I thought Final Fantasy 8 was the longest probably because I spent forever getting all the weapons and magics.
Final Fantasy 1 was the shortest, I played this one on GBA maybe thats the reason.
The shortest is probably the first. Although I remember I completed FFIV in 22 hours back in the SNes days.
I haven’t been on the other games for a while..so I can’t mention them.
Assuming you fully complete all sidequests, XII stands as the longest, but with X-2 skyrocketing up in length. And X still being in there as well. VIII was longish, but definitely not longer than those for me. And I did while away quite a few hours with IX.
Perceptually, X will probably remain the longest for me. I busted through it in one shot and got completely burnt out on it. I’ve already taken a break from XII (after Raithwall), and I’m about to take another, but it has never felt like X.
II felt the shortest, for which I am grateful, as it is my least favorite.
Shortest for me would be FF IV advanced right now I am roughly 40% done and at 5 hours or so with only a little buliding but I have yet to hit most of the sidequest so really who is to say at the end.
Longest Award Goes To: Final Fantasy 12
FFX-2 because I have to make sure I get everything(sidequests, commsphere, minigames, etc.) to get 100% perfect ending, and also maximize the level of my characters. That game took me a while to finish.
FFXII also, because of the same stuff. The hunts and all that takes a while to keep track.
And FFX too, because of the same reasons(although the most time-consuming part of FFX are the minigames especially the chocobo racing game).
And for me, there is NO shortest Final Fantasy. =(
FFX seems the longest for me as far as story and character development go, at least if you count the amount of character interaction that takes place. Perhaps FFVIII has the broadest story. No coincidence that those two are my favorite games of the series.
FFVII is kinda short, in about 60 hours you can do pretty much everything, including getting KOTR. Can’t remember much about FFVIII.
And I agree with Zulu, Origin of FFI is short!
Longest: definetely FFXI. Yes, I know FFXI is an MMORPG that technically has no real conclusion, but you can ‘complete’ the game by playing through all three nations’ missions (Windurst, Bastok and San d’Oria) of the original game, plus the three expansion packs Rise of the Zilart, Chains of Promathia and Treasures of Aht Urhgan that add extra missions which extend the main storyline even further into new and somewhat surreal directions.
The main story is basically wound up by the end of Chains of Promathia however, as the third expansion Treasures of Aht Urhgan is more of a side-story, as it moves the story’s emphasis away from the Western nations and the many conspiracies lurking under the surface involving Tavnazia and Jeuno, to the new Near Eastern nation of Aht Urhgan and it’s ongoing struggles against the beastmen.
To finish all of this would probably take years of your life if you play the game like how I play it (I’ve been playing FFXI for a little over two years now and I’m still only halfway through Windurst’s storyline, and have only just touched on the expansion missions).
Shortest FF would probably be FFX. Man, this shows just how short a FF game is when you remove the world map. Basically the actual pacing of the story is like a monotonous train journey from one point to another, with little to no deviation in between. I think by just following hte main story and ignoring side quests and the like, I got to the end of the game in about 12 hours of game time or so.. Ho hum…
Shortest FF would probably be X. Probably because it’s so linear, the game pretty much points you where to go each time. Completely the opposite case in X-2.
I got to the end of ff7 in under 20 hours whilst playing casually once. (not getting kotr or any chocobos)
i spent a long time playing ff9 and beat ozma eventually but that was still about 60 hours.
i think im on 37 hours on ff12 right now and im at pharos.