The best Final Fantasy games on PC
Final Fantasy games ranked in the correct order, finally
Final Fantasy is a lie, or at least that "final" bit is. The series is seemingly a never ending machine of fantasies in which you play as people who wish to save kingdoms and stop long-haired lads called Sephiroth from destroying planets. You do this in turn-based form. Maybe a bit of real-time. Sometimes you sit in a car with The Boys. And others you play alongside hundreds and thousands of other players. Not all of them are magnificent, but all of them we respect. Why? Because they keep evolving, and occasionally, they try something totally new.
And if you're someone who wants to get into the series and don't know where to start, we've got you. Look below and you'll find all the very best Final Fantasy games on PC, ranked in an order that befits the views of the current RPS Treehouse and, unlike the past, not that of Katharine and Brendy. Sorry, you've been usurped.
The best Final Fantasy games on PC
The 2026 update is big: 1) As mentioned, it now reflects the entire team's Final Fantasy taste; 2) This means entries have shuffled up and down; 3) And there are five new additions, to be exact. Let's just say that Final Fantasy IX gets nudged up its rightful place and Final Fantasy VIII has a fall from grace. There's also a surprise new top spot pick that, if you play it, shouldn't come as a surprise at all. Other new additions include recent remakes like Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion and spin-offs like Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, which are... for a certain crowd.
Anyway, that's enough from us. Read on below for the ultimate Final Fantasy list ranked in a perfect order you definitely won't disagree with.
15. Final Fantasy XVI
Final Fantasy XVI is the latest Fantasy in a series that continues to imply it'll be the final one. And sadly "latest" doesn't necessarily mean it's the bestest best, seeing as it's found itself at the bottom of our 15-strong pile. As Edwin says in his Final Fantasy XVI review, "I'm reasonably sure Final Fantasy 16 isn't the longest Final Fantasy I've ever played, but it feels that way, for a multitude of reasons". Those reasons? It's Final Fantasy's foray into more of an action RPG, meaning strong combat credentials offset by "overwritten errands" and "not-very-satisfying" hero story.
Final Fantasy 16's main draw is its combat, which takes place in the same world as its exploration and in real time. It's a bit Devil May Cry in the way you layer combos and manage your cooldowns, with bossfights that manifest into awe-inspiring crescendoes. Otherwise, it's all a bit eh. The main protagonist Clive is regular. The story is middling. You're probably better off playing others on this list before tackling this one, folks.
14. Final Fantasy XV
Final Fantasy XV is an absolute mess of a game that has no right to be as good, polished or atmospheric as it is. After a decade of development, its flaws are too many to count, especially when it comes to its disjointed story (countless important moments were outsourced to DLC, films and an anime TV series - god knows why). And at its core, it's largely just a roadtrip with The Boys hence its fall from 7 to 14 here on this list.
Despite its flaws, its depiction of laddish companionship still holds a place in our hearts. This feeling of camaraderie is constantly being reinforced throughout the game, whether that's Ignis' campfire cooking or Prompto's end of day photography cataloguing your progress. They riff off each other's attacks in battle, and chat incidentally as they amble through the countryside. Forget about getting married (Noctis is basically on his stag do) and never mind saving the world (there's that to sort out too). Final Fantasy XV makes you just want to hang out with your mates a bit longer and ogle at what's cooking. Hot damn, that Fat Chocobo Triple Decker sandwich looks tasty. Read more in Katharine's Final Fantasy XV review
13. Final Fantasy XIII
Final Fantasy XIII is often decried as the 'corridor game that only gets good after 30 hours'. But that's reductive. Final Fantasy XIII is an absolute stunner on PC, impressing from the off with lush visuals, a gorgeous soundtrack, and its constant, dogged dedication to keeping players on the tips of their toes. It throws together different characters in unlikely pairs and combines new battle techniques every couple of hours, so that no two sections ever feel the same. It's largely stayed put in our rankings if you take into account the new additions, except they all lack one thing that makes this game special: Lightning, #teamlightning.
Besides Lightning, its cast of characters is a somewhat mixed bag. Stoic badass Fang and tired chocobo dad Sazh sit at the top of pile, while perpetual wet blanket Hope can rot in an interminable Coccoon for all we care. But its greatest triumph is the active time battle system. Not only did it ditch dedicated character classes for a more malleable set of roles known as 'paradigms', but it also introduced the concept of staggering enemies before really laying into them. A feature that is still cropping up today in JRPGs. I can't tell you what the plot is about (crystals?) but, as we'll discover, most Final Fantasy plots are bobbins when you really sit down and think about them.
12. Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (Crisis Core) first arrived in 2007 as Final Fantasy VII's PSP Prequel and this "Reunion" version is a lavish remake that's, as Katharine puts it in her Crisis Core review, "a perfectly fine action game... best experienced through a comprehensive YouTube retrospective as opposed to forking out £40/$50". If you're really into Final Fantasy, Zack and his relationship with Sephiroth, it might be worth your time.
While the visuals are splendid, the original script feels rather dated. And it's real-time combat is an interesting curio in the sense its many quirks are governed by a spinning roulette wheel. If the RNG gods give you the number zero, then you know it's time to let loose with some attacks. Frustratingly, you'll hope this happens often thanks to repetitive enemies and grindy dungeon layouts. No, this probably isn't for you if you don't care for Final Fantasy VII lore, but the old guard and enthusiasts will likely soak up Crisis Core's slightly shonky offerings.
11. Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
Stranger Of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is an interesting one, as it revises the original Final Fantasy's story through a Soulslike lense. As you might suspect, it's made by Team Ninja, the folks behind Soulslike series Nioh, and it really shows. The story is comedy nonsense where protagonist Jack is largely a frat boy who cares for killing Chaos and nothing else, besides maybe cracking open a cold one upon completion. A bit like Nioh then, in a way.
As Ed Thorn reiterates in his Stranger Of Paradise impressions, "the story bounces around with as much cohesion as two space hoppers tumbling down the M5". But ignore that and you've got yourself a mighty fine Soulslike without the difficulty. Final Fantasy's Jobs are classes here, switchable at the press of a button and snappy in the hands as you flow between enemies. Much like Crisis Core, repetition in its levels and enemies can't prevent the combat from sagging later on - hence its lower placement in this very list.
10. Final Fantasy IV Pixel Remaster
Let me check my notes from the wonderful Jeremy real quick... ah yes, he says that Final Fantasy IV was "notable for the best early story in the series". And for a bit of background, Final Fantasy IV (I-III) were given the "Pixel Remaster" moniker as Square Enix's way of righting a wrong, ie. undoing ports of ugly mobile versions. So combine the two and you've got a faithful adaptation of one of the finest early stories in Final Fantasy. While Katharine recommends the 3D Remake over this here Pixel Remaster in her Supporter Only post (current RPS respectfully disagrees, as the pixels are faithful innit), her JRPG wisdom still stands.
"It was the first Final Fantasy game to use the ATB (Active Battle System)", which then went on to inspire future entries says Katharine. Cast members would come and go, injecting freshness into your party's roster to keep it from going stale. And "most of all", she says, "FFIV's characters are just absolute legends" thanks to their nuance and intertwined drama. We've popped it at 10 because it might contain an unforgettable cast, but there's later entries that take its foundations and trump it.
9. Final Fantasy XIV
Final Fantasy XIV is an exceptional comeback story in the video games industry. After a disastrous initial launch in 2010, its reincarnation as "A Realm Reborn" has since risen to become one of the best MMORPGs in recent memory. Its medieval stylings can be felt leaking into Final Fantasy XVI too, as oft-lauded Square Enix executive Naoki Yoshida was plucked from his role as director of the MMO to become producer of the latest in the mainline series.
Starting out in Final Fantasy XIV today is, admittedly, a bit of an undertaking - with what five major expansions offering hundreds of hours. But if you play Final Fantasy for the depth and scope of its stories, this online behemoth should not be missed. Indeed, Danielle Lucas called it "one of the greatest FF tales of all time" in her Endwalker review and said "Never has FFXIV felt more alive to me" in her subsequent Dawntrail early impressions.
8. Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster
Final Fantasy V mixes its mythology in the loony manner that would become de rigueur for future Final Fantasies. A dude called Gilgamesh is trying to find the sword Excalibur (what?). It features an antagonist called "Exdeath" (huh!?). The story is a mish-mash of recognisable tropes, yes, but it all stands in service of something greater. Doing your Job!
The "Job" system introduced fresh roles to the turn-based battles, see. The Beast Master, Samurai, Blue Mage, Berserker, and loads more. It let you mix abilities from one job into another to create scrappy little weirdoes that felt like your own. You could even see which character's turn would come next! Don't scoff, it was cool. The battle system of this game was so deeply sound, so well-regarded, that it got the designer responsible, Hiroyuki Ito, promoted to the position of Director for Square's next game. And you can be glad it did.
