Final Fantasy III was the hardest FF game for me to play. Not because it was difficult or the gameplay or story were boring, but because of how hard it is to play when you don't own a DS. Yeah...I've said it before and I'll say it again, the DS, and now the 3DS, is the old school gamer's console of choice, but I don't own one.
Why not? Well...when I'd made this statement, I'd already purchased a 360 Elite and owned a Wii, and haven't had the money to buy a DS since then. Lame I know, but something I hope to remedy soon.
Fortunately for me, I have a few people that have let me borrow it in the past. In the case of FFIII (and IV, finally), I got the chance to play the DS version only just this spring to completion...and like most of the FF games, it finds its way on to my favorites list.
The story is rather unique in the FF universe. Most of the time, the heroes are trying to defeat a villain, usually an emperor or power hungry bastard, but in this case, they're actually trying to right the imbalance of a power surge of Light thousands of years ago.
Yes, a villain causes this, by the name of Xande, a dark wizard who wants to live forever and wishes to stop time to do so. However, even so, he's only able to do so because of what happened before when four warriors of Darkness arose to beat back the great force for light that awoke.
It's an interesting shift, and I'd rather like to see how that played out as a story if they ever return to the world of FFIII. Speaking of the world though, this is one of the only two FF games that doesn't really have a world name (FF being the other). A few names for continents are given, but an actual world name isn't given, even in the DS remake.
Expect this kinda shot in each review...I really like it.
However, as interesting as the previous tale would be, this is the tale about the four warriors of Light, Luneth, Arc, Refia, and Ignus. In the original, these were just four unknown characters, however, in the remake, these young warriors were given their names, back stories, and love interests, in some cases.
The story plays out with the four warriors wrecking through Xande and his minions only to have an even greater threat revealed (which was technically a new twist in this case). This "even greater threat" would return in all following FF main series games except V (ExDeath is pretty consistent with who he is...and he's gonna kill the world).
However, being that originally, the characters were non-essential to the story, it's kind of hard to see where their personalities effect the plotline...however, notable, as mentioned before, are the romance plot lines hinted at through out.
The first of these is the more obvious Ignus and Princess Sara plot line, which really doesn't go anywhere, but is hinted at throughout the story every time the two characters speak to one another. This re-emerges in the end of the game as the two return to Sasune together.
The second was a little more vague, but still just as prevalent. Luneth and Aria, though they spent little time together developed a small attraction to one another, which ended with her sacrificing herself to save him from Kraken's attack.
It also appears that Square Enix tried to do the same bit with Luneth as they did with Cloud though, giving him two choices (in Cloud's case, Aerith and Tifa), killing one and leaving the better choice. Luneth got all mopey for a while, and it was never clear whether or not he went with the better choice in the end, the girl who wanted to be with him and could hold her own beside him, Refia.
WARNING, FAN-FICTION LIKE MATERIAL AHEAD!!! SKIP AHEAD IF DON'T WISH TO READ.
Now, before I get into fan fiction territory, and since I've went ahead and mentioned the other three's romance plot line (seriously though, is that all they added because of naming the characters? Sheesh!), I guess I should mention Arc's. Arc didn't have one...well...not technically. There was one hinted at, but to delve any deeper would be unsettling due to my feelings on slash fanfiction, however, if you're familiar with the term and played FFIII, you know what I'm talking about, and why they're sad when they can't see each other as often at the end because of the other's responsibilities. As a strange little side note,if this were true, this would be only the second time a main, playable character was written as being a gay male in a video game, rather than such by a player's choice (the first is Jun from Persona 2, odd little history thing, isn't it).
Quick note: Yes, I know they're only 10 and 14...but still.
OK, FANFICTION PART IS OVER, YOU CAN'T START READING HERE AGAIN.
Anyways...
