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Final Fantasy III: Reviews

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Game Score: 8/10

*No Spoilers are included in this review.*
Intro
Unless emulated, this story of Final Fantasy was highly unknown to English gamers. For the first time the official Final Fantasy 3 was released with new graphics, musics and on a handheld. The storyline from the original Final Fantasy 3 made in 1990 are almost completely identical. The one noticeable change that gamers who have played the original is that the starting classes have different names, yet almost identical stats. Among these minor changes that are nearly unnoticeable unless looked into, the game retains the original FF3 that was released in Japan.

Graphics
Please keep in mind that this has been remade for the DS. I say this because although the graphics are considered good, and on the verge of great that it does look like a DS game still. This means there will be some pixelization noticed by gamers however this is not uncommon to the DS handheld when playing 3D games. The camera angle is stationary and cannot be moved however the game lacks no flaws when it comes to the camera angle since it was designed to be that way. The zooming in on cut scenes and panning of the camera allows the player to get a real feel for the world around him or her.
The animations are fantastic as well. The magic spells are greatly done with good effects that would be expected from such a game. However, since it is a handheld after all, they do become a bit repetitive when it comes to using a single move over and over. Animations are well done with no notable jerkiness or flaws and can be enjoyed especially when you first use it. (My favorite part at least is seeing my new move.)

Music and Sounds
What is there to say about a Final Fantasy game other than that the music is usually top notch. There is no exception in this Final Fantasy as well. Just watching the intro (Which will be discussed further on) will make you drool. Battles for various towns, dungeons, bosses, battles and so on are never repetitive and can be listened to again and again. Typically each area in the game has its own little tune going on, whether it be a castle, town or dungeon.
When it comes to sound affects, the game does well there as well. They do tend to become a bit repetitive however with the music you hardly care. They do say little snippets of things at the end of battles and its as much as we can expect to see from handhelds so far. Over all the sound affects are good but could be improved which was a minor disappointment.

Gameplay
The gameplay is what should be expected from a Final Fantasy game. You run your way through a storyline that brings you upon new enemies and new bosses, and oh ya... new acquiescences. You will see Cid, as in most Final Fantasy games and you will hear of Airships and White/Black Magic. You work your way through the storyline and advance your characters by turn based battle.
Now, the battle system is slightly different from what you might think of Final Fantasy as. It is turn based, meaning you choose all four characters move for that turn and the enemy will do the same. The moves are then initiated in order by the characters stats, meaning heavy or slow characters will go last while fast and speedy characters will start off giving the player the option of how he or she wishes to play. This is good in my opinion for one reason, you may set your DS down to look up and around you if needed without worrying about dying in the middle of a battle. However, Final Fantasy fanatics probably like the original time based style of combat more and I don't disagree with them necessarily, they each have their pluses.
Character in the game are unique, yet stick to the typical Final Fantasy genre. By characters I mean moogles, humans, the monsters and the bosses have some relations to other games in the series as well. However, there are plenty of unique monsters and bosses as well that require the player to spend hours trying to work their way through battle after battle. The monsters were unique all the way through the game and were rarely repeated yet in some cases they were repeated with a knock-off version and by that I mean tinted a different color. I wont mention characters that you interact with (NPCs) simply because I dont wish to ruin any storyline players might wish to discover as they play.

WiFi Connect (WFC)
This was a disappointment in my opinion for what they could of done. This is one of the reasons it lost a overall point and it simply lacked all capability to play online. Although the box may say that it does support it, all it really supports is a mailing system which you and your friends can send mail which if done correctly can unlock new dungeons in single player. This really has no affect on the game and is a huge disappointment. In my opinion they could've added Co-Op Dungeons or a battles system (or both?). Dont buy or play this game expecting multiplayer at all.

Intro
I could rate this intro alone and give a thousand reasons why it deserves a 10/10. It simply is an amazing thing to watch on the DS even though its not actual game play. I've always loved the cinematics in games and especially Final Fantasy. If you don't plan on playing this game or don't own a DS, at least watch the video (YouTube or Google it) and experience what someone has made for a game. It is truly amazing, Ill leave it at that.

Options
The options in game are pretty standard to any other Final Fantasy game. However I just need to point out one feature: Auto Run. Rather than having to hold "B" throughout the entire game (Like many RPGs), you can simply set Auto Run to be On and you character will run instead of walk and when holding B, the character will walk. Not that big of a deal, just very handy and thought to point it out.

Overall, I would give the game an 8. The game is very good and will keep you entertained for hours. Good storyline, graphics, music and intro.
It lost points for: Multiplayer (WFC) and Sound affects were a bit repetitive.