The Gulgan spoke faintly,
“The earthquake was just the
beginning. The tremors that
swallowed the Crystals, the
light of our world, and let
demons crawl to the surface
are nothing compared to
the flood of darkness
that is to come.
But hope is not yet lost.
Four souls will be blessed
by light, and so it begins.
In the remote village of Ur,
four orphands had been raised
by Topapa, a village elder.
A Crystal had fallen into
a cave created by the
fissures of the earthquake,
and the adventuring orphans
had wandered in to test
their courage.
I played FF III, or a version of it, for the first time, when the DS remake came out. I think it was 2005, something like that. I bought it when it was new, because I was hungry for a new JRPG, and was interested in this old FF, that I had never played, and I think had no fan-translation back than?
It was fine, but didn't do too much for me. I wasn't into old-school JRPGs, back then, and was turned off by the light story, the dungeon-heavy gameplay and the difficulty in general. I also never liked the art style, something that hasn't changed too much. I still highly prefer the pretty pixels of the NES original.
I still liked it well enough, and played up to the final dungeon. I didn't understand, that I had to beat the mini-bosses in there, before fighting the Cloud of Darkness, assumed taht I was underleveled, and gave up.
Some years late, I guess in 2008 or 2009, I replayed the game. I don't remember much of that playthrough, except that I had slightly more fun with it. Knowing what I would get into helped, I guess. But I still didn't care too much about the game, and sold it at some point.
Years later, I would guess 2014 or 2015, I finally played the NES game. I don't remember that playthrough that well either, except that it was the first time, that I really enjoyed the game. Considering that I hadn't played the DS version for a long time, a comparison is probably pointless. But I remembered from than on, that I liked the NES version way more.
That's the backstory. On to the first part of the game.
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The first thing that I noticed, was how adorable the Onion Knights look. As do the goblins in the first fight. I can't help but think, that there is an intended contrast to the harsh brutality of FF II. The second game was dark for most of the game. This here looks more cartoony and light-hearted from the start.
This is the first game, that has an introductory dungeon including an easy, introductory boss fight. The dungeon teaches you already a handful of things. You are trapped inside, until you defeat the boss, but due to a healing spring, you can stay forever. The monsters aren't strong enough to kill you in one battle, except maybe if you are extremely unlucky.
There are also objects to interact with, now. In II, there was the stone in the mines, but you needed Josef with you. And I think, you didn't need to interact with the stone. This feels new and interesting (and also potentially frustrating).
The dungeon isn't hard, but it's not completely toothless. You don't miss all the time, but often enough, that monsters can hurt you often enough. And the boss is durable enough, too. It's a callback to the second game, the Land Turtle! Only this time, you can actually hurt the jerk. And you, of course, can find Arctic Winds (I think, I didn't write down the name of the item). It makes the fight pretty easy.
The dungeon ends, by listening to the Wind Crystal, who tells us that we are chosen, and are supposed to save the world from engulfing darkness. Together with the first village, were we learn that our four Onion Knights grew up in, it gives enough backstory to make our heroes characters. Not great characters, but it feels like a big step up from FF I, were the heroes were without any context.
In general, while the story aspect was reduced, it isn't gone. While III is, in some way, FF I done again, just better, II has left it's footprint. We have a backstory, the orphans have a home, and there are guest characters who interact with our heroes. You can also still use items on NPCs, with the B button. It's a nice development, and I didn't realize how clear III took ideas from II. I actually thought it was just on a different branch of the early FF games.
There are some QoL developments to be found immediately. A big one: Attacks on defeated enemies get finally redirected to a random, not-defeated enemy. It immediately made the battles a bit more mindless, though. I mean, I love it, but in the first two games, I had to think about every single action, even if I just attacked with everyone. There was a bigger engagement. Here, I soon sound my thoughts unfocused, as I just had to hit attack with all four, if I wasn't casting spells. I'm actually surprised, about how big the effect feels. Considering that I didn't mind the planning in I and II, I don't really find it a direct upgrade, just a different taste. But it certainly is more friendly.
You can also now change rows in the regular status screen, instead of having to call up a different menu. Also, when a character attacks an enemy, the number of the characters position appears blinking above the monsters head. This is great, because I sometimes just forgot, who attacked which monster. Small, nice things.
Oh, and you now see which monster actually attacks you. The monster blinks for a second, which is just nice to know. All these things aren't big, but they all add and help. I like these changes.
Outside of battles, there are also nice changes. The random, hidden ways are existing in II, but here, they are everywhere. The first town teaches you this, by having a small part with a well and a woman completely enclosed by trees, so you know that there is a hidden way through the trees. Stuff can be interacted with now, even if they are not treasure chests. Pots contain potions and other small things, and the well contains three potions.
In the inn, there is the first dancer lady, who will do a little dance for you when talked to. There is also the first piano that you can play (badly, I might add). And the random tiles that contain stuff, without any visual indication, are thing now too.
Again, not big things, but these little flourishes are nice, and make the world more lively and interesting. Many of these things will be reused in IV, and it's nice to see how they developed, sometimes from II.
Even more stuff that I noticed (sorry, I always think I'm done, and then I think of more stuff. There is so much!), is that you can now buy items in bulks. I mean, one unit is still possible, of course, but four and ten is also a thing now. When you buy equipment or spells, the character (or maybe more precisely, the job sprite) moves, when you are pointing at a piece of equipment that the class can equip. You can still not see if it is an increase in status values, but it is already a big help compared to FF I, where you have now idea who can equip what.
