Final Fantasy Timeline?

Question

Does anyone know where I could find a list ordering the storyline (from beginning to present)? I've never played Final Fantasy, at least not in-depth, and I figured I might play through every game. I'm a Zelda fanatic, and I know that there is no true order to the Zelda games, and even though LoZ was the first Zelda game, it doesn't logically come first in the timeline - Does Final Fantasy take on this same role?

Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

Final Fantasy is a very wide world. Unlike Zelda, where many of the games can be fit into some sort of timeline(s), there is not a real tie in directly for Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy, the name itself originates from the last game the struggling Square Soft was going to release, being a Fantasy game. When it was a hit, the company was saved.
Each numbered game is set basically in its own universe, with some ties to other spin off and sequels or prequels, but not tied to any of the other numbered games. Many of the games afterwards have been expanded upon by spin offs and sequels, but no 2 numbered games are directly related.
Instead, Final Fantasy has common themes that carry throughout each game. There is almost always a character named Cid, and most often he is a mechanical genius or some type of scientist. There almost always are Chocobos, an Ostrich type bird that can travel very fast and carry the party. There are certain items, like money being Gil, magic being broken into classes such as White and Black, a powerful sword called Ultima Weapon that make frequent reappearances, as well as a Dragon, Bahammut, and the use of Airships as a method of travel. Also, many of the games focus on four crystals, each with power over an element, Wind, Water, Earth and Fire.

Final Fantasy I was the first game, and it introduced many of the concepts that were carried on through most of the games. Magic was broken into 2 categories, a class system of jobs was introduced by which you could choose if you wanted a character to be a warrior, thief, mage, fighter, etc. The biggest thing introduced was the Level up system using experience points.

Final Fantasy II kept many of the original ideas, but changed the level up system completely. Instead of experience points, one gained proficiency with a weapon or magic through use, and increased health if they were attacked.

Final Fantasy III introduced a retool on the Job System. Unlike part one where you were locked into your job that you chose, you could changed jobs on the fly, allowing you to customize your party as needed for the quest at hand. This idea would reappear in parts 5, Tactics, and X-2.

Final Fantasy IV introduced the idea of many team members. Instead of choosing the jobs for characters, each character had their own job, and would come and go as the quest progressed. Each character for the first time had their own personality. I know they do in the III DS game, but this was actually the first time that they did in the series. Also, this game introduced a concept of characters having team attacks, such as the twin magic, that would be used more in Chrono Trigger.

Final Fantasy V retooled the job system, allowing you to gain more abilities as your proficiency with jobs grew.

Final Fantasy VI retooled the many party member idea, allowing you to choose who to bring with you on different quests, and actually forcing you at times to make up several parties at the same time, thus to prevent you from only using certain charcters. This game also introduced the concept of a powerful attack, when a character was very weak.

Final Fantasy VII actually went the furthest by introducing cut scenes. This game took the powerful attack idea further, and introduced Limit Breaks, an attack that one could unleash if they received enough damage.

Final Fantasy VIII introduced many elements, some good (card mini games) some bad (strange money and level up systems).

Final Fantasy IX was a nice catch up game that served as an anniversary of sorts, and honored many of the past ideas.

Final Fantasy X was the first game to use voice acting in several cut scenes, and introduced the Grid that allowed for character customization.

Final Fantasy X-2 was the first true sequel, which took on the Job system further, and introduced chain attacks.

Final Fantasy XI introduced MMORPG gaming to Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy XII was the first game to reappear in an established land, Invalice, which was introduced in Tactics. And, although this game appears in the same world, it has completely different charcters.

There is a Part XIII, but it is not yet released.

There are other games in this series, but all of those games are the main series (except for Final Fantasy X-2, which is a sequel). There have been other Sequels and Spin Off Games, such as Final Fantasy XII Reverent Wings, which appears in the same universe as XII.

