Now, you'll observe that the curve goes up for what makes a Final Fantasy game good almost in direct proportion to being able to turn off random encounters. Autosaving presents its own variable in--
Drops pointer. Bends over and splits pants open. Farts loudly. Falls over and knocks down the dry erase board and farts again. Gains 1,000 followers.
Drops pointer. Bends over and splits pants open. Farts loudly. Falls over and knocks down the dry erase board and farts again. Gains 1,000 followers.
when people bring up final fantasy iii they usually bring up the job system as the main selling point, but what struck me the most playing thru this is how many cool memorable moments they're able to sprinkle in throughout the game's runtime... something about this title really captures some kind of adventurous spirit and feels like where final fantasy really starts to find its identity as a swashbuckling fantasy series.
seeing the map expand after leaving the floating continent on your airship, exploring underwater caves, taking the plunge into the dark world... this game really piqued my imagination in a way the previous two titles didn't and i think that's what puts it as the best famicom title in my mind rather than anything to do with the mechanics (which are also really solid!)
they shouldve probably given a heads up before that point of no return/subsequent final gauntlet though. jeez
seeing the map expand after leaving the floating continent on your airship, exploring underwater caves, taking the plunge into the dark world... this game really piqued my imagination in a way the previous two titles didn't and i think that's what puts it as the best famicom title in my mind rather than anything to do with the mechanics (which are also really solid!)
they shouldve probably given a heads up before that point of no return/subsequent final gauntlet though. jeez
this is the most that i have felt like i am playing a prototype of real final fantasy, rather than a fully formed game. there's a lot to like about this! it has an astounding sense of scale that almost feels "next-gen" despite still being a famicom game. it's really cool to see the edge of the world or the gnome forest or the endless sea or the enormous saronia or the interior of the invincible. especially in the mid-game, there are lots of fun job combinations. the focus on hidden paths and items gives a nice sense of exploration.
but even though this game has lots of interesting pieces, they're all a little clunkily assembled. this goes for a dragon quest 3 style episodic town structure, but the episodes resolve themselves so quickly that it barely feels like anything happened. there are a few good ones like the town of cursed outlines or the floating forest in the desert or goldmember's mansion, but overall i could tell you more about the towns in ff1 than i could the towns of ff3. the lack of character in town episodes is especially noticeable in saronia, a huge city where npcs all say the same things.
there are lots of little annoyances in traversal that add up. it's fun to have a shrinking sequence where you're forced to use magic once or twice, but tedious to have to shrink or frogify just to get through a gate and reverse your status. hopping mountains with the invincible feels slow every time. and having to park one airship to go ride the other airship that can dive underwater is always a chore. despite the hidden paths in towns and dungeons, the dungeon layouts tend to be very boring. lots of simple hallways and symmetrical rooms that don't give much sense of exploration beyond noticing a hidden path. this really contributes to the final gauntlet feeling like a slog, just as much as the difficulty spike.
crystals handing out sets of jobs gives the game unique "mechanical chapters", where you'll use one set before moving on to the next set. the early jobs feel a little restrictive because it takes a while before you get the good spells, but mid-game jobs like geomancer, viking, bard, ranger, and thief have interesting unique abilities. i did like the boss fights that were built around short-term gimmick jobs like scholar and dragoon, but i wish those sequences had more than one design trick each. the late-game jobs settle into the good versions of the base jobs, which is fine but does feel like the game giving up on the potential of the job system before it really had a chance to blossom. but it is a fun consequence of the gendered job designs that the warriors of light come off as genderfluid. i think ff2's equipment system ultimately does a better job of making characters feel adaptable to different situations, even without unique commands.
all that said, i'm still mostly positive about this game. i got to see some nice sights and listen to some nice music and build some nice teams. they can't all be as revelatory as ff2.
but even though this game has lots of interesting pieces, they're all a little clunkily assembled. this goes for a dragon quest 3 style episodic town structure, but the episodes resolve themselves so quickly that it barely feels like anything happened. there are a few good ones like the town of cursed outlines or the floating forest in the desert or goldmember's mansion, but overall i could tell you more about the towns in ff1 than i could the towns of ff3. the lack of character in town episodes is especially noticeable in saronia, a huge city where npcs all say the same things.
there are lots of little annoyances in traversal that add up. it's fun to have a shrinking sequence where you're forced to use magic once or twice, but tedious to have to shrink or frogify just to get through a gate and reverse your status. hopping mountains with the invincible feels slow every time. and having to park one airship to go ride the other airship that can dive underwater is always a chore. despite the hidden paths in towns and dungeons, the dungeon layouts tend to be very boring. lots of simple hallways and symmetrical rooms that don't give much sense of exploration beyond noticing a hidden path. this really contributes to the final gauntlet feeling like a slog, just as much as the difficulty spike.
crystals handing out sets of jobs gives the game unique "mechanical chapters", where you'll use one set before moving on to the next set. the early jobs feel a little restrictive because it takes a while before you get the good spells, but mid-game jobs like geomancer, viking, bard, ranger, and thief have interesting unique abilities. i did like the boss fights that were built around short-term gimmick jobs like scholar and dragoon, but i wish those sequences had more than one design trick each. the late-game jobs settle into the good versions of the base jobs, which is fine but does feel like the game giving up on the potential of the job system before it really had a chance to blossom. but it is a fun consequence of the gendered job designs that the warriors of light come off as genderfluid. i think ff2's equipment system ultimately does a better job of making characters feel adaptable to different situations, even without unique commands.
all that said, i'm still mostly positive about this game. i got to see some nice sights and listen to some nice music and build some nice teams. they can't all be as revelatory as ff2.
Mais curto do que eu esperava, com muito mais jobs do que eu esperava, a grande maioria tão inútil quanto eu imaginava. Mas é uma loucura o quanto esse jogo mais de 30 anos atrás já estava definindo de base pra todo o resto da franquia. Surreal. Uma história bem mais simples e monótona principalmente vindo do 2, mas ainda divertida e cheio de momentos muito memoráveis em particular os momentos que claramente inspiraram Minish Cap!
Que incomodidad de juego maes. De todos los juegos de Final Fantasies que le he dado through the years, este es el único que me produjo un gran ñe 🤷 at best y un gran UGH at worst.
Da mucha lastima porque hay varias cosas que don FF III hace muy bien. Tiene un soundtrack super bueno, tiene la primera aparición de varios overworlds y hasta tiene una progresión de personajes bastante más balanceada (amen por tener un algoritmo de random encounters decente).
Lo que si me mata (figuradamente) es que el writing y la historia sean tan lame. Una papa sin sal. Es demasiado sad sentir que todo fue hecho a la carrera.
El juego comienza y muy rapidamente nos empiezan a introducir personajes que aparentemente son super importantes que nos joinean en el party (aunque no son playable) El problema es que solo nos dicen que son importantes y no nos muestran. El juego está hecho como para que nunca haya tiempo para desarrollar algún tipo de apego hacia el personaje. Lo cual es gracioso porque casi siempre, poco despues de conocerlos, se los vuelan de alguna manera hahah. El personaje de uno siempre exclama con gran dolor y sufrimiento y uno se queda ahí como tratando de recordar incluso como se llamaba el personaje que acaba de palmar. Esto el juego repite este move varias veces y de una manera super dispersa y rara, entonces todo siempre se siente muy apresurado y sin rumbo.
Siento que este es de los pocos Final Fantasies que toma un paso en la dirección incorrecta, o mas bien, varios pasos en direcciones diferentes. Trata de tener un nuevo sistema para levelar, trata de meterle más historia, más trama, mas personajes, mas lineas de dialogo, más animaciones, pero todo lo hace como a medias. Lo siento torpe y lento y la verdad no me matizó mucho.
En fin, no creo poder darle mas que un 2 unfinished job systems out of 5 🧑🎨👩🎨
Da mucha lastima porque hay varias cosas que don FF III hace muy bien. Tiene un soundtrack super bueno, tiene la primera aparición de varios overworlds y hasta tiene una progresión de personajes bastante más balanceada (amen por tener un algoritmo de random encounters decente).
Lo que si me mata (figuradamente) es que el writing y la historia sean tan lame. Una papa sin sal. Es demasiado sad sentir que todo fue hecho a la carrera.
