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For 35 years, the Ultimate Fantasy franchise has captivated followers with its anthology type of storytelling, protecting issues contemporary with new characters and tales. It even tends to set the time durations someplace between previous and future in every recreation whereas protecting them related with the identical plot: a gaggle of younger heroes gathering to struggle an excellent evil threatening their world whereas they exploring their inner struggles and relationships with one another — a common theme that individuals can relate to.
In case you’re new and wish to get into the Ultimate Fantasy sequence, there are 15 numbered video games (with Ultimate Fantasy XVI on the way in which), a couple of direct sequels, and a prequel to the primary recreation. It feels like quite a bit, however we’re right here that will help you make the journey into the RPG franchise just a little smoother.
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Which Ultimate Fantasy Sport Ought to You Play First?
Trying on the Ultimate Fantasy franchise as an entire might be overwhelming as most of them have a whole bunch of hours of content material to play via. If you wish to ease your self into the franchise, we suggest beginning with Ultimate Fantasy VII. This recreation left an indelible mark on the sport trade for having the simplest gameplay and fight techniques to get a grasp of, particularly with the Restrict Break system, and giving us probably the most memorable characters, like Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Barret, and Sephiroth. Its reputation impressed Sq. to create Kingdom Hearts in collaboration with Disney in order that a few of its characters might work together with Disney characters.
Ultimate Fantasy VII even got here out with a feature-length CGI and Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake, which has prettier graphics however retains the identical story with themes of pro-environmentalism, id, and transferring on from loss — components that earlier Ultimate Fantasy tales didn’t have. Both model of the sport is okay to choose up and play.
The right way to Play Ultimate Fantasy Video games in Chronological Order
If you wish to do a deep dive into the Ultimate Fantasy franchise and play all of them in chronological order, right here’s the complete checklist of video games and the order by which to play them. Although you’ll be able to play a lot of the mainline numbered in any random order and nonetheless be nice as there isn’t a direct continuity between them.
Stranger of Paradise: Ultimate Fantasy Origin
Stranger of Paradise: Ultimate Fantasy Origin takes place within the kingdom of Cornelia, a darkish fantasy world model of the setting of the unique Ultimate Fantasy recreation. Jack Garland and his companions and fellow Warriors of Gentle, Ash, Jed, Neon and Sophia — every carrying a darkened crystal representing earth, wind, hearth and water — got down to discover Chaos and destroy him, restoring gentle to the world. Regardless of what the prophecy foretold in regards to the heroes, every Warrior grows skeptical about their position.
You may change characters’ jobs on the fly, however with Jack because the participant character you’ll be able to solely change between two positions. Regardless of his job title, Jack has a decisive ending transfer that crystallizes enemies and shatters them to revive a portion of his magic meter as soon as the enemy’s break gauge is depleted.
Learn our evaluate of Strangers of Paradise: Ultimate Fantasy Origin.
Ultimate Fantasy
Centuries after the occasions of Stranger of Paradise, Ultimate Fantasy introduces 4 new younger Warriors of Gentle, every of them carrying an orb representing the 4 components which were darkened by the 4 Elemental Fiends. At first, they’re tasked by the King of Cornelia to rescue Princess Sarah from the evil knight Garland, however their journey expands to defeating the fiends and restoring the orbs to their former glory, thus saving the world from everlasting darkness.
Ultimate Fantasy will get its title from sequence creator Hironobu Sakaguchi’s menace to depart the video games trade and return to school if it didn’t promote effectively, and Sq. Enix coping with the notion of the sport being its final because of the menace of chapter. In the end, the sport bought over 1.3 million copies worldwide and grossed over $21 million, saving each the corporate and Sakaguchi’s profession.
Learn our evaluate of Ultimate Fantasy.
Ultimate Fantasy II
In Ultimate Fantasy II, Firion, Man, Maria, and Leon turn into orphans after the Palamecian Empire destroys their hometown and kills their mother and father, rendering them orphans. They be a part of the Wild Rose Rebel and, below the steering of Princess Hilda, who initially deemed them too younger to affix the military, journey to cease Emperor Mateus’ plans to take over the world along with his hellspawn.
In contrast to the primary Ultimate Fantasy, the sequel had no character creation or job system as a result of Sq. needed the sport to be extra story-driven reasonably than full of heavy gameplay mechanics. This recreation is notable for introducing a few staples that might without end outline the sequence: chocobos and the recurring inventor character Cid.
Learn our evaluate of Ultimate Fantasy II.
