Final Fantasy III

When you think of SNES Final Fantasy games, most people thing of blocky graphics and redundant and somewhat annoying music. However, Final Fantasy III (USA)/VI (JAP) scrap that theory totally. The graphics are crisp, clean, colorful, and bring life to the towns and even the battles. Instead of having the standard "Walking around" graphic and then a more detailed Battle graphic, they put combined the two graphics so the walking around is the same graphic as the battles. This may not be a huge reason to get the game, but it's one out of many reasons why it surpasses all of the other SNES Final Fantasy games.


The graphics have definetely improved since Final Fantasy I-V. Instead of one color, with some other darker color to contrast, this game must have 1000 different colors just in the beginning of the game itself. They are beautifully detailed and bring the game to life as your characters move around. These are of course the in-game graphics, as the SNES can't tollerate cutscenes.

The story starts out with 3 people riding "Magitek Armor", which is a mech robot infused with magic to produce deadly results. These 3 people are Vicks, Wedge, and Terra (Seen as ?????, you get to name her later. Terra is just the preset name). They ride into a town called Narshe and try to find a mystic monster named an "Esper." As soon as the Esper comes in contact with Terra, she blacks out and wakes up in a house inside Narshe with amnesia. She was being controlled by the Empire and she has to escape because the Narshe Guards are after her. As soon as you get out of Narshe, your quest begins to help Terra find out more about herself. Of course, eventually, you have to save the world from Kefka, an Imperial General who becomes too powerful for his own good.


The music in this game is personally one of my favorite. From serious music to being a total dumbass music, everything comes out as Nobuo Uematsu strikes again with one of his greatest soundtracks ever. The music sounds more real as opposed to earlier games, where music sounds obnoxiously annoying. (BERRR BREE BREEE BROOOOO).

The sound however took a large blow here. It seems they were working very hard on the graphics and the music, that they didn't have much time to get a great sound playlist going. Many of the sounds will sound like "Bazoing! (jump)" and "Backooo (boom)" and "eeeeeeooooooo (falling down)" Though the sound isn't that great, it isn't something that people really pay too much attention to.



The overworld map is definetely different than most other games. As seen here, they gave the map some depth and perception. The graphic designers obviously wanted to go for more of a 3D look than the boring 2D look, which most likely wouldn't have worked with these sort of graphics.


The battle system is just like any other battle system, Fight, Hit, Poof. The battles aren't the greatest part of the game, but they do bring entertainment (Especially when you own things like this.) The equip system works in two ways. "Optimum" choice which automatically selects the best choice for your character, or Manual Equip which is self explanatory. The relic system in the game, you can tell by playing, had a lot of work done on it. Each character can equip 2 relics. Some relics are better if paired with another relic (Earrings x2 = Stronger Magic. Genji Glove + Offering = 8 hit attacks. Economizer + Gem Box = Double Cast of Ultima for 2 MP. Sweet) Then of course there are the standard relics, such as "No Poison" or "Casts Regen." One relic, the Sprint Shoes, allow your character to move 2 times faster in towns and caves.


Overall this huge review, I think this game brings everything to the table and more. It's got the graphics, the music, and even the kickass relic system. Though the game is ridiculously long and sometimes even mentally challenging, it's still worth it to get this game.

5 star(s) out of 5

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