El juego comienza y muy rapidamente nos empiezan a introducir personajes que aparentemente son super importantes que nos joinean en el party (aunque no son playable) El problema es que solo nos dicen que son importantes y no nos muestran. El juego está hecho como para que nunca haya tiempo para desarrollar algún tipo de apego hacia el personaje. Lo cual es gracioso porque casi siempre, poco despues de conocerlos, se los vuelan de alguna manera hahah. El personaje de uno siempre exclama con gran dolor y sufrimiento y uno se queda ahí como tratando de recordar incluso como se llamaba el personaje que acaba de palmar. Esto el juego repite este move varias veces y de una manera super dispersa y rara, entonces todo siempre se siente muy apresurado y sin rumbo.
Siento que este es de los pocos Final Fantasies que toma un paso en la dirección incorrecta, o mas bien, varios pasos en direcciones diferentes. Trata de tener un nuevo sistema para levelar, trata de meterle más historia, más trama, mas personajes, mas lineas de dialogo, más animaciones, pero todo lo hace como a medias. Lo siento torpe y lento y la verdad no me matizó mucho.
En fin, no creo poder darle mas que un 2 unfinished job systems out of 5 🧑🎨👩🎨
We really finaled their third fantasy bros
A very competent rpg.
Acho que dos 3 Final Fantasy que foram lançados pro Nintendo original, esse é provavelmente o que eu menos gostei de jogar em si, mas é inegavelmente o melhor em questões de pura gameplay.
A história aqui é um downgrade do Final Fantasy II, os protagonistas voltaram a não ter personalidade e deixaram de ser personagens reais, mas em contraponto os personagens secundários são bem melhores utilizados na narrativa. E falando na história, ela é basicamente uma versão melhorada e mais desenvolvida do primeiro jogo, seguindo praticamente a mesma ideia envolvendo os cristais mas com algumas mudanças pra não ser uma cópia por inteiro.
O sistema de profissões é uma ideia muito boa mas muito mal utilizada já que tem profissões que são inúteis e outras que podem garantir a sua vitória sozinhas, mas independente disso ainda é um sistema divertido e um conceito que eu espero que seja melhor utilizado no FFV.
Em questões de gameplay, o combate é basicamente a mesma coisa que os seus antecessores, mas com o sistema de profissão agora algumas delas tem habilidades exclusivas que trazem uma variedade maior pro combate do jogo. Achei esse jogo bem menos experimental que o 2 em alguns quesitos (principalmente no sistema de level up), e aparentemente eles realmente tentaram ao máximo se divergir do segundo jogo pois tudo aqui é quase igual ao primeiro Final Fantasy mas com mudanças de qualidade de vida que melhoram e muito o combate e tornam ele bem mais polido. Gostei como aqui eles fizeram o mundo ser bem mais interessante de se explorar e com bem mais localizações diversas e coisas pra serem feitas, cada dungeon é bem diferente uma da outra e inclusive tem dungeons opcionais que você pode zerar o jogo sem nem saber da existência. Além disso as novas aeronaves cada uma com a sua própria função são uma adição muito boa pra navegação do jogo.
Em suma, gostei mais que o primeiro e menos que o segundo, é um jogo bom e sem muita coisa pra se falar. Obviamente eu não esperei muita profundidade nesses 3 primeiros jogos por terem sido feitos quando o gênero de rpg ainda estava se desenvolvendo, mas é triste ver como eles jogaram fora tudo que eles experimentaram no segundo jogo na hora de fazer esse. To ansioso pros próximos jogos já que aparentemente é do 4 pra frente que a franquia realmente começa a engatar em questões de história e desenvolvimento.
A história aqui é um downgrade do Final Fantasy II, os protagonistas voltaram a não ter personalidade e deixaram de ser personagens reais, mas em contraponto os personagens secundários são bem melhores utilizados na narrativa. E falando na história, ela é basicamente uma versão melhorada e mais desenvolvida do primeiro jogo, seguindo praticamente a mesma ideia envolvendo os cristais mas com algumas mudanças pra não ser uma cópia por inteiro.
O sistema de profissões é uma ideia muito boa mas muito mal utilizada já que tem profissões que são inúteis e outras que podem garantir a sua vitória sozinhas, mas independente disso ainda é um sistema divertido e um conceito que eu espero que seja melhor utilizado no FFV.
Em questões de gameplay, o combate é basicamente a mesma coisa que os seus antecessores, mas com o sistema de profissão agora algumas delas tem habilidades exclusivas que trazem uma variedade maior pro combate do jogo. Achei esse jogo bem menos experimental que o 2 em alguns quesitos (principalmente no sistema de level up), e aparentemente eles realmente tentaram ao máximo se divergir do segundo jogo pois tudo aqui é quase igual ao primeiro Final Fantasy mas com mudanças de qualidade de vida que melhoram e muito o combate e tornam ele bem mais polido. Gostei como aqui eles fizeram o mundo ser bem mais interessante de se explorar e com bem mais localizações diversas e coisas pra serem feitas, cada dungeon é bem diferente uma da outra e inclusive tem dungeons opcionais que você pode zerar o jogo sem nem saber da existência. Além disso as novas aeronaves cada uma com a sua própria função são uma adição muito boa pra navegação do jogo.
Em suma, gostei mais que o primeiro e menos que o segundo, é um jogo bom e sem muita coisa pra se falar. Obviamente eu não esperei muita profundidade nesses 3 primeiros jogos por terem sido feitos quando o gênero de rpg ainda estava se desenvolvendo, mas é triste ver como eles jogaram fora tudo que eles experimentaram no segundo jogo na hora de fazer esse. To ansioso pros próximos jogos já que aparentemente é do 4 pra frente que a franquia realmente começa a engatar em questões de história e desenvolvimento.
This game was the most fun of the original three for the first 90%. The job system, summons, and improved version of the FF1 storyline - as well as goofy sense of humour - allowed it to be a great improvement over the simplicity of the first game, and a breath of fresh air after the mess of the second. But then… the final dungeon absolutely eviscerated my goodwill. It’s basically 3 long (loooong) dungeons back to back, full of bosses that all feel like they came from the same hellscape that churned out FF1’s Chaos. The game went from a fun adventure to having the worst aspects of 1 and 2’s final dungeons put together and taking away any of my memories of the first 90% of the game.
Having said all that, I did genuinely enjoy most of this. It sucks that the first three so far are 3/3 for messing up at the last second and so I’m glad that I’m now onto the games that are where the series apparently starts go take off.
Having said all that, I did genuinely enjoy most of this. It sucks that the first three so far are 3/3 for messing up at the last second and so I’m glad that I’m now onto the games that are where the series apparently starts go take off.
Without a doubt, one of the harder Final Fantasies to play. I did do a lot of grinder in order to compensate for the hard hitting enemies, but honestly Final Fantasy has always been an easy to play franchise for me, so this challenge was gladly accepted that the grind didn't feel so tedious.
You also start to see the whimsical nature of Final Fantasy appear in this game. The first two Final Fantasys were serious which fit their respective stories, so seeing the playful storytelling, variety of character personalities, and hell even the whimsical yet high fantasy, baroque-esque music was a great tone change to keep the franchise going strong. I think it's essential in having lightheartedness when telling dark story elements.
Overall, not a bad Final Fantasy. I can see myself playing this game again more than once in my lifetime!
You also start to see the whimsical nature of Final Fantasy appear in this game. The first two Final Fantasys were serious which fit their respective stories, so seeing the playful storytelling, variety of character personalities, and hell even the whimsical yet high fantasy, baroque-esque music was a great tone change to keep the franchise going strong. I think it's essential in having lightheartedness when telling dark story elements.
Overall, not a bad Final Fantasy. I can see myself playing this game again more than once in my lifetime!
Final Fantasy III was a good game. Originally released in 1990, it has held up well. The story and combat is very basic by today's standards, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it.
Inolvidable. Es demencial imaginar todo lo que supuso este videojuego en su época, y como se las apañaron para meter esta barbaridad en una NES, sencillamente colosal en todos y cada uno de sus aspectos. La banda sonora, es un auténtico logro y emociona a cualquier persona que sienta pasión por este arte.
Y además, cierra la historia con una narrativa muy adelantada a su era. No es difícil saber por qué este juego es legendario, y lo querré mucho siempre.
Top tier track: Eternal Wind
Y además, cierra la historia con una narrativa muy adelantada a su era. No es difícil saber por qué este juego es legendario, y lo querré mucho siempre.
Top tier track: Eternal Wind
A lot of this game is essentially FFI but improved with the best parts of FFII. Unfortunately I found the overall story to be pretty forgettable and the cast here is arguably the worst and blandest of the franchise thus far.
