100% - All Steam Achievements

yes it is the best of the 8-bit FF games

Feeling more like a sequel to the first Final Fantasy than to Final Fantasy II, this game returns to a lot of the ideas of the first game but expands on all of them.

Gone are the set classes with only one upgrade from the first game, now we have the Job system, which allows party members to swap their roles during a playthrough (now without penalty), allowing for a lot more flexibility in party building. That being said, there are some noticeable shortcomings. A lot of classes are just kinda, not that good compared to others which limits their usability. This is compounded by the fact that using any job other than the starting White Mage and Black Mage sacrifices your access to their spell lists for almost the entire game. If the game gave you access to the Earth Crystal jobs before the final dungeon run this issue would be greatly mitigated, as your mages would also have an opportunity for class progression (and you'd have time to gain levels on them before gaining access to the Sage). Overall I found the Job system a good update to the combat and party building aspect of FF, though I think there is a lot to change up should they continue to use it.

What I really adore this game for is the constantly shifting sense of scale compared to FFII. The constant vehicle changes, and the fact that the overworld you start the game in is only 1/4-1/2 of the game world is just incredible. The feeling of leaving the floating island and seeing the rest of the planet is a desolate sea is probably my favorite moment in the series so far.

In terms of story it's certainly an advancement of the first game. Rather than the moody and oppressive narrative of Final Fantasy II, III offers a more light hearted tale that is very much broken up into episodes that only really only interweave at the very end. In hindsight it's not terrifically written or particularly interesting, but for an NES/famicom game it's pretty great. The world has elements of lore and more characters than the first two games, so I suppose in that sense it's the most significant story in the series.

I've heard a lot of people say this is where the series enters its golden age, but I've also heard a lot of people say it is IV instead, so I guess I'll see how much better the series gets when it jumps to the Super Nintendo when I get to that one.

I don't know what it is, but I'm constantly thinking about this game after finishing it--even moreso than V, which is what it often gets compared to due to the job system. It's definitely the most challenging Final Fantasy game I've played, and sometimes it just feels like a game from the early 90s with artificial difficulty. But, I was just so drawn into the world and the story that I felt compelled to press on despite the hardships. The job system isn't as robust as later installments, but I think the simplicity of it actually benefits the game, as switching classes is really just a matter of swapping out equipment and getting a new ability or spell to take on whatever new task you have. I also have to highlight the OST, which I think is some of Uematsu's best work, especially for being so early in the franchise. Having recently played through several of the games I missed in the series, this is the one that I kinda just want to pick up again for another go!

Took what was best from both FF1 and FF2, and had a decent enough story to keep it rolling. I continue my urge to 100% the pixel remasters, and this was atleast the most enjoyable to do so. It does get tedious having a 100% guide next to me for it because the game has missable bestiary entries, chests, one-time visit locations, all the chocobo forests, etc. I only plan to do my first PC playthroughs of FF1 to FF4 like this (100%ing and having the step-by-step guide next to me)because I have played them before in horrible increments of time in the past, and just CBA to care of my first time experience of them to be legit. Just thugging through the first 4, and then actually spending my time from 5 onward; helps that I already know that FF6 is a banger, so I won't ruin it for me by having everything spoon fed to me.

oh yeah, review part of the game. Honestly a lot more fun then 1 and 2 for me, I really did like having a job system in place. Having the Pixel Remaster excuses the first implementation of the job system solely because of auto battle, cuzzzz if it didn't have that I would have cried and rated it lower. Yes, going to each crystal and painstakingly raising up your new job title so it's efficiently useful in battle can be a drag, but Auto makes up for it. Since I was going for 100%, I just never had the feeling of having turning on no-encounters, besides I just like hearing all the battle themes and victory fanfares. Other than that, this is easily 6.5 - 7/10 for me. Onto the last drag.