Final Fantasy Critical Response

The series has received critical acclaim for the quality of its visuals and soundtracks. It was awarded a star on the Walk of Game in 2006, making it the first franchise to win a star on the event (other winners were individual games, not franchises). WalkOfGame.com commented that the series has sought perfection as well as been a risk taker in innovation. In a 2008 public poll held by The Game Group plc, Final Fantasy was voted the best game series, with five titles appearing in their "Greatest Games of All Time" list. IGN has commented the menu system used by the series is a major detractor for many and is a "significant reason why they haven't touched the series." The site has also heavily criticized the use of random encounters in the series' battle systems. IGN further stated the various attempts to bring the series into film and animation have either been unsuccessful, unremarkable, or did not live up to the standards of the games. In July 2007, UK-based Edge magazine criticized the series for a number of related titles that include the phrase "Final Fantasy" in their titles, which are considered to be not of the same quality as previous titles. It also commented that with the departure of Hironobu Sakaguchi, the series might be in danger of growing stale.
Many Final Fantasy games have been included in various lists of top games. Several games have been listed on multiple IGN "Top Games" lists. Eleven games were listed on Famitsu's 2006 "Top 100 Favorite Games of All Time", four of which were in the top ten, with Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy VII being first and second, respectively. The series holds seven Guinness World Records in the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2008, which include the "Most Games in an RPG Series" (13 main titles, 7 enhanced titles, and 32 spin-off titles), the "Longest Development Period" (the production of Final Fantasy XII took five years), and the "Fastest-Selling Console RPG in a Single Day" (Final Fantasy X).The 2009 edition listed two titles from the series among the top 50 consoles games: Final Fantasy XII at number 8 and Final Fantasy VII at number 20.
Several individual Final Fantasy titles have garnered extra attention; some for their positive reception and others for their negative reception. Despite the success of Final Fantasy VII, it is sometimes criticized as being overrated. In 2003, GameSpy listed it as the 7th most overrated game of all time, a comment echoed by IGN. Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII shipped 392,000 units in its first week of release, but received review scores that were much lower than that of other Final Fantasy games. A delayed, negative review after the Japanese release of Dirge of Cerberus from Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu hinted at a controversy between the magazine and Square Enix. The MMORPG, Final Fantasy XI, reached over 200,000 active daily players in March 2006 and had reached over half a million subscribers by July 2007. Though Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was praised for its visuals, the plot was criticized and was considered a box office bomb. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles for the GameCube received overall positive review scores, but reviews stated that the use of Game Boy Advances as controllers was a big detractor.