Final Fantasy V was an underappreciated turning point for the series. In the same way that everyone remembers the exciting Tudor monarchs who chopped heads but never their penny-pinching founder Henry VII, people tend to forget everything before Final Fantasy VI. The perceived wisdom being that the sixth instalment was the moment the series truly blossomed. But Final Fantasy V's influence is unequivocally pivotal. One for the FF historians.
7. Final Fantasy VIII Remastered
Sometimes the mighty must fall, and in this case, they have landed slightly on their arse. Yes, Final Fantasy VIII has dropped from first place to seventh and it's down to two things: 1) The team's taste differs from past legends Katharine and Brendy; 2) The team's taste dictates that the combat in FFVIII is a bit of a headache, actually. This doesn't mean we don't think it's good anymore, of course it is. You may want to think of it as one full of stand-out moments and pure romance. You go into orbit and annihilate a spaceship's worth of alien dinosaurs. An army of soldiers on motorcycles try to bust up your flying boarding school, and then you get to punch a hole in the villain's enormous, monolithic skyscraper with a rad airship.
The combat system, though. It's based on 'junction', which is to say you actively seek out new monsters, nab their attacks, then pass those skills onto your friends. While novel, it is incredibly confusing and particularly frustrating when it begins to siphon the fun from an otherwise excellent tale. Why must spells require the analytical skills of a supercomputer? Who knows, man. For more, read Katharine's words on why she had complicated feelings about FFVIII's updated graphics.
6. Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
A long time ago, in a fantasy far, far away, a dusty street urchin teamed up with a roguish airship captain and his rabbit-eared first mate, to take a backseat in the story of a freedom fighter and a warrior princess. Twelve years later, they all arrived on PC and once again the forums were filled with the cries of: "Hang on, this is Star Wars!" and, "Actually, it's not bad!"
Storywise, Final Fantasy XII tramps around in the middleground of the series. There's a war, an empire and a princess. Crystals, knights and monsters. Perhaps the only distinct thing about this tale is that you aren't playing as a very important person. Vaan and his pal Penelo are just two street kids who get swept up in a larger story. They only end up fighting big Judges in scary armour because the rest of the characters were doing it first. The voice acting and world building? Top notch.
It's oddly refreshing, as is the fighting system, which Brendy describes in his Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age review as turning you "into an off-screen engineer, fighting every boss with a bunch of magic Roombas". For the first time, Square threw away their standoffish system of menus and little white gloves. They filled the overworld with enemies to batter in real-time. They gave Vaan and his compatriots the Gambit system, which lets you program all your characters' moves in advance. Healers would heal, tanks would tank, rogues would stab, all according to the rules you created yourself. That Gambit system didn't stick around in later games, but it marked a turning point for the series. Number 6 here ought to be appreciated for branching out and going down a more MMO route despite being a bit jank at times.
5. Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade + Rebirth
Final Fantasy VII Remake takes the OG FFVII and modernises it for a generation who do not care for blocky Cloud and his blocky pals who duel throught the medium of turn-based. This first half (Intergrade) is you playing as a half-hearted eco-terrorist fighting against a planet-sapping corporation in sumptuous 4K, with a battle system that combines the real-time slashy-slashes of other modern Final Fantasy games with its turn-based origins. Katharine called the game as as whole a "luscious spectacle" in her FFVII Remake Intergrade review.
And onwards, to the second half (Rebirth), which Nic Reuben called "imperfect, uneven, unfocused, unmissable" in his FFVII Rebirth review. Where Intergrade is focused, Rebirth blows everything outwards and feels bloated for it. Everything is still nonsense, but that nonsense becomes a bit sprawling and overindulgent. Still, it makes the combat system more expressive and the open air allows the world to come alive, since it's not choking on steel and smog. Our mixed feelings on the entire package made us rethink its position as number 2 on the list, as it perhaps lacks the composure necessary to rival the titans in the higher spots.
4. Final Fantasy X / Final Fantasy X-2 HD Remaster
Final Fantasy loves to do exposition, but Final Fantasy X is arguably the only one to do it convincingly. You play as a sportsball player who has been eaten by a whale monster the size of a city and pooped out in the future. As such, you need to have everything explained to you by your new pals - a ginger man with a Jamaican accent, a walking lion, and a goth lady obsessed with belts. In fiction, the "fish out of water" character is a common means of introducing the reader to a new world. But our hero Tidus has just enough personality, history and curiosity to carry you along. As he learns about the weird anti-technology religion that governs the world of Spira, you learn along with him. When he's asking about monsters, so are you. When he's crying like a big crybaby in a crybaby's nappy, or laughing himself out of downer, so are you. Okay, maybe not that last part, but you get the point.
