It’s almost hard to believe that the Final Fantasy series made its debut 30 years ago, and the series is still as relevant now as it always was. Sure, there’s been a few bumps in the road, but no can deny that it’s still the most iconic Japanese Role-Playing series of all time. No matter how much fans loved or hated the last installment, they will always take notice when a new release is on the horizon. Compiling this list isn’t easy. One of the biggest reasons why Final Fantasy has the staying power it does is because of the devel꧙ope🧜r's willingness to take chances with each and every title.

Over the years, changes to the themes, mechanics, and other systems have often been the subject of debate among fans. One doesn’t have to look hard to see that fan opinion is just as diverse as the series itself. Gamers often argue which Final Fantasy has the best story, characters, soundtrack, worlds, and the battle systems. It’s understandable somewhat, that not every gamer will appreciate change, but sometimes a bit of experimentation can go a long way in getting closer to the developers (and fans) final vision. This is perhaps more relevant to the battle systems than anything else, so here is a list of where we rank the worst to the best battle systems in the Final Fantasy series.

15 Final Fantasy II 🔯 𒈔

Final Fantasy II may have been the second game in the series, but it introduced many of the elements that have become synonymous with the series. The first of a long line of 'Cids' was introduced here, as well the series' beloved Chocobo. Final Fantasy II’s story was also much more distinct than the first game, and the Star Wars-like themes of evil empires, rebel 🏅princesses, and dark knights that resembled a medieval Darth Vader were a leap forward from the previous game.

However, the experimental battle system wasn’t so well received. The characters developed through a very broken stat building system. The new system required characters to “attack” if they wanted to build strength, while “hit” points were gained when th𝔉e characters got hit a lot. Meaning the game could be exploited by attacking your own party members in battle – thankfully, the developers put this down to a fai♉led experiment and was never seen again.

14 🧸 Final Fantasy

If nothing else the very first Final Fantasy game is a reminder that the visual treat for the eyes that the series is today came from humble beginnings. The game has a seen a few remasters on the PlayStation (and the PSP), and looks nicer as a result. Still, for better or worse, the core gameplay remains intact. This means that not only is the game extremely difficult, but the unbalanced magic system is still there too, thus rendering the games Mages completely useless and underpowered as you expect to fight some of the stronger monsters and enemies in the later stages. That being said, the original Final Fantasy holds a special 🐼place in our hearts for debuting the 🦩masterful series.

13 Final ♌Fantasy III

Final Fantasy III was originally not released in North America, instead we got Final Fantasy VI under the label "III." The battle system largely resembled the retro battle system you would expect from an original NES game. It still features a turn-based battle system. However, the major return to form for Final Fantasy III is the game ditching Final Fantasy II's atrocious leveling up system. Eventually, the game did get an overhaul (and was released in North America) for the DS. This version saw some rudementary touch controls, and adorable poligonal characters added — still, it𒁏 was a long way from perfecting the series' battle mechanics.

12 Fin🐲al Fantasy XI 🍸

Final Fantasy XI was the first time the franchise dabbled in building an MMORPG. Although it scored well with the critics, some fans weren’t happy about the subscription fees and that it took the place of a mainline single player RPG experience. Despite this, Final Fantasy XI was quite a welcoming MMORPG in comparison to other popular titles in the genre and it rec�𝔉�eived a lot of support in the way of expansions and updates.

Unfortunately, the battle systems —and the way your characters level up— prove꧅d to be very time consuming, cumbꩵersome, and required a heavy amount of grinding to access different parts of the game. Early stages in the game require you to battle monsters solo in order to level up but to truly progress your character really needs to a part of a full team. In addition, losing a battle can actually cost you your hard earned EXP.

11 Final F🔯antasy IV

Final Fantasy IV is considered to be the first in the series to have a truly great narrative and a strong cast of memorable characters that took the series to new heights. Not only was Final Fantasy IV a step up, but it featured real character arcs, and it was the first to introduce the 💛Active Time Battle (ATB) system, thus adding an element of excitement and quick thinking to the tried and tested formul𒈔a of turn based battles.

