Keenan, finish FFVIIso you know what to do and where to go, then do a straight playthrough - the storyis amazing
As for 8 and 9, both are fucking marvelous in their own ways - 8 is very unconventional, it has a junctioning system to raise your stats and you 'draw' magic from enemies instead of learning them. The juction system is a fucking nightmare at the very beginning, but once you grasp it it's a wonder. You also have to build your own weapon at synthesis shops - so for example, if you want to get a better sword for the lead character then you'd need to obtain four screws and a steel pipe (don't call me on that,it's an example haha) and then give the weapons maker about 600gil and voila! It's a fucking amazing game, but the storyline is fucking retarded. After the third disc it gets completely ridiculous, so just enjoy it for what it is.
FF9 is probably the most straightforward out of these three games. To learn skills or spells, simply equip an item that 'contains' the skill/spell you want to learn and get the neccessary AP in battles, then once it's learnt you can swap it out for something else. Synthesis for items and wepaons is still present but not to such a huge degree - insted of requiring screws, pipes, dragon fangs etc. you just need two existing items. For example, to make the Ogre blade, just synthesise two Mage Masher daggers. Nice and straightforward way of doing things, the storyline is really easy to follow (REALLY easy) and it's not as futuristic as 7 or 8, instead being more olde timey medieval sorta looking. Really fucking amazing game.
I'll be perfectly honest Keenan, Final fantasies 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are essential. Fucking incredible games. FF2 is too fucking stupid (though the recent rereleases made it too easy and over simplified), FF3 is hard as tits and Final fantasy X-2, while a good game in it's on right, is far too girly for most people to stomach. Final Fantasy 11 was an online RPG ala World of Warcraft so don't bother there, and FF12 is the worst FF game ever made. Fact. And 13 is pretty shitty too. If you can, try and play some of the spinoffs - Crisis Core is an amazing game on PSP if you've finished 7, and Finl Fantasy Tactics is a really good strategy game.
I'm THE biggest FF nerd around, I swear hahaha
