The best out of all three NES Final Fantasies, but with the biggest problem balancing difficulty, making it even to previous entries.
The Job system is a good innovation: it's fun to juggle different abilities and gameplay features, like Dragoon jumps, Knights ability to protect, Conjurer (Invoker) gamble with summoner magic. I don't even mind SOME of the instances of forced jobs, with a system that allows you change to any job in relatively small time, it's not that big of problem, but... more on this problems later. Mini and Toad transformations are cute, but Mini has restrictions and unnecessary cruel segments. Fuck that big stupid rat bastard boss. Game has similar looks to previous ones, but a lot of animations looks good, even impressive for NES hardware. Endscreen is the best NES endscreens I've seen. Story follows similar principal of the first game and makes some flavor with characters and cutscenes like the second one. FF II is more interesting overall in that regard, but FF III has more engaging moments. Antagonists are kind of boring though. Cutscenes before final zone are pleasant showcase, how you impacted this world and it's people. Music is also good, hearing so many familiar tracks after FFXIV was a treat.
So overall game is better than two previous ones, right? Well...
In some particular moments game is really cruel with balancing. Some jobs you can't even try because you don't have armor and weapons for them (they are in different town out of your reach for next two dungeons). I wouldn't even care about Mini restrictions of no physical damage and armor if not for that big stupid fucking rat bastard boss. I hate Cave of Shadows and it's dividing enemies with passion, since it's the only instance of forced job executed really poorly. The only non-vague explanations of how to beat it are in said cave with rabbit-like enemies spawn rate and in hidden village. And unlike Garuda and dragoons situation (which foreshadows Garuda pretty clearly and gives free armor for multiple characters), Mystic Knights (Dark Knights) are very stingy with their armor and weapons, combine it with necessity of using them... it's not good.
Surprisingly for me, Eureka and Syrcus Tower went smoothly. For the first time in FF games i have top armor and weapons for my characters, i have all summons and decent resources... and then Xande's Meteor hit me. And then the second one hit me. And then I'm dead. And if I play by the rules, i have ether spend good 30-40 minutes to try again, or mindlessly grind for several hours. And then Dark World bosses, especially Ahriman. And then Cloud of Darkness, who spams Particle Beam nonstop. It's unusually cruel even by FF ending standards, i didn't have to grind my way in previous ones, they were hard, but completable. This one isn't. FF III at it's last hours feels like gambling game: ether heals come first or you die a violent death. Game punishes you for not having ~50 level and cuts 1.5 hour of progression right at the end, a stupid problem in a game with save system.
I want to like this game, I want to like it better than other two NES entries, but I can't. In the end of the day, all of them are at the same level. First one because of some BS parts at the middle and it's overall simplicity, second one because of inconvenient way to level up your survivability and way too long ending dungeon, and third one because of some bad designs, meteors and big fucking stupid dumb piece of shit rat.
I hope SNES games are going to be improvement without fucking up endgame.
The Job system is a good innovation: it's fun to juggle different abilities and gameplay features, like Dragoon jumps, Knights ability to protect, Conjurer (Invoker) gamble with summoner magic. I don't even mind SOME of the instances of forced jobs, with a system that allows you change to any job in relatively small time, it's not that big of problem, but... more on this problems later. Mini and Toad transformations are cute, but Mini has restrictions and unnecessary cruel segments. Fuck that big stupid rat bastard boss. Game has similar looks to previous ones, but a lot of animations looks good, even impressive for NES hardware. Endscreen is the best NES endscreens I've seen. Story follows similar principal of the first game and makes some flavor with characters and cutscenes like the second one. FF II is more interesting overall in that regard, but FF III has more engaging moments. Antagonists are kind of boring though. Cutscenes before final zone are pleasant showcase, how you impacted this world and it's people. Music is also good, hearing so many familiar tracks after FFXIV was a treat.
So overall game is better than two previous ones, right? Well...
In some particular moments game is really cruel with balancing. Some jobs you can't even try because you don't have armor and weapons for them (they are in different town out of your reach for next two dungeons). I wouldn't even care about Mini restrictions of no physical damage and armor if not for that big stupid fucking rat bastard boss. I hate Cave of Shadows and it's dividing enemies with passion, since it's the only instance of forced job executed really poorly. The only non-vague explanations of how to beat it are in said cave with rabbit-like enemies spawn rate and in hidden village. And unlike Garuda and dragoons situation (which foreshadows Garuda pretty clearly and gives free armor for multiple characters), Mystic Knights (Dark Knights) are very stingy with their armor and weapons, combine it with necessity of using them... it's not good.
Surprisingly for me, Eureka and Syrcus Tower went smoothly. For the first time in FF games i have top armor and weapons for my characters, i have all summons and decent resources... and then Xande's Meteor hit me. And then the second one hit me. And then I'm dead. And if I play by the rules, i have ether spend good 30-40 minutes to try again, or mindlessly grind for several hours. And then Dark World bosses, especially Ahriman. And then Cloud of Darkness, who spams Particle Beam nonstop. It's unusually cruel even by FF ending standards, i didn't have to grind my way in previous ones, they were hard, but completable. This one isn't. FF III at it's last hours feels like gambling game: ether heals come first or you die a violent death. Game punishes you for not having ~50 level and cuts 1.5 hour of progression right at the end, a stupid problem in a game with save system.
I want to like this game, I want to like it better than other two NES entries, but I can't. In the end of the day, all of them are at the same level. First one because of some BS parts at the middle and it's overall simplicity, second one because of inconvenient way to level up your survivability and way too long ending dungeon, and third one because of some bad designs, meteors and big fucking stupid dumb piece of shit rat.
I hope SNES games are going to be improvement without fucking up endgame.
APairofTimbs
3 months ago