On a relentless FF bender: after VII, where to next?

There's really no excuse for me not having gotten into Final Fantasy sooner, and now halfway through VII for the first time, there is DEFINITELY no excuse. I picked up my first two FF games a few months ago (I & II: Dawn of Souls for GBA) and loved both of them. I'm borrowing a PS1, VII, and VIII from a friend this summer with the intent of forging my way through these two as well as IX.

I'm nearly halfway through VII for the first time (and relishing the experience, holy shit) and I'm left wondering which game is most recommended that I proceed to next. After reading reviews of the ones that are accessible to me (IV, V, VI, IX (X and beyond are off limits)), the most promising one looks like VI, though the GBA port version would be most practical for me and I'm not aware of an announced release date for it.

The quality of the music, darkness of the story, and character development are the three factors in determining which game will come next for me. Anyway, what are your opinions? Unless there are strong recommendations otherwise, I may just proceed with VIII, since that's already in my possession.

THANKS.

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When I get VI it will be the GBA port version. Any word on a release date for that?
I had a feeling that most of the responses would lead to a toss-up between IV and VI.

Additionally, part of my motivation for crashing through all these games is because I possess a very large amount of FF music, but I rarely listen to it because I lack the context that playing the games provides. I listen to the VII soundtrack on almost a daily basis, compared to the months of nothing before I picked up the game.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Rasputin

FFIII is suprisingly awsome for an NES release.

I thought III was never released in America?

I had originally intended to go in as chronological an order that I could, but VII and VIII were right here, and I had no others on hand. And since none of them are related, I figured it's like watching Bond films out of order: no big deal.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

These replies are all excellent. The sheer amount of praise for IV and VI has certainly convinced me to begin one of them before VIII; probably IV, due to its availibility. I do intend to play them all (up through IX), so it's not like I'm going to completely miss one. So far I've thoroughly adored the stories of those I've played (except for I, I guess; that didn't have much in the way of development), and I'm quite eagerly looking forward to experiencing finally the others.

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