If Final Fantasy II was the exception to the norm, the counterpart of sequels in the Mario and Zelda series, then Final Fantasy III is the series’s Super Mario Bros. 3, or The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Its gameplay more closely resembles that of the original, but improves on everything that game introduced. It’s longer, more involved, more challenging, better-looking, and smoother. The transition from II to III is one of the most drastic in the entire series, but most gameplay features are still familiar for those who played the first two games. The end result is essentially the best of both worlds in terms of gameplay, though the plot, characters, and similar areas in which II made major strides, definitely take a step backwards. The development team, though, had its audience in mind throughout the process, and delivered what fans wanted at the time: an incredible gameplay experience. Even to this day, Final Fantasy III stands out as one of the most challenging games in the series, and is much more accessible to modern players than its predecessors.

III was finally remade for release in North America on Nintendo DS this past year, making it the last of the series (Final Fantasy through Final Fantasy XII) to be granted an English translation. For the purpose of this marathon, I have used an unofficial English translation with the original Japanese version of the game.

GAME INFORMATION

Released: 1990 (JAPAN)

Nintendo Family Computer

REGULAR FEATURES INTRODUCED TO THE SERIES

Unlike Final Fantasy II, most of this game’s new features stuck. While II showed flashes of what was to come in RPGs, Final Fantasy III more concretely resembles the direction in which the series would head (at least in the area of gameplay).

• The classic Final Fantasy menu screen layout
• In battle, if the targeted enemy is defeated, your attack will be automatically refocused (this only works with regular weapon attacks).
• HP damage and recovery are displayed at the site rather than in a window at the bottom of the screen.
• Back Attacks
• Consumable arrows
  
• The ability to change rows in battle
• Summon magic
• Improved inventory: you can now hold 99 of each item in a single inventory space.
• Fat Chocobos
• Buying in bulk
• Damage given from or received in the back row is less than normal.
• Airship names
• Toad and Mini status effects
• Moogles
  

UNIQUE FEATURES

There actually aren’t many unique features to be found, since most of them were either borrowed from Final Fantasy, adapted from Final Fantasy II, or used in future games in the series.

• New and improved Job system (revised in Final Fantasy V)
• Like in Final Fantasy II, guests will join the party but here they do not join you in battle. Talk to them by pressing B.
• You need to remove all equipment manually before you can switch jobs.

CATEGORICAL RATINGS

GAMEPLAY

The Job System debuts (or returns, depending on who you talk to), providing the player with more freedom in customization than was available in Final Fantasy, as character classes can now be changed at any time from the menu screen. The system is, in many ways, more involved than the character advancement system in II as well. Your actions in battle no longer determine which character attributes are affected, but changing jobs regularly and finding combinations that work well in different situations is crucial for success. There are many more jobs than before as well: Geomancer, Hunter, and Summoner, to name a few, are introduced. The magic system is basically the same that was featured in Final Fantasy, but spells are initially in item form and can now be swapped with those of other characters. The item inventory is handled much better than in the previous games, as 99 of an item can be held in one inventory slot. Fat Chocobo, who can store items you might need later so they don’t take up room. This helps, but the system still has its problems. Whenever you want to change jobs, you have to make sure that you have enough free slots to unequip the character, and it will most often occur when a Fat Chocobo is inaccessible. Magic is easier to incorporate into regular use, as the advanced magic-using classes can use hundreds of spells before they run out of MP. Overall, the gameplay is very refined, and for the first time in the series you feel like you’re playing a game that has essentially met its potential.

BATTLE

The developing team clearly took steps to make the battles more interesting and less repetitive, and it pays off. The variety is provided by the job combination possibilities, but also by the more varied strengths, weaknesses, and abilities of enemies. The row system is much improved, as damage from or to the back row is halved rather than ineffective. Row placement becomes more of a strategic element than in II, where it was more often inconvenient than not. The balance between the importance of magic and the convenience of physical attacks is better than ever. Physical attacks targeted on enemies who have died are automatically targeted to another enemy, which changes the battle dynamic from the previous games. Though the need for strategizing suffers slightly for this, it is a welcome change. Some new job-specific battle commands add a lot to the attack/magic/item system of old. The Dragoon’s “Jump” and Geomancer’s “Terrain” abilities, for example, provide strategic options for some otherwise very difficult battles. Summon magic appears for the first time in the series, and while its importance is limited here, it will become a cornerstone of future Final Fantasy games.

ENVIRONMENTS

For the first time in the series, and not the last, you are given the opportunity to explore areas beneath the ocean. Other new environments introduced to the series include a continent floating in the sky, a dark world, a floating castle made of an ancient tree, a town of miniature people, a shrine you can only enter as a miniature person, a tunnel you can only enter as a miniature person, and a tower you can only enter as a frog. The towns are more varied, and often have specialized types of shops. New types of places are featured on the world map, such as a mountain path, a mansion, an enormous tower, and an uncrossable marsh. The final area of the game is enormous, and sets a new standard for the series.

MUSIC

Final Fantasy III has about twice the music that the first two games had, and at least that many more subpar pieces. What this game really lacks are the standout pieces that II featured. The technology has improved once again, however, with a wider variety of sounds and even some drums in the battle themes. The chocobo theme has been expanded, the main theme is back, and there is finally a theme for the last boss battle. The music is better when Uematsu resists using the annoying tremolo-type effect. In the second half of the soundtrack, things pick up a bit. Some of the water-themed pieces are quite good, and the last battle music and the end ending theme are some of the best yet in the series. What bring this rating down are the overworld music and the dungeon and cave pieces. It’s amazing how much your frustration can be compounded by annoying music. The more lyric, more soothing songs are the ones that make the music worth listening to. “Let Me Know the Truth” is a standout among the early Final Fantasy games. Overall, though, it’s an average soundtrack.

