If you’re into gaming at all or have been for some time, it’s quite possible and likely you’ve heard of the infamous “Final Fantasy” Series. It started with the NES original Final Fantasy and blossomed from there and continuing today.
The series has continually boasted great RPG gameplay and storylines. Each one evolving into the next with some new storylines breaking off into their own as well as spinoffs to boot.
Following this series and playing the games in proper order can be a task due to the amount of spinoffs as well as some general confusion in the early stages of the series, specifically between Super Nintendo and Playstation 1 when they were releasing games for both.
Here is the timeline below, and some explanations for each naming convention and where it came from. Read on to learn more!
*** Not all Final Fantasy games are listed. Only main series games, I didn’t include spinoffs like Tactics in this list. ***
| Title | Notes |
|---|---|
| Final Fantasy I | The original and first Final Fantasy game, this one started the series with the NES. It was released in both English and Japanese foreign languages. |
| Final Fantasy II | This is where things get fuzzy. This particular installment was never released in English and was only made for the Famicom.. aka the Japanese NES. North America never got this title unless you owned a Famicom and imported the game to play. So most of us do not know this as the 2nd game in the series. |
| Final Fantasy III | Likewise the same deal with this game as FF2. It was never released in English and was only made for the Famicom. We also don’t count this as part of the series since we never had a chance to play it. |
| Final Fantasy IV aka Final Fantasy II | Great, now that the confusion has set in we can get back on track with this one, released in North America and also known as Final Fantasy II for us. It was the bright red boxed Super Nintendo beauty in all its glory. It was released for both the SNES and Famicom at this time. |
| Final Fantasy V | More confusion, this game never came out on Super Nintendo and was only released for the Famicom. Once again, North American gamers did not view this as part of the series unless they had a chance to import it and play it. |
| Final Fantasy VI aka Final Fantasy III | This was the next release for the Super Nintendo and also called Final Fantasy III in its gorgeous purple box art setup. We are now 6 games in and only 3 were known to the North American crowd and not many got their hands on the others at the time. They did do a re-release of this on the Playstation 1, through the Final Fantasy Anthology game. |
| Final Fantasy VII | The first and likely most known Final Fantasy to be released on the Playstation 1 in both English and Japenese. Iconic and dare I say one of the best Final Fantasy games ever produced. It was also recently re-mastered and re-made in the FF7 Remake game for PS4. |
| Final Fantasy VIII | A fan favorite to some, with a great storyline to boot, this one was released in both English and Japanese as well, for the Playstation 1. |
| Final Fantasy IX | The last in the series to be released for the Playstation 1 in both English and Japanese, another great installment and storyline to the series. |
| Final Fantasy X | The first in the series to be released for the Playstation 2, this was released in both English and Japanese as well. It was groundbreaking and pushed the limits of the graphics at the time and was loved by many. |
| Final Fantasy X-2 | A direct sequel to Final Fantasy X, it was very very different from any other Final Fantasy game before it in the series. |
| Final Fantasy XI Online | The first final fantasy game to be an MMORPG, amongst one of the first as well on the console gaming arena, it had a huge affect on console gaming and started the trend that continued further. |
| Final Fantasy 12 Revenant Wings | Revenant Wings ended up being the last Final Fantasy game to be released on the Playstation 2. Once again the limits of gameplay were pushed as there were several different gameplay updates which changed up the game a bit. Also it was the first single-player open world concept in the series. Also, there was a sequel to this released on the Nintendo DS, called Final Fantasy 13: Revenant Wings which is not listed here because it is not a mainline series game. |
| Final Fantasy XIII | This game starts off the sub-series that was developed in the same universe which spanned for 3 games (13, 13-2, and Lightning Returns). Each game is connected and all sequels of each other. Kind of a mini-series inside of the overall Final Fantasy series itself. It was released on all modern platforms, mainly Xbox 360, PS3, PC, etc. |
| Final Fantasy XIII-2 | Not too much to add and most of the description can be derived from XIII in this list |
| Final Fantasy XIII Lightning Returns | Not too much to add and most of the description can be derived from XIII in this list |
| Final Fantasy 14 | FF 14 marked the return to the MMORPG scene, and boy was it a doozie. There was a huge backlash such that the game was taken offline and “fixed” by the development team for some time. Eventually it was back online and rebranded under the name Final Fantasy 14 A Realm Reborn. This went on to become wildly popular and has arguably stamped its name as one of the best MMORPG’s ever created. |
| Final Fantasy 15 | Fun fact, Final Fantasy 15 was originally going to be called Final Fantasy Versus 13, but it eventually took on the name it represents now. This game has been generally well received and was released on all major platforms and marks the latest Final Fantasy game in the series. |
How many more will they make? Only time will tell. Creativity is never lacking with video game developers so we shall see where the future takes us.
If you enjoyed this or got anything out of this article, I’m glad. Thanks for stopping by and come back soon! Before you go, if you’d like, join our Discord server and continue the conversation by clicking here! Give us a follow on Twitter, or a like on Facebook! And if you’d like, please consider supporting us on Patreon so that I can continue to provide quality content here for you!