Final Fantasy III

I once thought that during my Final Fantasy series playthrough, that Final Fantasy II would be my roadblock. How wrong I was. Final Fantasy III (the real Final Fantasy III, not Final Fantasy VI) was so bad, that I put it down for almost a year before deciding to give it another shot. Yet here I am, less than a week after picking it back up and around twelve gameplay hours later, and it's done. To note: I finished the DS remake version, which has some differences (besides a graphical overhaul) from the Japanese-only original (but still supposedly harder than the more recent and almost identical iOS and PSP versions)

Writing about Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II was relatively easy, because I genuinely enjoyed both games. As you can guess from my twelve month "departure" from Final Fantasy III, I have mixed feelings about it. The game does some things rather well, and become staple features in later games (jobs/classes/etc.). Yet in other ways it takes a step backwards from its predecessors (my opinion based on the PSP Anniversary editions of FF & FFII). Get ready for another dry post based on facts and observations of my gameplay.

Let's just start with the graphics, and go from there. Being that I've so far only played remakes (and will likely only play ports up until Final Fantasy X or XII, Crisis Core withstanding), I can't really "compare" FFIII to FF & FFII. But I suppose I have to, because that's the point of all these posts. Honestly, FFIII was hard on the eyes when I first started. FF & FFII were beautiful, and I loved those updated sprite graphics. I really wish the developers would have done the same for FFIII. The polygonal graphics aren't too bad though I suppose, and actually looked decent when close up, though a bit jaggy. Graphics get a bit blurry when in motion though, unfortunately.

The other half to graphics, music, is still fantastic, to no surprise. If there's one thing that has stayed constant since the first game, is the quality of music. If I have any complaint in this area, it's that the dungeon soundtrack is basically the same for each, which can get a bit repetative. Just so my opinion is known, I think FF and FFII both have better soundtracks than FFIII (in the three versions I've played).

I'm going to head in a totally different direction now, because I really can't find a good way to segue to this point: FFIII treads new ground within party development, taking parts from both FF and FFII. I'll touch upon characters and plot in a moment, but let's dig into the stats. Gone is the total freedom to build a party however the player wants, from FFII. Returning from FF, are the individual classes with specific tailored abilities, magic, and equipable weapons and armor. Except, now the player can choose a party consisting of any of these jobs (as they come available), level them up to become more proficient, and change at will. A good overall change for the series, yet one of my two major gripes with this game.

During certain points in the game, the player is basically forced to take choose of two options to defeat a boss. Either switch one or more characters to a certain job which is effective against the boss, or grind their basic levels and job levels of the player's current party to be able to overcome the disparity. It in theory sounds like a neat game feature, to force the player to change up their party. It's like in Pokemon, coming across a gym which the current party is weak against. The problem is that, unlike in Pokemon, the player has no idea that this change is "required", and has to spend quite a bit of time grinding just to beat the boss, with whichever of the two options the player takes. Had the player switched a character or two to the job class well before the boss, knowing full-well they would need it (as Pokemon hints at before even arriving in the town), it would have taken far less grinding.

Having the option to choose jobs throughout the game, and change them up at will was a much-needed change from the original FF, where the party is stagnant and a poor party choice could make the game much harder. However, I don't understand why the developers decided to keep the same MP uses magic system from FF, while dropping the MP system from FFII. This was a big step backwards, and really did not fit with the first half of the game. The developer definitely promotes magic use throughout the game, but by using the FF system, the player does not have enough "uses" to effectively use magic in the first half of the game. This is seen early on, as the player must change their party to "mini" or "toad" form to pass through certain areas. Well, without the magic to use (eight uses- two for each character, to change into and then back), the player must buy items in order to change, which can be very costly.

The other big problem that I have with the jobs is the act of changing in itself. Every time a character changes jobs, they go through a downtime phase where their defense and attack stats are halved. The character must go through a couple battles before this phase is complete. This is especially frustrating if you want to change jobs mid-dungeon, where losing defense or attack stats can be deadly. You would logically think that this phase is basically the character becoming acclimated with their new abilities and weapons. No, the developers did not think this way. Instead, this phase is a "crystal sickness", being that the jobs are tied to the crystals themselves (more jobs unlock as crystals are saved). Good job Square, you made what should have been a short and logical explanation, something that makes no sense with no reasoning behind it. If you aren't going to have even a half-decent reason, why waste my time with this phase?

