Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy is one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time, building up a hugely dedicated army of fans over the years since first launching back in the '80s. With so many games to choose from – and with so many players having their own favourite titles – there are few series that lend themselves to a good old ranking better than this one.

It probably makes sense, then, that Japan's public broadcaster, NHK (think the BBC in the UK), has held its very own poll to see which Final Fantasy game is the 'best' of all time. The poll asked viewers to rank their favourite games, characters and more from the series, with a whopping 468,654 votes being cast in total. Let's see how it went down, shall we?

NHK Japan Poll - Best Final Fantasy Games

  1. Final Fantasy X
  2. Final Fantasy VII
  3. Final Fantasy VI
  4. Final Fantasy IX
  5. Final Fantasy XIV
  6. Final Fantasy V
  7. Final Fantasy VIII
  8. Final Fantasy IV
  9. Final Fantasy XI
  10. Final Fantasy XV

NHK Japan Poll - Best Final Fantasy Characters

  1. Cloud (VII)
  2. Yuna (X)
  3. Aeris (VII)
  4. Vivi (IX)
  5. Zidane (IX)
  6. Solus zos Galvus (XIV)
  7. Tidus (X)
  8. Lightning (XIII)
  9. Tifa (VII)
  10. Zack (VII)

So there we have it, Final Fantasy X is officially better than VII and Cloud is everyone's favourite spiky-haired boy.

Do you agree? Do you disagree with a burning passion? As it happens, our very own Nintendo Life reader poll of the best mainline Final Fantasy games went very differently, so perhaps this argument isn't settled just yet.

[source nhk.or.jp, via fanbyte.com]