Which Final Fantasy game has your favorite villains, main party cast, music, setting/world, and story?
Mostly going to pick between 6, 7, and Tactics... those are I think the best FF games. By far, honestly.
Villain/s: Easy, FF7. Sephiroth, Hojo, the Turks, the Weapons. Excellent. FF6 is not in the running because Kefka I find ridiculous. Honorable mention probably 9, for me.
Main Cast: Easily 6. Huge bunch of "protagonists" who all compliment each other very well. Honorable mention to 12, a more subtle group with a bunch of well-defined but not at all cartoony characters.
Music: Very tough between 6 & 7... both are excellent. I gotta go 7.
Setting/World: 6 & 7 are both great here... 6 especially with the 2 worlds after the island... but my vote might go to Tactics. I love the highly political/class-based intrigue seen through a sort of medieval military angle... but also with elements of their faith systems, and their version of occult lore/legends. It's a particularly potent mix.
Story: 7 is my number 1; Tactics is juuuust behind it. 6 and 9 are also high up there.
90s were killer for Final Fantasy... it hasn't even been
close since those days. Just a shell of its former self. Final Fantasy games (maybe just traditional JRPGs in general) have not adapted well post PS2 IMO... making them all some kind of 3D action game has hurt them immensely, for me.