It should be noted that the ATB system was very much in its infancy, and as a result, the battle system didn’t quite pan out like it shoꦚuld. Casting magic took too long in time sensitive battles, and it dealt very li💎ttle damage, forcing players to use the quicker (and stronger) physical attacks. However, even with the clear teething problems, the Active Time Battle system was to become the standard for another five games.

10 Final Fantasy 🉐VI🅠

When it comes to debates about which game is the best Final Fantasy of all time you can rest assured that Final Fantasy VI will forever sit at the top of many a gamers' pile as the pinnacle of the series in terms of its narrative and easily accessible turn based battle system. Although it lacked the complexity of Final Fantasy V’s job system, each character was unique, and could be customized to your liking through the use of special accessories. The use of Magicite also allowe𒐪d the 😼characters to gain powerful techniques and boosts.

However, by the time the characters got to the end of the World of Rui༒n in the game’s second act, your team was so powerful that they destroyed everything in sight. Some gamers will love the idea of having teams of god-like characters to cheese through all of the games toughest monsters, but those looking for a challenge may find themselves frustrated here.

9 Final Fantasy V ꦆ 🎃

Squaresoft was well on their way to perfecting an interesting narrative with Final Fantasy IV, but for Final Fantasy V they instead decided to focus on the gameplay system. This meant that the characters were essentially blank slates ready to crafted into whatever you wanted them to be. The level of depth and complexity offered by Final Fantasy V’s job system wasn’t loved by all, but the series wouldn’t see this kind of flexibility in its mainline single player experience again until Final Fantasy XII.

Final Fantasy V’s big🌠gest downside was it did require a substantial amount of strategy which some gamers may find unwelcoming, and 🧸for its job system to truly open up the game required hours upon hours of grinding and leveling up.

8 🐬 Final Fantasy XIV

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn marked the second time for the series to enter the realms of massively multiplayer online role-playing games. Although A Realm Reborn is a massive success, the original version of Final Fantasy XIV was a disaster for Square Enix resulting a revamped development team and the release of this new and improved “version 2.0” and its expansions such as Heavensward and Stormblood – aཧll of which have been well received by fans and critics alike.

The battle system implemented the Job and Class system (as seen in some of the classic titles as well its predecessor Final Fantasy XI). However, just li𒁃ke its predecessor, the game is completely unwelcoming for players who like to tackle MMO’s as a solo warrior. All the major battles require teamwork and strategy to prevail, and only a well-balanced team will have access to certain abilities like L♌imit Breaks.

7 Fin𒆙aඣl Fantasy VIII

Final Fantasy VIII took the visuals and established conventions that Final Fantasy VII brought to the PlayStation even further in this installment. The story was more driven by love, loss, and the coming of age drama that focused on Squall and friends. The character designs were a huge step up from Final Fantasy VII both in-game and in the FMVs.

The game’s battle system played out similarly to the already established Active Time Battle system in previous titles, but with the new edition of the Junction system. The Junction system required your characters to drain spells from enemies and store them later. It’s a great idea in theory but in practice, the characters can become overly powerful very early on effectively♔ writing off any chance of a challenge for the remainder of the game.

6 ꦅ Final Fantasy VII

For many gaming fans in the late 1990s Final Fantasy VII was the game that not only introduced them to role-playing games on consoles, but proved that gaming was a medium capable of telling a rich story with complex characters that you actually cared about. It was also the game responsible for opening the floodgates to the influx of Japanese RPGs being released in the West c꧟reating what many fans feel was a vintage era for console RPGs.

It was also the first time a lot of gamers experienced the level of depth and strategy that a turn based battle system provided. However, ℱdepending on your perspective the Materia system —which allowed characters to equip spell and abilities— was either brilliantly experimental or laughably exploitative. It effectively allowed you to create near invincible characters. For the less patient gamer, Summons and spells were quite lengthy made more noticeable by the fact they’re unskippable.