This has to be the absolute worst PC-Port I played this year.

Okay, back when I was a child, I played this on my DS and absolutely fell in love with FFIII, it's music and yes, even the aesthetic of the remake. It was my third Final Fantasy after 8 and 7.

So because I finished 5.3 of the Shadowbringers expansion for Final Fantasy 14 lately and got overwhelmed by a wave of nostalgia for FF3 because "Eternal Wind" played all the time, I wanted to go back and play it for a couple of hours to see whether I would still enjoy it.

I bought the steam port of the DS Remake years ago, so naturally I went with this, as I was familiar with this version of the game already. To my disappointment, it turned out that the PC version is an absolute lazy port of the Android Port of the DS Remake. I wouldn't mind the floating PNGs all over the place, if the rest would've worked as it should but the sound quality is absolutely abysmal. After one minute in an area, the music starts crackling really bad to a point, where listening to the in my eyes perfectly alright and at times great soundtrack, is atrocious and gets straining really quickly. I refuse to play this horrible version any longer, even tho I still believe I would've enjoyed at least the first few hours of this game, before it becomes grindy and tedious.

The first game in the series with truly great music, and that's about the only superlative thing I can say about it. The job system is fun but not very well thought-out (allowing the player to switch jobs at any time but punishing them for doing so is nonsensical, not to mention how broken job level grinding is); the game as a whole has a very bizarre difficulty curve where it starts brutal, becomes easy around the halfway point, then becomes brutal again in the final dungeons. Making each party member a defined character in the 3D remake is borderline pointless, because nobody has much of a personality. Battles playing out in 3D with full animation slows down the pace a lot, which made the points where I had to grind even more tedious than usual.

I do have to say I begrudgingly respect the remake for not doing much to soften the final gauntlet though. It's maybe the most hatefully designed thing in the series, and something that really makes FF3 stand out, for better or worse.

I've played a good number of Final Fantasy games, but I've also been needing to replay a good number of them. Final Fantasy III has always been one of my personal favorites, there's a lot I really enjoy of it!
I've never played the original Final Fantasy III, however I know that there have been changes to this version of the game. The main reason why I played this version of the game is cause I like the 3D models of the game! My first Final Fantasy was Final Fantasy IV for the DS, so I have a love for the look of this game, it's really cute and charming. Another thing of note is that the game changes the order of certain jobs you can obtain, and there have been some balancing differences as well. But the last and major difference this version of Final Fantasy III is that they try and give the playable characters actual character, and more than just avatars for the player. And, I really like the attempt, I wouldn't say it's perfect, and at a time they go back to just being avatars, but when they do show their characterization, it's nice!
Final Fantasy III features one of my absolute favorite features in RPGs, that being a job system. And, I don't know if this is correct or not, but Final Fantasy III may be one of the first to feature it. I absolutely love being able to switch jobs and classes on the fly, though, Final Fantasy III has some issues with it, I'd say. For one, aside from one job in particular, the game doesn't really require you to experiment, and I find that some jobs are just objectively better than others. Why use a White Mage or a Black Mage when you have a Devout and a Magus for example. And the other big issue is that switching jobs on characters make those characters weaker for a set number of turns. Though in concept it makes sense why, it makes you focus on specific jobs you've already been using, instead of experimenting with other jobs. Though with that in mind, I like how each job has its own set of levels on top of your own, and how those levels effect your over all stats.
The spell system of Final Fantasy III is something I want to take general note of. In a sense, Final Fantasy III's spell system functions in the sense of Spell Slots. And by that, I mean you get 8 levels of spells, and each level has a certain amount of times you can use that level of spell. So for example, you can use a 6th level spell about 16 times or so. And I think it's an interesting way of going about things! You don't have to worry about MP, but you do have to think about how many times you can cast a specific level spell. And with how there's so little spell use recovery items, you have to think really smart about it, which is cool!
The story of early Final Fantasies is rather minimal. I remember hearing that Final Fantasy IV was the first that they really tried to go hard with the story. However with the story there is in Final Fantasy III, it's really cool! However I will say, Final Fantasy III's most interesting aspects are learned through speaking with NPCs, and learning the lore through that. But one aspect of the game that I love is that about halfway through, you get a proper airship. You then learn that the map you were exploring was only a small fraction of the entire world as a whole, and the world opens up massively. It's so cool, and I love how it's done.
One thing I remember when I first played Final Fantasy III years ago was I found it difficult. Yet again in this playthrough, I did have some difficult moments as well. I feel Final Fantasy III's difficulty is a bit of a downward slope, while it's a bit hard early on, once you get more jobs, more levels, and more job levels, it just gets a lot easier. Especially if you use a Monk or a Black Belt, you can do massive damage rather easily. When I first played Final Fantasy III, though I did beat the final boss on my first try, I had a lot of difficulty with it. Though at the same time, I recognized I was severely under-leveled, and under-equipped. This time though, I was properly prepared, and the final boss was quite easy this time around! And with that, that's why I describe Final Fantasy III's difficulty as a downward slope. The more options you have, and the better items you get, it just becomes so much easier.
While I adore Final Fantasy III, it's far from the best of the series. The jobs system, though not perfect, is a system I love, and as said prior, I love the 3D models used in this version of the game. I'm glad I finally got around to replaying it though, so that I can better describe my opinions on it.

