Final Fantasy: 10 Incredible Statistics You Won't Believe
9. It Ties an Interesting Record of Perfect Scores
Final Fantasy's quality tends to be pretty high when it comes to the main series but the debate will forever rage about which game reigns supreme. And, whilst there will never (and should never) be a unanimous decision on such a question, it is fun to see where commercial and critical consensus lies.
Collated review scores for Final Fantasy IX make it the best-received game according to MetaCritic, sitting it at an impressive 94, with FF10 and FF12 sitting just below it both at 92.
Final Fantasy XII - despite being quite a contentious entry in the series thanks to its major departures in gameplay and storytelling style - has a very unique claim to fame. It’s the first FF game (and sixth title overall) to receive a perfect 40/40 score from the long-running Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu.
As of January 2024, only thirty games hold this honour. Final Fantasy became the second series ever to manage two perfect scores in 2011 with Final Fantasy XIII-2. This choice was controversial at the time and remains so as, whilst critically lauded, the audience reaction to FF13's sequel was far less favourable (putting it lightly).
There are only a few franchises that hold multiple perfect Famitsu scores. Metal Gear Solid has three and The Legend of Zelda comes out on top with a whopping five - making up about 15% of the esteemed games on the list.
More interestingly, Final Fantasy ties its record of two with, of all franchises, its one-time rival Dragon Quest. The two RPG greats who once competed for space in the genre and were eventually united in Square and Enix’s merger both have two perfect scores, none of which came before the two companies joined forces.