VII through X were the most shallow games, also some of the easiest, ever invented. They had character development, but horrible plotlines with clichés everywhere. VIII was the only one to do love well, but the ending was predictable and sucked. It had good ideas, such as Drawing, but they were not implemented well. IX brought the old-school back, but dumbed it and made an average story to go along with it. X was just one of the worst games ever invented. Terrible characters and development. Horrible plotline, save the one interesting idea of being nothing more than a dream. The sphere board was amazing, though, and the mini games were the biggest pieces of crap ever made for video gaming (though I did enjoy Blitzball).
XII was good. The best for the PS2. Its storyline was shallow, the character development slim, but it was a very fun game. Good sidequests, neat ideas such as Cid being evil, and a unique battle system which was similar to the Materia system in VII, which was also good, but FFXII's Gambit system made the battle much less interactive and basically just had you walk through a game, waiting occassionally for monsters to die in front of you.
Tactics was the best PSX FF, without doubt. Depth, fun, challenge, sidequests galore, etc. VII had unique ideas, a great villian (Kekfa), fun sidequests and games, good character development on those who mattered, and surprising depth to those who didn't, as well as Espers, a good battle system, and the like. IV was also great, with almost no clichés other than the female protagonist. V was boring, though, and I would not rate it higher than FFVII. I was also great.
Has anybody played the entertaining but horrible Final Fantasy: Legends games?