Have not finished it yet, but close enough to say a resounding NO. Its in the lower half of the list.
Major issues keeping the game from being "great":
1. Extremely poor plot and gameplay pacing
2. Lack of any true party system/control. A very key FF trait that feels abandoned by this game
3. Too much quality disparity, the game can feel like the prettiest thing ever made one moment, than 5 minutes later feel like a cheaper PS3 title
4. Tonal shift of the game is too much a "WE CAN BE GoT too! Look, curse words! and BLOOD!!!! and SEX!!!" It feels juvenal and forced too often. I don't care about them going down a "mature" route, all FF's can be different, but if you are going to do it, do it classy and appropriately.
5. Lack of world map. The biggest sin of this game is its dreadful "select location" map system. Its disgusting, immersion breaking, continuity breaking and just ugly.
My order:
-------1st Tier Masterpieces-------
1. FFVII - My favorite game ever made, still replay it almost yearly (Vita playthrough of original is still the best modern way to play it)
2. FFVI - If I had played this first instead of VII first it would probably flip spots, but as I've found with alot of us, 6 or 7 is your favorite depending on which you touched first. Regardless, one of video games all time classics, on a short list with FFVII, Chrono Trigger, Zelda Lttp & OoT, Half Life, Civilization 2 and Tie Fighter.
-------2nd Tier Amazing Games-------
3. FFVIIR - This is the direction future FF's should move in, though it has some of the pacing issues of FF16, it still handles its tone, characters and gameplay better. Plus the world, plot, characters and music are just soooo much better.
4. FFIX
5. FFVIII
6. FF Tactics
----------3rd Tier - Great games but flawed--------
7. FFX
8. FFV
9. FFXII
----------4th Tier - If it wasn't named Final Fantasy it would be considered good, but falls short of the FF bar-------
10. FFXV
11. FFXI
----------5th Tier - Just a bad game ------
12. FFXIII
13. FFTactics 2
Thats all the FF's I've played. I need to try FFX-2 at some point, and I'm not into MMO's but I've been told I need to play XIV... i just can't get past the horrible first 2 hours no matter how hard I try.