Introduction

     Final Fantasy III remains the only un-released Final Fantasy in the United States. Believe it or not this was the first Final Fantasy to implement the job system, as well as summoned creatures; both new systems are developed quite effectively. Though the story in this game seems rather short upon completion, there are a few side quests and adventures that make this game worth playing. Overall I found this to be sort of “Final Fantasy 1+2”. Read the Full Story to find out what I mean.

     Final Fantasy III takes us back to the land of the Crystals yet again! You start off with four young boys (even though the white mage class makes ya wonder) from the town of Ur. Upon stumbling into a cave north of their village, the young adventurers are faced with a short maze in the mountains; leading them to a crystalline room where they battle an enormous tortoise! After beating the giant creature, the crystal speaks to them and grants them their five new job classes:
Fighter (Warrior), White Wizard (White Mage), Black Wizard (Black Mage)
Monk (Black Belt), and Red Wizard (Red Mage).
     When they return to their home village, visit the house immediately to the left. Inside is the Town Elder Topapa, their adoptive mother, Nina, (Translations and such may vary for different roms.) as well as another elder called Homac. Topapa claims you are the warriors of light… blah blah. Homac will give you better advice and tell you that you require SPIRITUAL CAPACITY in order to change your job classes back and forth. Upon that the warriors travel south to the deserted town of Kazus. In the town bar/inn you will come across one ghost figure, which is… Ta da! Cid! He offers you his airship hidden in the desert west of Kazus and tells you about the Evil Jinn, which cursed everyone in the town. Your next move should be to travel to Sasoon Castle, with is North West of the desert.
     In Sasoon castle you will only meet one unchanged man, who tells you he was away when this happens. Go up through the great halls to visit the king and he will tell you about his daughter, Princess Sarah, and the Mythril ring she has. Search the towers and then head to North East of Sasoon Castle to the Cave of the Seal (Not the animal). Remember where you left your airship! This cave is full of undead enemies. Fire or Curative magic works wonders on these guys. Eventually you’ll cross Princess Sarah, (She automatically falls in love with the guy you have on screen.) and then the dreaded Jinn. He’s a whimp to cold magic, use Southwinds and Ice on him to beat him easily. Sarah will take you back to the castle immediately after the battle. Talking with the king will earn you
the canoe, allowing you to get the airship back. After retrieving it go back to Kazus, and talk to Cid. He will join you. After talking with the Villagers and exploring the cave in the town, visit the house with one old man in it. He will give you explosives to blow up the huge boulder. Do not panic when your airship runs into the boulder, you won’t die or anything. You’ll come to the village of Canaan and Cid will leave you to talk with his ailing wife (mother in some versions).
     Beside Canaan is the next stop, road to the summit. You’ll notice a big dragon fly overhead, and yes it is your bestest best friend Bahamut. At the top of the mountain you’ll come across a patch of eggs and a foggy thing. This is actually a warrior named Desh. Bahamut will swoop down and attack, forcing you to retreat. (Bahamut will not kill you and you cannot kill him either, just run.) Your team will be found in a small healing forest with a midget roaming around. Head south and as you come into the forest again shrink down with the Mini Spell Desh gives you and continue on into the Midget village.
     In the top left corner is a house which is your main priority to go to. Inside his a hidden road. DO NOT FIGHT ENEMIES IN HERE! They will fry a midget party. It’s easiest to run and defend, unless you have a team of mages. On the other side you can un-mini and enter the next cave. Here you will meet a group of sailing Vikings who cannot leave the area because a sea dragon called Nepto is blocking the way out. The leader will give you their ship as well, don’t sail out on it though, if you try to leave, Nepto is much more aggressive than Bahamut and will eat you alive.
     Walk to the Shrine north of the Viking Base and go inside it. UGHK! another midget level. Well once you get to the end you’ll fight a large rat. (Large in comparison to being a midget.) Use your mages and items to beat him off then make a quick escape out. Outside Nepto thanks you for returning his eye, grants you freedom of the seas. Set sail!
     There are several places to visit, the town of Tokkle which was apparently overrun by King Argass army. The town of the Ancients is a good place to get items at this point. Travel to the Living forest north of the desert with the flying tree to learn about Hyne. This will be more important later. The most important alternate stop is the Gurgan Village, north west of the forest. They will tell you about Desh’s past and the Medusa Tower. Set sail once more for the Tower!
     On the first floor of the tower you’ll have to use the Toad spell to change and continue. Don’t fret your free to change back. After a long hike (Be prepared!) You’ll reach the top and be forced to fight Medusa herself. She wasn’t too difficult for me, just don’t let your party turn to statues. The tower will break down and Desh will jump into the furnace and save the island! With the free break in the waterway sail to the far eastern side of the continent and go to the village of Gyshal (after the famous chocobo herb!) and stock up on new items. Magical Keys are made here and they will greatly open many “doors” for you.
     The next stop is north west of the Medusa Tower. Rally-Ho! A dwarf cave-town. Take the left route into a long cave and be prepared for a fight against Guzco. You get the Dwarf’s horn back. Taking it back to its rightful spot Guzco will reappear and steal it, then run off to the fire shrine north of the village. Travel up there and when you reach the crystal room, your party is attacked by Salamander. Ice attacks are a must as well as Cure 2. Beating Salamander gets you four new classes: Knight (Upgraded Fighter), Thief, Archer, and Scholar. As a note, never upgrade to a Scholar, as they are utterly worthless. Rest up and head to the Village of Tokkle.