Unholy amount of charm. this might be one of the most visual captivating games from its time, included with remastered osts and QoL from the previous versions.
Not without its flaws tho, this game has a LOT of grind, and i mean it. it works just fine until lvl 30+-, everything after that either oneshots you, or you just steamroll throught it.
Not being able to save during the last dungeon gauntlet might be a deal breaker for a lot of people, which is understandable, since you can lose 2hrs+ on that.

The biggest tragedy I can currently think of is that they didn't complete the Wonderswan port of this and include a more faithful version in Origins with SNES-esque graphics

Here's the good part: a lot of care obviously went into making this thing.

The rest will be the bad part.

We Occidental are stuck with this version, perhaps forever, a disappointment after FFII, an inferior attempted refinement of FFI's magic and combat mechanics, an interesting job system poorly paced and implemented, occasionally nice looking towns and occasional horrific looking characters, a sluggish combat system, and a duct-taped storyline that is by turns inane, maddening, contradictory, hokey, banal and usually all at once.

2 monsters at a time was a mistake. The final dungeon was done better in the second game, a sour taste prevails, and I was left wanting not only never to play this game again but wanting to punch it in the face.

I haven''t played all of the games in this series, but I would be unsurprised in the extreme if this doesn't end up dead last.

Perhaps the Famicom version would change my mind.
仕方がない

The game isn't bad. It's solidly made. Just nothing stands out. It's bland more than anything, and the jobs are either good or situational, their only meaningful differences most of the time being a different stat distribution.

6/10 - Brought new stuff to the table, but is drowned out by a very bland experience.

Also, the Crystal Tower was really easy. Get good. (I know they probably toned it down in the DS version)

text by Brendan Lee

★☆☆☆

“BENDING FROM THE WAIST.”

Final Fantasy III on the DS sees Square at its most sweaty and desperate . . . an oozing carnival barker, equal parts chin oil and elephant ear crumbs, swinging a sodden stub of Swisher Sweet toward a tattered Tent of Terrors.

You know, perhaps, exactly what you’re going to find; some pickled multi-necked cow fetus, horrifyingly illuminated by a guttering fluorescent bulb. You’ll stand there, you and your best pal, give the thing a tight-lipped once-over, thrill a bit, slap a few mosquito bites, and shuffle your way out.

Did you just get scammed by that guy?

Did you just flush an E ticket on an A-ticket attraction?

Well, that’s kind of up to you. Matrix has done a fair job of porting the NES classic to the DS – – it uses what 3D the DS has to good effect; the sound is more or less in order. Full-motion video inserts the pastel-colored natsukashiiiiiiiiii knife directly at the base of the spinal column and twists until the blade snaps. Weary of tiresome buttons? Whip out the stylus and castrate what few Pavlovian illusions tapping them still hold – – though not to a FFXII-Gambit level, I guess, which came as breathtakingly close to an Emperor-Sans-Clothes scenario as any in recent RPG memory.

