The Final Fantasy series has had unforgettable box fine art over the concluding few decades. And every main entry has seen multiple releases, allowing for the possibility that something beautiful will beautify these intricate games. Much of the fourth dimension, American adaptations of the games will follow a design of lazy embrace designs with only the championship and logo. Most of these will be entirely ignored (especially the Super Nintendo releases we were graced with). Instead, prepare for nostalgia mixed with beautiful images you never realized were meant to be on the encompass of your favorite games.

For this list, we'll be ranking the All-time artwork for every main entry in theFinal Fantasyseries.

Naturally, sentiment plays an unintentional role in whatsoever person's determination of these pieces of art, only information technology's often quite clear how iconic or forgettable a game's cover was. Likewise oft, at that place are simple atmospheric condition required for a game's box art to be 'good' that but aren't met. This isn't limited to being judged solely on howpretty the games are; information technology should also be composed in a manner that accurately presents the characters, the setting, and the themes. Even the subtext in a character's opinion or eyes plays a huge part in determining the quality of cover art.

Realistically, none of these games have a perfect cover (though that might not exist the case for their Japanese releases). Even some of the well-nigh memorableLast Fantasy video game cases were hastily improvised by a localization squad or arranged by just copy pasting some of the concept art onto the game, and yet this doesn't ever lead to poorly executed cover designs. Sometimes accented gems are produced, that only further develop within the fanbase. Read on for the worst and best box art for Final Fantasy games.

fifteen Concluding Fantasy XIII

giantbomb.com

The cover for Final Fantasy 13 isn't but the worst among the Final Fantasy games, merely possibly the worst box art of all modern games. Lightning stands at the forefront of nada, holding her unoriginal blade. Lightning really could have been posed more dynamically. Some versions of the Japanese release portray her riding atop her steed, Odin, while wielding the Zantetsuken blades. But for American shores, it just looks like she'due south revealing her thigh to hitchhike, not readying for a fight.

This reveals the protagonist, her weapon, and besides much upskirt. That'due south all. The listless stare is uncharacteristic; only mayhap because her usual scowl wouldn't accept shown enough of her pretty eyes. Information technology seems similar the reasonFFXIII is presented this way is purely to showcase graphical advancements. But that would still greatly benefit with anything from the game behind the master grapheme. The white background doesn't come off as clean or swish, information technology comes off as plain. At the very least, FFXIII'due south box art is an accurate representation of how the game feels through; a lot of pretty graphics without much substance.

fourteen Concluding Fantasy II

ign.com

'Yoshitaka Amano's artwork is amazing.' Well, this is truthful... but also little data is being given to the audition. If this face weren't the official interpretation of Firion'southward appearance, I'd have sooner believed this was Leila (a female pirate that temporarily joins the party) as in that location were no versions of Concluding Fantasy II that portrayed Firion this way in-game or in cutscenes for the offset 20 years since its first release.. As they shouldn't: an orphan rebelling confronting the Empire probably wouldn't clothing all these m adornments.

In the foreground, Firion presents the infamous Blood Sword. Ignore the Warrior of Light fighting a behemoth in the groundwork. The scene is in that location merely considering Final Fantasy Origins is a remastered PlayStation bundle of FFI and FFII; the original Japanese Famicom release forFFII only showed this image of Firion. If Final Fantasy II had annihilation from the game in its background, information technology would take ranked notably higher on this list.

13 Last Fantasy IX

mobygames.com

Get-go with Final Fantasy Vii, the Japanese releases for many games in the series showed only the championship. As such, American localization teams had to improvise. Most of the main bandage are placed in the foreground, in front end of Lindblum. This wasn't originally a group picture show; these are their character profiles mashed together (they don't even wait sized correctly). They weren't even chosen based on their relevance to the plot. If they had, Eiko would probably take been there instead of Amarant.

It also isn't clear why Lindblum was used. There are several other locations only as central to the plot. And ifFFIX intended to showcase any of its beautiful locale designs, this scenery is barely visible or recognizable. Perhaps a backdrop presenting a villain or an eidolon might better salvage this retouched nightmare. In FFIX'southward defense though, this box art is probably the only negative stance I take from the entire game.

12 Final Fantasy V

fansshare.com

This is a cute illustration. Bartz, Faris, Lenna, and Krile sit down at the helm of an airship. As they sail across the skies, diverse flying beasts glide in the background. At that place really isn't much more to exist said nigh this though. Non much of the plot is represented here. Perhaps it was merely meant to bear witness the spirit of adventure?

This artwork was featured equally the box fine art for the PAL region'due south release of Last Fantasy Anthology, but for America's release, it was only in the educational activity booklet. At the very least, this pick is a huge comeback from the box art depicted on the original Super Famicom Japanese release of the game, a rarity which has only ever been the case with FFIVand FFV.

