For many years now Final Fantasy has been an iconic name in the RPG genre. This game is one of the many remakes of the original games improved with updated graphics, innovative new gameplay and ultimately an enjoyable experience... all on two 5 inch screens.
Story
All Final Fantasy stories a re pretty immense and follow many different themes; FF7 was environmental, FFX was emotional and FFXII was political. FF3 however sticks to a more traditional theme and is a battle of light versus darkness. It tells the story of 4 orphans, brought together by fate with the game following them attempting to return the light to ancient crystals.
The game then throws in a twist and you realise that the game is actually much deeper than that, and the little continent you presumed you were stuck to is actually only a tiny part of the real map. You just never know with final fantasy games, just what waits around the next corner.
Lifespan
Final Fanatsy games are reknowned for their massive main quests and multitude of side quests, and this game manages to fit half that criteria. On a first playthrough the main story is 30 hours plus. However this game lacks the side quests, as I have found only 1 so far.
1 feature in the game which adds to the life is the player being given the ability to change the characters jobs and gaining skill in all areas of fighting, meaning time could be spent levelling up and trying to create an ultimate fighter.
So this may not be the longest final fantasy game out there, but it is still longer than alot of games available on the DS.
Graphics
Considering the console, the graphics would never be expected to jump off the screen, however it has some of the best graphics the DS has seen and the opening movie truly shows what the DS can be capable of. The 3D graphics add alot to the gameplay allowing movements to look very fluid compared to other final fantasy games (lower than 7).
The battle system is also in 3D and is very similar graphic-wise to Final Fantasy 7 on the PS1, maybe just a little less sophisticated.
One thing is for sure, on a different console such as the PS3 or XBOX 360 this game would not have got the good engines most games get and therefore would not have the graphics you may expect from those consoles. It does push the DS's limits to the boundaries and work very well on it. A good job in a difficult review section.
Gameplay
The DS allowed for a new style of gameplay with the dual screens and touch screen. There are two ways to play this game, either with the buttons or the stylus and touch screen. The basic gameplay involves traditional Final Fantasy elements; Field movements, town movements and battles. The battle system is turn based meaning that you select your characters actions and
they perform the moves in an order depending on speed stats.
The level system is as simple as ever, winning battles gains experience and when enough exp points have been accumulated the character will gain a level. This game also includes an additional element of job levels. As I explained before the jobs of the characters can be changed and as the story progresses more jobs become available, however it takes time for your character to become a master at his or her job at they have to gain job levels in order to perform to the best of their abilities. Job levels are increased in accordance to number of battles, not experience, and there is a transition period when a character changes job types.
Actions during battles are decided by these jobs, some jobs allow the use of magic while others simply allow for a stronger attack or defense. One major difference in this game from most others is the way magic is used. Instead of having a Magic Point (MP) gauge, magic is split into different levels (from 1 to 8) and each level has 3 black magics, 3 white magics and a summon. Each level is then given a certain number of points depending on the character's level and that shows how many spells of that level can be performed, all magic uses 1 point. Naturally Higher level spells will have less points available than lower level spells (until later in the game *hush hush*).
In all they have used the DS's abilities well by allowing the players to use the touch screen, however there are no touch screen/microphone specific features in the game, a negative point, as games which include these are what makes the DS unique.
In conclusion, Final Fantasy 3 really does show what makes Final Fantasy an outstanding franchise with the success it has today, and the port onto the DS makes the game better in almost every way. There are several places where you feel Square could have made more improvements but maybe they are keeping all their attention on Final Fantasy 13!
Ratings
Story *********- : 9/10
Lifespan ********-- : 8/10
Graphics ********-- : 8/10
Gameplay ********-- : 8/10
Overall ********-- : 8/10
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