Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster

A very good remaster of Final Fantasy 3, yes it does have some minor flaws but I would still argue that this is the definitive version since it adds some much needed quality of life changes that make the experience much more enjoyable that it was before. There are a few changes to gameplay the most obvious being the auto battle feature which makes the encounter rate much less of a pain, there's now a run function when not in the overworld, omni directional movement, phoenix downs are much more common, secret passages now have subtle visual clues, and the dungeons now have an optional map you can use. The visuals are very well done, I know many enjoyed the DS version but I think this pixel remaster is a much more elegant solution than the ds versions big ugly polygons. The sprites, levels, and attack effects have all been remade from the ground up but surprisingly it all meshes together evenly, nothing feels out of place..............well except for one incredibly obvious flaw. The text format. As many others have said the text that is used for dialogue looks horrible compared to everything else and what's worse is that they already use a better text format for damage calculation so there's literally no reason for it to look this bad. I think it goes without saying that the re orchestrated music sounds fantastic and was my primary reason for buying this game. Nobuo Uematsu oversaw the music and it shows, every track has the level of quality you would expect from his work and in my opinion elevates the atmosphere of FF3 much higher than it was. This is also highly subjective but I think eternal wind is the standout track and possibly the best overworld theme in the entire series. The story and characters wont blow you away, its a very basic light vs dark story with all the fantasy tropes you would expect **** from the famicom era. That being said the plot gets the job done, it never draws anything out more than it needs to so the pacing is relatively quick in that regard but this has the drawback of never allowing you to get attached to the characters you meet since they pop in and out of the adventure so quickly. Pros: +remastered music sounds amazing +pixelated visuals pays homage to original style but isnt afraid to improve things like the water effects +auto battle and other QOL changes make playing the game a breeze Cons: -terrible looking font looks terrible -game is incredibly easy with exception of a few bosses

This game goes back a bit to the roots of the first game in the series. "the chosen" warriors of light to save the world. So the story is quite similar to the first game. This game introduces the job/class system. I have mixed feelings about it because the game almost forces you to use the exact job for different types of bosses/enemies. I think it's cool that you can build like a unique team comp from the fly and grind levels for each job, but sticking with only a few is difficult. For example, at one boss, you just have to realize that you need like 3-4 dragoons in your team. The same goes for the final boss. It's not easy unless you have leveled characters like +50 and you need at least 1 white mage/devout/sage with all the healing spells. (Or some cheese strat like having the blood lances on dragoons haha) Out of the first two games, this one has some tough enemies where you need to think. If you don't know what you are doing, you will more than likely get wiped. Anyway.. Overall, the game is good. The soundtrack is top tier (especially the victory fanfare :D). Oh, and the dungeons and the encounter system is much improved. Not like in FF2 where you take like a couple of steps and you will get into a battle.. The dungeons are just overall better in this.

Final Fantasy III is a product of its time but still stands up surprisingly well. The music is gorgeous, the pixel graphics are wonderful, and the gameplay is engaging. The addition of auto fighting is great, but it would have been nice to have some more quality-of-life features, like a quest pointer, so you don't get lost and wander aimlessly around the map for an hour. The job system was excellent but poorly explained, and I'm still not sure I knew what I was doing when I saw the credits roll. Overall, it is a fun game that is surprisingly deep, to say where it originally came from. It is well worth a look if you have the time.

The addition of the Job System alone is enough to make this game hold up decently in the current year. Besides that, just a pretty mediocre JPRG.

Please bring the Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster to Switch so that I can change this review score from a 0 to a 5.