Yeah...moving on. Gameplay!!! Yeah...that's where we're going next. FFIII plays (like always) like a JRPG. You select an attack, your character does it. You explore an open world map from a top down perspective with the aid of airship, water vessels, and of course, chocobo. What was unique about the DS title in all of this was you could use the stylus to do so, though.
Notable to the new gameplay are the Jobs. The job-changing system was first introduced here (more on that later in the Legacy section). Here, it was very basic, meant as only a way for characters to develop themselves as one type of a job or another, depending on your tastes with no bleed over or ability swapping that would be introduced in the future, however, if you unlock the Onion Knight Job, it's like being the ultimate Red Mage in the DS port, with the abilities to use all black and white magic and all weapons (save class specific ultimate weapons).
You level up the job and the character as you gain experience after battles. Your jobs level up much faster than the character levels, but at this point they're not as different elements, both growing up as you gain sheer experience.
Finally, the game included following, assist characters. These were technically NPC's that you could talk to in field mode, and would assist at random in combat. The Princess Sara, Alia, Cid, Desch, Alus, Dorga, and Une all joined in this capacity bringing in various abilities temporarily to your team. Most helpful, Cura early on thanks the Princess.
Graphics in this game were pretty good, reminding me of both the Playstation titles in game footage, and the cutscenes being marvelously beautiful beyond reason. What follows are two clips of the gameplay, and the gorgeous opener.
Gameplay footage, 1
Gameplay footage, 2
In the words of BrentalFloss, soak it in Mofo's.
This, along with FFIV really showed what the DS was truly capable of, like Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories showed what the GBA could. They're incredible. The gameplay, as I said before, reminds me of the Playstation titles, but having not played them for long periods of time, that could just be my thoughts on it.
The music is hands down some of the best in the series. I would easily say that III's music gives it the best soundtrack in the entire series, counting FF games, and was Uematsu's best work overall (yes, there were songs far better, but there are very few poor quality pieces in the game), in my opinion anyways.
I wish I could narrow down the list to three...but unfortunately, five of the pieces simply had to make the list. They are:
Elia (Aria), the Maiden of Water (version is Once You Meet Her from Pray). This track gave rise to the original importance of the character and goes a long way to increase the romance plot point.
Also from Pray, The Boundless Ocean (Voyage). It's just...pretty.
The theme for the Dwarven Town of Tozas called Cute Little Tozas (version is Have You Ever Seen Me? from FF: Love Will Grow). It's very...Disney like. Now, here's my challenge to you. How long until you get it out of your head?
The Pavilion of Dorga and Une, later renamed just Dorga and Une in FFIX, but the DS version of the piece is the best.
Last but not least, but something vastly different, the Battle Fanfare #1, as remixed by the Black Mages, The Rocking Grounds.
Finally, the Legacy of FFIII, besides music that rocks, is really expansive as well. First off, the game added the Job system, and with it came a great deal of things not previously heard of, specifically new types of Magic and Abilities. Even more specifically, Summons, who would eventually give whole games their major plotlines. Other types included Steal, Songs, Boost, Throw, Darkness (though originally Magic Fencing), Provoke, Scan, Peep, Geomancing (terrain), and Defend (cover).
Second, the game introduced a few new movement types, specifically, now included were submarines and multiple air ships, both of which would return in later FF games. Upgrading Airships would later become even more important though, as it would allow you to lose airships much more frequently, or create major plot devices when you needed a way to move around.
Third, and final, major developments were new races or types of races. The Dwarves and Fairy's had been around in the original Final Fantasy, gnomes (who would later make cameo's in remakes), gulgans, and moogles were new to the game. Also new was the second type of Chocobo's introduced, the Fat Chocobo.
So, how do you like the job system? Was it any good? Did you like it better in another FF title? What about the music? Is it as good as I praise it to be, or worse? Let me know.
-(Not Princess) Sara
p.s. Sorry for the mention of slash and "Have You Ever Seen Me?". At least the latter I can get out of your head. Go listen to Ducktales.
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