11 Final Fantasy I

mobygames.com

For the aforementioned Final Fantasy Origins package, the PAL region was presented with a dissimilar cover art that instead depicted the Warrior of Light. This is the same artwork that appeared on Nippon's original Famicom release for the first Terminal Fantasy. This may be admittedly stunning artwork, only this grapheme as well looks nothing like his graphic symbol in-game (though at least he bears resemblance to the Warrior shown in the opening cutscene).

This image does give united states a little more information. The Warrior of Lite brandishes his sword, Braveheart. In the groundwork, we encounter the visage of Princess Sarah, the serial' starting time dryad-in-distress for the heroes to rescue. Not-aggressive dragons are peppered into the scene, perhaps this is in reference to the race of dragons in the Cardia Islands, the king of these dragons being instrumental in advancing the heroes' classes. All in all, this is a archetype image from which every cover fine art from a Final Fantasy game might have stemmed from.

10 Final Fantasy III

theisozone.com

American shores didn't see Final Fantasy Iii for a long time, and so information technology's probably the to the lowest degree recognizable game of all the primary entries to the FF brand. The original Japanese Famicom embrace prototype of the protagonist has since become its logo. All 4 of the main cast have been reimagined with their own personalities and distinct features, when before they were practically identical.

The party ventures through a land shrouded in night mist. It's majestic and mysterious, just another matter to note well-nigh this item box fine art was that it was only used for the European and Japanese releases of the DS remake. For North America, all we really got was the title and logo centered over white space. Perchance this placement in the rankings isn't off-white. If I'd stayed true to either the original cover or America's DS remake, this would accept been dead last.

nine Final Fantasy Eight

finalfantasy.wikia.com

This is a perfectly average cover design. It has the blank minimum of adequate features. The game's early love triangle betwixt the protagonist, the rival, and the heroine in the middle can exist inferred. Their expressions are fair representations of their (limited) personalities in-game. In the background, a major antagonist spreads her arms wide. Edea looks ominous but listless, as she's not in command of her heed.

Here, Terminal Fantasy 8'southward localization team correctly accomplishes what Final Fantasy IX did wrong. It is merely equally much of a mashup of images every bit FFIX'southward box fine art, only unproblematic and simple while retaining all of its dazzler. Nobody is hither that shouldn't be, and nobody that should be here is missing.

8 Final Fantasy XII

mobygames.com

This was originally much higher on the list, but no affair how pretty the graphics are, it's hard to ignore the weaknesses this meaningless box art. Though perchance if they had presented simply the plot-relevant characters, Vaan the protagonist might be omitted from the cover altogether.

Peradventure the all-time feature of this cover art are the airships flying across Kingdom of Dalmasca. Although airships are a staple for most Final Fantasy games, here information technology's cardinal to the plot and the game's theme of freedom. It'south the artwork on Final Fantasy XII: Zodiac Age that takes the block (and probably would have gotten to the top three). With an expected release in mid-July this year, this remastered FFXIIfor the PlayStation iv keeps its beautiful artwork on the inside of its reversible comprehend or on the Express Steelbook Edition.

7 Last Fantasy 11

ign.com

As Terminal Fantasy XI is an MMORPG, information technology'due south difficult to selection which artwork to stand for the game amongst all the bundles and expansions. Half of FFXI'southward cover designs are sparse, with little more than a championship, and most of the balance are the cryptic workmanship of Yoshitaka Amano. Don't get me wrong, his works are better illustrated. His poetic cartoon style hearkens dorsum to Renaissance ethics of beauty. It'due south flowery and elegant, like a painting. But illustrations so ineffable and highly stylized leaves too much to interpretation.

Here, all I was hoping for was an image that best communicates facets of the actual game, not just whatever concept fine art was pretty. Information technology's not amazing, but it's a good centre-basis, averaging out FFXI's mass of different box arts. Near chiefly, it's articulate. A party of adventurers showcases different jobs, races, places, and monsters. These are the things that Last Fantasy XI is all almost.

half dozen Last Fantasy X

youtube.com/greasyjoystick

Tidus holds the Brotherhood and looks off into the distance with cavalier eyes. Due to the upgrade in graphics seen in Terminal Fantasy 10, this cover blueprint is well-loved. Information technology has its charms; along the Besaid shore, ruins tin exist seen in the background, touching on both the aquatic and fantasy dystopia themes of the game. Pyreflies that float around Tidus, the game's spirits of the dead.

Although this is a archetype box fine art, information technology just doesn't do justice to ane of the all-time Concluding Fantasy games of all time. The international version shows Tidus and Yuna at the commencement of the infamous kissing scene in Macalania Woods. Equally this is probably the well-nigh emotional scene in the game (or serial as a whole), and its graphics are better rendered, it'south an excellent pick, much better than the prototype used for the remastered edition for the PlayStation 3.

