This review contains spoilers
Story: 10/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Dungeons: 10/10
Music: 10/10
Final Fantasy III is the third and final entry of the NES/Famicom releases in this franchise. This release is a well written and well developed title that borrows features from the previous two entries and creates a fresh new adventure.
Our story begins with four orphans falling through a hole in a cave. These four soon-to-be heroes very quickly find their way to the Wind Crystal! The Wind Crystal blesses our heroes with its light and bestows upon them a mission to seek out the other crystals and banish the darkness that is growing. The story in this game is fantastic. We meet a new iteration of Cid who is an old man just trying to get back to his wife, a princess who is madly in love with our main hero, along with a plethora of other colorful and well written characters. Each character has a distinct personality that shines through in the dialogue. The story facilitates our journey well without feeling the need to give us unimportant side plots. Whenever I took a break from the story to find optionals or grind a few levels I was always reluctant to go. This is the first game in this series where I struggled putting it down. They don’t give us much time with Xande but they give us enough information on him and why his evil plan is well… evil. The Cloud of Darkness showing up isn’t really a twist but is still an interesting turn of events. Finding out the Xande is in fact not the final boss but only a tool being used by the real final boss isn’t exactly a new idea (maybe more original when this game first released) but it works for this title and hasn’t been done prior in the series. The game does a good job reminding you of the friends you’ve made and the accomplishments you’ve achieved throughout the story. The game also teaches a good lesson to never lose hope even in the face of darkness.
The gameplay this time around was more similar to Final Fantasy I. We’re back to spell slots instead of MP and we’re back to having different classes. To highlight some differences, there are only three of each level of spell for both White and Black magic. Characters now have “jobs” instead of a class and all four of your characters start off as Onion Knights. Each time you reach a Crystal of Light you are granted new jobs that your characters can take. Jobs level on their own scale and then characters have their own unique level. I think this is a healthy blend of the previous two game’s systems. You are rewarded for leveling up your characters in the jobs you want them to fill but you have the flexibility of changing them as needed. A notable highlight for this is having to inflict status upon your characters in order to access a handful of dungeons. Specifically there are about three dungeons that require you to inflict toad upon yourself in order to enter. This can be a bit daunting if you don’t have the MP to reverse the status or you can’t find some Maiden’s Kiss items. It was a nice touch and made me more thoughtful as I proceded into the game. The job change feature is used more in the first half of the game where there are certain dungeons that benefit if you change your characters to magic type classes because you are forced to inflict the mini status on yourself to enter and explore a couple of dungeons. There’s also encouragement to try out different classes since there is no drawback to changing and you can always change back whenever you want. I found that once I got towards the end I ended up committing to my favorite jobs for each character and sticking with that until I unlocked the last two jobs (Ninja and Scholar) A flaw I would point out is that jobs gain experience by doing actions. So if one or two of your characters wipe out the enemies before the other two can do an action then they gain zero job experience. If you’re not careful those characters can lose out on job levels and fall behind. This game has an overall count of 22 different jobs, most of which are viable and a couple that either fill very short niches. Some of them are outshined by other jobs too and one of them isn’t truly usable until you get further into the game after you unlock it. This system is inventive for its time and is well implemented. The strengths of this system far outshine the weaknesses and I am very pleased with it overall.
The dungeons in this game are something else. They start off incredibly linear and brain dead. The first few dungeons don’t even really have branching paths and the bosses are basically just mobs with extra health. But once you get to the Tower of Owen it gets a bit more challenging. I had a couple of bosses make me try a couple of times and they pushed me to be more strategic. This is a good improvement as previous bosses in this series have often been “set up your strongest moves and then auto battle.” Once you get off of the floating continent and the rest of the world opens up the game starts issuing you a decent challenge. Some of which encourages you to grind levels here and there. I’m pleased to say that this game still doesn’t require a lot of grinding so long as you don’t take shortcuts through dungeons (i.e. teleporting out instead of fighting your way back out). I think the dungeons that were the most interesting were the last four. Those being Ancients’ Maze, Eureka, Crystal Tower, and World of Darkness. Between the music, the monsters, and the treasure, I was enthralled. The dungeons have plenty of twists and turns. Having a map available helps with finding your way through but going through and finding all of the treasure created a very worthwhile experiences. The bosses in this game are worth highlighting here too. Most of the bosses offer you a decent challenge. The optional bosses Odin, Leviathan, and Bahamut offer a good challenge and a just reward for beating them (the ability to summon them in battle if one of your characters are using a job that can do so). Bosses that were good in particular were Hein who gave the Scholar job a chance to shine with its study ability and Cloud of Darkness which is the final boss. Cloud of Darkness is the first boss that I didn’t feel the need to look up a strategy for. I was able to take it on without issue. I think the boss would be more challenging for a lower level party (my party was all around level 51) but I would like to think that having an easier time is a reward for putting effort into developing your party.