I like the new Job feature but I wasn't the biggest fan of how exploitable it was. Like how there was no downside to making someone a thief just to unlock a door and then immediately changing back. They gave me so many options, but you have easy access to every job anytime after you get them, so it was never felt like I was making any solid choices when building a team.
I like the new Job feature but I wasn't the biggest fan of how exploitable it was. Like how there was no downside to making someone a thief just to unlock a door and then immediately changing back. They gave me so many options, but you have easy access to every job anytime after you get them, so it was never felt like I was making any solid choices when building a team.
A very, very mid Final Fantasy.
This has been my only exposure to FFIII, skipping over the DS and PSP versions, and part of me wonders if those versions were better.
The story is essentially Final Fantasy 1... again. That being said, the concept of the Wrath of Light and the warriors of Darkness was quite interesting and I wish they played more into that; FFI honestly felt more coherent in this regard.
The jobs don't necessarily serve as a cool way to customize your party, but more as puzzle elements to progress the story; changing classes mid-game also isn't really viable without grinding.
On top of this, the entire last part of the game is an entire Gauntlet of very difficult enemies, which, apparently in some other versions includes NO resting/healing, which this version does have. I cannot imagine how exhausting going through Crystal Tower/World of Darkness without any rests. Thanks, but i'd rather not.
Final Fantasy goes on to Final Fantasy IV, which is my personal favourite Final Fantasy, and much, much better than III.
This has been my only exposure to FFIII, skipping over the DS and PSP versions, and part of me wonders if those versions were better.
The story is essentially Final Fantasy 1... again. That being said, the concept of the Wrath of Light and the warriors of Darkness was quite interesting and I wish they played more into that; FFI honestly felt more coherent in this regard.
The jobs don't necessarily serve as a cool way to customize your party, but more as puzzle elements to progress the story; changing classes mid-game also isn't really viable without grinding.
On top of this, the entire last part of the game is an entire Gauntlet of very difficult enemies, which, apparently in some other versions includes NO resting/healing, which this version does have. I cannot imagine how exhausting going through Crystal Tower/World of Darkness without any rests. Thanks, but i'd rather not.
Final Fantasy goes on to Final Fantasy IV, which is my personal favourite Final Fantasy, and much, much better than III.
Olha as coisas começando a melhorar ⚔
Um enorme salto de qualidade em comparação aos 2 primeiros jogos da franquia. A narrativa é curta e encantadora, com personagens memoráveis, mapas enormes para explorar e um excelente design de inimigos, com destaque para o chefe final.
Dito isso, gostei principalmente da inclusão do sistema de profissões, no qual você vai desbloqueando diversas classes ao decorrer do jogo (cavaleiro, mago negro, invocador, monge, entre muitas outras) e evoluindo as suas preferidas.
Um enorme salto de qualidade em comparação aos 2 primeiros jogos da franquia. A narrativa é curta e encantadora, com personagens memoráveis, mapas enormes para explorar e um excelente design de inimigos, com destaque para o chefe final.
Dito isso, gostei principalmente da inclusão do sistema de profissões, no qual você vai desbloqueando diversas classes ao decorrer do jogo (cavaleiro, mago negro, invocador, monge, entre muitas outras) e evoluindo as suas preferidas.
Out of the entire series, I feel Final Fantasy III being someone's first Final Fantasy game is pretty rare.
I first saw FF III from a old friend who had the DS version, and the first thing they ever showed me was that incredible CG opening. The only other CG opening I saw before was Kingdom Hearts 1, but oh my god this had so many more characters, such grand and lavish environments, cool ass magic and a dude who wields two swords what the hell is this game?? Oh and that music, even to this day I just adore the soundtrack. The town themes, Cid's theme, The Forbidden Land Eureka, Castle Hein, the final boss, and especially the overworld theme 'Eternal Wind'. I'd hear Eternal Wind in my head every time I would walk in my back woods, such an engaging, adventurous piece.
Back to that opening, it painted an exciting but also treacherous adventure, which reflects perfectly when I started playing it after borrowing it from my friend. For someone's first ever turn-based RPG that wasn't Pokémon, this game was hard and unforgiving. There's the fact that dying booted you to the title screen, and that alone was a shock to the system. If I lost in Pokémon I'd just lose a bit of money and could easily continue my journey. Here, no way! I die then it's over. It made the fear of failure borderline overwhelming. If I fuck up then I can lose so much. Not helped by the fact that I was, as the kids say, "bad". I didn't use items, I rarely used magic as they were limited by spell slots and they're much less convenient to recover then using a Pokémon center, I didn't know what any of my stats did, I hardly changed my jobs, and I almost never talked to any NPC who wasn't critical to progression. RPGs can be a challenge of numbers or strategy, but they're also often knowledge checks. And if you are insufficient in knowledge then ideally you should ask the townsfolk for helpful hints. This never occurred to my tiny mind.
So my (literal) dumbass got bodied by so many things. I didn't change all my party members jobs to spellcasters during the points where you had to be small which makes all physical attacks deal 1 damage, I didn't have a scholar who could identify the ever-changing weakness of Hein, and despite how many dragoon equipment they give you for free I never thought to use a dragoon against the infamous Garuda fight. This never dettered me from playing however. It was scary for sure, the next boss fight could kill me without a second thought, but it also engaged me to the game more. Every (accidental) success got me closer to exploring more of this vast world. If I was lucky, I might even find a crystal of light that'll give me brand new jobs for my party. Yeah I didn't change them often, but I usually changed them into either the coolest looking one or the same jobs they had during the game's cg opening. The overwhelming danger of this magical world made it more engaging.
But even as someone with a lot of tenacity as a kid, even I couldn't push through that. If you're familiar with this game, then you know what I'm talking about. A big reason why this should never be your first Final Fantasy game unless you really enjoy sadistic design. The Crystal Tower.
The final dungeon of this game. First some background, by this point you have access to a airship with a free inn. Incredibly valuable if you ever bite off more then you can chew, or just run into dumb luck. You also can only save on the overworld. Mid-dungeon save points weren't a thing till Final Fantasy IV. You probably know where this is going, but let's continue. First is the Great Maze. Not too difficult nor winding, but it does take a while to just run through. You wind up outside for your final chance to save the game before entering the Crystal Tower, but you'll notice that you don't have access to your airship. If you need to heal you'll have to walk through the maze all over again. Bearing in mind if you need to heal then you're probably out of most of your spell slots, so hope you don't run into too many encounters on the way back. I'm not going to walk-through the Eureka section since, while long and difficult, is at least situated at the Tower's entrance. Just know that it's"optional" but has the final tier of spells and the best shops and weapons so NO, do not skip it. Then you have the climb itself. Nothing you wouldn't expect from a last dungeon, longs floors, a lot of floors, encounters with tens of thousands of health that may nuke your party with magic whenever they feel like it, and chests that have the longest most roundabout hallways rivaled only by Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne. An hour later you reach the boss, who of course has Meteor, so hope your numbers are big enough. Beat them after a long fight... now for part two. Now you have to go through even more of this dungeon and fight four more bosses before facing the true final boss, plus the best head piece in the entire game is guarded by clones of the boss from the first part of the tower, AND once you're in part two of this place you can't leave meaning if you die you start aaaallll over again. Bearing in mind that some of these bosses are pretty absurd with their damage output, and in the DS remake that I was playing some of these guys have up to three turns of actions every round of combat. Final boss included.
You can see why young me couldn't do it. Here I am with a dinky wooden sword held together by shoe string and hope as I face against an unflinching sentinel crafted by the arms of a God that spares no thought in killing everything it sees. Someone tries to teach you a new fighting game without ever holding back, your learning by making sure next time less of your bones are broken. Thrown into the middle of the ocean with a compass and a raft board. Find your way home with that. Good luck, jackals (suppose to be "jackass" but that autocorrect is a lot more funny).
So eight years later I finally beat the game.
