Final Fantasy, along with the original Dragon Quest, proved to be one of the most influential early console role-playing games, and played a major role in legitimizing and popularizing the genre. According to one reviewer, Final Fantasy's storyline, which dealt with elaborate myths and time travel, had a deeper and more engaging story than the original Dragon Quest.^[17]

Bahamut, the Dragon King, who would become a recurring character in the Final Fantasy series, first appeared in Final Fantasy.

Many modern critics point out that the game is poorly paced by contemporary standards, and involves much more time wandering in search of random battle encounters to raise their experience levels and money than it does exploring and solving puzzles,^{[citation needed]} while other reviewers find the level-building and exploration portions of the game as the most enduringly fun ones.^[18] In March 2006, Final Fantasy appeared in the Famitsu magazine's Top 100 games list, where readers voted it the 63rd best game of all time.^[19] Two of its modern sequels, Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy VII, were voted into the top two positions on the list (first and second, respectively). In 2005, GameFAQs users made a similar list, which ranked Final Fantasy at 76th.^[20]

The version of Final Fantasy in the Final Fantasy Origins compilation was generally well received, though it lacks many of the innovations found in later Final Fantasy games such as Final Fantasy IV,^[21] and some commented that the additional content like improved graphics did not significantly improve the overall game experience.^[22]

The theme song that plays when the player characters first cross the bridge from Coneria is a recurring song throughout the entire series. It has been found in 1990's Final Fantasy III when the party leaves their home town and in 1991's Final Fantasy IV when Cecil and Kain begin their journey. It is featured in the epilogue of Final Fantasy IV, the ending theme of 1992's Final Fantasy V, the ending theme of 1994's Final Fantasy VI as the last three minutes of "Balance is Restored", part of the ending theme in 1997's Final Fantasy VII, and in the very end of Final Fantasy VII Advent Children as the movement immediately preceding the song Calling. It is included in the three-movement ending credits theme in 1999's Final Fantasy VIII and is found in the song "Skies of Alexandria" from Final Fantasy IX. The theme is absent in Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XI, but returned in 2006's Final Fantasy XII as the game's intro music.

Final Fantasy was also the basis for an episode of a video game-themed cartoon series Captain N: The Game Master entitled The Fractured Fantasy of Captain N.^[23] 8-Bit Theater, a sprite-based webcomic parodying the game, has become very popular in the gaming community.