Alright let’s talk about the soundtrack. I have to talk about the battle track right away. This track goes HARD. My first time going into battle and I hear a heavy crunchy rendition of the classic intro that is in every battle theme and I was immediately impressed. I sat there and listened to the track for a minute before sending the goblins to their maker. That’s not where the music stopped either. Every area’s tune was well written and well implemented. There was a lot less repitition in this game’s locales. The boss battle theme created a nice sense of tension while also conveying the epic that is unfolding before your eyes. The team that remastered these themes for the game did a wonderful job preserving the original tracks while also updating them and making them fit in these remasters. Other tracks I would like to highlight are “The Invincible,” “Sunken Temple,” “The Forbidden Land, Eureka,” and “The Dark Crystals.” There are some other fantastic tracks but those are my favorites.
Final Fantasy III has been the most exciting entry into this retrospective to date. I think this is also the first title I’ve been overly enthusiastic to play since I picked up FFXIV and played it nonstop for 4 years. Something I didn’t get to highlight above is that we get introduced to moogles for the first time! I also found it both hilarious and heartbreaking that we end up destroying like three ships. I guess they just don’t build them like they did in the previous two games. I’m very happy with my experience with this game (and this franchise) and now I’m beyond excited to get started into Final Fantasy IV!
Gameplay: 10/10
Dungeons: 10/10
Music: 10/10
Final Fantasy III is the third and final entry of the NES/Famicom releases in this franchise. This release is a well written and well developed title that borrows features from the previous two entries and creates a fresh new adventure.
Our story begins with four orphans falling through a hole in a cave. These four soon-to-be heroes very quickly find their way to the Wind Crystal! The Wind Crystal blesses our heroes with its light and bestows upon them a mission to seek out the other crystals and banish the darkness that is growing. The story in this game is fantastic. We meet a new iteration of Cid who is an old man just trying to get back to his wife, a princess who is madly in love with our main hero, along with a plethora of other colorful and well written characters. Each character has a distinct personality that shines through in the dialogue. The story facilitates our journey well without feeling the need to give us unimportant side plots. Whenever I took a break from the story to find optionals or grind a few levels I was always reluctant to go. This is the first game in this series where I struggled putting it down. They don’t give us much time with Xande but they give us enough information on him and why his evil plan is well… evil. The Cloud of Darkness showing up isn’t really a twist but is still an interesting turn of events. Finding out the Xande is in fact not the final boss but only a tool being used by the real final boss isn’t exactly a new idea (maybe more original when this game first released) but it works for this title and hasn’t been done prior in the series. The game does a good job reminding you of the friends you’ve made and the accomplishments you’ve achieved throughout the story. The game also teaches a good lesson to never lose hope even in the face of darkness.
