Final Fantasy has been entertaining gamers for more than three decades, rarely taking a break between mainline entries and spin-offs. Numbered games alone go up to fifteen. What’s even more astounding to consider is the length of each game.
RPGs are generally never short affairs, so fans definitely get plenty of bang for their buck when jumping into one of these many worlds. The following list will detail just how long it takes to beat each of the games in the main series, as measured by howlongtobeat.com. A couple of them fall on the relatively short side for RPGs, but they are still great experiences to behold.
Updated December 23, 2020 by Thomas Bowen: Creating a game that takes a long time to complete is a fairly simple task. Creating one with enough about it that players actually want to complete it is not so simple though. Over the years, the Final Fantasy series has done a fantastic job when it comes to adding additional content to help keep players around long after the final boss has fallen. Although not everybody will choose to partake, these extra touches are one of the many reasons why the series is so beloved and typically supplement the games’ main stories perfectly. While some of the games might not take too long to beat, completing them can often take considerably longer.
19 Final Fantasy – 17 1/2 Hours
The tale that started it all holds up surprisingly well due to its straightforward nature and charm. Of course, one is better off playing one of the many ports instead of the NES original. The first release is plagued with weird bugs, causing certain vital game play mechanic to function abnormally.
The optimal version is the 20th anniversary edition released for the PSP. Its sprite art is gorgeous and doesn’t look jarringly cartoonish like the updates done to some of the later 2D Final Fantasy games.
18 Final Fantasy IV – 23 1/2 Hours
Often one of the two most celebrated 2D entries along with Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy IV comes in as the second shortest entry. While not the first one to have a more complicated narrative, it is often seen as the first one that did it right. Because of its strong story, the game play is relatively straightforward and it is always easy to know where the next objective lies.
Unless one is stuck at a combat encounter, the game should be a breeze to whisk through in less than a day’s worth of a game play.
17 Final Fantasy II – 25 1/2 Hours
The second game in the series is often remembered as one of the worst. It pushed things forward with a more nuanced story, but the game play veered far from what fans are now accustomed to. The idea of characters leveling up as abilities were used led to the stats easily being broken by players attacking their own party members. Still, it’s not horrid or unplayable by any stretch of the word.
People looking to play through all of the games won’t find it a slog. Plus, it’s still on the relatively short side of things.
16 Final Fantasy XIII-2 – 27 1/2 Hours
Final Fantasy XIII-2 is the shortest of the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy, at least when it comes to a main story only playthrough. This bodes well as it’s probably the worst of the three games in terms of both gameplay mechanics and story. Fans of the original game will still have some fun with it, but everyone else might be better off watching the cutscenes on YouTube and skipping ahead to Lightning Returns instead.
A single playthrough typically takes just over 27 hours while completing all of the game’s tasks will require a little over 72 hours of play time. Thanks in large to the omission of Lightning and the need to play as Serah though, this can feel like a lot of work for very little payoff. The Chocobo racing is a lot of fun, but everything else just feels like busywork.
15 Final Fantasy XV – 28 Hours
The most recent numbered entry was somewhat polarizing for fans. It looked undeniably gorgeous, but it was too easy and the battle system was not engaging enough, despite the fights themselves being marvelous spectacles.
Its length also wildly varies because of its structure. The first several chapters are brimming with side quests. One can spend dozens of hours doing favors for town folk, greatly inflating the play time. After a certain point, the story puts the players on rails and beelines towards a finish. Twenty-eight is about the average one can expect if they don’t dilly dally too long in the open-world segments.
14 Final Fantasy III – 30 Hours
The third entry sees silent protagonists come back for a more straightforward adventure than its predecessor. Despite its narratives simplicity, it’ll take longer than the prior two. Like the first game, however, its charm and whimsy keeps players glued to the screen the whole time, making the hours fly by like an airship.
13 Final Fantasy X-2 – 31 Hours
Final Fantasy X-2 was a fairly groundbreaking game in as much that it was the first time that Square Enix developed a sequel to a mainline Final Fantasy game. It continues the story of Tidus and Yuna while further expanding upon the lore of Spira. It’s not quite as good as its predecessor, but it’s certainly not without its charms.
While the PS2 release’s main story took almost 40 hours to complete, quality of life updates implemented in modern ports have brought this time down considerably making it a much more palatable experience. The ‘True’ ending still requires a second playthrough though and players will need to tackle the incredibly frustrating tower alignment mini game if they’re attempting a completionist run.
12 Final Fantasy V – 32 1/2 Hours
Final Fantasy V often gets left out of the conversation. It’s not quite all time great, but it’s not as flawed or outdated as Final Fantasy II, so it kind of just sits there on its own. Still, one will find just as engrossing a world as the others if they take the plunge.
Really, it’s hard to go wrong with any of the two-dimensional outings. How many games this old can say they will occupy gamers time for more than thirty hours.