Ultimate Fantasy III
One other group of 4 orphaned teenagers — Arc, Refia, Luneth, and Ingus — are drawn to a crystal of sunshine within the Altar Cave after an earthquake hits the village of Ur. The crystals grants the youth a portion of its energy, their first set of jobs, and instructs them to revive stability to the world.
Ultimate Fantasy III is the primary numbered recreation within the sequence to function the job-change system, permitting gamers to alter how the characters would battle monsters all through the sport. As a substitute of staying in a single job or class, they may discover different job choices and see which one fits every character. The 2006 Nintendo DS remake retained the weather of the unique recreation, however gave the characters extra well-rounded personalities.
Learn our evaluate of Ultimate Fantasy III.
Ultimate Fantasy IV
Ultimate Fantasy IV facilities on Pink Wings captain Cecil Harvey, who questions the King of Baron’s motives after he and his knights steal the Water Crystal in a raid on Mysidia. After the king strips him of his title as punishment for disloyalty, Cecil units out on a quest with Kain Highwind and the allies they meet alongside the way in which to cease the sorcerer Golbez from seizing the opposite crystals with the intention to save the world.
This recreation launched the Lively Time Battle (ATB) system, which permits characters to carry out a transfer when their gauge is full. Whereas a celebration is proscribed to 4 individuals within the earlier video games, Ultimate Fantasy IV allowed a celebration of 5 characters.
Learn our evaluate of Ultimate Fantasy IV.
Ultimate Fantasy V
Adventurer Bartz Klauser comes throughout a fallen meteor and finds 4 strangers, together with King Tycoon’s daughter Lenna, and set off on an journey to avoid wasting the Crystals from falling aside, a phenomenon brought on by Exdeath, an entity making an attempt to free himself from imprisonment and acquire the facility of the Void. The group turns into Warriors of Gentle and focuses their consideration on defeating Exdeath and stopping the Void’s energies from plunging their world into darkness.
Ultimate Fantasy V expanded on the job system, giving gamers greater than 21 jobs to select from. To make the job system much more attention-grabbing, you’ll be able to mix a ability you be taught from a sure job with a unique ability from one other job with the intention to defeat difficult dungeons and managers.
Learn our evaluate of Ultimate Fantasy V.
Ultimate Fantasy VI
Set in a steampunk-style world full of know-how resembling that of the Second Industrial Revolution, Ultimate Fantasy VI facilities on a insurgent faction often called the Returners combating the Gesthalian Empire, which gained the facility to take over the world by experimenting on magical creatures often called Espers. The Returners, together with amnesiac former imperial soldier Terra Branford, work to free the areas below Gesthalian management utilizing the magic they search out and put a cease to the empire’s reign.
Ultimate Fantasy VI, which was launched as Ultimate Fantasy III in North America and closely censored resulting from Nintendo of America’s insurance policies on the time, has 14 playable characters to select from all through the story, making it the biggest solid within the sequence’ historical past. It additionally offers with mature themes of immoral navy dictatorship, use of chemical weapons in warfare, the pursuit of a magical arms race, private redemption, and the renewal of hope and life. That is additionally the primary Ultimate Fantasy recreation to not be directed by Sakaguchi, who handed the reins over to Yoshinori Kitase.
Learn our evaluate of Ultimate Fantasy VI.
Disaster Core: Ultimate Fantasy VII
Set in Midgar seven years earlier than the occasions of Ultimate Fantasy VII, Disaster Core: Ultimate Fantasy VII facilities on fresh-faced SOLDIER Zack Honest, who’s assigned to search for lacking SOLDIER and defector Genesis Rhapsodos, who went off on a rampage for causes unknown. Throughout his search, he discovers Genesis’ origin, Challenge G (or the Jenova undertaking) and the way it’s related to the 2 aforementioned high-ranking SOLDIERs, and ultimately battles him and different merchandise of the undertaking, which entails injecting Jenova DNA into them.
Disaster Core: Ultimate Fantasy VII was notable for exploring the delicate aspect of Sephiroth, probably the most profitable SOLDIER beloved by everybody earlier than he went insane after discovering the unnatural circumstances of his creation and shortly fell from grace, in addition to a few of Cloud Strife’s life as a SOLDIER earlier than leaving Shinra Electrical Energy Firm. It was initially a PSP-exclusive title, however managed to get remastered as Disaster Core: Ultimate Fantasy VII Reunion for PS5, PS4, Xbox Sequence X/S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Swap in honor of the twenty fifth anniversary of Ultimate Fantasy VII.
