A week ago Metacritic posted an article in which all scores of every FF game ever made are compared. In this blog I will give you my personal comment on this comparison + give you my own comparion.

Metacritic's comparison consists of "every" final fantasy game, so not only those of the main series.

My own comparison will consist of every final fantasy game I myself have played.

Link

Comment on the comparisons:

1. FF 12 VS FF 13 : As you can see (ff) 13 scores a lot lower than 12 ( 82 < 92). Number 12 has had 64 reviews: 49 great (76%), 12 good (19%) and 3 mixed (5%). 13 has had 42 ( 22 less than FF12): 15 great (36%), 20 good (48%) and 7 mixed (16%). As you can see 13 has had less great reviews and more mixed reviews. Comment: Although 13 has had less reviews than 12, I don't think the gap between the two average scores will be bridged. 13 is far too linear for many gamers and is less "final fantasy-like" than the rest of the games so fans will generally not like it so much.
   
2. All FF Releases: as you can see in thas chart, Square Enix has been releasing MORE games, but this doesn't mean every game released shares the same quality. In general Square released great games, but the last couple of years they have also released some less good games. Comment: I don't think Square Enix's games have gotten worse the last couple of years. The number of game-sites and reviewers have increased, this also increases the chance that some of the reviewers dislike a game. Also the fact that Square Enix has been experimenting with different gameplay-mechanics ( like 12 / 13 / Dissidia) has upset a lot of longtime fans and therefore a lot more mixed reviews have been popping up. Also the fact that the FF series has been around since 1987 means that some reviewers expect that they stay true to their roots, while others expect to revolutionise the RGP-genre. No matter what they do, there will always be a group of reviewers who don't like it.
   
3. "motherload" comparison: just look at the list. Comment: Wow FF9 on first place? that suprised me. I would have thought that 7 would take first place. It's also surprising to see that a remake ( 4 advance) scores 5th place. Also if you look at the last 10 games on the list, you might notice these games have all been released after 2006 ( so they're relatively new) and that these games are almost all spin-offs of the main series. Gamers still prefer the main series over the others. And wow the 360 version of 13 gets a higher score than the ps3.
   
4. Best games per platform: just a list, look at it. Comment: the main series also dominate this list.

The last two list are interesting to look at, but I do not really have anything to say about them.

Own Comparison:

For my own comparison I am only going to use the FF games I have played. These games are: 6 Advance, 7,8, 9 ,10 12, 13, Tactics Advance, 12 Revenant Wings, 4 the after Years.

When I put all these in one list it turns out like this, the numbers behind it are the games' postion on Metacritic's list:

1. 9 (1)
2. 13 ( 19 / 22)
3. Tactics advance (9)
4. 8 (6)
5. 6 advance (5)
6. 7 (4)
7. 10 (3)
8. 12 (2)
9. Revenant Wings (23)
10. 4 After Years ( 42)

As you can see, my list a quite different from that of Metacritic. And a lot of FF fans will probably say my list suck ("OMG he totally put 7 and 10 behind 9", "WTF 13 on second place?"...). But this is my blog, so I can say whatever I like and I support my own opinion 100%.

Any comments on my list I will happily read and give my reaction.