best to worst list

[Chaos 混沌 カオス]

Obligatory best to worst list. Because you know it's coming.

3 >= 6 > 2 >= 5 >> 1/OSS >>>> 4

3 and 6 are generally agreed to be the best games of the series. I put 3 slightly above 6 mainly due to 3 having the superior postgame (and yes, I include the hopefully former JP exclusive postgame of 6). Heck, the original ending was supposed to be 3.

6 is definitely a return to form redemption game after the divisive 4 and 5. Not much else needed to be said.

Obviously 5 is better than 2 objectively, but I put 2 slightly above for the purely subjective reason that SRPGs aren't for me. 2 had its problems, but you couldn't really ask for a better 2nd game in the series.

You either love or hate 5 for the SRPGs mechanic. 5 wasn't a bad game, but I myself didn't like the SRPG mechanics. Japanese players at the time didn't like it either, hence it made no return in 6.

It's not fair to really compare 1 to the rest of the series, but I'm doing it for the sake of the list. The long and short of it is, once you played 2, it's hard to go back to 1. (And likewise it's hard to go back to 2 after playing 3, albeit less so than the first two). 1 is worth playing once for the introduction of the characters and that one spoiler near the end of the game...

4 was absolute trash, it had no story, it was just a tournament arc, and wasn't even a fun one. It even forced New Game+ in the worst way ever. The only thing it did was introducing the villains that would reappear in 5, but even then, 5 on its own did a decent job doing just that.

[JedM]

BN1 definitely deserves 2nd last since its the first game, and I'm typing this while hunting for Fireman V2/3 chips. No sneakrun and oilbody really makes me suffer, and the RNG for chip drops certainly did not help.