To us, nothing has quite lived up to Final Fantasy X's scale and ambition since, and the fact its direct sequel Final Fantasy X-2 is bundled in with the HD Remaster feels like icing on the cake. Also: you are a pop idol now even if they are "naff and incredibly flawed" according to Katharine in her Have You Played... Final Fantasy X-2? piece. Just go with it. Power ballads and lost loves were just what the series needed after the heavy themes and heartbreak of its predecessor. The sequel finally gave Final Fantasy X the closure we desired, provided you whistled three times facing east in the netherrealm and clapped your hands twice while rubbing your tummy correctly... That's how all good game endings work, right? RIGHT?
3. Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster
At long last, a version of Final Fantasy VI that's worth playing on PC. Yes, the Pixel Remaster fonts aren't brilliant, but hey, this is a PC game. You think we can't rustle up a few mods to fix that? Please.
Widely regarded as the best of the pre-polygonal Final Fantasies, this remake of the 1994 SNES classic is pretty much what you'd get if you put Final Fantasy and Gundam mechs into a big steampunk blender. Set in a land where extinct magic has been replaced by hulking great machines, the empire in charge starts to feel a bit hot under their large metallic collars when a mysterious woman called Terra shows up bearing magical powers. What follows is a tale of war and rebellion of operatic proportions (we're not kidding, there's an iconic opera scene).
It remains one of few Final Fantasy games to really put its iconic summon monsters centre stage. They play an enormous role here (alongside your 14 playable party members) and you'll need all the help you can get to take down the game's terrifying, demented clown villain Kefka. Until recently, we would have warned you off playing this on PC, but thanks to the spit and polish of the Pixel Remaster, you can finally truly enjoy this sensational swansong of the 16-bit era.
2. Final Fantasy IX
Shifting from position 4 to a nifty 2, Final Fantasy IX is, according to Jeremy and Edwin, "the best 'mainline' Final Fantasy" that acts as a "summation of the entire series". Gone are the frowning strongmen and hormonal teen mercenaries of the previous games, replaced with a jokey thief, a bumbling bodyguard, a terminally ill puppet, and a sad princess. Ah, Final Fantasy. From fairytales ye have arisen and to fairytale ye shall return. Hey, Nic wasn't sold on it when he first arrived at IX's medieval taverns after FF7, but he learned the errors of his ways, calling it "lovely".
The battle system, the world map, the potion shops... it's all fairly traditional, only here you get new moves by equipping weapons or armour and 'learning' their powers by heart (not to be confused with FF8's confusing Junction system). This lets you share useful abilities between characters by taking turns with the same equipment, a nice implication that this merry band of friends has each other's back. Final Fantasy IX was also the last in the main series to have those crafty static environments. Let's not grieve overlong for those blurry bits of scenery, but we can still remember them with fondness. There was a peculiar satisfaction to mapping the different scenes in your head. An obsessive joy in roaming around the edges of the scenery, mashing the action button to find chests or trinkets hidden behind immovable props. Since the game's story is partly about a troupe of dodgy actors, it's a fitting end for those theatre-like sets.
1. Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles
A remaster of the classic strategy RPG from 1997, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles includes the original game, the English translation used in a previous remaster, as well as an enhanced version you can switch to for a renewed interface, fully voiced dialogue and more. We reckon it's secretly the best Final Fantasy game and one of the best strategy games on PC, period. I suppose we should explain ourselves.
For one, the story leans into political intrigue, class conflict and moral ambiguity as opposed to the 'ol "save the world Clive or Cloud or whoever" tropes of more recent FFs. And because it's a more traditional strategy game (you move your lads on a grid in turn-based fights), it allows for a deeper well of customisation where you layer classes like you're constructing a party of multi-coloured croissants with swords and wands. Knights can heal. Mages can go mobile. Pigs can fly. All of this is underpinned by a modern presentation in the enhanced mode, stripping away the headaches without losing the special sauce. The special sauce rewarding you for mastery, of course.
This has been one of the hardest lists to update because it's so much down to personal preference and the previous order largely reflected Katharine's tastes. But, with so many fans of the series on the team, we thought it a good idea to give the listing a refresh. So, what do you think of our definitively order of the best Final Fantasy games. Surely you agree. No? Well, let us know your own in the comments below.
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