Having heard for years how amazing the series is but never played one I figured I should at least give it a try. So I just completed Final Fantasy 7 Remake and I have to say i'm impressed. This game definitely lived up to the hype. It excels in pretty much every area whether it be visuals, story or gameplay.

I thought the story would be kinda goofy but its actually sober and deeper than I though. The two sides of Midgard really reflects how we treat those less fortunate in society and the effects corporations can have on us when they become too big. And speaking of Midgard, the detail in the city is absolutely insane. Just looking up at the plates from the sectors below is so captivating. The characters are dope too, especially supporting characters like the Turks which were so cool. Every character in the main cast also gets their time to shine and develop personally.

I know a lot of Final Fantasy purists hate the change of the battle system but I personally liked it. I think the ATB system is a good mix of both quick real time combat with a more slow pace tactical mode when you select abilities and spells. The materia and their combinations were so damn fun to mess around with like when I added the magnify materia to my spells and used it on an boss that cloned itself and just watch as the frame rate dipped briefly as firaga chained and hit like 10 different enemies.

This game was definitely one of the best games of this generation. Which FF should I play next? I'm thinking FF XV since its on the PS4 and pretty cheap right now.

Ugh on FF7R. Play FF7 OG to see how much better it is. Also, play Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy VI. FFXV is incomplete. Large chunks of the story are missing. It gets worse the more you play. Chapter 13 is insanely awful. They never finished the story as the final DLC was canned. The game starts off in a big world then becomes a tunnel after that.

Get FF12, FF10, FF8 and FF9 and if u want something super laid back and easy then FF13

FF9 and FF10 are not only my favorite RPG's ever, they're some of my favorite games ever (I still get goose bumps whenever I heard FF10's theme). Play them in that order though. That way, you can appreciate just how big a leap going for the last PS1 FF to the first PS2 FF really was (hint: it was huge).

While I love FF13, I have to agree. It's incredibly easy. I'm in chapter 10, and only had trouble with one boss.

On the other hand, that's not too much of a problem for me, because I play it for the plot and the cinematics.

Yeah I disagree. I bought the original when it released and loved it. It was my favorite game for years.

However the advances in technology have made remake the better version. Just seeing and hearing some of my favorite video characters and being able to see the emotions has made it the better version. Yes, I think I prefer the battle system on the original but overall and especially when all parts are released, remake is easily the superior version. 

I have no nostalgia for FF7. I played it last year then the Remake. They changed a bunch of story stuff for the worse because it's happier or whatever. FF7R is 90% padding of side quests from an MMO from 2004. The shitty Kingdom Hearts ghosts are dumb as well. They remove all the mystique from Seperioth. Zack thing is a stupid change. Every story change was for the worse. It has Nomura's stink all over it.

Final Fantasy VII original is still the only good thing released that has anything to do with FF7.

I've been a fan of the series for over 20 years now, and I absolutely loved the FF7 Remake as well. Was easily my favourite game from last year. As far as other FF-games you should try, just check how each of them looks and what their premise is and pick whatever seems the most interesting to you. Everyone has very different opinions on which games in the series are the best, so you're probably going to get quite a lot of different suggestions for which you should play next.

Well, FFVII Remake probably is one of the best games to start the series these days or one of the best in the series, period. Other games may have shortcomings in one or another way.

Yes, many loved the original FFVII back then, but it has aged. Still, they changed a lot of story elements in the Remake. So maybe you could go with the original FFVII next to compare and possibly enjoy the differences. But be fully aware: This is a PS 1 game. It will look like one, even as a HD-remaster.

Same goes for FFIX, which may be the best well-rounded of the PS1 era FF games. Good game, but be aware of it's age. Same goes for FFX. Was a PS2 game and a major jump graphically, still looks incredibly dated today. If you get over that, you find still the core of a good game.

 More modern games look better and moved away from the turn-based formula to modernize the genre. But may have other shortcomings. FFXIII takes you 20 hours (really), before you can play the full party and all stuff, hence it is often called 20 hour tutorial. It might also be a bit linear.

FFXV is kinda a mess on the story-side. They added a lot story or character development later with DLC. They also tried open world just because, and had difficulties merging a gripping story with the openness.

The games before VII are old 2D turn based games which Square apparently has forgotten about. If you are willing to try, most people like FFVI the most. Square uses it's HD2D (Octopath visuals) now for a Dragon Quest III remake (and possibly I+II down the line). I know some people apparently dislike the HD2D-look, but I think it is awesome and very fitting to remake an original 2D-game, more than trying to transform it into a full-blown 3D-game. So I hope they remake FF I-VI also in HD2D-look.

Play XV

It's a great game, much better than 99% of JRPG released this generation. People just don't like it because it's too different from others of the franchise, but you are pretty much a newcomer and it will not bother you. The concerns about story were solved with DLC, get the royal edition and don't suffer from it. There are moments more suited to play each DLC inside your main campaign, I advice you to find on internet which DLC is suited to play each moment. Visually the game is gorgeous and the contemporary setting and worldbulding that comes along with a charismatic brotherhood-ish party and real-world mechanics (you need fill your car gas,  sleep at night otherwise demons can chase you, and so on)  made everything more relatable and immersive. OST is great as always and exploration could be better indeed, but I haven't found it tedious I like the freedom to go everywhere discovering items and treasures in thr map or just doing the side quests. You also have two styles of gameplay, try both and pick the one who you find more satisfying, I choose dynamic real time combat, just feel more suited for this game. 

If you like turn base combat, FF X have the best turn based system gameplay of the series with real time change in the party and a great sphere grid that will give you freedom to do upgrade your party in the way you want (though most people just follow the natural path of each character), one of the best stories with great characters and a compelling worldbulding, it's very emotional and with a great OST. The graphics still beautiful and charming if you play the remaster version, you can get it on PS4. As far as classic turn based combat goes this can easily turn to be your favorite FF

After X, you can try XII: Zodiac Age it's a WONDERFUL game. The battle system is just so different from X they don't even like the same franchise at all. You control your party in a semi-real time combat, where you need to pre programming your party controls using action slots. It's something very unique and give a nice flavour to the combat. The story is more political than X, and do not focus as much on characters development, plus the art style and worldbulding imo is not as good as X, but it has much better designed maps and dungeons. Play Zodiac Age remaster for PS4, it comes with a great job system that fice you a great level of freedom to build your party, unlike sphere grid that strongly suggest you to go into a path here the characters paths are very counterintuitive and the "natural" path for each party member will hardly give them an optimal build. On Switch version you can reset the job of each character every time you want and build it again, I don't know if you can do the same on PS4, but testing builds was one of the most funny things I've made in Switch version