Every Main Final Fantasy Game, Ranked By How Long They Take To Beat

Final Fantasy has been entertaining gamers for more than three decades, rarely taking a break between mainline entries and spin-offs. Numbered games alone go up to 15. What’s even more astounding to consider is the length of each game.

RPGs are generally never short affairs, so fans definitely get plenty of bang for their buck when jumping into one of these many worlds. The following list will detail just how long it takes to beat each of the games in the main series, as measured by howlongtobeat.com. A couple of them fall on the relatively short side for RPGs, but they are still great experiences to behold.

Updated November 10, 2022 by Jason Wojnar: Numbered Final Fantasy games come out infrequently, but the series is always busy doing something. Spin-offs come and go, but even Final Fantasy 14 consistently grows with updates and expansions that extend its runtime.

Because of this, it is always necessary to come back and make sure readers know just how long it might take them to go through the popular MMORPG. While here, they can also see how long it takes to go through the other titles in this legendary franchise.

20 Final Fantasy – 17.5 Hours

The tale that started it all holds up surprisingly well due to its straightforward nature and charm. Of course, gamers are better off playing one of the many ports instead of the NES original. The first release is plagued with weird bugs, causing certain vital gameplay mechanics to function abnormally.

The optimal version is the 20th-anniversary edition released for the PSP. Its sprite art is gorgeous and doesn’t look jarringly cartoonish like the updates done to some of the later 2D Final Fantasy games.

19 Final Fantasy 4 – 23.5 Hours

Often one of the two most celebrated 2D entries, Final Fantasy 4 comes in as the second shortest entry. While not the first one to have a more complicated narrative, it is often seen as the first one that did it right. Because of its strong story, the gameplay is relatively straightforward, and it is always easy to know where the next objective lies. Unless one is stuck at a combat encounter, the game should be a breeze to whisk through in less than a day’s worth of a gameplay

Final Fantasy 4 is also followed up by a sequel, though it is less celebrated than the other sequels from the series. Final Fantasy 4: Interlude only comes in at about 2.5 hours. However, the full sequel clocks in at about 36.5 hours, a fairly sizable RPG experience.

18 Final Fantasy 2 – 25 1/2 Hours

The second game in the series is often remembered as one of the worst. It pushed things forward with a more nuanced story, but the gameplay veered far from what fans are now accustomed to. The idea of characters leveling up as abilities were used led to the stats easily being broken by players attacking their own party members.

Still, it’s not horrid or unplayable by any stretch of the word. People looking to play through all of the games won’t find this one a slog. Plus, it’s still on the relatively short side of things.

17 Final Fantasy 13-2 – 27.5 Hours

Final Fantasy 13-2 is the shortest of the Final Fantasy 13 trilogy, at least when it comes to the main story. This bodes well as it’s probably the worst of the three games in terms of both gameplay mechanics and story. Fans of the original game will still have some fun with it, but everyone else might be better off watching the cutscenes on YouTube and skipping ahead to Lightning Returns instead.

A single playthrough typically takes just over 27 hours, while completing all of the game’s tasks will require a little over 72 hours of playtime. Thanks in large to the omission of Lightning and the need to play as Serah though, this can feel like a lot of work for very little payoff. The Chocobo racing is a lot of fun, but everything else just feels like busy work.

16 Final Fantasy 15 – 28 Hours

The most recent numbered entry was somewhat polarizing for fans. It looked undeniably gorgeous, but it was too easy and the battle system was not engaging enough, despite the fights themselves being marvelous spectacles.

Its length also wildly varies because of its structure. The first several chapters are brimming with side quests. One can spend dozens of hours doing favors for town folk, greatly inflating the playtime. After a certain point, the story puts the players on rails and beelines toward a finish. 28 is about the average one can expect, if they don’t dilly-dally too long in the open-world segments.

15 Final Fantasy 3 – 30 Hours

The third entry sees silent protagonists come back for a more straightforward adventure than its predecessor. Gamers in the west did not know this, however, since they could not get their hands on it until the Nintendo DS 3D remake.

Despite the simplicity of its narrative, it’ll take longer than the prior two. Like the first game, however, its charm and whimsy keep players glued to the screen the whole time, making the hours fly by like an airship.

14 Final Fantasy 10-2 – 31 Hours

Final Fantasy 10-2 was a fairly groundbreaking game, in as much that it was the first time that Square Enix developed a sequel to a mainline Final Fantasy game. It continues the story of Tidus and Yuna while further expanding upon the lore of Spira. It’s not quite as good as its predecessor, but it’s certainly not without its charms.

While the PS2 release’s main story took almost 40 hours to complete, quality-of-life updates implemented in modern ports have brought this time down considerably making it a much more palatable experience. The ‘True’ ending still requires a second playthrough though, and players will need to tackle the incredibly frustrating tower alignment mini-game if they’re attempting a completionist run.

13 Final Fantasy 5 – 32 1/2 Hours

Final Fantasy 5 often gets left out of the conversation. It’s not quite an all-time great, but it’s not as flawed or outdated as Final Fantasy 2, so it kind of just sits there on its own. Still, one will find just as engrossing a world as the others if they take the plunge.

Really, it’s hard to go wrong with any of the two-dimensional outings. Not many games this old can say they will occupy gamers’ time for more than thirty hours.

12 Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13 – 34 Hours

Not too many people stuck with Lightning through to the end of her trilogy, but those who did likely spent at least 110 hours across all three games. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13 accounts for around 34 hours of that, although this time can increase dramatically if players opt to do more than just the main story.

Completing everything that the game has to offer will take players around 65 and a half hours, which actually makes it the shortest of the three games from a completionist’s perspective. It provides a fitting conclusion to Lightning’s journey and so is definitely worth doing for those who are fans of the character, although getting through 13-2 first can be a bit of a slog.

