3. Final Fantasy XII (2006)

Guinness World Records once awarded Final Fantasy XII the dubious distinction of having the longest development time of any video game. It was less an achievement and more an indication of how troubled was the twelfth entry’s development, a harbinger of the turbulence to come over the franchise’s next decade. It’s a wonder, then, that Final Fantasy XII turned out as beautiful, playable, and evocative as it did, taking chances in gameplay and presentation that felt huge even for a series already known to rock the boat with each installment.

Final Fantasy XII was made by a team of series outsiders. The unusual world of Ivalice, imported from their previous projects Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story, provided a fascinating new backdrop for a tale of warring kingdoms. But plotting wasn’t the game’s strong point. No, I love Final Fantasy XII for its unusually fungible gameplay, its charming characters, its vividly rendered settings, and above all its impeccable vibes.

Unlike the decade’s worth of Final Fantasy games that preceded it, Final Fantasy XII felt wide open. You could explore. You could bite off more than you could chew and get your ass kicked, and finding out what lay beyond your current limits felt exciting. You could see the enemies before you engaged them, and programmatically perfect your party’s strategies ahead of time. And you could develop your characters any way you liked as you luxuriated in the Dalmasca Estersand to a gloriously grand, adventurous Sakimoto score. This game didn’t even sound like a normal Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy XII was a game and a world and a vibe first, a linear narrative second. That is my preferred order for such things. Given the game’s fandom, I suspect that is a lot of people’s preferred order for such things. I keep hoping for another Final Fantasy game that can make me feel this sort of way.

If you’re looking to play it today, the original release was flawed, and most players will default to the 2017 Zodiac Age remaster. But spare a thought for 2007’s International Zodiac Job System edition, which I find the perfect midpoint between addressing the original’s oversights and the overtweaked, overly easy modern release. — Alexandra Hall

Read More: Final Fantasy XII Is Way Better Than I Remembered