     Be warned, as you come into Tokkle, the group is jumped and taken away to the flying tree you see in the Desert. You can Midget and un-midget underneath a small crack in the wall to continue. After traversing a huge maze you’ll come across the dreaded Hyne. NOTE! This is the only time you will EVER require a scholar. Physical attacks are worthless against Hyne and only elemental magics work. The tree will take you back to the forest after the battle. Head over to Argass castle and visit the king. Make sure to loot and explore the castle and collect the Time Gear from the king. Take it to Cid and he will use the gear and make a super-fast airship for you! Travel off the flying continent.
     Ugghhh… this is rather painful here to find anything. Use White Mage’s Sight or Midget Bread to view the WORLD map. Your first stop should be a remote island where a dark and damaged ship is. Visiting it will hook you up with Ellia, maiden of Water. Search around the endless sea again and find a temple in an island. Pick up the crystal inside and heal up for the cave north of it. Inside the Kraken will attempt to kill your party with a poison arrow, which Ellia dives in front of. After beating the unmerciful crap out of Kraken, Ellia gives you several new jobs: Karate Master (Super-Monk), Viking (Rally-Ho!), M. Knight (Paladin or Dark Knight), Geomancer (Lame), Conjurer (Summonerette), Bard (Worthless), and Dragoon.
     The team will awaken in the town of Amur’s inn. From there you’ll travel down the sewers to save some psycho old bald guys who think they're you. A witch at the end would seem like a boss at first, but the old men intervene and get you special swamp-don’t-kill boots. Travel southward and around the mountains to Goldor’s mansion. Goldor himself isn’t too tough; just make sure not to waste time casting magic on him. After thrashing him he’ll destroy the crystal!! Oh no!! Travel around the new world now and visit around the towns.
     Sometime along the journey you’ll find a VERY large kingdom. Be warned if your not done playing around with this airship you shouldn’t fly over it. You’ll be gunned down by Selonia’s armies. For now explore all four sections of the city. The northwest is the prime spot; you’ll pick up Prince Allus in the Inn. The northeastern section has the only open weapons shop… selling Dragoon equipment. (Hint Hint), finally the south east part is the residential sector with a huge tower type complex. Taking Allus to the castle will invoke the rage of the King’s advisor. The king will kill himself to spare Allus and Garuda will arise to fight you. Dragoons are the saving grace from this freak. “King Allus” will tell you to visit the scholars in the castle. They have a surprise! The Nautilus!! This is the fastest airship in the entire game too. Go anywhere ya want for the moment, this baby is for keeps.
     The next spot is through a wind blown cavern to a mansion. Inside you’ll be jumped by… Dun Dunna Dah! Moogles 1st appearance on a Final Fantasy game! A Wizard named Dorga will join ya and tell you to go through his cave for some weird reason. A thief’s escape will save you from the trouble of dying here. With the magic in the cave (How ever this may be done.) Dorga will grant the Nautilus submarine powers. Go undersea for some fun! South of the Selonia continent you’ll find an underwater shrine and pick up Noah’s lute. Travel north and in one of the rivers you’ll find Unne’s shrine. Wake her up with the flute and she’ll join you.
     Sorta north of Unne’s shrine is the Ancient Cave. This place SUCKS! Although you’ll learn to make at least one of your melee men Mystic Knights; certain monsters in here re-spawn due to physical attack and or free will. At the end the team picks up the sweetest ride ever. The Invincible is at your command! Jump over small cliffs and play around.
     Once you’re done playing, find the Cave of Darkness. Once again I warn you of the dubiously evil cloning enemies. A Mystical Knight will save your butt!! The boss guarding the Earth Fang is Hekaton, just pummel the crap out of him. Afterward pick up the speedy Nautilus and head back to Dorga’s mansion. (The Invincible is cool, but can’t fight against the winds.) Inside Unne and Dorga will whisk you away to a cave. In the end they force you to fight and kill them! Finally the stage is set to fight the Darkness.
     Now you may have noticed Statues in an enclosed cavern on both sides and died. With all four elemental fangs, you are free to cross by them. The Invincible will levy you over the small mountain and into the last terrestrial area. THIS IS THE LAST CHANCE YOU GOT TO STOCK UP!! Go straight into the first area to beat Titan. His Flare is the only thing to worry of. The Earth crystal grants you a few new jobs: Warlock (Super-Black Mage), Shaman (Super-White Mage), Summoner (Super-Conjuror). Continue through this horrid place for the final strongholds.
     Okay as a first, go straight up into the Sylx tower and use the Eureka key. Through a winding maze, tough bosses, and famous weapons (Masamune, Excalibur, Ragnarok.) Two new classes are earned after beating Scylla: Sage (All-Magics) and the Ninja (All-Weapons). Basically convert melee to ninjas and mages to sages. Sages can use Summoned magic too! Travel back down and into Sylx tower once more.
     Going around the other way and up through the tower the party encounters 5 Doomsday Dragons. All is lost!? No! Dorga saves your butts by bringing your friends to the rescue: Sarah, Cid, Desh (He lives!), One of the Crazy old men, and King Allus. At the end of the path is Zande! He is relatively tough, but beatable. Dark Cloud will attack you next! She (Yes she, look at the breasts if you don’t believe me) is unbeatable at the moment. Don’t fret, Dorga will revive you, and the other 5 friends will hang back.
     In the Dark World you are to retrieve the Four Dark Warriors from Four Dark Crystals. Pick up Ribbons and fight off the Crystal Monsters. After beating the monsters, you’ll come to Dark Clouds sanctum. The Dark Warriors will punish its Mystic defenses, leaving her open for an assault. Destroy her and beat the game! The team drops “King” Allus off at his castle, and the old man at Amur. Cid and Desh both are dropped off at Canaan to meet their loved ones. Princess Sarah however falls in love with you and you take her to Ur with you. THE END!

