None aside from the Tactics games have any acclaim at all, so it wouldn't be a bother.

How so...it has a higher aggregate scoring from more websites and magazines. Higher score does usually tend to me a higher percentage of acclaim. Also, it appears on more "Best video games of all time" lists. EGM, GI, and IGN.

No it doesn't. They both have a 92 from Metacritics and a 9/5 from IGN, and aside from that XII has a perfect score from every other reputable publication including fucking Famitsu, the sixth game to ever get that (no other FF received that btw).

II for the Famicom is probably the only game in the main series that doesn't have overwhelmingly positive reviews.

Though I've heard that reception for FF XIV has been REALLY harsh. I guess my prediction that FF wouldn't make a successful jump to MMO status came true.

I know of Famitsu, its reputation, but they have made questionable mistakes before; not calling this one, but im also not weighing all of the critiera of acclaim on one company, either. gamerankings has it at 92 to 90 percent. Its also been on more top 100 lists, so i dont know how you can dispute that either.

XIII has been grilled heavily, but it does seem to have good critical acclaim. VIII and IX probably suffer the most though from mixed reaction.



Still a big deal. Within the last two years they seem to have gone a little overboard with perfect scores though.
X has also been around for a larger portion of the decade, so of course its made more of the arbitrarily written top 100 lists. XII has been on some though (not that I pay a terrible amount of attention in this area), and I believe it was below VI and VII in Game Informer's top 200.

Game Informer are a bunch of fucking idiots.

Well so are IGN, Gamespot and EGM. Actually a great majority of the video game press is retarded, and their opinions shouldn't be the only ones taken into account for a tier list, because there's also popular consensus among gamers in general and fans of the series.

Honestly that's where I was getting most of this. X is a horribly polarizing game. I know all post-VI games are, but X really bad.
But with all that said, X probably should be red as well, along with XII.

How are "Greatest video game lists" more arbitrary than a score of 1-10? FFXII got a 40 and FFX got a 39 from Famitsu. How is that not arbitrary? Lists show a magazines voice and is less arbitrary than just giving out scores. Multiple games receive multiple scores from magazines, but doesn't mean that when they reflect back on it, they deserve the same score. FFXII did make it onto the top 200 of game informers, at 112. FFX was at 43.

If we're going to do fan consensus as well, since most dont like the gaming magazines, then the concensus is also in favor of FFX.

I meant 'arbitrary' as in the occasion, not the list itself. Every publication decides that every couple of years they're just gonna put together a top blank list, because they're bored or whatever. So it's not like they do this every year so every new game has a fair shake in it.
I'm thinking
First tier
VI
VII

Second
I
IV
Tactics
X
XII

Third
V
TA
IX
TA2

Also, no way. EGM was brilliant. Some of the best writing staff of any video game magazine.

Ok, admittingly their reviews aren't as bad Game Informer, Gamespot or IGN's (which are awful) but they have some really wtf opnions. I'm not too crazy about 1up but their reviews are better than the other big league sites anyway. Not that that's saying much but what can ya do?

Eurogamer really pisses me off too, but I dunno, the British seem to have a strong bias towards PC games, they're like a bunch of Yahtzee's.

But you know what site I really fucking despise? HonestGamers. Not only are their reviews horribly written and usually 100% wrong, but whenever I look up scores on gamerankings that are really whack, I know almost immediately it's because GR made the horribly mistake of including that site and it's awful reviews.

my personal favorites

Best - VI, VII, and X
Next Best - IV, XII, IX
Next Next Best - 1/2

Fuck these games - 3, Tactics Advance, X-2, XIII

Fuck Final Fantasy games that make me choose classses

Yeah, despite X pretty much being a masterpiece for me, everything after it sucks hard.

My top five

1. IX
2. VII
3. X
4. IV
5. VIII