13. Final Fantasy (1987)

Some might assume the original Final Fantasy an archaic fossil from the bad old days of 8-bit RPGs, but guess what? It holds up pretty well.

Final Fantasy’s a cool game. The art’s nice, Uematsu’s already putting out catchy melodies, and its quest feels lengthy and challenging. But perhaps most unusual is the amount of freedom it affords the player, both to wander a bit afield into danger and to choose their party’s class composition. The latter choice leads to endless algorithmic consequences, adding texture and often challenge to your journey and providing a strong basis for replayability.

Whatever the series turned into later, you can most clearly taste its inspirations here. The developers’ late nights of Dungeons & Dragons and Wizardry have never felt so close to the surface as here in Square’s first, fateful stab at the genre, and I find it more interesting for it.

Few games have ever seen so many re-releases. Each one tweaked Final Fantasy further, offering ever-differing levels of polish and difficulty. If the 1987 game feels too rough, odds are one of the revamps, such as the gorgeously redrawn PSP version, will strike the right note. — Alexandra Hall

Read More: Final Fantasy: The Kotaku Retrospective