Final Fantasy: Every Numbered Game Ranked

As with the first installment of any historic video game series (with the notable exception of Street Fighter), creator Hironobu Sakaguchi's ultimate gamble from 1987 still commands enormous respect. But does the original Final Fantasy still deserve our attention?

Sadly not. It's very much a product of its time, straight out of the Dragon Quest school which insists on more grinding than a convention of pepper mill enthusiasts. Ludicrously, it's possible to make the game practically impossible without the patience of a Tendai monk by picking four white mages as your classes, and the story, such as it is, is both painfully simple and entirely impenetrable, owing to the hurdle of the late '80s language barrier.

However, it's certainly not unplayable, if you've the resolve, and is the source of many future Final Fantasy hallmarks. Sure, there are no moogles or chocobos, but it introduces the class system, a magical Nobuo Uematsu soundtrack which holds up to this day, and an expansive sense of adventure which defined the series before it got stuck in a corridor. Still, it's one for only the most tenacious of video game historians to plough through.