At least one nice feature about the job classes is that magic is a tangible item. Besides being able to use it as an item in battle (kind of neat), it can be un-learned from a character to put onto another character (or even sold). Even more user-friendly, all spells from one character can be switched all at once to another character (assuming they can use them). And thankfully there are only three spells per class (white versus black, summons not included), meaning a white/black mage doesn't have to choose three of four spells to use like in FF, and can use all of them (red mage and some others still have to choose, but that's the point of those classes). It's the small things that make these games better or worse than others, to me.

Such as something as small as a few seconds? Yes, my other gripe with the game is all about a few simple seconds. Except, it's not just a few seconds here and there, it's a few seconds before, during (many here, actually), and after every single battle. It's painful, honestly, having to wait while a battle loads, after the player chooses actions during battle, between animations during battle, and waiting for the "results" of the battle. The last part is a bit comical, seeing as how during FFII, the end-battle results scrolled way too fast, while this game is like giving results to a toddler. It's apparent in other parts of the game too, unfortunately. Bringing up the menu, loading between areas, zooming in to find hidden items, and especially cutscenes. For every five fights completed in FF or FFII, I could probably finish one in FFIII. Ironically, the one and only time I found this slowness to be of benefit was during the final battle, where I could use the second or two between each boss attack to think about how my strategy would need to change.

All this time really adds up, especially considering how much is spent grinding. Honestly, this game is hard. Yes, I understand that it's a JRPG, which typically means that if it's too hard the player can just grind for levels and make things easier. But when the player has to spend hours grinding for levels, it seems tough in comparison to other JRPGs. And grinding is a must in this game. I was not a fan of running fully through most dungeons multiple times, because the boss was much stronger than anything else in the dungeon in comparison, my party included. The overworld is a joke compared to FF and FFII, with no monsters I can recall to be afraid of. So the overworld is a no-go for grinding, needing to just jump from town-to-town and dungeon-to-dungeon.

Speaking of which, thanks to having weak overworld enemies, I had no idea where to go. In FF and FFII, very strong overworld enemies typically meant the wrong direction. FFIII had no direction, and the townspeople were of little help for the most part. I used a guide for most of the game, and have no regrets. It would have taken me hours to find some locations, hidden underwater or behind a mountain I was later able to "jump", only being told offhand that my airship could do so.

However, the developers did learn from their major dungeon mistakes from FFII. Gone are the monster closets, dead ends, and dungeons only traversable with knowledge of hidden walls (barely visable hidden walls still frustratingly exist, but now only for chests). I just wish "back-attacks" were gone. Happens much less often than in FF or FFII, but just as deadly because it leaves the party positions switched and the enemy gets a pre-emptive strike.

Yet even with these changes, the final dungeon was a doozy. Three dungeons in a row, with only one area to save at after the first. Oh, I guess I should have mentioned that saving anywhere in FF and FFII is gone, replaced with saving only on the overworld map. I shouldn't have relied too much on that luxury in those games, because it made FFIII that much harder. It also made me that much more cautious. As I traversed that final dungeon, I was more nervous than almost any game I've played. I was confident in my party, but nothing compares to fighting six end-game bosses in a row. It was nice that the game automatically restored HP and MP after each of these battles, although I was already set with the elixers and phoenix downs I didn't touch all game. I used one phoenix down in the final dungeon, and that was it besides the final boss, thanks to them not being purchasable in FFIII. And the only reason I used any during the final boss was because my Devout, who could cast Raise and Arise, was too busy casting Curaja every turn. Seriously, what an awful game design choice. "You can choose any combination of jobs for your party throughout the game!... Just remember that phoenix downs are limited, so you're probably going to need a healer in your party...but you still have a choice!" Back to my point, I'm very thankful that I beat all those bosses and the final boss, because that honestly would have been over an hour of lost time (even after having cleared out that dungeon of all chests, then going back and saving).

To wrap things up, I'm happy I finally finished this game, as much as a grind as it was. Not many people can claim having beat Final Fantasy III, compared to the rest of the series. And since I have, I believe I can rightfully give a valid opinion on which games are better than others, so far between the three I've finished (yes, being these versions and not the originals). Rankings so far, from best to worst:

1. Final Fantasy II
2. Final Fantasy
3. Final Fantasy III

Oh, and I enjoyed seeing Cid's airship rise up out of the sand, just like in the original Final Fantasy. I enjoy homages.