CHARACTERS

The only real characters in Final Fantasy III are non-playable, so that’s a bad way to start. However, the NPCs (non-playable characters) don’t really have much personality either. Even if they do, it must be only for comic relief, or something. To be fair, in English translations, the text must be compressed because you can say a lot more in Japanese than you can in English in the same amount of space. But this is undeniably a step back from the promise Final Fantasy II started to show in this department. It is another element of content that was sacrificed for the sake of gameplay. Why can’t we have both? Perhaps we just weren’t ready yet back in 1990.

VILLAINS

Who in the world is Zande? Even after beating the game I need to ask this question. I mean, I know part of his background, but his motives are laughable. Unfortunately for this game, there aren’t even any sub-villains to hold the reins while we wait for the action to pick up. At least [the battle with Necron in Final Fantasy IX] makes a bit more sense once you meet [Dark Cloud], but not really. It more likely will just make you wonder why they’d make the same mistake twice in one series. Maybe I’m just picky, but I like my villains to be personally involved in the game they are supposed to be terrorizing.

DIALOGUE

Now that Final Fantasy II has happened, and we have seen true dialogue, we know they’re doing this on purpose. Your nameless characters do respond to things a few times in the game, but it’s never anything of substance. There is some dialogue between NPCs, but not much.

STORY

It’s empty and thin, but there is a lot more going on than there was in Final Fantasy. While there are now at least some plot events to drive the action (though I’m using the word “events” quite loosely), the story falls short of expectations. However, the structure of the story is more indicative of the direction in which the series would head than II’s story is. The plot is driven by magic rather than politics, and it is on a grander scale; i.e. the party is not looking just to take down an empire, but to restore balance of the universe and perhaps save the world from destruction. In these ways the story resembles that of Final Fantasy, and in these same ways it acts as a building block for future games of the series. The structure is okay, but there is no substance.

THEMES

Light and dark are the main themes. The crystals are back from the first game (though they were called “ORBs” in the North American version), and this time there are light and dark ones. These two forces must be in balance for the world to be saved. There is even a “Dark World” that you must venture into to secure this balance. There is also a point in which [five souls of light must combine to save you from the five dark dragons]. The theme of “hope” is brought up a few times but is weakly utilized. This area of the game isn’t terrible, but it’s also not terribly revolutionary or even noteworthy.

INTEREST

The gameplay and battles go a long way to help the game’s interest rating, but the story isn’t involving enough to make it very interesting. Somehow the game feels a bit distant, and that is probably attributable to the lack of character and plot development. Innovations such as having to shrink your party or turn them into frogs in order to complete certain tasks add interest and frustration. The Job system gets you more involved in character development outside of battle; this involvement will become a cornerstone of the franchise later on. For whatever reason, the addition of on-site HP damage and recovery are key innovations that make the battles far less annoying.

FLOW

The battle encounter rate is a bit high, but the battles are faster now, and the dungeons, as we call them, are a bit shorter. In contrast to Final Fantasy II, only small sections of the world map are accessible through the first part of the game, so the action is pretty straightforward. Later on, the events run together logically enough, but it does often feel like you’re zipping back and forth through the world when you really just want to get down to business. This is what you get with a thin plot: Final Fantasy III contains a lot of “filler” missions.

CHALLENGE

At the time, the game was too hard. In retrospect, I should have sucked it up. There are always ways to get around challenges that are too great, so I would rather an RPG be too hard than too easy. As in Final Fantasy, you can impose limits on yourself to increase the challenge—by using only weak jobs, for example. In fact, it wasn’t until [I obtained the optional Ninja and Sage jobs] that the game eased up a bit. [Getting all of the ultimate weapons] helped, too. While the game is very challenging, it is the balance that is most improved from previous games and makes it play more like a modern game. Boss battles are balanced better in relation to regular battles, and may even require more effort than an unrelenting weapons-based attack. The parts with all the enemies that split into two when attacked are the toughest in the series yet, but with some good strategy, a patient man should be able to get by it in a matter of hours. Yikes. As stated earlier, magic is more useful and the special job abilities help with the balance, too. Oh yeah, and having to be miniaturized for entire sections of the game doesn’t make things any easier.

EXTRAS

The jobs are an integral part of the game, but you probably won’t use all of them, so I’ll include that in this section. A few secret treasure-filled areas exist, and there is an important side quest right before the end of the game that [allows you to gain the optional jobs and the ultimate weapons]. Just like in Final Fantasy II, some ultimate equipment is guarded by optional mini-boss battles. One of the coolest things in the whole game is [when you can fight up to four optional bosses in the Dark World so that the Dark Warriors will help you out against Dark Cloud]. Extras are becoming more important to the RPG experience—this is a good sign.

REPLAY

Replay in Final Fantasy III is good for the same reasons that it was in Final Fantasy. While it’s not as small and neat a package as the first game was, there are more options when it comes to classes and character advancement in III, to make things more interesting the second time around. The job system and the different possibilities for party combinations and challenge adjustment it brings to the table make III one of the more enjoyable games to play over and over again. The game’s length and moderate interest rating hold it back a little bit.