Learn our evaluate of Disaster Core: Ultimate Fantasy VII.
Ultimate Fantasy VII
In some of the iconic video games of the sequence, ex-SOLDIER turned mercenary Cloud Strife joins Avalance (led by Barett Wallace) within the struggle to cease Shinra from lining the corporate’s pockets by mining all of the mako from the planet to make use of as an power supply. Cloud initially fought for private acquire and to maintain a promise he made to Tifa Lockhart after they had been youngsters, however ultimately developed friendships with different members of Avalanche, together with Aerith Gainsborough, and works with them to avoid wasting Midgar from each Shinra and Sephiroth, who was hellbent on destroying the planet with the intention to be reborn as a demigod.
With the retention of ATB and the introduction of Materia, Ultimate Fantasy VII grew so well-liked that the majority of its characters appeared within the Kingdom Hearts sequence and spawned the CGI sequel movie, Ultimate Fantasy VII: Creation Kids. It additionally spawned the full-blown remaster, Ultimate Fantasy VII Remake, which will likely be launched in three components. The primary half was launched in 2020, whereas Ultimate Fantasy VII Rebirth is about to come back out in Winter 2023.
Learn our evaluate of Ultimate Fantasy VII.
Ultimate Fantasy VIII
On this contentious follow-up to Ultimate Fantasy VII, a gaggle of younger SeeD mercenaries led by Squall Leonhart (or Leon, as he’s recognized within the Kingdom Hearts sequence) assist out a gaggle often called the Forest Owls, an endeavor that escalates right into a battle by Sorceress Edea, who has seized management of a strong navy state and intend to destroy time itself. As they struggle to cease Edea, Squall struggles along with his position and falls in love with Forest Owls chief Rinoa Heartilly.
Ultimate Fantasy VIII nonetheless incorporates ATB as a part of its gameplay, nevertheless it overhauled the character leveling system. So far as spell-casting goes, the sport threw out the Magic Factors-based system, making characters gather, draw, and create magic from objects to energy themselves up utilizing the junction system as a substitute. That is additionally the primary recreation to include a vocal theme into its soundtrack with “Eyes On Me” by Hong Kong pop star Faye Wong.
Learn our evaluate of Ultimate Fantasy VII.
Ultimate Fantasy IX
Within the first Ultimate Fantasy recreation of the millennium, a thief named Zidane Tribal is tasked with kidnapping the Princess of Alexandria, Garnet Til Alexandros XVII, as part of a conflict wage towards the neighboring nation of Lindblum. His thief troupe finally ends up turning into the princess’ guardians, and Zidane groups up with Garnet to defeat her mom, Queen Brahne, who began the conflict.
Regardless of Ultimate Fantasy IX being launched in 2000, when most recreation franchises transitioned from 2D to 3D graphics by then, Sq. Enix designed the sport to appear to be a retro-style RPG. Nonetheless, it nonetheless managed to render CGI graphics for the characters and every thing else on this planet of Gaia.
Learn our evaluate of Ultimate Fantasy IX.
Ultimate Fantasy X
Ultimate Fantasy X is without doubt one of the most beloved video games within the sequence subsequent to Ultimate Fantasy VII — and we’re not simply saying that as a result of it’s the primary Ultimate Fantasy recreation for the PS2. The story revolves round star blitzball participant named Tidus, who’s taken to Spira — a world impressed by the South Pacific, Thailand, and Japan — by Auron after his hometown of Zanarkand is destroyed by a colossal monster named Sin. He joins summoner Yuna and her guardians on a quest to defeat Sin and convey in regards to the Calm after studying its true id is Tidus’ lacking father Jecht.
This recreation changed ATB with the Conditional Turned-Based mostly Battle system that makes use of an Act Checklist by which characters’ turns are decided by their stats. It additionally launched a brand new leveling system referred to as the Sphere Grid, which units characters down a selected path with stats and talents and permits them to unlock all their talents as soon as it opens up.
Learn our evaluate of Ultimate Fantasy X.
Ultimate Fantasy X-2
Within the follow-up to Ultimate Fantasy X, Yuna turns into a sphere hunter and a member of the Gullwings, comprising Rikku and Paine. She units out to seek out Tidus — or a minimum of, a mysterious man who appears to be like like Tidus — however will get caught in a political battle that the Gullwings should resolve earlier than it escalates to a conflict involving a secret weapon that was constructed to destroy Spira.
