O tempora is a series of retrospective posts where I play games from ages before to see if they stood the test of time.
Of the three NES Final Fantasy titles that I tried playing years ago, FF3 was the one that get me hooked. I still dropped it at around a quarter of the story in, but I was planning to return someday. I even gave the 3D Remake version of the game a chance, even though I really disliked the style and approach to those DS Remakes. But it wasn’t until now that I’ve finally finished Final Fantasy III. And I really liked it.
While the first two games in the franchise are still fun to revisit, especially in this new player friendly Pixel Remaster format, all of their interesting elements and ideas are generally overshadowed by the rest of the series. They’re curious for sure, but playing them isn’t really as fun as it is educational. Final Fantasy III, on the other hand, feels light years away from the first two games. The scale, the inventiveness, the clever usage of the systems, the well delivered “cinematic moments” the series is known for – it’s all here and in a relatively matured form too. Arguably, there are elements that FF3 does that outshine some of the later entries. For example, the game is one of the best examples of why “overworld maps” are great at making the adventure feel grand. I’ve been constantly blown away by each reveal every step of the adventure takes and the scale of the world in Final Fantasy III feels more breathtaking than in most later titles.
The story, this time around, is a bit simpler. Yet, the storytelling is improved by a lot. Pixel Remaster specifically, from what I saw myself and read about online, is a mix of ideas from the original NES storytelling and the 3D Remake one (that had a more “modern” approach to the narrative) and as a result you get something that isn’t quite on the level of FFIV in terms of character development and memorability, but it’s almost there. The main characters are again canonically nameless Warriors of Light, but unlike the original Final Fantasy, they do get hints of personality and we get to see their lines in the dialogue. And yes, it’s about saving the world again and the elemental Crystals, but everything feels less like a dungeon crawl adventure module this time and like a proper tale.
So much is improved in terms of gameplay too. The location design is far better than in 1 and 2 and we even get completely optional locations to explore. This is the first game to try interesting “gimmicks” for the dungeons, like going through a dungeon in the Mini status, or entering locations only in the Frog status. Which requires specific party configurations to work right, which is also now completely customizable with the “Jobs” system, first introduced here. If you’re unfamiliar, Final Fantasy often calls their classes system “Jobs” and while it usually starts with your typical selection of warriors, white or black mages and thieves, it then tends to expand into more unusual class types. Final Fantasy III allows you to switch any character of your party to any unlocked Job at any point (out of combat). And in Pixel Remaster, unlike all previous versions of the game, this doesn’t even have any temporary negative effects. You can, and should switch classes to adapt to the situations the game puts you in. And it’s mostly really fun.
It can get annoying at times. The magic system here is closer to the original Final Fantasy, for example, with “spell levels” and uses per level, instead of a unified “mana” and switching the jobs often does not provide you with a refill of those (and Ether items are completely absent from this game). All of the starting Jobs get full on upgrades later on and in the end you can unlock the ultimate Jobs, that will replace your entire party configuration, because they’re straight up better than anything else. All while some other jobs feel almost pointless or extremely situational, instead of providing you real choice for a playthrough. Though, I’m sure those who love challenge runs will do something crazy anyway. And by the end, the game does start getting difficulty spikes and more grindey elements. Though nothing as infuriating as instant-death encounters from FF2.
In general, however, the game is incredibly fun. If you are interested in getting acquainted with the series chronologically, or at least trying to, FFIII is probably going to be the first one you will decide to stick with. Then again, if have never played Final Fantasy games before, there are better starting games. I’ve enjoyed Final Fantasy III far more than I’ve expected to, and I expected to like it from the start. It’s not quite there yet, that will happen in the next game, but it’s inventive and fun. And it’s an adventure that still feels exciting to go through.