1) Final Fantasy IX
2) Final Fantasy VII
3) Final Fantasy X
4) Final Fantasy VIII
5) Final Fantasy VI

@perpride

You have a very good way of thinking yourself ;) Let's see how FF13 will rattle everyone's lists after a few months. Even though I don't think it will dethrone my current favourite FF, it can make some places shifts, if it's execution is as well as it looks like :)

Final Fantasy VI is damn near perfect. Is there really a need for a top five?
*Yawn* Okay...

1. Final Fantasy VI
2. Final Fantasy IX
3. Final Fantasy IV
4. Final Fantasy VIII
5. Final Fantasy XII

1. FFX. Excellent storyline (Tidus x Yuna loveline still smakes me tremble today, not to mention the great twists), challenging gameplay, huge world, lots of backstory and a void in it helping fans write fan-fiction... graphics can STILL hold their own today, some of the best music in the franchise. It got me into JRPG's and I can't imagine another FF making me love the genre so much.

2. FF VI. Also a great story, the best goddamn villain in videogames, the best female character in an FF (Celes), some HOLY SHIT moments (in a good way), great music, good challenge, great 2D graphics (Chrono Trigger is better though), great cast, lots to explore... love it.

3. FF VII. The best battle system in the series, period. The kind of shit you can pull off with Materia can't be done in any other FF. Mostly good cast with some useless characters (cait sith), Cloud's development story is cool to follow, as is the excellent backstory the game has. Some excellent minigames you cant find in any other FF. (motorcycle is too fun). Music isn't as good as in other FF's, but that's fine.

4. FF IV. Exploration is the key word for this game. Three different worlds, all fun to explore, very well designed (plus, underworld+moon music is AWESOME), it's fun to get new summons, it's fun to explore dungeons, it's fun to fight new monsters, the combat is the most challenging in the series, the cast is great, the story is... good. No more as it lacks some backstory.

5. FF VIII. The best lvl up system in the series with junctions, stat bonus GF's... you can pull off some crazy characters right near the start of the game. World is well done, so is the atmosphere. The story is okay and the characters... are okay. Squall sucks the big one though. Music is great.

The FF games that are between a 9.8 - 10.0 scale for me:

1. FINAL FAMTASY VI

The best music, best characters & best setting in a  Final Fantasy game & it had kefka. This game was so amazing, such memorable scenes including the opera scene, ghost train & so on

2. FINAL FANTASY X

Fantastic music, tragic story, lovable characters, the best battle theme in a final Fantasy & path breaking graphics for its time. FFX was an RPG marvel at its time!

The FF games that are on a 9.4 - 9.79 Scale for me:

3. FINAL FANTASY IV

Played it recently on the DS & LOVED the game, everything from the setting to the fantastic music.

4. FINAL FANTASY VII

Like it or now, this game CHANGED EVERYTHING....games like it don't come very often, FF7 is a legend. And there's a good reason for that, the game is fantastic, the characters are very memorable, the story stays gripping in most of it. Some side stories like Red XIII's fathers story & so on are very cool and touching. The music is fabulous. {aeriths theme}

5. FINAL FANTASY IX

Nice game, reminds you of all the old FF's. At the time I didn't like it too much, but it has grown on me. Despite that even at the time it was a fantastic game, I just didn't like it as much as FF8 or FF7.....but as it grew one me, eventually I liked it more than FF8

I doubt it will dethrone #1, but I'm almost certain it will enter the top 5.

1. Final Fantasy X
2. Final Fantasy XIII
3. Final Fantasy VIII
4. Final Fantasy II
5. Final Fantasy XII

... No matter how good it looks, I think it's kind of strange to put FF13 on a list when you haven't played it yet.

I am not counting Dissidia, because it is not a proper FF game, but it is still awesome

5. Final Fantasy X-2
4. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
3. Final Fantasy VII
2. Final Fantasy XII
1. Final Fantasy X

I doubt XIII will beat X for me, and I would like to clarify I first got VII on PSN, and I haven't finished it yet

Wow, your list pretty much matches mine exactly. Maybe I'll like FFXIII, eh? (been avoiding so it isn't spoiled).

FFVI is on top, but FFX is damn close.

As for #3-5, I'm not sure I can decide between 4 / 7-9. They're all very close.

I've liked pretty much all the main FF's though (yeah, including X-2). I've yet to finish FFXII (despite putting in so many hours) or FFV, as they couldn't hold my interest. However, I had the same problem with FFVII when it came to me on PC. I'm sure I'll get to appreciate these two games, in time. It's a very strong series as a whole, worth all the praise it gets.