This is my last two-fer because I have officially caught up to Darcy and now can finish on the same day as him yas
So in case yall haven't figured it out yet, I picked up the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster set earlier this year when they dropped on all consoles and binged through the first 6 games in the series, on top of getting XVI when it came out earlier this year. All that is to say, leaving Final Fantasy V out of the top 10 was ROUGH. I can not stress enough how many fucking 10/10 games I played this year.
FFV is a much more lighthearted game than any of the others, leading to it being a lot more fun to play through. The characters are fun and the story starts out pretty fun... Meaning, of course, when the game gets into some darker themes, it hits so much harder. The moment that shook me to the core was a smaller moment involving a character dying to a seizure of all things, since that's something I struggle with myself.
Of course though, none of that is what you come to this game for. You're here for the villains. Exdeath is, like, the 3rd most iconic villain in the series? Him and Gilgamesh absolutely STEAL THE SHOW here. Every time one of them is on screen, they chew the scenery and leave you shaken up but also ready to go fuck them UP down the road. Exdeath was the final boss that was the most difficult for me out of any game on this list, a statement that I find surprising considering some of the baddies still to come, but no this motherfucker was BRUTAL. I had to use cheesy ass strats to just BARELY beat him, when I was 1 hit away from dying yet again.
Can not recommend this one enough, holy fuck it's so good.
