Buy Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster first. It is the best value Final Fantasy on the shelf for one blunt reason: it is two complete games in a single case, both turn-based, both full-length, for the price other publishers charge for one back-catalog disc. If you would rather play something modern and real-time, buy Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition instead.
The useful thing about this series for a budget buyer is that the numbers are not an order. Final Fantasy entries almost never share a story, a cast or a world — each numbered game is a fresh start. That means you are free to buy whichever one is cheapest this week without missing anything, which is not true of the franchises we cover in best cheap Assassin's Creed games or the series order question in which Persona game to play first.
What does vary, enormously, is the kind of game. The series has swung between strict turn-based combat, hybrid systems, full real-time action and, in one case on this page, an action game built by a studio known for difficult combat. So the thing to get right is not the number on the box, it is the genre inside it — and that is what this list ranks, alongside how much finished game each budget disc actually contains.
A note on the third pick, because honesty matters more than a tidy list. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is a Final Fantasy game by branding, not a mainline numbered entry: it is an action role-playing game with a job system, and it is nobody's recommended introduction to the series. It earns its place on price and on being genuinely good at what it is, and we say so on its card rather than burying it.
How to buy a cheap Final Fantasy game
Pick the combat system, not the number
Final Fantasy X and X-2 are turn-based: you choose actions from a menu, order matters, and reflexes do not. That is the right buy if you want the classic version of this series, or if you want a game you can play tired. It is also the only pick here that scales to two games on one disc.
Final Fantasy XV is real-time action with a party that fights alongside you, and Stranger of Paradise is a full action role-playing game with soulslike pacing — closer in feel to the picks in best cheap soulslike games than to anything else on this page. Buying across that line by accident is the single most common way to waste twenty dollars in this series.
The two-games-in-one-box pick is not a marketing trick
This is where the real money is on this page. Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster contains two full games: X, which is one of the most recommended entry points in the series, and X-2, its direct sequel — one of the rare instances where this franchise does continue a story. Both are complete, both are long, and the registry specs for this disc read "two full games" for exactly that reason.
A one-game disc and a two-game disc at the same price are not the same purchase, and no store page will point that out. We rank boxes on this basis across the whole site in best cheap game collections, and it is why collections tend to beat individual titles on value-per-dollar lists.
On this series, buy the Royal, Complete or Definitive edition when it is price-matched
Square Enix re-releases its own games with everything bundled in, and those editions regularly settle into the same bracket as the stripped original. The pick here is Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition rather than the base game, and PlayStation lists the Royal Edition as its own product.
The general rule, and the reason it matters: PlayStation's own support documentation on add-ons and DLC explains that add-on content is tied to the account that bought it, so buying episodes piecemeal later is both more expensive and less portable than buying the box that already contains them. We go through every suffix on the shelf in what does definitive edition mean.
Check whether the online half is a separate product
Final Fantasy XV is the cautionary case and it is the skip pick below. PlayStation lists the game as 1 player, lists support for up to 4 online players with PS Plus, and lists Final Fantasy XV Multiplayer: Comrades as a separate standalone product. Three facts that look contradictory until you realise the multiplayer was sold apart from the campaign.
The lesson generalises past this series: "supports online players" on a store listing does not mean the box in your hand contains a co-op game. Read the player count first, the online line second, and add a PS Plus subscription to the price before you commit to anything that needs one.
These are back-catalog prices already, so the deal cycle matters less
Two of these three are from 2016 and earlier, which means they have already finished falling — what moves them now is remaining stock, not promotion. If the one you want is in stock in your bracket, buy it rather than waiting for a sale that will shave a dollar off at best.
The exception is the newest pick, which is still travelling down its curve; the windows worth knowing are in when do games go on sale and the game sale calendar. For the whole genre ranked across publishers rather than inside one franchise, see best cheap JRPGs and cheap RPGs.
