Rarely have I been frustrated with a game as often as I was with Final Fantasy III. That isn't to say that it's the most frustrating game that I've ever played, or that at any point I was ready to give up. Rather, this game is firmly in the older school of RPGs, from its monster difficulty to it's save system. If you can get past these mechanisms, however, Final Fantasy III is an interesting look at what would develop into Final Fantasy XI (and V, although I have not gotten to it yet and it's an upcoming Mission: Backlog entry) and an overall decent game to boot.
Final Fantasy III is about four orphans who are called upon by the crystals of light to save the world from an impending darkness (which, we find out at the end of the game, is actually just called the Cloud of Darkness). The four must visit four different elemental crystals in order to obtain their "light" and then confront Xandes, a sorcerer who is attempting to call forth the cloud of darkness. Overall, the game is fairly light on the story and actually feels even more simplified than the remake of Final Fantasy II. This is odd given that Final Fantasy III had substantially more work done to it than Final Fantasy II, but then again, this was the first release of the game stateside and Square Enix probably wanted to give as proper a version as possible.
The battle mechanics are similar to the first two games in that the battles are still turn-based without the Action Time Bar that first appeared in Final Fantasy IV and was in almost every subsequent release. Characters gain levels once again (unlike Final Fantasy II) with the maximum set at 99. What sets Final Fantasy III apart is the job system. The four main characters can switch between several different jobs without limitations, and the number of jobs increases as the game progresses. This means that any character could be the White Mage, Warrior, Ninja, or whatever other class the player wants. The party configuration is completely customizable, although common sense limits the effectiveness of certain parties (don't expect to be able to go through the entire game with four White Mages). Each job gains levels separate from the character level, and this job level dictates the effectiveness that that particular character will have when in that role. The only downside to certain jobs is that they are eclipsed by other jobs gained near the end of the game, and hence all the time spent leveling those classes ends up wasted. This wouldn't be that big of a deal but jobs that the player had to use earlier in the game to survive (namely White and Black Mages) become jobs that you need to beat the game (Devout and Sage).
As for the frustrating elements, Final Fantasy III only allows you to save when on the World Map. This means that a player must finish the dungeon and beat the boss without dying every time. This normally wouldn't be a problem, but the bosses tend to be incredibly tough. Throughout the game, I can count on one hand the number of major boss battles in which more than half of my party survived. Granted, grinding tends to ease the difficulty, but also slows the pace given how often it is needed. Also, several enemies will once again seem cheap because of confusion spells and charm, but at this point, I'm becoming pretty accustomed to it after two other Final Fantasy games that did it just as much if not more. The last dungeon also serves as a painful reminder of the lack of saves, as it is essentially two dungeons back to back with six bosses. However, it is the last dungeon, and it does increase the amount of satisfaction gained when you see that final hit connect. All in all, be prepared to play lengthy sections of the game at least twice (hour long sections) and be ready to exercise patience.
The graphics on the game look like a Playstation release, however this is the Nintendo DS and hence some leeway has to be given. The graphics serve the game overall, although at times (particularly during grinding) I wished that the 3D animations were as quick as the 2D so that I could finish up quicker. The enemies are all fairly typical for a Final Fantasy and are mostly just pallet swaps of one another, but even today that's old hat for almost any RPG, so it's entirely excusable on a 20+ year old game. The music is all pleasant and fitting and features a few nice surprises. For instance, the midi music for the end boss is kept in tact, giving a nice sense of nostalgia despite the fact that almost no Americans had played the NES release.
Final Fantasy III is classic in the sense that it was incredibly important to future Final Fantasy releases, from the prominence of chocobos to the job system that would be featured in other entries. However, its old school conventions, from its paper thin story line to its punishing difficulty, keep it from appealing to everyone. It's a game that I would really only recommend to Final Fantasy enthusiasts or old school RPG fans, although others might like finding out some of the roots of todays JRPGs.
Overall Score: 7.9
Recommended price: 12.99
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