Along with being the primary recreation within the sequence to be an official recreation sequel, Ultimate Fantasy X can be the primary to function an all-female solid and have a number of potential endings. It introduced again ATB, however enhanced it to permit characters to interrupt enemies whereas getting ready to assault. It additionally launched dresspheres and the Garment Grid, which permit characters to alter their character class mid-battle to change the course of the battle.
Ultimate Fantasy XI
Sq. Enix took a web page out of World of Warcraft and made Ultimate Fantasy XI an MMORPG as a substitute of an everyday console recreation. Gamers might customise their characters and make it into one in all many races of being roaming the land of Vana’diel — Humes, Elvaan, Tarutaru, Mithra, Galka, and so forth. The plot revolves round defeating a demonic chief referred to as the Shadow Lord, who rose from the ashes of the Crystal Battle and despatched his beastmen armies off to terrorize the land, albeit in a much less organized trend.
Assist for the PS2 and Xbox 360 variations of Ultimate Fantasy XI resulted in 2016, however followers can nonetheless play it on PC. Rumors circulated final 12 months that the sport would shut down, on condition that it’s over 20 years previous, however director Yuji Fujito acknowledged that that was not the case. In different phrases, it’s nonetheless alive and effectively and beloved by many retro Ultimate Fantasy followers.
Learn our evaluate of Ultimate Fantasy XI.
Ultimate Fantasy XII
Ultimate Fantasy XII is about within the kingdom of Ivalice, the place the Archadia and Rozarria empires are combating an limitless conflict with one another. When Dalmasca is annexed by the previous nation, Princess Ashe kinds a resistance motion and meets Vaan, who desires of turning into a sky pirate, teaming up with him to rally towards the tyranny of the Archadian Empire.
Ultimate Fantasy XII took three years for Sq. Enix to develop after Ultimate Fantasy X-2 was launched, and it paid off. It gained a number of Sport of the 12 months awards and spawned the Nintendo DS sequel, Ultimate Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, in 2007. Over a decade later, the remastered model of the sport, Ultimate Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, launched on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Swap, and Home windows.
Learn our evaluate of Ultimate Fantasy XII.
Ultimate Fantasy XIII
Lightning, the sequence’s first feminine protagonist other than Yuna in Ultimate Fantasy X-2, is a former soldier dwelling within the floating world of Cocoon whose sister Serah goes lacking after she’s branded an enemy of Cocoon by the federal government, Sanctum, for coming involved with a god-like creature from Pulse. As Lightning searches for her sister, she’s joined by a band of allies to rally towards Sanctum for authorizing a purge on residents who additionally got here into contact with Pulse, leaving the destiny of the world in danger.
This recreation wasn’t obtained effectively not as a result of it had a feminine lead, however reasonably as a result of it had complicated battle techniques — Command Synergy Battle and Paradigm Shift — and linear maps. Even so, it was well-received and spawned two extra direct sequels.
Learn our evaluate of Ultimate Fantasy XIII.
Ultimate Fantasy XIII-2
Three years after the occasions of Ultimate Fantasy XIII, Serah takes the lead and groups up with Noel Kreiss, a younger man from the distant future, to journey throughout time and house to seek out Lightning. In the meantime, Lightning finds herself in Valhalla, a realm between dying and chaos on the fringe of time within the distant future, dominated by the goddess Etro, who she protects as a knight throughout a conflict with Caius.
Ultimate Fantasy XIII-2 retained the Command Synergy Battle and Paradigm Shift techniques, however they had been improved upon to make battles circulate higher. Mog Clock was added to the combination, which prompts gamers to assault monsters on the sector earlier than time runs out to realize the higher hand in battle.
Learn our evaluate of Ultimate Fantasy XIII-2.
Lightning Returns: Ultimate Fantasy XIII
Within the final installment of the Ultimate Fantasy XIII trilogy, Lightning awakens from her 500-year hibernation to find that the world is about to finish in 13 days. She is chosen by the god Bhunivelze to avoid wasting everybody, however alongside the way in which she learns the reality in regards to the world’s destiny and Bhunivelze’s actual motives.
Gamers slammed this recreation as a result of it featured a ticking clock that signifies how lengthy you had till the sport was over, placing a strict time restrict on missions and aspect quests. Its saving grace was the closely modified model of the Command Synergy Battle system, which employed real-time options, like freely taking management of Lightning’s actions and assaults.
Learn our evaluate of Lightning Returns: Ultimate Fantasy XIII.
