it is not 'cannon' and is online only.

There was no 11 or 14, in my eyes.

Final Fantasy VI and VII are largely regarded as the best Final Fantasy's ever. So it's your choice.

If you don't mind old school sprite based gaming on your DS, get Final Fantasy VI Advance (I'm playing that game now, and it's great).

If you want to play on consoles and absolutely need some 3D effect, play Final Fantasy VII.

I wouldn't bother with and PS2 or PS3 Final Fantasy, the quality has dropped since PS1 days, and Final Fantasy isn't as mega of a franchise as it used to be. Also FF1-3 are extremely old, if you haven't played an FF game before, these will give you the wrong impression. Still great, but hard to appreciate.

Wow really?....No...

It should be 6-7-9-4-5-8-2-X-13-12-1-3 (3 is weird being a NES game upgraded to 3D graphics).

Top favorites for me. FFVII, FFVIII, FFX, FFIV, FFVI, FFIX.

to hell with it, get serious and start with this.

Wait, hold up a moment...people are recommending AGAINST some Final Fantasy games because their graphics aren't up to par? really?

I could have sworn the things that mattered most in games was...you know, GAMEPLAY and in the case of Final Fantasy, the story. Yeah, Final Fantasy VII looks ugly by today's standards, but he's willing to go back to previous games and by now everyone knows what they looked like.

I swear my recommendation (Play them in the order they came out in the US) is arguably the most sensible one here. Everyone else is just screaming "PLAY MY FAVORITE FIRST!"

Final Fantasies I, II, and III (I, IV, and VI, respectively) will take most people a week at most to play through, they're simple but fun and VI and IV have arguably the best stories and characters in the entire franchise. Start with those three, then work your way forward. and yes, the PS2 games were awesome.