As much as I would like to tell you it literally took eight years of attempts, no I just put the game down and moved on to other games. At the time I just accepted I wouldn't see the credits, but I got well over 50 hours of enjoyment(?) out of it, so I wasn't too bummed. But then I grew older. Taller. Very marginally more intelligent. By that I meant I could read better and look things up on Google. I learned many things I wasn't aware of. I learned what stats actually did apart from damage. I used jobs like Viking and Monk more effectively for tanking and offense respectively. I was smarter with my magic usage. Items... still weren't used a ton but I now knew how valuable exilirs were. They're the only other way to recover spell slots, but are exceedingly rare so you have to use them only when it matters. And by that I mean only the final dungeon. Also I didn't start back from my old file, but rather I started a brand new game from scratch. Things were already a lot more smoother. Bosses that felt like a gamble if I could beat them as a kid were a lot more comfortable now. I knew where to go for progression so my runtime was a lot shorter. I did grind a lot, but this was still at a time where I didn't have a lot of games. And by the time I was grinding I was already at the Crystal Tower, but have yet to take a real crack at it again. Looking back, I think I didn't want my time with the game to end yet. Didn't want to have less of a reason to dress my guys in funny costumes, to listen to the scariest boss music I ever heard at the time, to admire these chunky-ass DS visuals, and to watch that beutiful CG opening again for the hundredth time. But I did it eventually. It was long, but not the worst. Bosses were still deadly, but I've learned how strong Ninjas were and the power of Black Belts. I also felt Sages were kind of overrated with their low MP, so I stuck with a Devout and Summoner for all my magic needs. It felt more surreal then satisfying watching the end credits. This'll sound ridiculous, but it felt similar to graduating High School. This constant in life was over, so what do I do now without it?
I could just play it again, you dramatic butt!
Joking aside, I honestly felt content in what I played. No feelings of "Thank god that's over", more "It's done." Simple as that. I enjoyed my time with it and now it's time to look for greener pastures. Like a decade later playing the Pixel Remaster of Final Fantasy III. Yeah finally talking about the game this is a review on, but "review" may not be best descriptor for whatever this thing I'm writing is. The best way to describe the Pixel Remaster version is that it's Final Fantasy III but for people who got shit to do. The big thing are autosaves. You die at boss, you can respawn in the room you died at. Also since this is a 2D game with lightning fast animations, battles just fly by. You also have a auto-battle feature to replay the parties previous actions but on fast-forward, allowing for some painless grinding if you feel ill-equipped. Or if you ever feel like saying "screw it" you can jack up the exp and money gains for less time in battles overall, or turn off encounters if they start getting in your skin. I don't feel you need these boosts on a first-time playthrough, but it's there if you want them. The autosaves also help ease the frustration of loosing a lot of progress because "Oh you didn't know your first-time fighting this boss that they have a meteor spell? That's a shame. Die." All around I saw the credits in 12 hours, with the caveat that I've beaten a version of Final Fantasy III before so I knew where to go at all times. If, like me, you have played the DS version then some things will throw you off due to it being based more on the original Famicom version. Namely dungeon layouts and when you obtain certain jobs. They caught me off-guard for sure, but I ain't going to complain getting access to Black Belt much earlier. Music is mostly fantastic, but I'm not the biggest fan of the remix battle themes. The electric guitar doesn't real fit FF III to me, the DS version of the boss theme gave the fights far more tension then the Pixel Remaster. Eternal Wind though, that remake is fuckin beautiful. No notes for that. The Pixel Remaster also has no penalty for swapping jobs. Yes, there's something like that in both Famicom and DS. The former required a currency from battles in order to change jobs, while the latter had your character debuffed for several battles as your character "adjusted" to their new job. I don't think I need to tell you that removing that is unequivocally a good thing even if you are the most hard-core FF III fan.
I am kind of one of those people who feels the autosaves removes a lot of tension from dungeons and boss battles alike, but if I take off my nostalgia goggles for a minute I do acknowledge that a lot of games have done FF III but better, at least in terms of combat and customization. Hell, you'll often hear Final Fantasy V as "It's like FF III but good". And after playing FF V for the first time recently (no I didn't write a review for it), I get the sentiment, though I also feel FF V has also been outdone by many other RPGs. That may imply I feel there's no reason to play either game, but that isn't the case. Even the oldest of games can provide something that nothing of modern times can. There's always a lot of value to be found in anything, or anyone's past. FF V certainly is a lot more manageable if you are coming in from a more modern mindset, but III has merits that have paved a lot for the Final Fantasy series to this day. It's the first game where Dragoons can jump in the air and slam back down with their spear, many iconic jobs like Ninja and Bard got their start here, summoning as a mechanic was new, Moogles exist, even dedicated optional bosses like Bahamut and Leviathan began here.
This is such an odd game to be introduced to Final Fantasy. The plot is simple, progression is just a simple but with a few steps that feel missing, combat is imbalanced with some jobs being relatively underpowered, the game forces you change jobs in several sections so you can't play however you want at times, and the final dungeon alone filters so many people out it's pretty sadistic. I can't say if I'd be singing a different tune for this game if I played it for the first time this year. I first played it in just the right circumstances at just the right age, being incredibly impressionable with a lot of free time and not a lot of other games. It's funny, I could've been playing so many other games at that time and I feel I wouldn't have nearly as much to share about them. Final Fantasy III is far from the perfect game or even one my favorites nowadays, but it was perfect for a young, imaginative kid that had so much more to learn.
I first saw FF III from a old friend who had the DS version, and the first thing they ever showed me was that incredible CG opening. The only other CG opening I saw before was Kingdom Hearts 1, but oh my god this had so many more characters, such grand and lavish environments, cool ass magic and a dude who wields two swords what the hell is this game?? Oh and that music, even to this day I just adore the soundtrack. The town themes, Cid's theme, The Forbidden Land Eureka, Castle Hein, the final boss, and especially the overworld theme 'Eternal Wind'. I'd hear Eternal Wind in my head every time I would walk in my back woods, such an engaging, adventurous piece.
Back to that opening, it painted an exciting but also treacherous adventure, which reflects perfectly when I started playing it after borrowing it from my friend. For someone's first ever turn-based RPG that wasn't Pokémon, this game was hard and unforgiving. There's the fact that dying booted you to the title screen, and that alone was a shock to the system. If I lost in Pokémon I'd just lose a bit of money and could easily continue my journey. Here, no way! I die then it's over. It made the fear of failure borderline overwhelming. If I fuck up then I can lose so much. Not helped by the fact that I was, as the kids say, "bad". I didn't use items, I rarely used magic as they were limited by spell slots and they're much less convenient to recover then using a Pokémon center, I didn't know what any of my stats did, I hardly changed my jobs, and I almost never talked to any NPC who wasn't critical to progression. RPGs can be a challenge of numbers or strategy, but they're also often knowledge checks. And if you are insufficient in knowledge then ideally you should ask the townsfolk for helpful hints. This never occurred to my tiny mind.
So my (literal) dumbass got bodied by so many things. I didn't change all my party members jobs to spellcasters during the points where you had to be small which makes all physical attacks deal 1 damage, I didn't have a scholar who could identify the ever-changing weakness of Hein, and despite how many dragoon equipment they give you for free I never thought to use a dragoon against the infamous Garuda fight. This never dettered me from playing however. It was scary for sure, the next boss fight could kill me without a second thought, but it also engaged me to the game more. Every (accidental) success got me closer to exploring more of this vast world. If I was lucky, I might even find a crystal of light that'll give me brand new jobs for my party. Yeah I didn't change them often, but I usually changed them into either the coolest looking one or the same jobs they had during the game's cg opening. The overwhelming danger of this magical world made it more engaging.
But even as someone with a lot of tenacity as a kid, even I couldn't push through that. If you're familiar with this game, then you know what I'm talking about. A big reason why this should never be your first Final Fantasy game unless you really enjoy sadistic design. The Crystal Tower.
The final dungeon of this game. First some background, by this point you have access to a airship with a free inn. Incredibly valuable if you ever bite off more then you can chew, or just run into dumb luck. You also can only save on the overworld. Mid-dungeon save points weren't a thing till Final Fantasy IV. You probably know where this is going, but let's continue. First is the Great Maze. Not too difficult nor winding, but it does take a while to just run through. You wind up outside for your final chance to save the game before entering the Crystal Tower, but you'll notice that you don't have access to your airship. If you need to heal you'll have to walk through the maze all over again. Bearing in mind if you need to heal then you're probably out of most of your spell slots, so hope you don't run into too many encounters on the way back. I'm not going to walk-through the Eureka section since, while long and difficult, is at least situated at the Tower's entrance. Just know that it's"optional" but has the final tier of spells and the best shops and weapons so NO, do not skip it. Then you have the climb itself. Nothing you wouldn't expect from a last dungeon, longs floors, a lot of floors, encounters with tens of thousands of health that may nuke your party with magic whenever they feel like it, and chests that have the longest most roundabout hallways rivaled only by Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne. An hour later you reach the boss, who of course has Meteor, so hope your numbers are big enough. Beat them after a long fight... now for part two. Now you have to go through even more of this dungeon and fight four more bosses before facing the true final boss, plus the best head piece in the entire game is guarded by clones of the boss from the first part of the tower, AND once you're in part two of this place you can't leave meaning if you die you start aaaallll over again. Bearing in mind that some of these bosses are pretty absurd with their damage output, and in the DS remake that I was playing some of these guys have up to three turns of actions every round of combat. Final boss included.
