Guide: Which Final Fantasy to play after FFVII Rebirth

Final Fantasy is more alive than ever!

Between the growing success of the MMO Final Fantasy XIV and the numbers achieved by the latest titles, Square's most recent releases have attracted many new players to the franchise, and especially players who are not used to JRPGs and don't know the other games in the series well... And for many people, the prospect of jumping head first into a franchise that has 16 mainline games, and which is also well-known for its various spin-offs, can be daunting.

But rest assured, we are here to help you. In this article, we show eight suggestions of good entry points for you, the newest Final Fantasy fan, to start your journey after finishing Final Fantasy VII: Remake and Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth!

One of the first ways that comes to mind starting your journey is by having the most classic Final Fantasy experience. What do most game fans in general imagine when you talk about retro FF? 2D and pixelated graphics, turn-based battles, outstanding soundtracks. The drawings by master Yoshitaka Amano if, like me, you really like the concept arts of this era in which, as they weren't able to show many details in the models within the game, they were even more enchanting.

And what better title to have this experience than one of the most critically acclaimed and loved by fans, Final Fantasy VI! Much of its fame comes from who is perhaps among the first competitors when it comes to the best villains in the franchise with Kefka Palazzo.

And the rest of the characters and the story also leave nothing to be desired, set in a rich steampunk world, the game tells a political plot of resistance and discovery, mixed with magic and legendary beings that are guaranteed to surprise you.

In 2023, Final Fantasy VI Pixel Remaster was released, a remastered and improved version for several platforms, including PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and PC.

If world building is your favorite part, Final Fantasy XII is the game for you! And the proof of this is that Ivalice, the stage for the plot presented by this title, is the only world also used in several other Square games, not only limited to the franchise, but including memorable games such as the Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions and Final Fantasy Tactics A2.

The entire world of this game, each city, each area, each NPC is really well crafted. It's the type of game that if you simply stop in the middle of a busy place, you'll walk away knowing the stories of at least half a dozen NPCs. In addition to incredible and memorable designs that highlight more technical points of game design for those interested, such as the five Judges and their armor with characteristic silhouettes and the seamless transition from gameplay to battles, which was an innovative change for the franchise at the time.

The game also features beautiful landscapes, pirates (always a good addition) and a very well-crafted political plot, worthy of Game of Thrones!

And there's no way to talk about Final Fantasy XII without mentioning the Zodiac Job System, the game's class system, launched with The Zodiac Age Remaster in 2017, which is definitely a differentiator that put this title on many people's radar.

And, of course, we cannot leave out perhaps this title's greatest contribution to the franchise.

The Vieras.

This recommendation is for those who liked the type of world that FFVII: Rebirth presented. A world neither straight out of a high fantasy book nor set in a more steampunk or modern future, but somewhere in between. A world where a way was found to reconcile magic with technology, and where there are consequences of this to be faced by our protagonists, of course. A world with beautiful, well-crafted settings, as memorable as its characters, which include some of the franchise's favorites.

It's also a great choice if you're a hopeless romantic who rooted for your favorite couple throughout Rebirth and enjoyed every fan service scene with all your heart because it's in this game that we have one of the most iconic couples with a story worthy of the best Shakespearean romances - Tidus and Yuna, who starred in the first kiss shown in a cutscene in the franchise's history!

Final Fantasy X and its sequel/spin off, Final Fantasy X-2, were remastered in 2013.

This Final Fantasy can be explained almost as an RPG in the sense of a D&D adventure with your friends. The story certainly feels like one, starting with a thief named Zidane and his troupe going to kidnap Princess Garnet Til Alexandros, complete with a surprising twist at the end of this first adventure that sets the rest of the game's story in motion.

If what you are looking for is a “lighter” game, more fun, but, at the same time, very engaging and loved by fans both for the story and the extremely charismatic characters, Final Fantasy IX is the game for you!

This one is pretty self-explanatory. Initially considered a failure by Square Enix, the game flourished after being handed over to the current director, Naoki Yoshida (also known as Yoshi-P), and is currently the MMO with the largest and most engaged active community, being highly acclaimed by fans and critics, especially after the most recent expansions, which set the bar even higher for every other game in the series.

If you like MMORPGs, Final Fantasy XIV will bring you all the experience expected from this genre combined with the atmosphere of a Final Fantasy, which puts you in the role of the Warrior of Light. You'll find familiar places like the Gold Saucer, classic elements from the series like Moogles and crystals everywhere, fight epic battles, define the fate of the world... And you can also build your house, play minigames, play instruments and pick flowers.

The game has an expanded free trial period with no game time limit, which includes the base game and the two award-winning expansions, Heavensward and Stormblood, so you can enjoy it a lot without paying the monthly fee!

Did you like all the exploration and places you visited in Rebirth, but did you prefer Midgar in Remake because urban fantasy captivates you? Did you look for more about Final Fantasy VII, watch the film Advent Children and love it? Then we come to the perfect Final Fantasy for you.

Final Fantasy XV is your classic political plot, but this time presented from a different perspective, in a more modern world, with elements like cars and cellphones. It tells the story of a prince embarking on a journey to save his country from an invading nation, in the format of an action RPG with an open world, lots of exploration options, side quests, hunts... The type of game that you can spend hours strolling through with your boy band - I mean, with your party, taking photos and learning new recipes, if you like, and then go straight back to the main story with lots of action and an engaging story.

And you, who dreams of a Final Fantasy totally straight out of high fantasy, with an engaging story, more mature than those told so far by previous games, filled with a darker, yet exciting moments and themes, complete with some of the most epic large-scale battles from the entire franchise, and a gorgeous world, with even better graphics than Rebirth's? Then you're lucky that Square released Final Fantasy XVI last year!

It follows the hero Clive Rosfield on an epic journey through several kingdoms divided by politics, each area with its government, enemies, allies and inhabitants, ways to get what you need and dozens of other peculiarities, navigating - guess what - a more political plot, but this one is much more medieval, almost worthy of being written by George R. R. Martin, involving family, betrayal, wars and mythical creatures that inhabit their Dominants, people with the ability to control their powers.

If none of this convinced you to give Final Fantasy XVI a chance, I still have an argument to change your mind: you can pet Torgal.

Finally, we have the original Final Fantasy VII, released in 1997 and completely boxy.

On the one hand, you may prefer not to play the original now, between Rebirth and the final game of this “remake trilogy” so as not to know how the story ends, or you may choose to play it precisely because the tendency is that, like the next release will be the last, people will return to discussing the original ending on the internet, and spoilers will become almost inevitable.

You might prefer everything to be new when you play the third game, to discover every corner of Gaia for yourself, or you might play the original first and look for every reference, compare every iconic scene, and see the infinite ways in which every aspect of the original has been considered in the creation process of these two games.

One thing cannot be denied, although it is also an excellent game for the player who didn't know anything about the franchise before, this trilogy is a tribute to the original in many ways, so when playing without playing the original, a lot goes unnoticed - so it might even be worth playing the original FFVII and then going back to Remake/Rebirth once more to compare each moment!

Final Fantasy, more specifically the original VII and X, were the first recommendations I received back when I started playing video games, and not only made me fall in love with the franchise, but also for JRPGs and then throughout the entire process of creating them, so these titles will always have a special place in my heart, and I hope they will also be the gateway for many others!

And you, long-time fan reading this, do you have any recommendations on which game in the franchise to play first?