I liked all the first 10 ones (haven't played III though), but I didn't like the ones after X, when Square became Square-Enix.

7>10>9> the rest imo. 10's story line is pretty quick (compared to the other games made acfter 6), but you can spend months completing optional sidequests. It's also a good idea to at least play 8 since it has a very good storyline, but I don't really like the magic and stats system, and all the SNES ones (4-6) since they have atleast decent storylines and a nice classic RPG style. The first ones are the worst in my opinion; still fun, but they are a bit simple, so nowadays it's better to play only if you are a FF fan and want to try something new.

X-2 is to be played only after X... but the plot was very dissapointing imo. And I consider 12 as very boring, I ended up dropping it; the story wasn't good, characters were shallow, voices were boring and the gameplay was completely different to the other games... but some people liked this game, it's just that the new games are very diferent to the first 10. Those are all the FF games I've played.

7 is definitely the most popular one, but I don't think it makes it the best.

Tactics, 8, 9, and 6 you can all get for the PS1, I think they are all better than 7 in terms of story and presentation. 7 just has a little more freedom than the rest, a lot more side quest things to delve into, that's why I think it's the most popular.

Thanks guys! I think I'll try 8 from what I'm hearing.

Try playing VI, or IX, VIII is also great.

You'll fall in love with FFVIII - plot over gameplay though.

Well I certainly don't know what you mean by that. I never found it a realistic game at all(in terms of story and characters), and definitely not gritty lol.

A FF game with gritty realism is FFT. I'd argue that Tactics, 6, and 8 are all have far more "gritty realism" than 7. 7 has a much more innocent vibe(for the most part) in my opinion than anything that it sounds like you are describing. Obviously it has it's moments of terror or grit or w/e you wanna call it. But I never felt FF7 had an identity centered around that of realism or gritty realism. Actually, while posting this and thinking about it. I feel like FF7 doesn't really have a "strong" identity in any area. Like it tries to touch on every area, but it doesn't really specialize in any. It's one of those games that tries to be everything to everyone.