You can see why young me couldn't do it. Here I am with a dinky wooden sword held together by shoe string and hope as I face against an unflinching sentinel crafted by the arms of a God that spares no thought in killing everything it sees. Someone tries to teach you a new fighting game without ever holding back, your learning by making sure next time less of your bones are broken. Thrown into the middle of the ocean with a compass and a raft board. Find your way home with that. Good luck, jackals (suppose to be "jackass" but that autocorrect is a lot more funny).
So eight years later I finally beat the game.
As much as I would like to tell you it literally took eight years of attempts, no I just put the game down and moved on to other games. At the time I just accepted I wouldn't see the credits, but I got well over 50 hours of enjoyment(?) out of it, so I wasn't too bummed. But then I grew older. Taller. Very marginally more intelligent. By that I meant I could read better and look things up on Google. I learned many things I wasn't aware of. I learned what stats actually did apart from damage. I used jobs like Viking and Monk more effectively for tanking and offense respectively. I was smarter with my magic usage. Items... still weren't used a ton but I now knew how valuable exilirs were. They're the only other way to recover spell slots, but are exceedingly rare so you have to use them only when it matters. And by that I mean only the final dungeon. Also I didn't start back from my old file, but rather I started a brand new game from scratch. Things were already a lot more smoother. Bosses that felt like a gamble if I could beat them as a kid were a lot more comfortable now. I knew where to go for progression so my runtime was a lot shorter. I did grind a lot, but this was still at a time where I didn't have a lot of games. And by the time I was grinding I was already at the Crystal Tower, but have yet to take a real crack at it again. Looking back, I think I didn't want my time with the game to end yet. Didn't want to have less of a reason to dress my guys in funny costumes, to listen to the scariest boss music I ever heard at the time, to admire these chunky-ass DS visuals, and to watch that beutiful CG opening again for the hundredth time. But I did it eventually. It was long, but not the worst. Bosses were still deadly, but I've learned how strong Ninjas were and the power of Black Belts. I also felt Sages were kind of overrated with their low MP, so I stuck with a Devout and Summoner for all my magic needs. It felt more surreal then satisfying watching the end credits. This'll sound ridiculous, but it felt similar to graduating High School. This constant in life was over, so what do I do now without it?
I could just play it again, you dramatic butt!
Joking aside, I honestly felt content in what I played. No feelings of "Thank god that's over", more "It's done." Simple as that. I enjoyed my time with it and now it's time to look for greener pastures. Like a decade later playing the Pixel Remaster of Final Fantasy III. Yeah finally talking about the game this is a review on, but "review" may not be best descriptor for whatever this thing I'm writing is. The best way to describe the Pixel Remaster version is that it's Final Fantasy III but for people who got shit to do. The big thing are autosaves. You die at boss, you can respawn in the room you died at. Also since this is a 2D game with lightning fast animations, battles just fly by. You also have a auto-battle feature to replay the parties previous actions but on fast-forward, allowing for some painless grinding if you feel ill-equipped. Or if you ever feel like saying "screw it" you can jack up the exp and money gains for less time in battles overall, or turn off encounters if they start getting in your skin. I don't feel you need these boosts on a first-time playthrough, but it's there if you want them. The autosaves also help ease the frustration of loosing a lot of progress because "Oh you didn't know your first-time fighting this boss that they have a meteor spell? That's a shame. Die." All around I saw the credits in 12 hours, with the caveat that I've beaten a version of Final Fantasy III before so I knew where to go at all times. If, like me, you have played the DS version then some things will throw you off due to it being based more on the original Famicom version. Namely dungeon layouts and when you obtain certain jobs. They caught me off-guard for sure, but I ain't going to complain getting access to Black Belt much earlier. Music is mostly fantastic, but I'm not the biggest fan of the remix battle themes. The electric guitar doesn't real fit FF III to me, the DS version of the boss theme gave the fights far more tension then the Pixel Remaster. Eternal Wind though, that remake is fuckin beautiful. No notes for that. The Pixel Remaster also has no penalty for swapping jobs. Yes, there's something like that in both Famicom and DS. The former required a currency from battles in order to change jobs, while the latter had your character debuffed for several battles as your character "adjusted" to their new job. I don't think I need to tell you that removing that is unequivocally a good thing even if you are the most hard-core FF III fan.
I am kind of one of those people who feels the autosaves removes a lot of tension from dungeons and boss battles alike, but if I take off my nostalgia goggles for a minute I do acknowledge that a lot of games have done FF III but better, at least in terms of combat and customization. Hell, you'll often hear Final Fantasy V as "It's like FF III but good". And after playing FF V for the first time recently (no I didn't write a review for it), I get the sentiment, though I also feel FF V has also been outdone by many other RPGs. That may imply I feel there's no reason to play either game, but that isn't the case. Even the oldest of games can provide something that nothing of modern times can. There's always a lot of value to be found in anything, or anyone's past. FF V certainly is a lot more manageable if you are coming in from a more modern mindset, but III has merits that have paved a lot for the Final Fantasy series to this day. It's the first game where Dragoons can jump in the air and slam back down with their spear, many iconic jobs like Ninja and Bard got their start here, summoning as a mechanic was new, Moogles exist, even dedicated optional bosses like Bahamut and Leviathan began here.
This is such an odd game to be introduced to Final Fantasy. The plot is simple, progression is just a simple but with a few steps that feel missing, combat is imbalanced with some jobs being relatively underpowered, the game forces you change jobs in several sections so you can't play however you want at times, and the final dungeon alone filters so many people out it's pretty sadistic. I can't say if I'd be singing a different tune for this game if I played it for the first time this year. I first played it in just the right circumstances at just the right age, being incredibly impressionable with a lot of free time and not a lot of other games. It's funny, I could've been playing so many other games at that time and I feel I wouldn't have nearly as much to share about them. Final Fantasy III is far from the perfect game or even one my favorites nowadays, but it was perfect for a young, imaginative kid that had so much more to learn.
It's incredible how good this game is.
Final Fantasy 3 doubles down on the goofy, tropey and whimsical adventuring of FF1 while expanding the scope to make it seem like a true sequel. In spirit and execution, FF3 is the actual sequel to FF1.
This game's biggest claim to fame is the job system. FF1's job system was something you picked at the very beginning of the game and stayed with you the whole adventure, with an upgrade towards the end. Final Fantasy 3 has jobs that are unlocked serially throughout the game, and you are allowed to change your character's jobs whenever you like. Anyone who has read my older reviews knows that I am a sucker for job systems, so I had no problem just eating this up. Surprisingly enough, the execution of the job system here was actually not bad for a first attempt. The game starts off by providing you with the jobs that were available in FF1, which immediately incentives you to pick the same party you would have picked in FF1, likely a Warrior/Monk/White Mage/Black Mage. From there, as more jobs are unlocked, you'll soon notice that the newer jobs are sidegrades or even upgrades to previously unlocked jobs. Meaning that you can, in essence, keep the same party composition for most of the game and succeed with no issues. This all culminates in the ultimate jobs which everyone in your party is likely going to be. While I certainly don't mind the linearity of the job progression like this, there is something to be said about the fact that most jobs are essentially a physical dps, a magic dps and a healer with varying degrees of proficiency.
I would call the lack of job variety a real negative if FF3 did not mitigate that through its encounter design. Something really awesome that this game does is that it sets up its fights with certain conditions that can only be accomplished with specific party comps. An early game example of this the giant rat boss fight. This fight comes at the end of a dungeon where you have to be mini, a status effect where your strength and defense stats are reduced to 1. The giant rat (which is actually normal sized) can absolutely maul your party while you do no damage to it if you are unprepared. The solution is to change your entire party to mages to use their spells on it to do damage and provide a constant source of healing. Another classic example is the Garuda boss fight; where you need to be a dragoon and jump out of the way before he wipes your party with a powerful spell. I know this puzzle like approach to bosses will frustrate some players, but I couldn't help but love it. Later Final Fantasy games would provide more flexibility in its challenges, allowing for more party comps as jobs become more multifaceted, but I can't help but love the simplicity of this design. It could be from the novelty of it all, but I wish we could get more games that approach its encounters in such a way.