Final Fantasy VII has the most spin offs to date. There is a movie, which is the direct sequel, Advent Children. There is a prequel, Crisis Core. There is a semi-sequel using characters from the series, Dirge of Cerberus.

Like each Zelda game, each Final Fantasy game has familiar elements, but each game is a unique experience. To get the best out of your playing experience, you should try to play some of the earlier games before playing some of the newer ones. Most of the series (1-6, and Tactics) have recently been remade for the Game Boy and PSP (Tactics:War of the Lions is Tactics).
Hope this has helped.

Answer 2

Final Fantasy 7 Timeline

Answer 3

Final Fantasy Timeline

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
Final Fantasy Timeline?
Does anyone know where I could find a list ordering the storyline (from beginning to present)? I've never played Final Fantasy, at least not in-depth, and I figured I might play through every game. I'm a Zelda fanatic, and I know that there is no true order to the Zelda games, and even...

Answer 5

Yea, Final Fantasy games are basically the same as Zelda in that manner. None of the 1-12 games take place in the same realm, although some of the sequel, prequel, and spinoff games do. Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII both take place in Ivalice, but don't feature any of the same characters or plotlines. Final Fantasy X2 is a direct sequel to X, and Dirge of Cerberus is based on characters from Final Fantasy VII. But if you're wondering what order to play them in, there's no particular timeline to follow.

Answer 6

Final fantasy is a great RPG game made by Square-Enix, there are also TPS final Fantasy game and strategy Final fantasy Game, but commonly Final fantasy game is a RPG game.
Every Final Fantasy series has it's own storyline
so one game has one timeline excluding Final fantasy VII that has 5 series.

try to visit this blog....
then choose which Final fantasy tittle you want to know by selecting on it's logo
http://allfinalfantasy-info.blogspot.com/2007/09/final-fantasy-info-home.html

Answer 7

Until recently, all Final Fantasy games were standalone games, each taking place in their own universe. Now, they are concentrating on 4 universes:

Final Fantasy 7 Compilation: FF7, FF7: Advent Children (movie), FF7: Dirge of Cerberus, FF7: Dirge of Cerberus: the Lost Chapters, FF7: Before Crisis, FF7: Crisis Core, FF7: Last Order (short movie). Also FFX and FFX-2 (This connection basically doesn't exist in the games, aside from one character's name being the name of a group in the other games. It is official, as the creators have said that they take place in the same universe, just about 10,000 years apart and after a planetary migration.)

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Both the first Chrystal Chronicles and the upcoming Wii sequel Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. So far, that's it for this universe.

Ivalice Alliance: All of the Final Fantasy Tactics games, as well as FF XII, FF XII: Revenant Wings, and the non-FF game Vagrant Story.

Fabula Nova Crystalis: This is all the upcoming FF XIII games, which are supposed to take ten years to complete all of. The connections will at least in one case be very loose, as FF XIII and FF Versus XIII take place in the same universe, but on different planets that have no direct contact with each other.

Answer 8

there really isn't any time line for the games. in fact, not many people have played all of them. i've never played II, for example.

you've had a touch for final fantasy, you say, but never too much. if the old type of rpgs were things you liked, such as the first dragon warrior game, you might like the first FF. IV, V, and VI have similar graphics to zelda: link to the past, but are more like lufia in their gameplay.

if the designs and style of the recent type of RPG are more to your taste, VII is a mix of older styles and newer styles, and as much as i don't like it, it really was the game that updated RPGs as we know them today.

for somebody totally new to final fantasy, starting with either VII or IX is probably the best course of action. i would recommend IV over them, but people used to newer types of RPGs might fall asleep, even though i think it's better

Answer 9

I don't think there is an exact time line, although no FF should be linked together in the stories... FF10 and FF10/2 was an interesting case... they shouldn't have (Not saying why for spoiler reasons)

But their a good series. Kingdom Hearts is a good series to... it helps bring the FF's together.

Answer 10

Play Final Fantasy 7 first, it's the best... ever.