The gameplay this time around was more similar to Final Fantasy I. We’re back to spell slots instead of MP and we’re back to having different classes. To highlight some differences, there are only three of each level of spell for both White and Black magic. Characters now have “jobs” instead of a class and all four of your characters start off as Onion Knights. Each time you reach a Crystal of Light you are granted new jobs that your characters can take. Jobs level on their own scale and then characters have their own unique level. I think this is a healthy blend of the previous two game’s systems. You are rewarded for leveling up your characters in the jobs you want them to fill but you have the flexibility of changing them as needed. A notable highlight for this is having to inflict status upon your characters in order to access a handful of dungeons. Specifically there are about three dungeons that require you to inflict toad upon yourself in order to enter. This can be a bit daunting if you don’t have the MP to reverse the status or you can’t find some Maiden’s Kiss items. It was a nice touch and made me more thoughtful as I proceded into the game. The job change feature is used more in the first half of the game where there are certain dungeons that benefit if you change your characters to magic type classes because you are forced to inflict the mini status on yourself to enter and explore a couple of dungeons. There’s also encouragement to try out different classes since there is no drawback to changing and you can always change back whenever you want. I found that once I got towards the end I ended up committing to my favorite jobs for each character and sticking with that until I unlocked the last two jobs (Ninja and Scholar) A flaw I would point out is that jobs gain experience by doing actions. So if one or two of your characters wipe out the enemies before the other two can do an action then they gain zero job experience. If you’re not careful those characters can lose out on job levels and fall behind. This game has an overall count of 22 different jobs, most of which are viable and a couple that either fill very short niches. Some of them are outshined by other jobs too and one of them isn’t truly usable until you get further into the game after you unlock it. This system is inventive for its time and is well implemented. The strengths of this system far outshine the weaknesses and I am very pleased with it overall.
The dungeons in this game are something else. They start off incredibly linear and brain dead. The first few dungeons don’t even really have branching paths and the bosses are basically just mobs with extra health. But once you get to the Tower of Owen it gets a bit more challenging. I had a couple of bosses make me try a couple of times and they pushed me to be more strategic. This is a good improvement as previous bosses in this series have often been “set up your strongest moves and then auto battle.” Once you get off of the floating continent and the rest of the world opens up the game starts issuing you a decent challenge. Some of which encourages you to grind levels here and there. I’m pleased to say that this game still doesn’t require a lot of grinding so long as you don’t take shortcuts through dungeons (i.e. teleporting out instead of fighting your way back out). I think the dungeons that were the most interesting were the last four. Those being Ancients’ Maze, Eureka, Crystal Tower, and World of Darkness. Between the music, the monsters, and the treasure, I was enthralled. The dungeons have plenty of twists and turns. Having a map available helps with finding your way through but going through and finding all of the treasure created a very worthwhile experiences. The bosses in this game are worth highlighting here too. Most of the bosses offer you a decent challenge. The optional bosses Odin, Leviathan, and Bahamut offer a good challenge and a just reward for beating them (the ability to summon them in battle if one of your characters are using a job that can do so). Bosses that were good in particular were Hein who gave the Scholar job a chance to shine with its study ability and Cloud of Darkness which is the final boss. Cloud of Darkness is the first boss that I didn’t feel the need to look up a strategy for. I was able to take it on without issue. I think the boss would be more challenging for a lower level party (my party was all around level 51) but I would like to think that having an easier time is a reward for putting effort into developing your party.
Alright let’s talk about the soundtrack. I have to talk about the battle track right away. This track goes HARD. My first time going into battle and I hear a heavy crunchy rendition of the classic intro that is in every battle theme and I was immediately impressed. I sat there and listened to the track for a minute before sending the goblins to their maker. That’s not where the music stopped either. Every area’s tune was well written and well implemented. There was a lot less repitition in this game’s locales. The boss battle theme created a nice sense of tension while also conveying the epic that is unfolding before your eyes. The team that remastered these themes for the game did a wonderful job preserving the original tracks while also updating them and making them fit in these remasters. Other tracks I would like to highlight are “The Invincible,” “Sunken Temple,” “The Forbidden Land, Eureka,” and “The Dark Crystals.” There are some other fantastic tracks but those are my favorites.
Final Fantasy III has been the most exciting entry into this retrospective to date. I think this is also the first title I’ve been overly enthusiastic to play since I picked up FFXIV and played it nonstop for 4 years. Something I didn’t get to highlight above is that we get introduced to moogles for the first time! I also found it both hilarious and heartbreaking that we end up destroying like three ships. I guess they just don’t build them like they did in the previous two games. I’m very happy with my experience with this game (and this franchise) and now I’m beyond excited to get started into Final Fantasy IV!