Something else I want to bring mention is how amazing the sense of the scale is. You start the game in a continent that is roughly similar in size to the overworld in FF1. However, about a third of the way through, you realize that the starting continent is only a small piece of a much larger world. And then you come to the shocking realization that most of that world was actually flooded when the crystal's light faded. The mix of awe, dread, and melancholy that came over me, flying over this vast ocean that was once populated with life will always stick with me. The accompanying track, The Boundless Ocean, does such an amazing job of carrying those emotions forward to the surface. I was floored when I first came across it, I can't even imagine how some kid back in 1990 would have felt. The fact that this was the same game series that made FF1 only 3 years prior is mind boggling to me.
Beyond the grandiose things, FF3 has a lot of little fixes and changes compared to the last 2 games that make playing the game so much more enjoyable. First of all, the encounter rate is so much better. You can actually explore a lot of the world and a fair amount of the dungeons before being subjected to a fight. You actually do a lot of exploring on airships, meaning that this is the game with the least number of mandatory encounters when compared to FF1 and FF2. The actual encounter themselves are the best here too. FF1 random mods were too easily, FF2 mobs were so hard I just run away from everything; FF3 got it just right. Not too easy, but also not too hard. Dungeons are also much better, not the traps on traps on traps like FF2 and not the big empty rooms of FF1. All together, these optimizations make FF3 incredibly enjoyable to actually play moment to moment and a very rewarding game experience.
Last thing I want to mention, the music. My god. Words cannot even begin to describe. FF3 is generally among the lesser-known games in the franchise so my exposure to its music was minimal. Listening to all the tracks here for the first time was such an experience. It's goofy, lighthearted, melancholy, nostalgic, and exhilarating all in one. The beautiful mysticism of The Ancient's theme, the timelessness of Aria's theme, the quiet serenity of Amur, the hilarity of the 4 fake warriors of light, the previously mentioned Boundless Ocean. And the final theme, Everlasting World, a quiet, intimate, merciful piece that celebrates the beauty of life as it comes, in its little moments. Then to transition into bombastic, celebratory piece of resounding victory; to only to finish with the prelude, that iconic melody synonymous with Final Fantasy. Everlasting World is a goodbye to FF3, but with the hindsight of 30 years, it's also a goodbye to NES Final Fantasy. Starting with the next game, FF will transition into something more cinematic, character driven and dramatic. Beautiful in its own right, but very much different from the charm these 3 NES games have.
I think it's safe to say that Final Fantasy 3 is far and away my favorite NES Final Fantasy and a strong contender for top 5 FF. It's paced immaculately, designed confidently and plays like a dream. The music is transcendent, and the game experience is top notch. The game is fantastic and truly great. It's crime that it took this long for it to finally leave Japan, but oh so worth the wait. PLAY THIS GAME.
Final Fantasy 3 doubles down on the goofy, tropey and whimsical adventuring of FF1 while expanding the scope to make it seem like a true sequel. In spirit and execution, FF3 is the actual sequel to FF1.
This game's biggest claim to fame is the job system. FF1's job system was something you picked at the very beginning of the game and stayed with you the whole adventure, with an upgrade towards the end. Final Fantasy 3 has jobs that are unlocked serially throughout the game, and you are allowed to change your character's jobs whenever you like. Anyone who has read my older reviews knows that I am a sucker for job systems, so I had no problem just eating this up. Surprisingly enough, the execution of the job system here was actually not bad for a first attempt. The game starts off by providing you with the jobs that were available in FF1, which immediately incentives you to pick the same party you would have picked in FF1, likely a Warrior/Monk/White Mage/Black Mage. From there, as more jobs are unlocked, you'll soon notice that the newer jobs are sidegrades or even upgrades to previously unlocked jobs. Meaning that you can, in essence, keep the same party composition for most of the game and succeed with no issues. This all culminates in the ultimate jobs which everyone in your party is likely going to be. While I certainly don't mind the linearity of the job progression like this, there is something to be said about the fact that most jobs are essentially a physical dps, a magic dps and a healer with varying degrees of proficiency.
I would call the lack of job variety a real negative if FF3 did not mitigate that through its encounter design. Something really awesome that this game does is that it sets up its fights with certain conditions that can only be accomplished with specific party comps. An early game example of this the giant rat boss fight. This fight comes at the end of a dungeon where you have to be mini, a status effect where your strength and defense stats are reduced to 1. The giant rat (which is actually normal sized) can absolutely maul your party while you do no damage to it if you are unprepared. The solution is to change your entire party to mages to use their spells on it to do damage and provide a constant source of healing. Another classic example is the Garuda boss fight; where you need to be a dragoon and jump out of the way before he wipes your party with a powerful spell. I know this puzzle like approach to bosses will frustrate some players, but I couldn't help but love it. Later Final Fantasy games would provide more flexibility in its challenges, allowing for more party comps as jobs become more multifaceted, but I can't help but love the simplicity of this design. It could be from the novelty of it all, but I wish we could get more games that approach its encounters in such a way.
Something else I want to bring mention is how amazing the sense of the scale is. You start the game in a continent that is roughly similar in size to the overworld in FF1. However, about a third of the way through, you realize that the starting continent is only a small piece of a much larger world. And then you come to the shocking realization that most of that world was actually flooded when the crystal's light faded. The mix of awe, dread, and melancholy that came over me, flying over this vast ocean that was once populated with life will always stick with me. The accompanying track, The Boundless Ocean, does such an amazing job of carrying those emotions forward to the surface. I was floored when I first came across it, I can't even imagine how some kid back in 1990 would have felt. The fact that this was the same game series that made FF1 only 3 years prior is mind boggling to me.
Beyond the grandiose things, FF3 has a lot of little fixes and changes compared to the last 2 games that make playing the game so much more enjoyable. First of all, the encounter rate is so much better. You can actually explore a lot of the world and a fair amount of the dungeons before being subjected to a fight. You actually do a lot of exploring on airships, meaning that this is the game with the least number of mandatory encounters when compared to FF1 and FF2. The actual encounter themselves are the best here too. FF1 random mods were too easily, FF2 mobs were so hard I just run away from everything; FF3 got it just right. Not too easy, but also not too hard. Dungeons are also much better, not the traps on traps on traps like FF2 and not the big empty rooms of FF1. All together, these optimizations make FF3 incredibly enjoyable to actually play moment to moment and a very rewarding game experience.
Last thing I want to mention, the music. My god. Words cannot even begin to describe. FF3 is generally among the lesser-known games in the franchise so my exposure to its music was minimal. Listening to all the tracks here for the first time was such an experience. It's goofy, lighthearted, melancholy, nostalgic, and exhilarating all in one. The beautiful mysticism of The Ancient's theme, the timelessness of Aria's theme, the quiet serenity of Amur, the hilarity of the 4 fake warriors of light, the previously mentioned Boundless Ocean. And the final theme, Everlasting World, a quiet, intimate, merciful piece that celebrates the beauty of life as it comes, in its little moments. Then to transition into bombastic, celebratory piece of resounding victory; to only to finish with the prelude, that iconic melody synonymous with Final Fantasy. Everlasting World is a goodbye to FF3, but with the hindsight of 30 years, it's also a goodbye to NES Final Fantasy. Starting with the next game, FF will transition into something more cinematic, character driven and dramatic. Beautiful in its own right, but very much different from the charm these 3 NES games have.
I think it's safe to say that Final Fantasy 3 is far and away my favorite NES Final Fantasy and a strong contender for top 5 FF. It's paced immaculately, designed confidently and plays like a dream. The music is transcendent, and the game experience is top notch. The game is fantastic and truly great. It's crime that it took this long for it to finally leave Japan, but oh so worth the wait. PLAY THIS GAME.
People are kind of down on FF3 for not being as good as 5, but I dunno, I get what people who played the Japanese original as kids saw in it. I did try the DS remake back in the day but stopped around the Nepto Dragon dungeon, and I’m glad I gave it another shot in the pixel remaster. It’s got a lot of really cool ideas in it that end up being picked up and refined in later games, and despite its flaws I found myself having a really good time with it. It’s a shame that a lot of the jobs are extremely situational and obsoleted by later jobs, but I saw another review here saying that it was a refinement of the FF1 experience and in that context I think it’s pretty neat.
