FF 12 had mixed reception, because people became used to FF 6-10 kind of gameplay, and FF 12 plays more like earlier FFs. It even has optional bosses named after main FF villains, starting from Chaos and ending with Exodus/X-Death (no villains from FF 6 onward).
Personally I enjoyed every FF (except VIII and I didn't play FF MMOs) which was released, even Action ones, but I definitely enjoyed some games more than the others. You didn't give FF XII a try yet? You might like International Zodiac Job System version as it is much closer to early FF playstyle than FF 9, though I prefer original version as it allows far more customization. FF 12 also has nearly no tech (flying ships can be explained by steampunk/mist/nethicite stuff). Also, FF 12 allows to skip all cutscenes.

Would you put 10 in the same category as 6-9? 10 was proper turn based battles, as opposed to the others' active-time battle systems, which for me is a vital difference. Like 12, I would put 10 in a separate category. Then again, I love turn based and hate ATB, so I'm inclined to make that distinction, it seems most people don't care though.

I put 10 in same category as 6-9, because FF 6-10 grew gradually more focused on story and less focused on gameplay. Understand me right, I love FF 10, and it is a great game, but if to be honest, 90% of FF X were cutscenes, 8% - Trials, Blitz and other mini-games and only like 2% - actual gameplay, which had no challenge whatsoever (I am not counting postgame stuff). While CTB was a super cool change of things, game gave little opportunity to actually enjoy it. And Trials.... oh how I hated those, and each next one was worse than the previous. When all Trials were over, game was almost over too :/

Insta bought it when they released it. xD

Downloading now, can't wait to play.

I've always heard people call it easy and I never got it. I remember dying multiple times to the same boss, giving up, looking at a guide online and they just say "it's really easy, just spam ultima and flare", when I had only just gotten my first "-aga" spells, which forced me to actually think about what I was doing.

Others like FF7 are the ones I found way too easy, I beat 90% of all battles just spamming regular attack. I'm also not counting postgame stuff for either case.

Probably FF X was harder than FF VII. I remember Dual Horns were surprisingly frenzied and had unusually high HP, and Dark Flan was like a boss in disguise of random monster. But everything was solvable by a single Overdrive from Aeon (sometimes by 2 overdrives). Sadly, FF X had much less focus on main gameplay, you were constantly distracted by cutscenes, trials, etc.

Well, my favorite game ever is Persona 3, so clearly some cutscenes would not turn me away from the game.

I didn't play Persona 3 yet, though I am slightly familiar with how it plays. I played Persona 2 and quite enjoyed it, but my next game on the list of MegaTen's list is Nocturne, I just need more free time. I might change my mind, as those games have less or more similar gameplay. Out of Persona 3/4 and Nocturne, which has the most "unusual" and "weird" story background?

Hard to say. I guess Nocturne is weirder, but personally I'm quite unfazed by weird in games, specially JRPGs, which is why the magical realism/real world locations of Persona blew my mind back in the day. Quick story synopsis:

Nocturne: The world ends right in the beginning, you then proceed to wander the Tokyo wasteland and gather a party of demons to go down into hell and kill the Devil, or up to heaven and kill God. Killing God being somehow par for the course in JRPGs.

Persona 3: Creatures called Shadows attack people during the Dark Hour, a hidden hour of time starting at midnight which only a few people are able to perceive, leaving the victims catatonic. During the Dark Hour your high school also turns into a giant tower called Tartarus that seems to be the origin of the Shadows.

Persona 4: A strange series of murders are occuring in a small town. Right after disappearing the people appear on the mysterious Midnight Channel, then later are found dead on a TV antenna. A group of teenagers discover a world inside the TV and set out to rescue the people trapped within and find the serial killer.

P3 and P4 have their set of more mundane sequences, like when the group goes to the beach, or camping, not to mention going to school everyday, personally I think that's the charm, contrasting the weird with the mundane. Nocturne is all hell and wastelands and demons, etc. In that sense it's not mundane at all, but I do find it a bit more cliche in terms of JRPGs.

I should warn you that P3/4 are very different from P2, with definitely a bigger story focus. Although I suppose the game let's you choose how to spend your time, it can be making friends or going to dungeons, but the life sim part might have equal importance as the dungeons, and is vital to getting access to the more powerful personas. Nocturne on the other hand, follows the usual dungeon crawling structure of most SMT games. Oh, and if you do decide do play P3, play the PSP version, it's the superior one.

Looks like Nocturne wins here for me. I heard that PS2 version of Persona 3 doesn't allow to control party members and PSP version allows, but I prefer to play games how they were initially made, so when I will play Persona 3, it will be PS2 version first.

From MegaTen series I played only Persona 1 and 2 (Eternal Punishment part), so I am yet to discover Digital Devil Saga and other games for myself. I only saw other MegaTen games on youtube. But I will play them only when I finish my replay of FF12, and if I will have time before release of Titan Quest, Oblivion and FFF :)

Kaldaien, the same modder who created Durante-style fixing utilities for Tales of Symphonia & Zestiria, has already started modifying this game's DLLs to add new features.

I don't like FFX.
the main problem is that it use really small maps. you cannot explore anything in this final fantasy, there are a lot of cutscenes and there is an arrow to the next one every times.
I'm not a nostalgic of any final fantasy games... I never had a PS1 or PS2, my only console were Gameboy, Nintendo DS and 3DS.
My first final fantasy was final fantasy 3 on Nintendo DS.
After that few years ago I played both Final Fantasy 7 and 10 on a PS1 and PS2 emulator.
The first impact was "Wow FF7 suck... FF10 looks great".
But after a while I was bored of FF10, while I liked FF7 so much that I completed it.
After a while I bought FF7 for iOS and a lots of FF for mobile, still my favourite are ff7 and ff3 (FF7 for the story, FF3 for the great gameplay).... and I still don't understand why anyone would like a cutscenes small game like FF10.

I have to wonder the size of the games. Having PC versions of X and X-2 sound fine, but they were both likely 3Gigs per, which is a fine size for a game. But I'd expect them to bet 15Gigs or larger, and that's not really worth it.

As for FF X and X-2... Mechanically I enjoyed them, the plot/story however felt too short and a wash for X, while X-2 was a little too girly and busy in some places, and the mini games didn't necessarily make sense.

edit: Found a size suggesting 37Gigs. I'd play on PS3 but not on PC with that size.

Me too it is sad that no one part not release on GOG:
https://www.gog.com/wishlist/games#search=Final%20Fantasy