If you ever doubted the ridiculous popularity of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy franchise, then now’s the time to sit up and pay attention. Kotaku reads that as part of a large corporate strategy meeting (presumably something to do with the recent Eidos deal) lifetime sales figures for the company’s top three franchises were revealed.

Final Fantasy games to date have sold over 85 million copies worldwide, while the Dragon Quest series has shifted over 47 million copies. Not bad for a set of games that have had reasonably small exposure outside of Japan. Third up is the Kingdom Hearts franchise, which has done an impressive 12 million unit sales to date.

With Final Fantasy XIII on the horizon, it’s safe to assume that those lifetime figures will get another healthy shot in the arm sooner rather than later. The Final Fantasy series spans over 20 years at this point shows no signs of slowing down in the future. Series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi left Square Enix to form Mistwalker Studios.

pls reply quickly, cause im goin to the store now.

This isn`t a “let`s bash Final Fantasy thread,” but more of a analytical discussion that sees Final Fantasy stories more critically, kind of like discussing about essays and novels in a college Lit-class…ugh, hated that class!

Anyway, I bring this up because of the latest EGM`s article in the back by editor Jeremy Parish called, “WTFiction!?” which is a series of articles that decipher silly stories in games. No. 5 was Xenosaga, No. 4 was Mega Man, and No. 3 was Final Fantasy VII. He makes some very interesting points that makes sense out of, er…stories that makes no sense. No. 2 will be Resident Evil.

Under Final Fantasy VII, he writes, “FFVII may be one of the world`s most beloved games, but that doesn`t mean it makes a lick of sense…especially after its shoddy spin-offs and its beautifully shallow film, Advent Children. And that`s why the world of FFVII is our No. 3 as the wackiest video game stories ever.”

Personally, I consider FFVII as a revolutionary game at its time, but it reallyis a wacky story. And come to think of it, all the FF games (and most JRPGs) have wacky and silly stories.

Just thought I bring this up for discussion because I read in a lot of threads of comments like “FF has the best stories,” etc. But after reading Jeremy Parish`s article, and thinking more about it…FF stories really aren`t that great, to be bloody honest.

But what does everyone else think?

The last Final Fantasy games I have played were FFX and FFX-2. I really liked both, especially FFX. I have been hearing that FFXII isn't that good. Although the game does have high ratings, is it better than FFX? Is the overall story better than FFX's story? Should I spend $49.99? Help Me!

Mine would be FFX