Analysis/Ratings
 -Graphics
 -Gameplay
 -Storyline
 -Sound
 -Fun Factor
 -Overall
 -Ratings

Graphics

    Well for 1990 on a Nintendo, I really couldn’t complain. Some effects are good and some are bad. The best thing about this is that it applies the basics from Final Fantasy I and multiplies them ten fold. Enemies are definitely spiffier as well as the customization of sprites. My main regret here is that Square didn’t wait to apply it to the Super Nintendo. That would’ve been very sweet. If it does come out on GBA, I’ll be sure to get a GBA and play it again.

Gameplay

     Humn… where to start. I’ll start with what’s good. Gameplay is back to standard leveling system, which is a blessing after putting up with Final Fantasy II (Not IV). Item purchasing and even equipping weapons is allot easier to deal with, and you’ll know what your doing the majority of the time. The introduction of the Job system is quite awesomely done. The jobs are overly implied however, you’ll only use half of them. (I never used: Archer, Geomancer, Viking, Bard, Conjurer, and even Summoner). Jobs also don’t have requirement jobs… you sort of have to pay a price that is easily paid off from a few fights. Battles are rather smooth from what I know, and enemies and such can prove to be challenging.
    On the downside however, it is with the NES system and will be irritating at times. It will take a while to realize where the midget village is or where stuff is on the map. I honestly disapprove of a map that is larger than the game itself. Also there is no SORT command for items yet. Bloody pain in the butt until you get rid of all those fangs and such. Fat Chocobo will be your best friend later on.