That’s it! If you like this you like this, which means that you like it and you like it so you’ll like it again. In a certain sense, this continual retreading of musty IP is perfectly understandable, even divorced from Square/Enix’s conscienceless coffer-stuffing: it fleshes out all of the fiddly little gaps that previously had to be filled in by the player’s imagination . . . you’re waddling further and further toward making the Final Fantasy universe (gasp!) real. A few more generations, and maybe that’ll be me jumping in place to the victory music from the comfort of my gravy-stained sofa. You never can tell about the future: maybe some scraggle-bearded, wrap-around Oakley version of me will even put out the extra eighty bucks for the vibrating wireless scabbard.

Clips right there onto the sweatpants!

So! A port – – and a pretty darn competent one at that. Somewhere at the Cheeto-scented end of all of our chained realities there’s a version of actionbutton.net rendered largely in bright pink Macromedia Flash, and in that version this review’s lone star is a brilliant shade of gold. Sadly, we toil here at this end of reality, where good children sometimes go hungry and it rains on chocolate layer cakes and mastheads must be followed to the absolute immutable letter.

So! A well-carved statue to the past, placed on a carefully tended hill. You’ve got a backpack full of the very finest sandwiches. You glance at your wrist. Your watch has stopped. A cool breeze ruffles through your hair. What on earth could possibly be wrong with that?

It’s . . . well, it’s quite poignantly wrong. You’re really gnawing the hecking paint chips when you cave to idolatry like that. Think back: when Square killed Aeris . . . why was that the defining moment of Final Fantasy VII? Was Aeris this fascinating, multi-faceted corker of a gal symbolizing innocence and the purity of nature in a World Gone Mad? Or . . . was she kind of a glassy-eyed dud that said […] an awful lot?

Both, I suppose, depending on your views on pressurized cheese. Still, the reason that moment had actual emotional resonance was that she hecking well died. No materia could rescue those perfect brown locks; no amount of gil could rewind the sword out of her angelic vertebrae. Even the mighty Pro Action Replay could only dance her hollow ghost tantalizingly in front of you, like a Kit Kat wrapper caught in a persistent updraft. Sad!

In a medium that, almost by definition, always affords you One More Chance, it said a hell of a lot. There’s only so much that you can save. You’ve got a limited sphere of influence, and sooner or later you’ve got to grab your jacket and head for the exits. It was – – by video game design standards – – a gutsy move.

One that’s been torn from the playbook, sadly. Rather than leaving her in the box, the poor gal’s electrified corpse has been pimped again and again for a few coke-stained twenties per throw . . . and Final Fantasy III is right there beside her, bending from the waist, two black eyes and a run in her stocking.

Saying goodbye stings like battery acid, I guess, but at the end of the day it’s right, and it’s honest.

Give us some honesty.

If Square/Enix has even the faintest desire to avoid the continued strip-mine Disneyfication of its sagging intellectual property, this dry-hump farce-fest needs to end. Square should look the Past right in the eyes, whisper a dry-lipped adieu, and let the overdose of morphine do its hecking job.

A full remake of Final Fantasy III. Other than the full visual overhaul, one of the main draws to this release of III is the massively expanded story and writing compared to the Famicom original. Originally starring a quartet of lowly onion knights on a journey to defend the world against the destruction of magical crystals, in this version our party now have names, unique designs, and actual personalities and as such get far more chances to react and chatter about events as they happen. This is nice but not crucial, especially as the cast are largely shallow archetypes rather than actual characters - but perhaps that's fitting for a game that also fails to characterise its supporting cast or villains beyond bland tropes.

If Final Fantasy II was Square experimenting with narrative, III is the team doing the same with the gameplay. III is the first game in the franchise to feature a fully realised job system, allowing players to flip each member of the party between different classes in order to deal with changing situations and to ensure maximum tactical flexibility. I love job systems, and III's is a wonderfully solid take on the format. However, it's frustrating that some dungeons force you into or away from specific classes, robbing the player of agency. While that might be ok for some players, this combined with the dreadful storytelling is a deathblow for III to me; it works but it's hardly a shining jewel of the NES-era FInal Fantasy games.