11 Final Fantasy 7 Remake – 34 Hours

Despite only covering the Midgar section of the original game, a standard playthrough of Final Fantasy 7 Remake clocks in at a whopping 34 hours. That the original release doesn’t take too much longer, should give a fairly good idea of just how much Tetsuya Nomura and his team changed and added to the release.

Those hoping to complete all of the game’s side quests can expect to spend an additional 7 and half hours on top of their main playthrough, while a full completionist run will take a staggering 84 hours. This is largely down to players needing to complete the game again on hard mode, where there are also some additional challenges for players to take on.

The PlayStation 5 Release, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, comes with a slew of upgrades to the visuals and performance along with a new story expansion starring Yuffie Kisaragi. This DLC episode takes about five hours to complete. However, completionists can expect to spend about 17 hours on the new content, since it has to be beaten at least twice along with the side quests.

10 Final Fantasy 6 – 35 Hours

The second half of this game brought a new element to the series, giving players a then-unprecedented level of choice on how to approach tackling objectives. This not only makes it years ahead of other games in the series but also ahead of its time when it comes to the JRPG genre in general.

After the halfway point, one can even dart towards the finish without seeing everything on the newly transformed world map, cutting down game time significantly. However, one is a fool if they don’t take a look at everything one of the most celebrated 2D JRPGs of all time has to offer. Anybody wondering how long it takes to beat Final Fantasy 6should be pleasantly satisfied to know it takes a solid 35 hours, a decent runtime even for modern JRPGs.

9 Final Fantasy 7 – 38 1/2 Hours

Cloud and his friends’ journey not only elevated the series to new heights but the medium as a whole. Its massive detailed world, cosmic story, and hard-hitting emotional beats were unlike anything else gamers saw at the time.

Thirty-eight hours is about how long it takes to get through it, but doing everything there is to do can at least double the playtime. The PS1 was a revolutionary console, and Square was there as one of the leaders of the charge with their JRPG classic.

8 Final Fantasy 9 – 40 Hours

The ninth entry was a counter-point to the two science-fiction-themed titles before it. The return to form stands as the PlayStation’s swan song, and what a great send-off it was. The 40 hours it takes to beat Final Fantasy 9 was plenty enough time to stave off PS2 cravings. Who wanted the next-gen console when the PS1 was still pumping out RPGs of this quality?

7 Final Fantasy Tactics – 40 Hours

Even though it is not a mainline entry, Final Fantasy Tactics deserves its place on the list, as it is often considered one of the best RPGs of all time. The gameplay builds upon the foundation set by Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together.

The job system and party formal are malleable, letting players build whatever kind of squad they wish. The 40-hour time is mostly due to the game’s difficulty. Experts can easily cut this down to between 24 and 30.

6 Final Fantasy 8 – 42 Hours

The follow-up to Final Fantasy 7 doesn’t get as much praise as its predecessor, but it still basks in enough glory on its own.

Additionally, it differentiates itself from the pack with its unique Draw mechanic, addictive card game Triple Triad, and the enemies scaling to the player’s level which makes grinding unnecessary. With the recent remaster, one can experience this magnificent adventure more comfortably than ever before. The ability to speed up the gameplay might affect how long it takes to beat Final Fantasy 7, but it is a beefy adventure no matter how one looks at it.

5 Final Fantasy 10 – 48 Hours

Yuna’s pilgrimage through Spira and developing a relationship with Tidus forever stick in players’ minds. The series had tackled love stories before but never had they felt so real, thanks to the fully voice-acted cutscenes and enhanced graphics. The protagonist’s relationship with his father was also new to the medium.

The Sphere Grid progression system added a new layer to progression, offering players increased control over how their party advanced. Getting every character’s celestial weapon and upgrading them to the max also ensures completionists won’t quickly put this one down.

4 Final Fantasy 13 – 49 Hours

Final Fantasy 13 got flack for its linearity, but no one could deny how beautiful it was. Unfortunately, looks aren’t enough for everybody. To its credit, the game does open up after about twenty hours, but not everybody is willing to go through this much game before it becomes more non-linear.

Its story may be hard to follow, but the cast of characters ensures there is never a dull moment. The direct sequels garnered diminishing returns, but 13 is solid on its own.

3 Final Fantasy 12 – 60 Hours

The longest one by a long shot, Final Fantasy 12 was almost too big for its own good. It eschewed a formal world map, but players sometimes trekked through open lands for hours before reaching their destination.

It gave a grand sense of scope, but re-releases offered the ability to speed up these segments. Even with the fast-forward button, players are in for a long journey through Ivalice.

2 Final Fantasy 14 – 231 Hours

Final Fantasy 14 is Square Enix’s latest attempt at taking the series online and undoubtedly its most ambitious. The title was first released in a notoriously failed version before almost being rebuilt from the ground up and re-released as the juggernaut it is today.

Though not quite as long as the prior MMORPG in the franchise, Final Fantasy 11, it still regularly receives expansions and likely will for quite some time. For those looking for a game that they can sink some serious time into, this is it. The story is also highly regarded as one of the best in the series.

1 Final Fantasy 11 – 707 Hours

MMORPGs have a reputation for being incredibly long and Final Fantasy 11 definitely does its level best to uphold this. First released in 2002, the game is still going strong despite new expansions having dried up some time ago. The last one came in 2015 and was the game’s 12th piece of major DLC.

Together, Final Fantasy 11’s DLC provides hundreds of hours of extra playtime, although the main story can typically be completed in around 100 hours. Of course, games like this can’t ever be fully completed and so how long a player gets out of the game is entirely up to them. There’s always something else to do though, so it’s not uncommon for players to spend thousands of hours with Final Fantasy 11.