i've been reading through the posts here, and noticed that there's alot of confusion as to chronological order of the final fantasy games. i was curious if anyone knew, at least what i call, the true order of the games? as in, the ones released in japan.

for instance, the first one, on the NES platform we all know. the four light warriors battle the four fiends.

the second one, for the NES platform, was the one with the four children (????) from the country overun by the empire fighting to regain their homeland, which was only released in japan.

the one that us yanks would call final fantasy 2, for the SNES platform, was where you where the leader of the red wings, a dark knight, and actually helped capture all the crystals. it's also where the dragoon and blue/summoning magic first appeared, if i'm not mistakened.

i'm just curious if anyone can fill in the gaps and give us something to refer to to keep ourselves straigh in our posts?

Ok, Final Fantasy Chronology

Final Fantasy-1987(NES)
The Earth is dying from within and the only hope the people have is to pray for the fulfillment of a prophecy...Four warriors, each with an orb, will arrive to renew the world. These four warriors are the Light Warriors. The Game begins with little mini-quests for your warriors to complete: rescure the princess, wake up the sleeping Elf King, placate the blink witch...and the list goes on. Soon a much greater evil appears in your path. The Four Fiends, each of which has an elemental ability (fire, earth, wind, and water). You later find out that the Fiends are being controlled by Chaos, who ia an infernal beast who has twisted time itself to achieve his nefarious ends.

The Four Fiends first appeared on the Earth 2000 years ago. Over those 2000 yeare their powers have deteriorated to almost nothing. In an effort to regain their previous power, they send the Knight Garland 2000 years into the past. Once in the past, Garland melds with the Four Fiends and becomes Chaos. WIth the new power that Chaos has gained, he plans to use it to send the Four Fiends back into the present with incredible powers. To stop this the Light Warriors travel 2000 years into the past to destroy Chaos before he can succeed. Their victory erases all traces of their journey and only their legend remains, passed down by the Dwarves, the Elves, and the Dragons.


Final Fantasy II(Japan only NES, 1988)
The evil Empire of Baramekia has killed the parents of four young youths. These children form a resistance together and help the rebel effort in any way they can. They slowely gain more and more power and this brings them closer to being able to threaten the Evil forces. Former friends turn to traitors, only to later return to the side of good. In the end, it is not the Empire which threatens the world, but the insidious eveil which lies behind it all: the Dark Cloud.

Final Fantasy III(Japan only NES, 1990)
One day four teenagers from the village of Uru decide to go exploring outside of the village. (sounds like your classic fairy tail so far). While exploring, they fall into a hole and discover the shrine of the Wind Crystal. The Wind Crystal tells them that they've been chosen to become the Four Light Warriors and must restore the balance of Light and Dark. After going on many quests and fighting evil forces, the group acquire's an airship, which they use to reach the Floating Continent...but they soon discover that the entire world is submersed in water(don't ask, I never played the game). With the help of Elia and the Water Crystal, they manage to stop the flooding. They then travel up the Crystal Tower to meet a magician by the name of Zande.

Zande is obsessed with gaining power. The Four Light Warriors believe that Zande is the source beind the worlds trouble and decide that they should beat him up. After defeating him, they are confronted, and crushed, by a great Cloud of Darkness. The heroes then travel to the Dark World. When they arrive, they meet their four counterparts, the Dark Warriors. When all eight of them are confrounted by the Cloud of Darkness, the Dark Warriors use their power to weaken the cloud just enough for the Light Warriors to use their power to defeat it. Thus, the world is returned to peace.

Final Fantasy IV(SNES 1991-FFII Stateside)
The Kingdom of Baron is one of the strongest kingdom's in the world. They command group of airships known as the Red Wings. They were once very highly respected by the rest of the world. The Kingdom of Baron as turned evil and has assigned the task of forcefully taking the four earth crystals upon Cecil, the captain of the Red Wings. He won't have any part in this so he quits the service and sets out to stop the evil that's growing in Baron.

Final Fantasy V-(Japan Only SNES 1993)
The world thrives on the power of four elemental crystals: Wind, Earth, Water, and Fire. These crystals supply the earth with things like heat, wind, the ability to grow plants, everything. These crystals all reside in their own shrines. All of a sudden, the elements of the earth start acting different. The King of Tycoon notices an irregularity in the wind and decides to visit the Wind Shrine. Upon reaching the shrine, he witnesess the Wind Crystal shattering into many pieces!

Around this same time, a huge meteor has fallen to the earth and has caused masive earthquakes in the surrounding area of Tycoon Catle. In all this mess, the King of Tycoon mysteriously vanishes...

Final Fantasy VI(SNES 1994)
Long ago, the war of the magi reduced the world to a scorched wasteland, and magic simply ceased to exist.

1000 years have passed...
Iron, gunpowder, and steam engines have been rediscovered, and high technology reigns...

But there are some who would enslave the world by reviving the dread destructive force known as "magic." Can it be that those in power are on the verge of repeating a senseless and deadly mistake?