Out of all the Final Fantasy games I've played, this one has to be my favorite. Its story, characters and music are second to none. It's not just the best RPG I've ever played; it's also the best game I've ever played. Period. It's the most accessible entry in the Final Fantasy series and will probably never be enhanced upon. If you were to ask someone what their favorite game in the Final Fantasy series is, they'd probably say either FF7 or FF3/6. While both games undoubtedly offer some really excellent production values, I'd have to say that Final Fantasy III is the better one. It's just my personal preference. Don't get me wrong though, I love Final Fantasy VII, it's just that it didn't quite move me as much as III did.
While the gameplay is pretty much your standard RPG fare, it does do a few things a little differently when compared to the thousands of generic RPGs out there nowadays. Final Fantasy 3/6 takes Final Fantasy 4's idea of having characters with their own unique abilities and improves upon it. Sabin [one of your characters obviously] has the ability to perform special "Blitz" techniques using Street Fighter-like button combinations. Strago has the ability to use LORE magic, which is a lot like the Blue Magic in Final Fantasy V. Locke, the iniquitous thief--or is that treasure hunter?--has the ability to steal valuable items from various monsters. While some abilities are more useful than others, no one character is more useful than another. Everyone has the ability to use magic--not in the beginning though--and they do this by equipping ESPERS. Espers teach the user various magic spells and some Espers can actually raise some of your stats. This works out extremely well as it allows you to customize your characters in pretty much every way possible. If you want old man Strago to have extremely high Vigor you can do just that. Your Espers can also be used in the same way that summons were used in past Final Fantasy games, although they're not as useful as they were in those games.
Usually a lot of random battles can turn even the best RPG into a tedious piece of garbage; luckily, the battles in Final Fantasy 3/6 are quite enjoyable. While the encounter rate is quite high, most battles shouldn't take you too long to finish thus virtually eliminating any possible boredom. Speaking of the game's battles, Final Fantasy III offers some of the most bizarre and exciting boss bottles to ever grace a Final Fantasy game. You fight outlandish bosses like a haunted train and even a talking octopus! Some of the translation is screwed up, so sometimes, the dialogue exchanged between characters will not make any sense. It almost feels like some of the dialogue was messed up on purpose, lines such as the infamous "You best be frozen" come off funnier than they probably were meant to be.
From a technical standpoint, Final Fantasy III is probably the most impressive game on the SNES. The graphics come together perfectly to create one of the most artistically impressive games ever made. The sprites may be small and deformed, but they somehow convey an excellent amount of expression that is sure to impress even the most cynical gamers. The sound is much more impressive than the graphics. Nobuo Uematsu skillfully delivered a legendary musical score that was never improved upon. As much as I like FF7's music, it doesn't even come close to matching the quality of Final Fantasy III's tracks. Even today, the music still manages to stand a step above everything else, the quality is still quite impressive but it's the way that the music establishes the mood that impresses the most.
All in all, it's hard not to like Final Fantasy III. It's really the perfect game, as it has no real flaws. It isn't as long as most modern day RPGs but, for its time, it was quite long. With a wonderful quest that should take you somewhere around 35 hours to complete, Final Fantasy III is sure to please. Virtually every single aspect of this game is woven together so perfectly that it's hard to call this game anything other than flawless.
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