I started at 7 and looked forwards to every iteration of the series since then, 8 was more of the same with a weird story, 9 was cute and a good throwback, then I went back to 6 which was a masterpiece, 10 was emotional and beautiful, 12 wasn’t great but had cool worldbuilding, being a FFT fan.
Here is when it starts to diverge a little. I would call this the start of ‘modern’ FFs
I actually liked 13’s battle system, it worked out many of the kinks of old systems, like healing after each battle and focused on each interaction as a puzzle to be solved. The story was OK and then the sequels kinda tried to do something different. Lightning Returns had terrible reviews, possible due to the time limit, which is why I never tried it
14 had a bad start and did a reboot to become a well loved MMO, but starting in the first world is such a chore with outdated MMO mechanics as someone who started later
15 was ambitious and unfinished. the first time I was truly disappointed in a FF game.
Then, we have the FF7 remakes, which are amazing, it seems that all the effort, the team members who have passion all signed up for this and it shows, but there’s a strong nostalgia bias to it.
Now reading the reviews for 16, it seems there’s no real reason to give it a try. At this point, I’m not sure what comes after the final FF7 game, is there a way to make 17 something people would care about?
I thought it was a really nice change. They kept the ATB system all the older games had, and it didn’t break between overworld and battle screens constantly, making for a seamless transition between the two.