DS Review: Final Fantasy III

Final Fantasy III is one of those games that generate a lot of controversy, because there are invariably people who love it and everything it stands for, and a separate camp of people who just downright hate it. Fortunately, there is a lot to like about this new remake, and the positives certainly outweigh the negatives enough to make it a worthwhile purchase for the DS. If, however, you are one of those people that cringe at the idea of a “console RPG” then we advise you to give this one a miss. In the end, the game is great, but there are enough annoying reminders of its early console heritage to keep it from being a perfectly flawless experience.

What type of person will get the most enjoyment out of this game? Well, take our handy-dandy quiz below to find out if you qualify:

1. Have you beaten Final Fantasy 1 or 2 for the NES?

2. Do you think “save points” are for sissies?

3. Will you argue to the death that RPGs have been ruined by overlong cutscenes?

4. When you get the flu, do you tell your friends you have a “status ailment”?

5. Have you ever been to an anime convention? As your favorite FF character?

6. Do you think that the effeminate JRPG male hero archetype is “just misunderstood”?

7. Do you hit the gym every day hoping to build up your HP to 9999?

8. Have you ever had an argument with your friends about which FF character is “teh hawtest”?

9. Are you eagerly awaiting the Policenauts english fan translation?

10. Do you feel ripped off if you buy a game that only lasts for twenty hours?    

If you answered “yes” to more than three of the above, you are probably in the camp of people who will enjoy this game despite its faults and you should continue to check out our review below. If you anwered “yes” to more than 8 of the above questions, you need to step away from the computer… Right. Now.

As you can tell from the above quiz, Final Fantasy III is geared heavily toward people who like their RPGs old school, and who are looking for a relatively straightforward console grind-fest. Games have evolved immensely since 1990 when this game was originally released in Japan, and RPGs are no exception. You won’t find trappings like “save anywhere”, break limits, turn timers, or materia combos in this game. Instead, the game gives us the bare basics: three dudes and one girl lined up on the right side of the screen against randomly encountered enemies. Kill enough of these and your characters level up automatically without any real input from you (although you can choose a job class, which will be discussed in a moment). The real tactical heart of the game comes in deciding how to deploy your characters and equip them in order to bring down the tougher bosses, many of whom only have one specific weak point. The story line does not branch, and remains faithful to the established formula: save the world from the forces of darkness with the help of a petulant but charming female blacksmith, a daring soldier and an effeminate “best friend”.

 

Final Fantast III may appear dated by today’s standards, but it was originally quite innovative because it introduced a relatively complex job system to the mix. As characters progress through the game, they can be assigned specific job classes other than the default “freelancer”. These classes, which include ninja, summoner, bard and thief, alter the way each character plays in terms of their defensive and offensive capabilities. For example, Knights and Vikings are very resistant to physical attacks, while thieves and mages can be easily brought down by an enemy if you are not careful. The message boards have exploded with threads debating the relative merits of each job class, although each one seems to have its unique benefits. Playing around with the different character classes if half the fun of the game, and a well-implemented feature. Luckily the game allows you to keep playing after defeating the final boss, in case you want to try out some of the jobs you missed the first time through.

The production values in FFIII are extremely high. The game has been beautifully re-imagined in 3D and contains nice crisp player and enemy models, as well as lush backgrounds. The colorful and vibrant style of the game fits the DS platform perfectly, and makes us excited about the future of RPGs on this system. Music consists of fairly catchy but repetitive midi tunes, and sound effects are a mixed bag, with many seemingly ported directly from the 8-bit era. For some reason, the game’s designers chose to make the “save” feature available only on the overworld map, and this can be one of the most frustrating parts of the game. At certain points, dungeons and boss fights stretch to more than an hour in length, and not being able to save progress in a portable game like this is simply punishing. Others might argue that the difficulty introduced by limiting save points is part of the charm of the game, but after being killed for the nth time during a boss battle that occurs more than 1 hour after the last save, the charming factor starts to wear out.

If you are a fan of console-style RPGs, and you don’t mind a good old-school challenge, then we can heartily recommend Final Fantasy III.

Things we liked:

 

Things we didn’t like:

 

Final Score: 8.5/10