Final Fantasy III DS Review

Developer: Square-Enix – Matrix Sotware
Publisher: Square-Enix
Platform: Nintendo DS
Genre: Role Playing Game
Release Date: Japan 08/24/06 & North America 11/14/06

Final Fantasy III became quite the innovation for the Final Fantasy series. This game spawned a lot of new elements that would later develop into staples for the series. A couple examples, for instance, would be the revolutionary Job System, the unique Battle Commands, and of course, summoning monsters. However, this title stayed in Japan, leaving the rest of the world in despair for missing such a classic game (unless of course you emulated it.)

Until now that is. Square Enix joined with Matrix Software to bring the experience to everyone. They gave Final Fantasy III a three-dimensional facelift, added new Job Classes, included a Mognet sidequest, and created storylines for the four main characters. All for the Nintendo DS.

If you’ve somehow played Final Fantasy III before, you’ll remember the storyline being about four unnamed young warriors whom explore a dark cavern due to an unfortunate earthquake. At the end of the gloomy passage; they encounter a Crystal of Light. The Crystal bestows its power onto them, and sends them forth across the globe to restore peace. After receiving blessings from their mentor: Topapa, they quickly realize that they are meant for so much more. That’s how you would remember it anyway.

There’s a bit of a twist. In the Nintendo DS version, the creators added some extra detail to the story. Now instead of controlling four nameless warriors, you control Luneth, Refia, Arc, and Ingus. Oh and guess what? They all have backstories; and they all have emotions. What’s more is that you can indulge in a little extra storyline at any point time, if you speak to your guest party member. With these new features intact, they’ve thrown in extra scenes, and altered some sequences to make the game more modern.

Let’s face it. Randomly saving the world with nameless, emotionless characters aren’t up to our generation’s standards. With all these new goodies tossed into the mix, it makes this title more playable for modern gamers. However, fear not my old-schoolian comrades. Even though all this new storyline is added, it stays true the original mythology, and perfectly fits in with the style of the game. These upgrades still might not be enough for today’s gamer, but at least they put forth an effort, unlike such remakes as the original Final Fantasy.

Matrix Software gave Final Fantasy III a completely new facelift. Not only did they entirely redesign the graphics into three dimensions, they’ve also created nice little cutscenes for all the intense dialogue which occurs throughout the game. Considering the Nintendo DS’s technical capabilities, it’s as good as it gets.

The graphics are absolutely gorgeous. Every town is brimming with life, and every monster looks all the more fearsome. It’s definitely one of the most detailed works for the Nintendo DS. You gain so much more satisfaction traveling the world map when you can see clouds moving about in the sky, as well as the monsters jumping out of their skin to destroy you. In any case, as looks are concerned, Final Fantasy III flows perfectly.

Just like everything else in this game, the music and sound effects have been remade as well. There is nothing wrong with sound effects, however some of the music in the game seem to have lost its feel. Obviously, the music is good and much better than most of its 8-bit counterparts, but certain tunes such as the final battle theme could have been done a lot better. In terms of the power that they have with the DS, they should have put more work into redesigning the music.

The Gameplay is probably where Final Fantasy III falls short. By today’s standards, the battle system is severely outdated. To get from point A to point B you’ll get into many random encounters, each one has an introduction and a victory fanfare. This makes the whole process go by very slow. If you’ve played other Final Fantasies with job classes, such as: Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy Tactics, or Final Fantasy X-2; then FFIII will seem extremely simple. There is no learning moves or anything fancy like that, you just battle and gain experience. They have, however, added some more job classes, and they’ve changed the stats of others to make every one at least a little important. It’s definitely not lacking in the variety department.

Square-Enix really dropped the ball when creating Side Quests for this game. Most-to-all side events that happen throughout the game require the use of Mognet. Mognet is a feature which allows you send letters to friends from all over the world and receive replies. You can also send letters to NPCs you’ve met on your journey, but that doesn’t matter if you don’t send letters to friends as well. This feature kind of blows, because if one doesn’t have an internet connection or doesn’t know over five people with Final Fantasy III, then you can’t reap any extra goodies the game offers. You can obviously find forums where you can find people to send letters to, but it all ends up being spam, which eliminates the fun from the game. It sucks because all the cool things are the result of the Mognet sidequest. Well, at least you have Bahamut’s Lair.

That about sums it up. If you’re a fan of the series, or if you want to experience a true classic remade in 3-D, then this title is a must-buy. If you’re a new age gamester and you can’t cope with the slowish battle system, I’d give it a rent. At least you can enjoy the eye-candy. No matter what you are, it’s definitely a title to try out.

• Gameplay 6.9 The battle and Job systems are outdated, and the side quests lack any fun factor. However, there is a lot of variety, and maintains its original feel.
• Graphics 10.0 Absolutely beautiful visuals; pushing the limits of the Nintendo DS hardware.
• Sound          8.5 The sounds are splendid, but some of the background music could have used a little work.
• Story            8.5 Features an updated storyline, and grants emotions to all your characters. However, the simplicity may not be enough for the modern gamer.
• Overall       8.4 If you’re a fan of the series or not, this title is definitely worth a play through.