Easiest and Hardest Final Fantasy *SPOILERS*

[Princess Moogle]

It's what the title says. What did you find to be the hardest and easiest Final Fantasy to date? Spin-offs, of course, count as well. Give your opinions on why did you find that particular Final Fantasy easy/hard.

Also, a minor note: I'm not aware that we have a topic like this. If we do, please feel free to redirect and/or merge with said topic. Thanks. 

[Someddrnoob]

Heh, this one's going to be a toughie.

Easiest: Final Fantasy I post-NES
Even when playing through normally, it's very easy. You can breeze through the game with little difficulties, if any.

Hardest: Final Fantasy III DS
No save points in dungeons, non-purchasable Phoenix Downs, brutally unfair enemies/bosses, what more could you want?

[Ally]

Easiest: Final Fantasy XII
As much as I loved FFXII, I cannot, for the life of me, stress how much this game was too easy. Breezed through the main campaign with little to no difficulties. Boss battles tend to go by quick especially since at the end of the game, the party is basically so overpowered. The only notable problems are Yiazmat and Omega XII.

Other Notable Mentions: Final Fantasy II

Hardest: Final Fantasy III
What Sunny said, is basically straight to the point. Ah yes, one more thing... do I have to state how much I hate the game's final dungeon?

Other Notable Mentions: The DS version of Final Fantasy IV did have an unfair difficulty in terms of boss battles, while regular encounters are pretty easy...  until the final dungeon that is.

[wee187]

Easiest: Hmmm.... Final Fantasy VIII. I love the game to pieces, but if you know how to break the game, which I always tend to do... it's so easy. Still, easy in an epic and fun way.

Hardest: Final Fantasy III DS if you don't use the item glitch. Final Fantasy IV DS if you do. Final Fantasy Tactics if you're counting the Tactics games into the equation.

On a side note, I actually thought FFXII was only easy if you knew RPGs well. Anyone who didn't wouldn't really spend the time in areas that you should and would become extremely underleveled by as early as the Dreadnaught Leviathan. I remember in my first FFXII run, I was stuck at Barheim Passage for months. Boy, have I grown since then... how that place was even challenging in the slightest is beyond me.

[DragonSLAYER45]

Hardest goes to Final Fantasy III. I'm not a fan of exploiting glitches, and there was one certain boss that always caused a roadblock for me in this game. Never happened to me in a Final Fantasy game before. I hate long treks in dungeons only to lose to the boss at the end, it makes me want to bang my head against a wall.

Easiest is Final Fantasy II, due to it's abusable system. Hard at first, but once you get used to it; you'll powerlevel even if you don't want too. A notable mention is Mystic Quest, and I think that's all I really need to say about it.

[Spee]

Hardest: Final Fantasy III DS. I think everyone here as given legitimate enough reasons. Second hardest would have to go to all of the classic Final Fantasy games released on the NES.

Easiest: Any game that is proven that can be completed without leveling up. I'm looking at straight at you Final Fantasy XII. Second easiest is Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus. I tried this game, and not once did I get a Game Over in this game even on Hard Mode

[Shadow Gilgamesh]

time for me to derp it up

Easiest: FF3 DS: just a little grinding at the biggining of the game (only like 20-30 minutes), and careful choice of jobs throughout and the game is a breeze.

Hardest: Final Fantasy tactics: no matter how much grinding i do, my characters always die quickly, and then DIE before i can revive them.

unless you want one of the main games, in which case i'll say FFIV because past a point in the game all the enemies have hit all or huge hit moves that will drain Rosa and Cecils MP faster then you can say "where's that pink tail!?"

[MegaFun]

Easiest: Final Fantasy IX - I don't know why, I just didn't have a lot of trouble with this game.

Hardest: Final Fantasy IV DS, it was overall much harder than FF3 DS imo. Yes I did use the item glitch for a while, but by the time the last jobs came up I stopped using it and the last dungeon wasn't that bad.

[jake1456]

Easiest: Final Fantasy X - you can kill all bosses in 1 with yojimbo

Hardest Final Fantasy IV DS - earliest i gave up on

[Deathgaze]

Easiest would have to go to XII by far. Whenever a character died, he or she never really stayed dead for more than a couple of seconds. Yiazmat hardly gave me any troubles and the battle was more boring and tedious that dragged on than an actual challenge.

Hardest would have to go to the DS versions of III because, well, Phoenix Downs can't be bought at shops!? <- My first reaction when I played the game. The fact that Raise and Arise don't come until late in the game doesn't help either. Bosses can be unfairly punishing and the fact that there are hardly any save points doesn't help either. I wanted to break the cartridge in half when I lost against the final boss.

[Warrior212]

Easiest FF game: Final Fantasy III (DS)
   Found quite easy for its versitility but had its hard points but mostly a breeze

Hardest FF game:  Final Fantasy VIII
   Great Story and a wonderful battle system what made it difficult for me is the way you had to set up the battle commands and the way you had to stock up on magic made it very interesting and difficult and it was also interesting the way you used the magic to gain you stats kinda ruined some feel of leveling which i enjoyed greatly.

[Chaos]

I haven't played many, but out of the ones I've played:

Easiest: Probably goes to XII (even though the others didn't give me much trouble, either)
Hardest: X. Had to retry a couple of bosses multiple times.

[RedChocobo]

Easiest will have to be.... Final Fantasy 7.... I breezed through it so many times. Might be because I do many sidequests because I find it such an awesome game, but not the best.

Hardest in MY opinion is (Dont laugh...) Final Fantasy 2 on PSP. I am stuck somewhere and unless I pass it, I don't think any final fantasy Is harder.

Oh, and for Final Fantasy 3 DS, I found it Fun! Not all easy but not in anyway hard. I don't get what you guys are saying about it.

[Radiant Savior]

The easiest IMO was Final Fantasy X. Other than the occasional final form of Sin kicking my ass because of Giga-Graviton, I've never had too many problems with this game. I found most of the bosses and random encounters to be pretty easy. Except for Great Malboro, GOD I HATE GREAT MALBORO. -_-"

The hardest IMO will have to go to both the DS versions of Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV. For Final Fantasy III, it would be the unfair difficulty of bosses (SALAMANDER!!!) and the amount of time it takes to advance to just one level (which I don't really have anymore) in the game that makes it so hard for me.

For Final Fantasy IV, most of the bosses towards end game were pretty hard (CPU!!!!!) and I still have yet to defeat Proto-Babil and Geryon. They also jacked up the difficulty of the final dungeon/boss tremendously compared to the early versions of the game. It's the end game of FFIV that makes it such a tedious grind for me.

[PeteThePlayer]

Easiest: Hmm hard decision. Most of the FFs are easy if you got a good view through it. FFI (easy to overlevel), FFII (easy to overstat), FFVIII (easy to over...junction), FFX (easy to over...sphere)
The others I either haven't played them or they're mid.

Hardest: I haven't played much of FFIIIDS yet so I can't say it's the hardest. If I was forced to choose a game, it would probably be FFIV, because bosses actually kick your ass freakin quick. You have to spend time on leveling unlike the FFs I mentioned before.