I think in terms of music and environmental design it’s a great sendoff to the NES era. Obviously I’m playing the pixel remaster rather than the original, but it’s pretty easy to see the scaffolding the prettier graphics were built upon. Leaving the floating continent and seeing the map expand is cool as fuck, and damn. I’m pretty sure the FF14 team made the Crystal Tower raids so important just to be like “hey the ff3 ost rules.” And you know what? They were right. There are SO many absolute bangers in this game. While FF1 and 2 had some great tracks I feel like FF3 is the one where Uematsu really hits his stride and there’s just so much good stuff! Eternal Wind! The Crystal Tower! Eureka! Okay my faves are kind of back loaded but I think the endgame needs to have great music and the final stretch is all killer no filler musically.
I mean the pacing of the Crystal Tower is pretty bad. But like. Quick Saves help. And I do love seeing all my old friends from Alliance Roulette.
Anyway in terms of story and tone it kind of reminds me of Dragon Quest 3 more than anything honestly. There’s an overarching plot that brings in some really neat ideas towards the end, but for the most part you’re kind of on a road trip dealing with local problems and moving on to the next town. The tone is really light and goofy for the most part, and that’s emphasized by the four Warriors of Light being textually kids. I feel like the DS version making them into more individual characters was probably a better decision, but this version lets me give myself psychic damage by looking at the color coded Onion Knights and going “hehehe I know what to name the red, blue, and lighter red ones” because again, I have The MMO Brainrot. It does feel a little like there is a bit of character to whoever you stick in the lead, even if it’s pretty shallow, and you do get fun flavor text for things like examining candles.
I dunno, there are tons of really cute moments in this game. The Cid is a cute little old man. Your characters start off getting booed off the stage when playing the piano, but after you pick up the bard job there’s a piano in the nearest town and you get everyone to do a big old dance number. The battle theme turns into a light woodwind number during the mini dungeons. The Dark Knight’s KO sprite is some empty armor which is sick as hell. It’s great.
The setting also has some pretty neat lore that is unfortunately pretty under-explored. Xande, Doga, and Unei have some weird philosophical shit going on, and I gotta admit I side with Xande there. I know it’s supposed to be some mono no aware shit and immortality sucks but it’s like getting socks for Christmas when your little siblings get a bike and some video games. Like yeah when you’re older you’re gonna love getting socks for Christmas but you’re fucking twelve now. Noah should’ve given him Speak With Animals or something instead of Mortality.
Also the idea of there being too much light that the Warriors of Darkness had to deal with? Cool as fuck. That was a great concept that only really came up at the end. I dunno, they made shit like FFIV: The After Years and Final Fantasy Origin: Stranger of Paradise, maybe they should’ve made a Final Fantasy III spinoff about the Wrath of Light or whatever. Maybe they could make the protagonist a grizzled thirty-something instead of a cute baby Onion Knight and call it something like. I don’t know. Shadow… bring—hey, wait a sec…
I think in terms of music and environmental design it’s a great sendoff to the NES era. Obviously I’m playing the pixel remaster rather than the original, but it’s pretty easy to see the scaffolding the prettier graphics were built upon. Leaving the floating continent and seeing the map expand is cool as fuck, and damn. I’m pretty sure the FF14 team made the Crystal Tower raids so important just to be like “hey the ff3 ost rules.” And you know what? They were right. There are SO many absolute bangers in this game. While FF1 and 2 had some great tracks I feel like FF3 is the one where Uematsu really hits his stride and there’s just so much good stuff! Eternal Wind! The Crystal Tower! Eureka! Okay my faves are kind of back loaded but I think the endgame needs to have great music and the final stretch is all killer no filler musically.
I mean the pacing of the Crystal Tower is pretty bad. But like. Quick Saves help. And I do love seeing all my old friends from Alliance Roulette.
Anyway in terms of story and tone it kind of reminds me of Dragon Quest 3 more than anything honestly. There’s an overarching plot that brings in some really neat ideas towards the end, but for the most part you’re kind of on a road trip dealing with local problems and moving on to the next town. The tone is really light and goofy for the most part, and that’s emphasized by the four Warriors of Light being textually kids. I feel like the DS version making them into more individual characters was probably a better decision, but this version lets me give myself psychic damage by looking at the color coded Onion Knights and going “hehehe I know what to name the red, blue, and lighter red ones” because again, I have The MMO Brainrot. It does feel a little like there is a bit of character to whoever you stick in the lead, even if it’s pretty shallow, and you do get fun flavor text for things like examining candles.
I dunno, there are tons of really cute moments in this game. The Cid is a cute little old man. Your characters start off getting booed off the stage when playing the piano, but after you pick up the bard job there’s a piano in the nearest town and you get everyone to do a big old dance number. The battle theme turns into a light woodwind number during the mini dungeons. The Dark Knight’s KO sprite is some empty armor which is sick as hell. It’s great.
The setting also has some pretty neat lore that is unfortunately pretty under-explored. Xande, Doga, and Unei have some weird philosophical shit going on, and I gotta admit I side with Xande there. I know it’s supposed to be some mono no aware shit and immortality sucks but it’s like getting socks for Christmas when your little siblings get a bike and some video games. Like yeah when you’re older you’re gonna love getting socks for Christmas but you’re fucking twelve now. Noah should’ve given him Speak With Animals or something instead of Mortality.
Also the idea of there being too much light that the Warriors of Darkness had to deal with? Cool as fuck. That was a great concept that only really came up at the end. I dunno, they made shit like FFIV: The After Years and Final Fantasy Origin: Stranger of Paradise, maybe they should’ve made a Final Fantasy III spinoff about the Wrath of Light or whatever. Maybe they could make the protagonist a grizzled thirty-something instead of a cute baby Onion Knight and call it something like. I don’t know. Shadow… bring—hey, wait a sec…
Haha shuriken go brrrrrr
way better than i ever gave it credit for having not played past an hour and i think most people feel about the same.
i was of the persuasion that this was just an inferior ff5 going in, but i came to realize it's actually a superior ff1. if you liked ff1 i do think this is the closest in the series that harkens back to it in feel.
i was of the persuasion that this was just an inferior ff5 going in, but i came to realize it's actually a superior ff1. if you liked ff1 i do think this is the closest in the series that harkens back to it in feel.
My team consisted of:
Macklemore: Warrior/Knight/Dragoon/Ninja
Eminem: Monk/Black Belt
PEE: Black Mage/Magus
Post Malone: White Mage/Devout
I failed to get 100% because i missed 4 enemies and 1 chocobo forest. I feel like such a fraud its unreal. I liked this version more than the DS one, truth be told. Comparible to 1 in overall quality, and comes out as a better game, but 1 leaves such a bigger impression on me. Theres nothing as insane as a fallen knight stuck in a time loop, and most everything cool in here had been done before in it. Most classes felt totally worthless and samey too, something im glad 5 fixes. I’m still mad about the missables, but ig ill get 100% when i replay it in 7 years
Macklemore: Warrior/Knight/Dragoon/Ninja
Eminem: Monk/Black Belt
PEE: Black Mage/Magus
Post Malone: White Mage/Devout
I failed to get 100% because i missed 4 enemies and 1 chocobo forest. I feel like such a fraud its unreal. I liked this version more than the DS one, truth be told. Comparible to 1 in overall quality, and comes out as a better game, but 1 leaves such a bigger impression on me. Theres nothing as insane as a fallen knight stuck in a time loop, and most everything cool in here had been done before in it. Most classes felt totally worthless and samey too, something im glad 5 fixes. I’m still mad about the missables, but ig ill get 100% when i replay it in 7 years
This review contains spoilers
With this experience completed, I now have played through the NES trilogy of Final Fantasy titles. Essentially, this is a better FFI, an evolution if you will, as it takes the jobs and leveling system from it, and makes them even better. While the story may not be as compelling as its predecessor, Final Fantasy II, or even have unique characters that it offers, I think FFIII is the most memorable of the trilogy. From better designed dungeons, awesome locations, and an even better OST, this is definitely the strongest of the Pixel Remasters that I’ve experienced so far (not including VI).
