Summary
- Final Fantasy games are often judged by fans for their difficulty, with some entries being criticized for being too easy compared to others in the franchise.
- Final Fantasy 9 and Final Fantasy 12 are considered to be on the easier side, with decent challenges but not overly difficult gameplay.
- Final Fantasy 16 is the easiest of the franchise, focusing on accessibility and providing options for players to automate complex moves.
Being one of the most famous gaming franchises in history, the Final Fantasy series has become legendary with many gaming fans for the various inspirations it has had on the rest of the industry. However, there are some complaints that fans of the Final Fantasy franchise have had at different times due to the changing difficulty of the games.
Final Fantasy has always been primarily about storytelling, creating amazing worlds and characters in which players can lose themselves. But for such long games, challenging combat is also a hugely important aspect, and as such, the Final Fantasy games are often judged by fans for how hard they make themselves.
Updated October 23rd, 2023: There are a lot of fantastic Final Fantasy games out there but some of them are much easier to get through than others. Over the years, developers have tried to create a more accessible lineup for RPG fans, and some claim this has made some of the latest installments too easy. To better showcase the easiest games in the Final Fantasy series, the following list has been updated to now include a companion video on the subject.
7 Final Fantasy 9
Many consider Final Fantasy 9 to be a lesser entry in the franchise, but it was a great return to what made the franchise great from the beginning that still deserves a remake at some point. It was a wonderfully fun entry that should be better remembered than it actually is within the franchise. Although it isn’t as easy as some of the entries which directly predated it, there is still a mediocre level of challenge to this edition.
Though there is a particularly tough final dungeon, the majority of the dungeons that players have to traverse are reasonably easy besides that. There are a few challenging super-bosses throughout, but the majority of the combat faced in this entry really won’t challenge most players, particularly those used to this style of play.
6 Final Fantasy 12
Some entries in the Final Fantasy franchise find their difficulty in old-school combat systems and controls, but others found it in the grind that the combat presented. However, Final Fantasy 12 is one of the entries where players have to traverse the largest number of enemies and still manage to not present many challenges.
Final Fantasy 12 is one of the most interesting entries since the franchise was attempting to so completely change itself after other recent entries were criticized for being too similar. These changes made the game somewhat easier than some of the surrounding entries, though it still provided some level of challenge, the only real difficulty was in slogging through the many battles, and it would be exciting to see a remake come soon for this entry.
5 Final Fantasy 7
The most famous entry in the Final Fantasy franchise isn’t as easy as some of the others, but overall this is such a well-beloved game because it reduced the difficulty from many of the other entries that came before it. Squaresoft wanted this game to be a hit in the West, so they reduced the difficulty, and it worked out well for them.
There was no particularly game-breaking aspect or method in Final Fantasy 7, it just kept the general combat systems easy to learn and not too difficult to master. However, most fans merely suggest that the difficulty is a bit low overall compared to what they’d prefer, as opposed to being ridiculously low. The many different versions of this game continue to lessen the difficulty even further additionally.
4 Final Fantasy 6
The story of Final Fantasy 6 helped level the franchise to a place where Squaresoft could bank on the reliability of the next entry, even in the West. However, this was definitely the entry that began to define the franchise in other ways, including a reduction in difficulty that mostly came from adding more party members and them making such a huge difference.
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The party being larger meant that the entire combat system became a lot easier to deal with throughout the game from when players had just a few added to their party. Unfortunately, the balance between adding members and the combat struggle would perhaps never really be gotten perfect in the franchise’s later entries, though the pixel remaster of this one still holds up as a beautifully fun retro playthrough.
3 Final Fantasy 8
The big problem with the difficulty in Final Fantasy 8 is that the developers attempted to add a Junction system that allowed players to augment their stats with magic. While this introduced an interesting level of strategy to a format that didn’t previously offer much in that direction, it made the game far too easy for players.
As soon as players began figuring out how to overpower their characters using this system, they found out that Final Fantasy 8 was going to be a ridiculously easy experience unless they specifically geared their upgrades toward making it harder for themselves. This was unfortunate, and coupled with the enemies that leveled with the party, made much of the game a fairly silly experience.
2 Final Fantasy 15
The challenge in Final Fantasy 15 is incredibly low, prompting a message from the developers that this is a game for Final Fantasy long-time fans as well as complete newcomers to the franchise. Whether fans were really able to enjoy the fighting aspects with the difficulty so low is up to each fan themselves to answer.
Final Fantasy 15 was a huge success and kept the franchise going comfortably, but players found themselves getting away with bad play a lot of the time without punishment. There were so many consumables available and the healing systems were so crazily over-powered that it was unquestionably the easiest game in the Final Fantasy franchise
1 Final Fantasy 16
Without a doubt, the easiest of the lot is the most recent entry in the Final Fantasy franchise. Continuing with the focus on accessibility that was exhibited greatly throughout Final Fantasy 15, many gamers that loved the JRPG franchise for the challenging combat found themselves frustrated once again by the new entry which has just been released.
There are, as with any game, ways for players to make the experience more challenging for themselves, but there are options such as items that can be equipped that will automatically engage in complex move combinations for players without them having to do those themselves. This helps make the combat throughout most of Final Fantasy 16 simple in comparison to many older entries, and for sure it is the easiest of the lot.