Storyline

     Try Final Fantasy I, on Ice. Essentially the same thing, find the crystals and save the world from a dreaded evil. But on an grander and slightly more thought out scale. The plot isn’t very confusing or frustrating at all. I find that good after playing something like FFX. There are some parts of this game that will make you gasp and laugh and smile. Overall not a very touching ending though. Just why the heck does Princess Sarah dig you so much? Maybe all that Mythril is getting to her brain.

Sound

     Huh… *Laughs*. Sound. Essentially is much better than Final Fantasy I and II, and has a few catchy tunes. Not to down the music but the whole thing is probably done on a synthesized keyboard. Nowadays you would crave much more, but ya know I could listen to this all day over rap music.

Fun Factor

     I spent a good while on this game. Much customization is required. Not to say this is fun, but it’s definitely more appealing than dressing up Yuna for no good reason. There are a few side quests and knickknacks to pick up. And look far and wide for secrets! Also Bahamut (You see him before), Leviathan (He’s the big shadowy thing in the lake above the living forest), and Odin (You can see him if you search Selonia castle thoroughly, but not fight him) make grand appearances as special summons. The game isn’t really intended to be fun, but it’s a quest to save the day, and that it does do well.

Overall

     For a game dated back 14 years ago. I’m not too mad or upset that I didn’t get what I wanted. There really isn’t any problems to the game itself whatsoever, though I do wish they had a SORT command. The sprites were amusing and colorful for their time, I do like that. Gameplay is also smooth for the most part, except for a few nagging parts. The story will leave you rather dry at the end, it’s a mostly just click and go kinda plot. Music has a few tunes, but nothing to catch the eye of anyone. And it’s mostly serious, since the four main characters really don’t say much of anything (Unless you force them by pressing B). My final statement is that if you want to look into the complete origin of what is Final Fantasy then check this out. If you’re a new age graphics gamer, then get something else.

Ratings (Compare w/ other games)

GRAPHICS:	7/10	7	Common Man. It's 1990. After 3 years since FF I you still can’t dazzle me… but call me when a GBA game comes out.
GAMEPLAY:	16/20	8	Overall a general improvement in my opinion. Mixes just the right amount of complex with simple. Although the lack of options such as SORT make me very irritable after a while.
STORYLINE:	13/20	6.5	If you could write a fan-fiction, it would be good. This story leaves the sub-characters to do all the talking and in the end it’s all just a big threat from Dark Cloud. Though it has a few twists and the sub-characters are good… it’s a rough choice here.
SOUND:	6/10	6	Nothing much going on in the sound department. They pull out a synthesized keyboard and called themselves Nobuo. I’m not mad, its just the fact after a while you forget all the music anyways, except for the final boss theme.
FUN FACTOR:	5/10	5	Leaves too little open to the imagination. Sure you can hunt around for killer bosses like Bahamut and Odin, but in the end if your Sages only haste and cure… then what’s the point? The only reason I found it fun was relief of not playing Final Fantasy VIII out of boredom again.
OVERALL:	47/70	6.7	Whew. Like I stated before, for a game 14 years old; which is by the way, older than most of you kids nowadays; is still playable and reasonable. Its not exactly intended to dazzle you with effects, but it is simple to use and reliable. The story bends and turns at whim, leaving you with only a few surprises and mysteries. Though through trial and error, this game built major foundations such as: job systems, summoning creatures, and moogles! As my final remark to this game… play it if you’re a true fan, not if you’re a graphics and music fan.

Nintendo DS Remake

     The remake of the original Final Fantasy III offers numerous improvements on the Famicom original.  All the characters have been completely remodeled into 3D, including the environments.  There is also a full cinematic opening sequence that only enhances the storyline.  The characters have been given new names and completely new backstories/personalities.  However, this time additional guest characters may join you in battle throughout various points in the game, much like FFT and FFXII.  The gameplay and battle system has been rebalanced and is nowhere near as frustrating as in the original.  Finally, there is a mognet type system in FFIII DS, where moogles in the game allow players to send mail to each other using the DS Wi-Fi system.  Characters can also send mail to other NPCs in the game and this mail system can be used to unlock some new sidequests.  The DS remake offers some slightly remixed tracks and rearranged versions of Uematsu's original music score.  Overall, the FFIII DS remake has made significant changes and improvements which should be heralded as it definitely enhances the experience of playing FFIII.