Graphically, the monsters look, again, a bit better than in II, they seem to have more details and character. The land turle not, the one from II looked better (imo, of course), but the goblins look cute and goofy.
The last gameplay change, I think, are spell charges. They are back from one, but you get a decent amount this time. At the first job level, both Black and White Mages have ten level 1 charges, the Red Mage has 7, I think. You can do way more with that amount.
There is, of course, the new job system. And surprisingly, the game doesn't tell you about it, at all. I guess it isn't to hard to find, considering there is a point in the status screen, that lets you change your jobs, but I'm still surprised that the crystal doesn't tell you about it.
There isn't much of an explanation, but it's also not too hard. Everyone starts as Onion Knights,which, I guess, are children who dressed up with wooden swords and played knights. They are very cute!
The jobs you have access to with the Wind Crystals power are Knight, Black Mage, White Mage, Red Mage and Monk. I'm surprised that Thief isn't there, but elsewise, it starts by giving you options that you probably know about already, from the first game. That the jobs also look a lot like their FF I incarnations also helps. That way, you can make an easy decision and just recreate your favourite party from the first game. Maybe Thief was considered too weak for the beginning?
Because, outside of the starting dungeon, the monsters are pretty beefy. I nearly died against a party of four werewolfs, which surprised me. It felt harder than the first two games. FF II especially took some time, to throw strong monsters at the players. But I guess the starting dungeon in III is the equivalent of the first island in I. The monsters after the bridge in FF I are already pretty tough, so I guess that fits.
After nearly dying, I put a second sword on my Knight. Oh, my party for now is Kirk the Knight, Picard the White Mage, Janewe the Black Mage and Sisko the Monk. I feel like that is a decent fit. Unfortunately, the starting town (which is Ur, by the way) has a magic show, but it only teaches you Poisona. There is a cure spell in town, in a hut in the back, though.
One more gameplay thing: You can immediately multi-cast every spell, and it doesn't get as weak as it would have gotten in II. Cure at the start in multicast still heals around 20 HP for everyone.
Well, to continue on with the game, I made it to the next town (Kazus). Where there is only one normal person, everyone else has become a ghost. An earthquake freed the evil Djinn, and he just took away everyones third dimension! Plus there color and all. It always felt a bit creepy.
There is the second Cid in the Inn, and he lends us his airship, hidden in the small desert left of town. Maybe I'm reaching, but that too felt a bit like a callback, and like it made a bit lighthearted fun of the hard to find airship in FF I.
Also, you barely start the game, and already have an airship. Except that everything is surrounded by mountains, and it can't get high enough. It can't even get over a boulder, I guess it just floats above land and water.
The area is governed by the King of Castle Sasune. But everyone there has been turned to ghosts too. Except for Princess Sarah(!), who has a ring that makes her immune. So she made her way to the cave of the Djinn, to trap him again. We get there too. That's actually all there is to get to. Two towns, a castle and two dungeons. It's a nice introduction to the game. Even if the early FFs are relatively open, they guide you well.
I also found the Ice spell, but I forgot where. I didn't buy it, there is only the lacking spell shop in Ur.
So, on to the first real dungeon. Before that, I found a hidden treasure area of the castle (I guess the Ice spell was there?), and also climbed a tower. My black mage had now an attack spell, a bow and two different arrows. Nice!
But the star of the first dungeon was the White Mage. I like how they make him into a killing machine, by putting a lot of undead into the dungeon, which the Cure spell kills very effectively.
But also aside from that, the dungeon isn't too hard. After the first floor, you meet Princess Sarah, who joins you. So, guest characters are still a thing, but they don't do anything in battle. They can be talked to, though, anytime with B. Which gives both them and your characters a bit more personality.
So, the dungeon isn't hard, and assuming you might have a Black and a Red Mage, you get a second Cure spell. Aside from that, you also have to find a hidden way by examining skeletons, victims of the Djinn I guess. You get clued into this, at the Castle or the town. It's still important to get these clues, elsewise you are probably stuck.
The dungeon is short, and you soon reach the Djinn. It isn't a hard battle, and way less obnoxious than the soldier guy from the mines in II. Ten Cure charges are more than enough to kill a few undead and do heal duty during the fight.
Fittingly, the Djinn has a weakness against Ice, the only black magic that you have access to (but only if you explore!). And here, I learned something that I really dislike. Black magic can miss. Even in II, where most low-level spells missed, the elemental spells always hit. Here, the Ice spell sometimes just vanished. Lame, that stuff costs charges, you shouldn't just lose it.
Still, the battle was easy, and the game is nice enough to just teleport us to the castle. We get thanked, and sent on our way. Princess Sarah is very sad to see us go.
There is a second tower in the castle, which contains decently strong monsters. Now, with higher strength, I tried it and made it to the top. A monster-in-a-box waited in the treasure chest. A Griffon! Not a big deal, I think he died in the second round. And he left me a Red Mage-only sword. So I changed Picard from a White Mage to a Red Mage.
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Well, that's it for now. It got way longer than I expected, but that was probably just because of the many new things that I wanted to comment on. Certainly a nice start, and I'm looking forward to make the world larger for the first time.