5 Final Fantasy Iv

mybrainongames.com

Out of all the Last Fantasy games, maybe Final Fantasy Four has been ported to other gaming systems 1 of the almost. So, in that location were a plethora of options. The artisanal box fine art for the Gameboy Accelerate release was similar to FFVIII'due south embrace design, perhaps an early on inspiration for a dear triangle arrangement. Meanwhile, the box art for Japan's Nintendo DS port shows all the characters that are in the political party at the end of the game. However, most American releases of FFIV followed the minimalist, 'logo but' trend.

Japan's very first release of FF IV for the Super Famicom had terrible box art, which is quite atypical. Possibly it was in realization of this that the first PlayStation remake in Japan was given a cover this absolutely slick. Information technology was as though they immediately went 'back to Amano' after the get-go release of FFV. In the above paradigm, Cecil as a Paladin stands behind the crouching effigy of his darker side, a physical manifestation of his own hatred that he literally has to face early on in the game. Although information technology doesn't quite meet upwardly to all the standards necessary for box fine art, it's nevertheless beautifully illustrated and relevant.

4 Terminal Fantasy XIV

gamepur.com

Final Fantasy 14 was the near difficult to rank. The different cover designs ranged greatly in their artful sense besides as their relevance to the game. This, like FFXI,had simple cover designs equally well as Amano box art. Then,FFXIV was overhauled into A Realm Reborn. Its releases for the PlayStation 3 had completely unlike box art depending on the region. I planned to utilise either the Japanese release or the Collector'south Edition of the game simply ultimately decided to focus on the most recent re-releases.

The scene above exquisitely illustrates adventurers participating in a FATE confronting a Behemoth. Other than the in a higher place image, all of the other designs were shallow; beautiful merely not depicting more than than one character or much of the plot. The starting time cover design for the PS4 release only featured a black mage. The first expansion,Heavensward just focused heavily on dragoons. Sadly, the Stormblood expansion (to exist released in the next calendar month or two) seems devolve further into a more disappointing, unclear cover.

3 Final Fantasy Xv

imgur.com

The cover art forFinal Fantasy XV'southward American release (shown on the left) is just okay. Noctis and his cohorts wield their weapons with no enemy in sight. In the sky, the (barely appearing) past kings of Lucis watch over the young prince. Perhaps the paradigm was meant to testify liveliness and peril, but... it may be amend to reverse the cover for only the title over a black groundwork, at least that manner you get the logo. So why then, would FFXV get such a skillful spot with these grievances?

I wanted to rank this entry fifty-fifty higher (maybe start), solely for the Japanese box art (shown on the right). This original rendition is a sentimental and concise portrayal of the almost strife-filled, 'bro' road trip of all time. With merely body language, the scene perfectly portrays each man's role within the group as well as the bond they share before everything in Noctis' life has completely gone to hell. It tin fifty-fifty bring tears to my eyes (for plot-related reasons). I don't feel that even Yoshitaka Amano's artwork used for the Final Fantasy XV Deluxe Edition compares to this Japanese cover.

2 Final Fantasy 7

games.alphacoders.com

Out of every main entry in the Terminal Fantasy series, Final Fantasy Vii boasts (and promotes) the virtually well-remembered characters of them all. And FFVII's box art is but as iconic. Deject stands at the forefront property the behemothic Buster Sword to his back; directly opposing Shinra Headquarters. Within the logo to the upper right, meteor heralds unknown destruction. We don't get to see Cloud's face.

Not only is this box art a skillful representation of major themes in the game, but it's just absurd. Earlier FFVII was released, the wardrobes for all Final Fantasy characters were lavish and ornate. This teases a grittier way; dark clothes, gloves, and screws in Cloud'southward pauldron and bangles. The architecture of the Shinra edifice indicates that the setting is more than modernistic than all of the previous installments. This box art is also a good indication of FFVIIas a whole; overrated but skillfully memorable.

1 Final Fantasy 6

fantasyanime.com

Lo' and behold Concluding Fantasy Half dozen. Non only is it lauded equally the elevation of Final Fantasy games, but it also has kickass box fine art. Terra rides the Magitek armor, something she can exercise improve than anyone else. However, her face and posture are dull and vacant due to the effects of the slave crown controlling her mind (probably one of the few cases where the faces Amano draws appropriately lulling and musing).

This victory is a petty bittersweet, every bit this encompass design is slightly lesser to its Japanese predecessor for the Super Famicom. In the original, Terra halts the Magitek armor at the border of Narshe. Perhaps this is the immediate first of the game, and an unseen Biggs and Wedge are chattering about Terra as she looks listlessly at the scenery. Regardless, the artwork forFFVIis incredible. All in all, it'south able to overshadow other installments in the series.

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