The only threequel in the series, Lightning Returns is a look at how far Square Enix can stretch the universe of a mainline Final Fantasy. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, for all its faults, is special, though perhaps not in the way Square Enix wanted.
That its story is unremarkable on top of that makes Final Fantasy II hard to recommend to anyone lacking a passionate interest in the franchise’s history, but the recent Pixel Remaster does make playing through it much easier. Unfortunately, since combat is core to the game, the leveling system really bogs it down. It’s interesting, sure, but it’s more cumbersome and confusing than it is fun. Instead, your individual traits like HP, Magic, Stamina, and more, improve based on the actions you actually take in battle. Unlike Final Fantasy, you aren’t earning overall experience that levels up your character’s stats across the board. What’s there isn’t inherently bad, but it’s certainly strange. It wasn’t released in the West until years later, and by then, the Final Fantasy franchise had moved on to bigger and better things, which made it hard to return to the series’ first sequel. However, in any ranked games list, there has to be a game at the bottom and putting Final Fantasy II here was an easy call.
There’s an argument to be made that none of the mainline Final Fantasy games are outright bad.
