I've recently picked up a DSi and saw that Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV are both on the DS. I've never played a FF game before and was wondering if I could start on either of these games without playing the others. If I can is it better to start on III or IV?? IV has higher reviews it looks like.  
 
Thanks :) 

Doesn't matter what order you go in really.  Both are sorta fun.  I played 3 on the DS it was fine and all just dont think I can get into a final fantasy type game anymore.

Final Fantasy games, for the most part, have completely separate stories and universes, so you can pretty much start on any Final Fantasy and not feel like you're missing out on any important story from not playing the previous ones.

4 was good, 5 okay, 6-9 amazing, 10 was good, 12 okay, 13 okay

" 4 was good, 5 okay, 6-9 amazing, 10 was good, 12 okay, 13 okay "

" Final Fantasy games, for the most part, have completely separate stories and universes, so you can pretty much start on any Final Fantasy and not feel like you're missing out on any important story from not playing the previous ones. "

" @gamefreak9 said:

" 4 was good, 5 okay, 6-9 amazing, 10 was good, 12 okay, 13 okay "

A debate on this could go on for a long time. For example, my favourite was XII and X. "

" @iizcallum said:

" Final Fantasy games, for the most part, have completely separate stories and universes, so you can pretty much start on any Final Fantasy and not feel like you're missing out on any important story from not playing the previous ones. "

Oh perfect, thanks for that. Guess I'll go try IV then as it's seems a bit better than III.  "

" @dbz1995 said:

" @gamefreak9 said:

" 4 was good, 5 okay, 6-9 amazing, 10 was good, 12 okay, 13 okay "

A debate on this could go on for a long time. For example, my favourite was XII and X. "

VIII and X for me. Despised VII. "

" @Aus_azn said:

" @dbz1995 said:

" @gamefreak9 said:

" 4 was good, 5 okay, 6-9 amazing, 10 was good, 12 okay, 13 okay "

A debate on this could go on for a long time. For example, my favourite was XII and X. "

VIII and X for me. Despised VII. "

Um, i do understand people liking X, it was good, very good, i just thought it was missing the soul the last 4 had. You didn't like 7? i mean its not my fav, i think 8 and 9 are my favs, cant decide between them, but 7 was good. 12 had an interesting Gambit system but... the story and the characters were shallow, and really once i unlocked most of the gambit stuff i did't even do anything any more, very odd to say its your fav, maybe you didn't play the older ones? "

Sure.
 
That's the one I started with.

4,6,7,9,12 That is all.

IV's good, probably my favorite. Of course, I didn't play any of the PS1 era games.

Like others have said, the stories are completely unconnected, so you can play each game in any order.

IV was the first "real" Final Fantasy in terms of having a proper story and characters (though FF2 did at least attempt this) and it's one of the better games in the series so  I'd say IV is a great place to start and just continue numerically from there.  I'd only bother with 1, 2 and 3 if you really end up loving the series.  They're interesting from a gaming history point of view, but haven't aged particularly well.

The remake stays very true to the original, it's pretty much unchanged aside from the graphics and voice acting in places. 
Which is the same problem III has on the DS, though that suffered from dated gameplay.  It's good, just felt completely unnecessary.  I don't see the point of a "remake" if it's exactly the same.  
 
I think the HD version coming to the PSP shortly looks far better, it's just a port with fancy graphics and isn't pretending to be anything more.

Well you can technically start at whichever one you want, because each game's story and universe is completely unrelated from the last. From my understanding though, 4 may be one of the better choices to start with, because I, II, and III are very different games. IV is when Final Fantasy became recognizable as Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy IV is basically the definitive SNES era RPG, though certain parts of it are kind of antiquated and it's also been ported and remade to death, which I feel actually makes it less seminal. I think V and VI are better games, but that's coming from someone who doesn't profess to be a huge fan of Final Fantasy.

" @gamefreak9 said:

" @Aus_azn said:

" @dbz1995 said:

" @gamefreak9 said:

" 4 was good, 5 okay, 6-9 amazing, 10 was good, 12 okay, 13 okay "

A debate on this could go on for a long time. For example, my favourite was XII and X. "

VIII and X for me. Despised VII. "

Um, i do understand people liking X, it was good, very good, i just thought it was missing the soul the last 4 had. You didn't like 7? i mean its not my fav, i think 8 and 9 are my favs, cant decide between them, but 7 was good. 12 had an interesting Gambit system but... the story and the characters were shallow, and really once i unlocked most of the gambit stuff i did't even do anything any more, very odd to say its your fav, maybe you didn't play the older ones? "

I always seem to stir something among people when I tell my opinion of 7. To keep it simplistic and short, the game is nothing short of revolutionary, and if you can't admit that, then you've got rocks in your head. However, is the game good as a complete package? I wasn't impressed when I first played it; I found the plot to be mediocre, which is my largest gripe with the game.  And now, I brace myself to ignore the massive amounts of messages about to flood my inbox. "

I played almost all those games

IV's probably my favorite, it's what I started with.