Ultimate Fantasy XIV
Ultimate Fantasy XIV has a number of storylines, however the principle one entails the participant character touring 5 years into the longer term to flee the destruction of Eorzea by the hands of the primal dragon Bahamut. They enter Eorzea within the Age of Calm and work to rebuild the land, however should cope with the specter of invasion by the Garlean Empire.
The circumstances surrounding Ultimate Fantasy XIV’s improvement had been fairly sophisticated — particularly because it’s the second MMORPG title within the sequence. The unique 2010 recreation was embroiled in controversy as a result of it was launched in an unfinished state, though its servers remained lively till November 2012. The subsequent 12 months, Sq. Enix launched Ultimate Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn with favorable acclaim and went on to provide 4 expansions: Heavensward, Stormblood, Shadowbringers, and Endwalker.
Learn our evaluate of Ultimate Fantasy XIV.
Ultimate Fantasy XV
The newest installment revolves round Noctis, a prince from the dominion of Lucis is about to marry his childhood buddy Lunafreya when he goes on a quest to rescue the Crystal from Niflheim, who stole it throughout an assault on the Lucian capital of Insomnia, killing his father within the course of, on the eve of peace negotiations between the 2 empires. Throughout his journey, he learns of his future to make use of the Crystal’s powers to avoid wasting the realm of Eos from everlasting darkness.
Ultimate Fantasy XV obtained important popularity of its gorgeous visuals, gameplay — like driving world wide within the Regalia and the Lively Cross Battle system — and its visceral soundtrack, together with a rendition of “Stand By Me” by Florence + The Machine used as the sport’s theme track in addition to a couple of contributions from Afrojack. The sport spawned a couple of spin-off video games, the anime sequence referred to as Brotherhood: Ultimate Fantasy XV, and a function movie Kingsglaive: Ultimate Fantasy XV.
Learn our evaluate of Ultimate Fantasy XV.
How To Play The Ultimate Fantasy Video games By Launch Date
If you wish to play the Ultimate Fantasy video games within the order by which they got here out, right here’s the checklist of video games by launch date. Needless to say most titles had been launched in Japan first, adopted by the U.S. at a later date. The primary six video games are remastered for the Nintendo Swap in Ultimate Fantasy Pixel Remaster.
- Ultimate Fantasy – December 18, 1987 (JP) / Could 1990 (NA) – Famicom/NES
- Ultimate Fantasy II – December 17, 1988 (JP) / April 8, 2003 (NA) – Famicom, PlayStation
- Ultimate Fantasy III – April 27, 1990 (JP) / August 24, 2006 (NA) – Famicom, Nintendo DS (remake)
- Ultimate Fantasy IV – July 19, 1991 (JP) / November 23, 1991 (NA) – Tremendous NES
- Ultimate Fantasy V – December 6, 1992 (JP) / October 5, 1999 (NA) – Tremendous Famicom, PlayStation
- Ultimate Fantasy VI – April 2, 1994 (JP) / October 11, 1994 (NA) – Tremendous NES
- Ultimate Fantasy VII – January 31, 1997 (JP) / September 7, 1997 (NA) – PlayStation
- Ultimate Fantasy VIII – February 11, 1999 (JP) / September 7, 1999 (NA) – PlayStation
- Ultimate Fantasy IX – July 7, 2000 (JP) / November 14, 2000 (NA) – PlayStation
- Ultimate Fantasy X – July 19, 2001 (JP) / December 18, 2001 (NA) – PS2
- Ultimate Fantasy XI – Could 16, 2002 (JP) / March 23, 2004 (NA) – PS2
- Ultimate Fantasy X-2 – March 13, 2003 (JP) / November 18, 2003 (NA) – PS2
- Ultimate Fantasy XII – March 16, 2006 (JP) / October 31, 2006 (NA) – PS2
- Ultimate Fantasy XIII – December 17, 2009 (JP) / March 9, 2010 (NA) – PS3, Xbox 360, PC
- Ultimate Fantasy XIII-2 – December 15, 2011 (JP) / January 31, 2012 (NA) – PS3, Xbox 360, PC
- Lightning Returns: Ultimate Fantasy XIII – November 21, 2013 (JP) / February 11, 2014 (NA) – PS3, Xbox 360, PC
- Ultimate Fantasy XIV – August 27, 2013 – PS3, PS4, PS5, PC
- Ultimate Fantasy XV – November 29, 2016 – PS4, Xbox One, PC
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