11 Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII – 34 Hours
Not too many people stuck with Lightning through to the end of her trilogy, but those who did likely spent at least 110 hours across all three games. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII accounts for around 34 hours of that, although this time can increase dramatically if players opt to do more than just the main story.
Completing everything that the game has to offer will take players around 65 and a half hours, which actually makes it the shortest of the three games from a completionist’s perspective. It provides a fitting conclusion to Lightning’s journey and so is definitely worth doing for those who are fans of the character, although getting through XIII-2 first can be a bit of a slog.
10 Final Fantasy VII Remake – 34 Hours
Despite only covering the Midgar section of the original game, a standard playthrough of Final Fantasy VII Remake clocks in at a whopping 34 hours. That the original release doesn’t take too much longer, should give a fairly good idea of just how much Tetsuya Nomura and his team changed and added to the release.
Those hoping to complete all of the game’s side quests can expect to spend an additional 7 and half hours on top of their main playthrough while a full completionist run will take a staggering 84 hours. This is largely down to players needing to complete the game again on hard mode where there are also some additional challenges for players to take on.
9 Final Fantasy VI – 35 1/2 Hours
The second half of this game brought a new element to the series, giving players a then unprecedented level of choice on how to approach tackling objectives. After the half way point, one can even dart towards the finish without seeing everything on the newly transformed world map, cutting down game time significantly. However, one is a fool if they don’t take a look at everything one of the most celebrated 2D JRPGs of all time has to offer.
8 Final Fantasy VII – 38 1/2 Hours
Cloud and his friends’ journey not only elevated the series to new heights, but the medium as a whole. Its massive detailed world, cosmic story, and hard-hitting emotional beats were unlike anything else gamers saw at the time.
Thirty-eight hours is about how long it takes to get through it, but doing everything there is to do can at least double the game play time. The PS1 was a revolutionary console, and Square was there as one of the leaders of the charge with their JRPG classic.
7 Final Fantasy IX – 40 Hours
The ninth entry was a counter-point to the two science-fiction themed titles before it. The return to form stands as the PlayStation’s swan song, and what a great send off it was. forty hours of gaming was plenty enough time to stave off PS2 cravings. Who wanted the next-gen console when the PS1 was still pumping out RPGs of this quality?
6 Final Fantasy VIII – 42 Hours
The follow up to Final Fantasy VII doesn’t get as much praise as its predecessor, but it still basks in enough glory on its own.
Additionally, it differentiates itself from the pack with its unique Draw mechanic, addictive card game Triple Triad, and the enemies scaling to the players level which makes grinding unnecessary. With the recent remaster, one can experience this magnificent adventure more comfortably than ever before.
5 Final Fantasy X – 48 Hours
Yuna’s pilgrimage through Spira and developing relationship with Tidus forever sticks in players’ minds. Love stories had been tackled before, but never had they felt so real, thanks to the fully voice acted cutscenes and enhanced graphics. The protagonist’s relationship with his father was also new to the medium.
The Sphere Grid progression system added a new layer to progression, offering players increased control on how their party advanced. Getting every character’s celestial weapon and upgrading them to the max also ensures completionists won’t quickly put this one down.
4 Final Fantasy XIII – 49 Hours
Final Fantasy XIII got flack for its linearity, but no one could deny how beautiful it was. Unfortunately, looks aren’t enough for everybody.
Its story may be hard to follow, but the cast of characters ensures there is never a dull moment. The direct sequels garnered diminishing returns, but XIII is solid on its own.
3 Final Fantasy XII – 60 Hours
The longest one by a long shot, Final Fantasy XII was almost too big for its own good. It eschewed a formal world map, but players sometimes trekked through open lands for hours before reaching their destination. It gave a grand sense of scope, but re-releases offered the ability to speed up these segments. Even with the fast-forward button, players are in for a long journey within Ivalice.
2 Final Fantasy XI – 106 1/2 Hours
MMORPGs have a reputation for being incredibly long and Final Fantasy XI definitely does its level best to uphold this. First released in 2002, the game is still going strong despite new expansions having dried up some time ago. The last one came in 2015 and was the game’s 12th piece of major DLC.
Together, Final Fantasy XI‘s DLC provides hundreds of hours of extra playtime, although the main story can typically be completed in around 100 hours. Of course, games like this can’t ever be fully completed and so how long a player gets out of the game is entirely up to them. There’s always something else to do though, so it’s not uncommon for players to spend thousands of hours with Final Fantasy XI.
1 Final Fantasy XIV – 122 Hours
Another MMORPG, another ridiculous average playtime. Final Fantasy XIV is Square Enix’s latest attempt at taking the series online and undoubtedly its most ambitious. The game has received three major expansions since releasing in 2010 with a fourth expected at some point in 2021.
Between them, the new story content in Heavensward, Stormblood and Shadowbringers takes around 185 hours to complete, although when raids and other side content are accounted for that figure is far closer to the 300 hour mark. For those looking for a game that they can sink some serious time into; this is it.
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