Which FF Games Were The Most/Least Difficult?

As the title says. >_<

Did any of the games in the series give you any particular trouble? Or maybe none of them were hard to beat. Did you need more of a challenge in any of the games? Just what do you think about the difficulty level of this series?

I've played V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, X-2, and XII. I don't think any of them were really very hard. XII, I think, has maybe the highest percentage of hard bosses and random encounters- the espers and marks were a good challenge and some of the random monsters in areas like the Henne Mines were very deadly.

I don't recall any boss in VIII being difficult, but I think VIII's junction system made raising stats and using abilities harder than it needed to be. Who wants to run around on the world map for hours looking for draw points so that you can put some decent magic on your strength stat? Or spend an hour on one lowly boss because he's the only source in this part of the game for a specific spell and you need to keep drawing it? And the way junctioning basically discouraged you from using any magic could make the game harder for someone who usually is a big magic caster.

I think X was the first time where I got to a final boss (and we all pretty much count Braska's Final Aeon as the boss of this game, yes?) and found myself massively underleveled. The first time I played the game, I didn't quite get the concept of clearing out the sphere grid and replacing the nodes with stronger options so that my characters would max out their stats, but I'd still managed to skate my way through the rest of the bosses. Then I got to Jecht and had my ass handed to me rather embarrassingly. I ended up having to restart the game and level up properly.

I also found IX difficult to beat on my first playthrough, as I'd gotten stuck trying to defeat Necron. But I don't recall any other bosses being insanely difficult and Necron went down eventually, and I've never again had trouble with him.

Those are the games that came to mind at the moment. Will probably add some more about the others later.

 

I've never played I or II, though I have a copy of them somewhere that was released for the playstation. You're not the first person I've seen mention II being difficult, but I've also heard it isn't very good in other ways, so I've never had the desire to play it.

Aside from the superbosses, I think VII was very easy. I remember getting to Sephiroth for the first time (and this was my first time ever playing an FF game) and being incredibly disappointed with how quickly I took him down.

I think X-2 was also pretty easy. Some of the super bosses, like Trema, were a nice challenge, but Vegnagun and Shuyin were both just too easy. I think my combination of two dark knights and an alchemist let me beat most of the storyline bosses with very little fuss.

 

^ I thought the turn-based battle system of X made that game easier than it would have been otherwise, because you could always see who had the next turn and plan accordingly (such as by swapping in Yuna before a boss' turn and using an aeon to take the attack). I do agree that X was a difficult game, though. A lot of the side quests, such as the tasks needed to upgrade the celestial weapons, were so hard and tedious, as were many of the bosses in the monster arena.

 

I can't speak for the newer games (post-FFXII), but I will say that one thing S-E has been consistent with in the FF series is giving us games with a lot of content. I've easily spent 150+ hours on many of the games trying to complete everything. I also think the FF series has a pretty decent difficulty level for the most part. Like, sometimes the storyline bosses can be disappointingly easy, but they make up for it with killer optional bosses. I think that makes the games more accessible for people with all skill levels.