The overworld is amazing and the theme that goes along with it is a perfect combination that truly reinforced the theme of heroes going on a journey, and the various airships were really neat. The Invincible is awesome because it acts like a home base with the ability to rest and buy items/equipment/magic. The dungeon layouts and traversals were designed far better than I and II’s and the worst dungeon, the final one, is still better than a lot of the ones in those games. I am grateful for quick saves and the ability to turn off encounters, since the final dungeon has no way to save, so I ran back to The Invincible and rested before facing off against Cloud of Darkness. The event and set piece that was Saronia was awesome, too.
The job system returns from I, but grants a lot more freedom for your four party members and presents a lot of different setups for the adventure’s various encounters. There’s times the game makes it VERY obvious which jobs you should switch to, (like when they give you a bunch of Dragoon or Dark Knight equipment) and my final jobs for my party ended up being Dragoon, Sage, Ninja, and Magus. I love Dragoons, from it being my true first job in FFXIV (after reaching the minimum level for Lancer), and playing through The Legend of Dragoon recently, I was stoked to have access to this job. Though I did start off with Warrior, Monk, Black & White Mages and kept the Monk around for a while, I switched around the other three constantly as new ones were available. The times where you had to go “mini,” I was not too fond of, because in order to deal damage, you have to swap your whole party to mage jobs if you desire to move forward. Overall, a really solid system, but as the game goes on it makes most previous jobs irrelevant.
After giving us named characters in II and with a darker story, they definitely went back to the simplicity of I. There is some neat subplots from the NPCs that join your party and the whole deal with Master Noah and his disciples, but as a whole, it definitely was not as “grand” as II’s presentation. However, I really liked the idea of “light and dark working together” at the end emphasizing a balance between the two.
Also shoutout first Moogle appearance, love these guys.
The overworld is amazing and the theme that goes along with it is a perfect combination that truly reinforced the theme of heroes going on a journey, and the various airships were really neat. The Invincible is awesome because it acts like a home base with the ability to rest and buy items/equipment/magic. The dungeon layouts and traversals were designed far better than I and II’s and the worst dungeon, the final one, is still better than a lot of the ones in those games. I am grateful for quick saves and the ability to turn off encounters, since the final dungeon has no way to save, so I ran back to The Invincible and rested before facing off against Cloud of Darkness. The event and set piece that was Saronia was awesome, too.
The job system returns from I, but grants a lot more freedom for your four party members and presents a lot of different setups for the adventure’s various encounters. There’s times the game makes it VERY obvious which jobs you should switch to, (like when they give you a bunch of Dragoon or Dark Knight equipment) and my final jobs for my party ended up being Dragoon, Sage, Ninja, and Magus. I love Dragoons, from it being my true first job in FFXIV (after reaching the minimum level for Lancer), and playing through The Legend of Dragoon recently, I was stoked to have access to this job. Though I did start off with Warrior, Monk, Black & White Mages and kept the Monk around for a while, I switched around the other three constantly as new ones were available. The times where you had to go “mini,” I was not too fond of, because in order to deal damage, you have to swap your whole party to mage jobs if you desire to move forward. Overall, a really solid system, but as the game goes on it makes most previous jobs irrelevant.
After giving us named characters in II and with a darker story, they definitely went back to the simplicity of I. There is some neat subplots from the NPCs that join your party and the whole deal with Master Noah and his disciples, but as a whole, it definitely was not as “grand” as II’s presentation. However, I really liked the idea of “light and dark working together” at the end emphasizing a balance between the two.
Also shoutout first Moogle appearance, love these guys.
This was pretty good. Definitely the best out of the three original Final Fantasy games. It has a simple, but still pretty sweet story. Combat and job systems are great, and it's nowhere near as grindy as FF2. Random encounter rate is lower too, which is definitely nice. The world is way more fun compared to 1 and 2 as well, and you get a wonderful sense of adventure. Some things are still repetitive, but I would recommend it for sure.
Tbh, not my fave FF. I remember playing the DS version, though I was a lot younger, and it would've been one of the earlier ones that I played through fully. I did feel I had a positive time with it then, but wonder how it'd hold up now...
The introduction of jobs was really interesting, and this game has some cool ass bosses. Of the original trilogy from the pixel remasters, I think it's my least favorite, as the story is really pretty subdued. The best part of the game for me was the final dungeons which absolutely ripped, and constituted probably 1/5 of my entire playtime lol. Mayhaps too long? A lot of the backstory etc is loaded into that end game bit.
As with the other pixel remasters the sprite work, attack animations, and re-orchestrated soundtrack are wonderful.
Also now that I have XIV under my belt this game gave me a lot of wojack pointing energy. I'm glad to have played it again regardless, as I needed a refresh on the early entries of FF. I am really looking forward to playing the rest of the pixel remasters.
The introduction of jobs was really interesting, and this game has some cool ass bosses. Of the original trilogy from the pixel remasters, I think it's my least favorite, as the story is really pretty subdued. The best part of the game for me was the final dungeons which absolutely ripped, and constituted probably 1/5 of my entire playtime lol. Mayhaps too long? A lot of the backstory etc is loaded into that end game bit.
As with the other pixel remasters the sprite work, attack animations, and re-orchestrated soundtrack are wonderful.
Also now that I have XIV under my belt this game gave me a lot of wojack pointing energy. I'm glad to have played it again regardless, as I needed a refresh on the early entries of FF. I am really looking forward to playing the rest of the pixel remasters.
This one lands somewhere in between 1 and 2 for me. Liked it more than 2, what with the return to a somewhat more traditional leveling system, but also introducing the Job System, and better designed dungeons. But less than 1 for some of the weird world design and quest order things. Overall a good time though, and a fun capstone to the original Famicom trilogy.
you would think this would be talked about more given that this game is the source of many ideas, themes, and even item names. this is a silly video game with a silly premise and silly dialogue. your characters wear silly outfits and use a silly job system which seems to be programmed in a silly way (e.g. my "glass cannon" always had higher defense / hp / speed / atttack than my "tank" with very little job switching involved). in summary: heck yeah, FF3.
The best of the original 3 games by far. You get some crap dungeons like the two with splitting enemies and the Crystal Tower is a bit of slog (even with Pixel Remaster QOL changes), but it's still leagues above FF II, and feels meatier than FF I.
What a fascinating experience it's been to play through the first three games in the Final Fantasy series. Not only to see the foundation of what the series would become, but also the surprise of how much fun I've had.
This one is my favourite of the NES trilogy of games, as it felt like the most challenging, ambitious and satisfying to play.
This one is my favourite of the NES trilogy of games, as it felt like the most challenging, ambitious and satisfying to play.
Final Fantasy 3 introduces the job system... more like I would rather be working at my job system.
In what is apparently my latest hot take, I think this game is worse than FF2 actually.
The job system is kinda interesting and of course is the foundation of more to come, but for a game that is trying to have more of an expanded story its funny how it doesn't have as impactful moments as either of its predecessors.
Also the music is worse. (Town of Amur is great though).
The game trapped me in the in game dungeon just to make me suffer and I won't forgive or forget.
Kinda cool how you can walk around the big ship. And now that I think about it, the numerous airships and surprisingly expanding world map give FF3 more character than I was thinking to admit when starting to type this review.
Can't wait to play FF4! How far will I get into the series this year? Stay tuned.
In what is apparently my latest hot take, I think this game is worse than FF2 actually.
The job system is kinda interesting and of course is the foundation of more to come, but for a game that is trying to have more of an expanded story its funny how it doesn't have as impactful moments as either of its predecessors.
Also the music is worse. (Town of Amur is great though).
The game trapped me in the in game dungeon just to make me suffer and I won't forgive or forget.
Kinda cool how you can walk around the big ship. And now that I think about it, the numerous airships and surprisingly expanding world map give FF3 more character than I was thinking to admit when starting to type this review.
Can't wait to play FF4! How far will I get into the series this year? Stay tuned.
Honestly way better than I remembered from when I first tried this out a few years back, it’s still a Famicom game at heart so it’s nothing too crazy but this is a massive improvement from the first two. Everything is filled with so much more personality than we ever got before, so even though the story is basic it’s so much more entertaining than previous installments. The job system is pretty cool, takes what worked with the party formation system in the first game and expands on it a ton. Makes for some fun customization opportunities as well as cool puzzle solving that feels good most of the time. Final dungeon is unfortunately a pretty huge difficulty spike and it’s ridiculously long for no good reason, but thanks to the QoL improvements from the pixel remaster it’s nowhere near as egregious as it could’ve been. This was a big leap forward for the series in every way and I regret putting it off for so long