Rosa was last truly pure waifu
Playing on actual hardware on a CRT. Can't get better than that.
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Okay, this ended up being much longer than I expected, but here goes:
I played FF 1 through 7 (with the exception of 5, since I ran out of time) on real hardware a few years ago during marathon sessions in between jobs. Some were replays, some were for the first time. I enjoyed all of them to some degree or another.
FF1: This was a huge shock. I played the PSX remake, but using the original NES/FAMI rules. Simply an amazing JRPG, pretty comparable to early western RPGs imo. No grinding required whatsoever if you play smart (learn which enemies are dangerous, which items can be used in battle for free spells [later on in the game], when to run, etc.). Sometimes that means you need to leave a dungeon halfway through and make the trek back to town because you are low on resources of course. I even used some weird ass party, maybe a Fighter, two Red Mages, and a White Mage. One of the best games I have ever played, and there is even a bit of "non-linearity" in that you can sometimes access dungeons meant for exploring much later in the game—just run in, get some high level loot, and run out.
FF2: This was another surprise. I played the PSX remake, but again, using the original NES/FAMI rules. People HATE this game. That's because they follow the retarded FAQs all over the Internet which tell you "helpful" tricks like attacking your own party to gain HPs, etc. The game simply does not work like this; it is meant to be played without using these stupid tricks. The important things are: specialize your characters, keep them protected but light, always choose the weapon that offers better agility, and learn to buff your characters with your spells. By the end of the game, without any grinding or dumbass tricks, I steamrolled the last boss.
FF3: Fun game, but the class system is less about experimenting and more about solving puzzles. Played this one of the actual hardware (famicom). The trick here is to, again, specialize. There is some semi-hidden stat that measures your mastery of each class, I forget exactly. So you need to specialize at least one character as a black mage as soon as possible, since switching a fighter to a black mage right before a boss will just end in failure (since that mastery stat is so low). Once I learned that, the game was a lot of fun. Buffing spells/items stack endlessly in the original version, so by the time you get to the last boss, it's just a matter of keeping your characters alive long enough to stack multiple buffs on your fighter(s). No grinding required whatsoever in this one.
FF4: This was a replay, though I played the Japanese version this time. Didn't really hold up imo. The music is awesome, really one of the best soundtracks from the SNES/SFC of all time, and it has aged wonderfully—no excessive reverb, no weird sounding horns or guitars, it just sounds great even today. The graphics are also really nice. Unfortunately, the game is ridiculously linear. Any two players at any given point in the game will have the exact same party (of the exact same classes). This turns the battle system into something more like a puzzle game, as the designers are 100% sure of what your abilities are at any given part of the game. I didn't get any satisfaction whatsoever from winning any battles here. The dungeons are so simple that you don't need to map them, and you hardly find anything worthwhile in them. The exception is the final dungeon, where you have several "optional" bosses you can seek out to get some excellent equipment. The story did nothing for me as a kid, and it did nothing for me as an adult.
FF6: Great. The linear first half of the game is a bit of a drag for someone who has already finished the game as a kid, but at least you get to play around with the magicite and party composition. This gives you a lot more room to develop your own strategies. However, the second half of the game blew my mind—keep in mind, I had played and finished this game before, back when it was first released. You get a nonlinear world to explore, full of optional content that includes not only awesome equipment to seek out, but story stuff too. This really pulled me in. I even drew a little map of the overworld to track all the stuff I was doing.
FF7: Surprisingly good. When I played through this the first time back when it came out, I lost interest a few hours in. At that point I just followed a strategy guide to get through it. This time through, enough years had passes where I had forgotten everything outside of the first few hours, and I really enjoyed it.
FF7 has way more in common with the previous games than it does with the following ones. It's a weird mix of goofy and serious (like FF6) and they cared more about making a fun world to explore than something that seemed consistent. I enjoyed the music (which was criticized back then for sounding too "synthy"), and I even liked the story. Being able to select your own party (after a certain point) and using the materia system allowed you to develop your own strategies. I dunno, I enjoyed this one, and it seemed like a fitting end to "classic" FF games to me.
