I played the original Final Fantasy a little bit as a kid, but I didn't buy my own copy until later, by then my NES was crap so I never really beat the original Final Fantasy. My cousin had Final Fantasy II for the SNES, and back then we would swap RPGs, Final Fantasy II is still to this day my favorite Final Fantasy game. I probably beat Final Fantasy II 20 times from start to finish. I found Mystic Quest at a flea market around 1994 I think, I had already played Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II at the time, and I honestly never heard of Mystic Quest, but it was a Final Fantasy game, so I bought it without hesitation. It was most certainly different, but I did enjoy it in the end of things. I borrowed Final Fantasy III from a friend and I think beat it twice within a month before giving it back. Chrono Trigger came out in 95(?) and I always considered it a Final Fantasy spin off for some reason.. I beat it more times than I can remember...
theeeeen Final Fantasy 7 came out, and that was my sole reason to buy a Playstation. I was blown away by the story,characters, and graphics. Heck, I restarted it again last week and I'm still enjoying it.
theeeeeen Final Fantasy Tactics came out, and while it wasn't my first TBStrategy RPG, it was my favorite, and I still haven't played a better one since. I was obsessed with FFT and probably beat it a dozen times. I replayed it last month actually and still enjoyed it just as much.
Final Fantasy VIII was a total let down for me, I hated the characters, I hated the battle system, I thought the gunblade was stupid.. I could go on, the graphics was very impressive though. I might replay this on a later date...
Final Fantasy Anthology came out after that I think. I mostly bought it for Final Fantasy V, which I had never played. I played the crap out of V, I maxed out all job classes, and maxed out all levels, but I couldn't beat the final boss for some reason. I wish I had the internet back then... I replayed Final Fantasy III again just to see the CGI scenes too..
let's see.. Final Fantasy IX was the last up-to-date Final Fantasy I ended up buying. I bought it when it came out, and I still think it's the best of the main three Final Fantasy titles on the PS1.
I watched a friend play through Final Fantasy X for about 10 hours, while the graphics and voice acting blew me away, I couldn't stand the characters, I bought the game in 2004 but for some reason never played it until 2 or 3 months ago. I liked a few elements about it, but yeah the characters stunk and it was extremely linear... I played Final Fantasy X-2 right after that, and I think I enjoyed it a little more than Final Fantasy X.. I mean, the characters were still annoying but it had less-Tidus crap and a better battle system, and it was completely non-linear.
I never played Final Fantasy XI or ever wanted to. I hated the idea of it and I wish it wasn't part of the main series. I also hated the idea of Final Fantasy XII but I did play it and ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would have. Not my favorite FF ever, but I still think it's a great game...