The long and largely successful Final Fantasy saga can be a bit intimidating. Even if you haven’t played any of these games before you will most likely have been hearing about it for a good 10 years. As someone who hadn’t lost his Final Fantasy cherry, slotting in the cart felt a bit like opening an old old book with an ancient history and a language and characters all its own. The game creaks under the weight of all those other games and experiences and expectations. The question is does it rise to the occasion and distinguish itself as a modern classic, or does it buckle under all that weight.
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| Those careers are really starting to show! |
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Cut scenes nicely done with the game engine |
Before we jump into the game proper, we should really set the scene for this release. Due to an I’ll advised decision to mix up the numbers between Japan and the rest of the world, this game is the true third game in the series. It was originally released in 1990 on the NES, and should not be confused with the SNES game of the same name that was released four years later, which was in fact the ninth in the series. As well as being one of the most substantial Role Playing Games (RPG) on the NES it was the first to use Hiroyuki Ito’s career system.
The DS version takes this NES original and updates the graphics by introducing a true 3D environment, and brings new life to its excellent musical score. Although original, the style still delivers the classic combination of manga and rag-doll style that the series is well known for. As in the other games, these cute little heroes are then pitted against realistic monsters and beasts of all shapes and sizes. The combination of the new look and feel and the quality of the dialogue makes it easy to identify with the player characters. There is a clear improvement from the NES, although the improvements are paid for from time to time with a dip in frame rate.
Once you have navigated through the much revised menus we can start the game proper. We discover that our story focuses on four young orphans who have had the good fortune to discover a crystal. A crystal it turns out, that provides them with special powers and sends them out on a quest to heal the world. This is real rags-to-riches stuff, well rags-to-heroes at least. The four of them diligently tell their guardians of their plan, and somehow convince them that this will be an excellent educational experience, and so set out to explore their brave new world and bring balance back to the force, err I mean world. Not the most original of stories, but it serves its purpose and gets us on our way.
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| It's dress up time |
Before too long we get to our first battle. Now, if you have picked up the later outing of the series you may be surprised to find that combat is not real time but turn based. This makes the battles considerably more tactical, although there can be a lack of tension as you can take your time with each decision. In these battles you have to learn how best to use your weapons and black or white spells. Wasting a powerful potion or weapon on the wrong enemy can make the difference between life and death.
For me one of the most exciting aspects of this game was the ability to pick and choose your profession. With my own unmentionable history with Warhammer Fantasy Role Play the paper based system, I have long thought that this aspect of character progression adds real depth to proceedings. It means that you are not only interested in levelling up to increase your stats, but to progress your career. This has an effect on both your appearance and how other characters respond to you. These different jobs also provide different skills and abilities that can be brought to bear in combat. To this end you will spend many happy hours refining the particular combination of pursuits followed by your party.
Final Fantasy III manages to capture other aspects of classic paper based systems. The combat for example benefits from a Dungeons & Dragons style approach to hand-to-hand combat. Quicker, more experienced players are able to perform multiple hits in the same round. This means that you can really choose to develop your characters as you see fit, rather than being forced to develop a band of muscle bound warriors with a big swords.
The main story should take you a good 20 hours or so, and with the tangential side quests should provide plenty of gaming for your money. There is also a single cart multi-player mode where you can step up against some friends even if they don’t have the game themselves.
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| Big nasty beasties! |
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We looked like that all along, man! |
Overall this is just what a DS re-imagining of a classic game should be. Final Fantasy achieves what all great role playing games aspire to do, namely re-creating those spine tingling role-play experiences first popularised in the Lord of the Rings novels.
Top Game Moment: "Although it may not sound all that butch. Its hard to deny the excitement of getting your group all clad in the gear of their respective jobs. A role playing game just isn't complete without a bit of dress up!"
