It was my favorite saga in my times of extreme vice. I played all of them until XII, then I didn't have time to follow the ones that came out later.
I agree with VII being in first place, it's a fascinating story but the game doesn't give you the full story. In order to get the whole story you need Final Fantasy Before crisis (NS), Final Fantasy Crisis Core (PSP), Final Fantasy VII (PS1) and Final Fantasy Advent Children (Movie).
I would leave the second place to FFXII for having such a large, colorful and good scale map and a relatively interesting story.
FFIX was very entertaining at the time, it could have position 3.
Then there are two others that I don't know what number they correspond to but I liked them a lot, these were Final Fantasy Agito and Final Fantasy Tactics.
RE: Ranking Final Fantasy Games