Backlog Game Reviews 49 : Final Fantasy 3 (Famicom)

 

 

Hey there, and welcome to Backlog Game Reviews.

 

      Today let's take a look at a game I've wanted to play for a while now, the last Final Fantasy game on the Famicom, Final Fantasy 3. Just like Final Fantasy 2 it was only released in Japan and went on sale on April 27^th, 1990.

 

The game's designer Hiromichi Tanaka has said that Final Fantasy 3 wasn't released outside of Japan because the Super Nintendo was going to be released later that year, and they wanted to focus all of their attention on the upcoming console. 

 

      Back when the game was new Japanese critics gave Final Fantasy 3 very high scores. And it is held in high regard by Japanese fans to this day. In 2006, Famitsu, a Japanese gaming magazine, held a pole for the best games of all time, and Final Fantasy 3 won eighth place. Fast forward to the year 2020, and another pole was held, asking Japanese fans which Final Fantasy is their favorite. Out of 30 possible choices, Final Fantasy 3 made twelfth place. It's easy to see that despite its age, Final Fantasy 3 has a big place in the hearts of Japanese fans. With the introductions out of the way, let's take a look at the Famicom's final Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy 3.

 

The Story

 

 Naming your characters.

 

One day a large earthquake shook the world, and as a result, the entrance to a once sealed-off cave near the village of Ur was revealed. Four orphans entered and explored the cave. During their adventure they found a crystal of light. The crystal began to speak and told the orphans that the balance between light and dark is in danger, light is growing weaker while darkness is growing stronger.

 

 Speaking with the first crystal.

The crystal then grants the four its powers and tells them they are the four chosen warriors of light, and it's up to them to find the other crystals, restore the balance between light and dark and save the world. After hearing this, the four accept their roles as the chosen heroes and set off on their journey to restore balance.

 

 

 Changing jobs from an Onion Knight to a Warrior.

When compared to Final Fantasy 2 Final Fantasy 3 has a simple story. Chosen heroes have to save the world by restoring the balance between light and dark. A pretty by-the-books story by today's standers. But for being the third game in the series it's not bad. Later on in the game, you do learn why the balance is being thrown off, and there is some good world-building. I think it's fair to say that Final Fantasy 3 has a simple but interesting story.

 

The Gameplay

 Battle against the first boss.

 

Final Fantasy 3 is a traditional turn-based RPG. your characters have levels and level up after getting enough experience points. The strange stat building system from Final Fantasy 2 is thankfully gone.

 

 You can use the Fat Chocobo to store items that you don't need at the moment.

What sets this game apart from Final Fantasy 1 and 2 is the new job system, you can change your character's class at any time in the game. At the start of the game, there aren't many jobs to choose from, but as you progress, you'll unlock more jobs, and there are a lot of them. You have physical attackers like warriors and monks, and there are also magic users like the black and white mages.

 

 You'll have a lot of jobs to choose from by the end of the game.

Then there are the more unique classes like conjurers who can use powerful summoning magic. There are a lot of fun classes to play around with, but not all jobs are created equal. Some jobs like the scholar are just plain useless. Scholars are physically weak and the only special ability they have is that they can reveal what kind of magic a monster is weak to.

 

 Summoning the dragon king, Bahamut.

The game gives you a lot of freedom to create a party that best suits your play style, but there are times when the game takes that freedom away from you and forces you into being a certain class. Some dungeons require you to miniaturize your party. Because the mini status de-buff reduces your defense and attack to 1 regardless of your equipment, the only way to defend yourself is to change all of your characters to mages. I wasn't a big fan of these sections of the game, because like I said before, it felt like the game was taking away the freedom to build the party you want.

 

 

 Fighting with a miniaturized party.

 Even with these problems, I would have to say this is my favorite of the Famicom Final Fantasy trilogy. It has the fun classic gameplay of the first Final Fantasy and expands upon it with the job system. If it wasn't for the game forcing you to change your party's jobs from time to time, then I wouldn't have any complaints with the game. All in all, Final Fantasy 3 is a great retro JRPG.

 

The Presentation

 

 Flying the first airship in the game. You get three different airships throughout the game.

 The graphics in this game are better than Final Fantasy 2's visuals, but not by much. This being a Famicom game there's only so much they can do with the graphics and it feels like they pushed the Famicom as much as they could. It's a good-looking game, but nothing breathtaking.

 

      The music is where the presentation shines the most. Some songs like the over world theme can easily get stuck in your head, and other songs like the boss battle theme and the final boss theme do a great job at pulling you into the game. Final Fantasy 3 easily has the best soundtrack out of the first three games.

 

 If you manage to catch a Chocobo you can ride it around the over world. Monsters won't attack you while you're riding it.

 That’s all I have to say about Final Fantasy 3 on the Famicom. It’s not a perfect game, but it is a fun one. Give it a try if you ever get the chance.

  

Thank you for reading! With this review, we're finally at part 15 of the retro game marathon. There are only five more games until the end of this marathon, and for the next review, we'll be taking a look at a PC Engine game. I hope to see you again here at Backlog Game Reviews.