Final Fantasy 3 (NSW)

[Jonasbrother]

My grade: A+

Much like other classic trilogies of games such as Mario Bros., Castlevania, and the Legend of Zelda, entry three of the Final Fantasy series returns to glory and follows a similar formula to its original counterpart, polishing what was already a fantastic experience into an adventure of truly epic proportions.

Just about every issue brought about from Final Fantasy II’s mechanic tweaks have been resolved here. Hits are satisfying, combat is fun, and battle sequences are varied nicely. Mages rejoice; magic feels great to use once more. in fact, there are so many options for magic, you can have an entire party of mages without the skills of your party members being redundant! This isn’t just the case for mages either - final fantasy III brings back everyone from the original and just about triples the amount of character classes across the board! Among these new fighter classes is the viking - a tanky battleaxe weilding warrior - the summoner, who brings his own monsters into the fray - and of course, the handsome bard. I usually never want to replay an RPG, but each style of fighter is different enough in Final Fantasy 3 to almost tempt me into playing it again, and you know what, I just might!

You're even given the ability to swap between any of these fighter classes with absolute ease. The process can be done via a menu, accessible in the game at any time, in any place. Just re-equip your gear and you're good to go! Want to swap spells between party members? You can do it without buying a new one. Just remove a spell from one characters spell menu and place it in another. Bravo! Final Fantasy 3 is also not the sort of RPG where you can render a party member in-effective through poor early game attribute point delegation, a trait that I find rather commendable. The level of accessibility here is tremendous - May I ask why modern games can't be this user friendly???

One subtle difference I noted between this entry and other final fantasy games is that there has been some item balancing. Ethers(mana potions for magic spells) aren’t available like candy anymore so you can’t just grind and buy your way to easy wins. I much prefer this balance change as I am willing to sacrifice convenience for a genuine sense of pressure and challenge in an RPG, but that’s just me.

Similar to previous Final Fantasies, FF3’s final dungeon is a treacherous labyrinth of marvel scope. Its final boss is one of the most over the top video game final bosses you could ever imagine, but that’s par for the course with this series at this point. Even bad final fantasy games tend to finish strongly, and FF3 keeps this tradition alive and well. Did you expect anything less by now??

Final fantasy 3 is the kind of game that warms your heart and reminds you why you play games in the first place. The pixel art is lovely and beautiful as always. Even more iconic tracks are featured in final fantasy III, and its music will stick in your head like glue, elevating important plot points within the story. I struggled to write this review for a long time because Final Fantasy 3 is truly so special it is hard for me to put words to. A moment that especially stuck out to me is when you fly everyone home at the end of your journey - a subtle touch that brought a tear of joy to my wiry eyes. I had so much fun playing this game, there's almost too much to talk about. You'll love building your team, watching them level up and grow. The bosses will make you feel accomplished to slay, and the degree of freedom gives you the flexibility to create your own story and role-play a little if that's your kind of thing. I got so caught up enjoying myself while playing that I could seldom bother picking the experience apart. Something needs to be said for that - to me, it's a sign of masterful design in gaming.

Final fantasy 3 is ruthlessly endearing. It may be the best RPG I’ve ever played. Heck, It may be the best *video game* I’ve ever played. If you liked final fantasy 1, this game will be a complete home run for you. Taking every good idea of the original and expanding on it to an extraordinary degree, Final Fantasy 3 fires on all cylinders to deliver one of the purest, simply enjoyable RPG experiences I’ve ever had the pleasure of completing.

When I finished playing, I noticed something some of you reading this may find unusual - a feeling of grief washed over me. Grief because in my heart, I fear that I may never play another RPG I enjoyed quite as much as this. Take from that what you will.

[DrLitch]

Nice write up! If I had to write down a list of top three SNES games, Final Fantasy 3(6) would surely make it. If I had to write down a list of top 20 all time great games, Final Fantasy 3 would surely be on it. Definitely a legendary JRPG. People always talk about Earthbound or Chrono Trigger but FF3 takes it here.

[Jonasbrother]

Nice write up! If I had to write down a list of top three SNES games, Final Fantasy 3(6) would surely make it. If I had to write down a list of top 20 all time great games, Final Fantasy 3 would surely be on it. Definitely a legendary JRPG. People always talk about Earthbound or Chrono Trigger but FF3 takes it here.

Thank you! I’m going in order, so FF3 I’m referring here would be FF1 in North America (at least I think)

[MaverickMoPete]

Actually, here's what we Americans got in terms of Final Fantasy before the great renumeration that came with VII:

Our Final Fantasy = Japan's Final Fantasy.
Our Final Fantasy II = Japan's Final Fantasy IV.
Our Final Fantasy III = Japan's Final Fantasy VI.

Eventually, (almost) all the Final Fantasies came stateside, but until then...

[Jonasbrother]

Actually, here's what we Americans got in terms of Final Fantasy before the great renumeration that came with VII:

Our Final Fantasy = Japan's Final Fantasy.
Our Final Fantasy II = Japan's Final Fantasy IV.
Our Final Fantasy III = Japan's Final Fantasy VI.

Eventually, (almost) all the Final Fantasies came stateside, but until then...

Thank you! I get this wrong every single time. Criminal fF3 didn’t get a US release as it was truly great!

[JohanOberg]

Umm, you reviewed the three original games as they released in Japan, people(and you?) seem to think you reviewed as they came out in the US?

Final Fantasy (no doubts which you're talking about here)
Final Fantasy II - the one with the bad game system (use magic to level it up, get hurt to raise HP etc)
Final Fantasy III - the one with the first job system (FF3 US has classes tied to the characters)

Am I confused or are everyone else..?

[ActRaiser]

Umm, you reviewed the three original games as they released in Japan, people(and you?) seem to think you reviewed as they came out in the US?

Final Fantasy (no doubts which you're talking about here)
Final Fantasy II - the one with the bad game system (use magic to level it up, get hurt to raise HP etc)
Final Fantasy III - the one with the first job system (FF3 US has classes tied to the characters)

Am I confused or are everyone else..?

In the US it's the following:

NES - Final Fantasy
SNES - Final Fantasy II
SNES - Final Fantasy III

In Japan it's the following:
NES - Final Fantasy I-III
SNES - Final Fantasy 4-6

I can never remember which SNES games map to which but that's why in the US it's confusing, at least for me.

[JohanOberg]

I know the release order, but he wrote about FF3 as in the one with the jobs but people replied as if he wrote about FF3 on SNES, that was the point

[MaverickMoPete]

I can never remember which SNES games map to which but that's why in the US it's confusing, at least for me.

USA Final Fantasy II is Japan Final Fantasy IV.
USA Final Fantasy III is Japan Final Fantasy VI.

It wasn't until the release of VII that both sets of numbers were brought in line with each other, and that's also when they started making actual western translations of Japan's II, III, and V, which originally didn't make it to the USA.