Final Fantasy III

Final Fantasy III (A.K.A. FFIII, the missing piece of the Final Fantasy series)
ESRB Rating: E 10+ for Everyone 10 years of age (and older)
For 1 player normal gameplay, message system via Wi-Fi

Old-Time Gamers
Some of us love the title of an “old-time gamer”. However you may not know that if you play/own this game, you are one. Final Fantasy III was actually first released by Square Co in 1990 for the Nintendo Family Computer, or Famicom, which we also know as Nintendo’s great 8-bit wonder: the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). The first release of this game made a couple of landmarks in that time period: starting the Final Fantasy job system as well as becoming one of the largest role-playing games (RPG) created for Nintendo’s console. However, Japan didn’t let us in on this wonderful gaming experience, until now–we can finally complete the current [English] Final Fantasy puzzle!

Original Overview
In the 16-year upgrade, the storyline surprisingly didn’t change much. Four orphans who believed they encounter each other by chance our actually bound by destiny as chosen Warriors of Light. These Warriors of Light are to addle the darkness and restore balance to the world.
Oh good, another boring plot. Though you may be critical, the character backgrounds and personalities add on to the game to make an overall marvelous tale. To even make that a little more interesting, features include: adventuring through the random enemy encounters while searching around various dungeons...and of course the wonderful job system. As you progress, you notice each area requires a different variety of job choices. However as you continue playing, more jobs become available; you end up with a total of 23 job choices.
4 characters, 23 jobs, 279,841 party configurations...what more could you want with a magnificent RPG?

Greater Graphics
Score: 5 of 5
The Japanese version of the game was good for its time, but it lacked many features to be able to stand up to today’s gamers. The layout of the surroundings wasn’t changed drastically, however an obvious change had to be made: the look of those surroundings.
To be on a portable device, the graphics are amazing! Although there are a few lapses, perfection in graphics is not needed in all games.



Music Madness
Score 4.5 of 5
Being a musician, I definitely can relate to music and recognize its strengths and weaknesses. FFIII’s music is somewhat repetitive and not that catchy, but it is not that bad either. It has some annoyance (as there is in all musical repertoires) although it can be ignored.

Gameplay of Greatness
Score 5 of 5 (Overall gameplay)
Single: One word: wow. To come from ideas that originated 16 years ago and to make them “attractive” even to today’s gamers is mind-boggling; Square Enix knows what they are doing. By using each jobs’ unique attacks and equipment you can perform attacks from a magical spell to slashing a blade. Like the other Final Fantasy games, the battles are turn-based which, in relationship to the series, only adds to my score of 5 of 5 for single player.
Multi: If your gaming is “Wi-Fi enabled”, you can exchange your personal friendcode to other players in order to unlock hidden challenges and items, or just to simply message your friends by Mognet, which is by a mail Moogle. A Moogle, being a tiny, normally pink-haired creature that has an “antennae” with contains a red ball at the top, is one of the “Final Fantasy creature mascots” and is who you have to talk to, to access Wi-Fi usage on FFIII (don’t worry, Moogles are in about every town). There isn’t much to the Wi-Fi of FFIII which gives it 3 of 5, which doesn’t affect my overall score because some gamers don’t even use this feature.
Controls: Pretty self-explanatory after you get comfortable with the game. You can use the stylus if that is your choice, but the directional pad is my control of choice. Score 5 of 5

Replaying the Classics
Score 4.5 of 5
The lack of your personal entertainment is cured by this epic journey of the Warriors of Light. Even if your only in for the game to complete your Final Fantasy collection, it has much to offer. I look at it as a great RPG addition to my collection of games, that will be replayed. Why is that? The famed job system allows players to try out a different combination in all of the levels instead of the party configuration that the player picked on the first time they beat the game which actually brings out more strategy and battle results...as well as a different look of your character per job.

Ending Thoughts/Conclusion
Hands down to Square Enix for this installment to the English Final Fantasy series–they made a wonderful product. If you haven’t already added this RPG to your collection, you are missing out on the fun. I encourage you to get this game!

Overall score: 4.8 of 5
Graphics: 5 /5
Sound: 4.5/5
Gameplay: 5/5
Replay Value: 4.5/5


This review brought to you by FireEmblem8.