FINAL FANTASY III

After playing Final Fantasy XIV for a quite a while now, I figured that it would be a good idea to see where everything started, and thanks to these lovely Pixel Remasters of the first few Final Fantasy games, it is easier than ever to do.

Overview
As all the other classic Final Fantasy games, FF III is a turned based jrpg with a huge open world and not too much guidance. Since it’s a rpg from the “old days” it expects you to talk to NPC’s to find out where to go and to explore its world. Which has its charm but can certainly be challenging if you haven’t played a game like this before.
(But in case you get lost, there are guides, so don’t let this discourage you from enjoying this great game.)

Story
Chosen and blessed by the Crystal, you and your group of three friends were chosen to be the Warriors of Light, and send on a journey to prevent the world from falling into darkness.
It's a classic of good vs evil story and the balance of light and dark. It won’t win any story of the year awards nowadays, but it is still a very good fantasy tale which will keep you hooked through the entire game from start to finish.

Gameplay
After a brief intro and learning the very basics of the combat system, the world is yours to explore within certain limitations. Monsters don’t scale with your level (thankfully) so I can happen that you run into monsters which you aren’t ready for yet.
Like in most classic Role-Playing-Games you level up through combat, find new gear, new key items through quests, and unlock new skills and jobs along the way. One of the benefits of this system is, that if you hit a little wall, you can always just go and grind monsters for an extra level or two and overcome the wall. You never really get stuck. I still recommend saving often and to do so on more than one save file, just to be sure.

Features
-A huge open world
-Lots and lots of enemy variety
-A huge selections of Jobs / the ability to switch jobs at any time
-Tons of different spells, gear and weapons
-Lots of dungeons with different themes and creative challenges, like needing to shrink yourself to reach certain places.
-Modern, optional, comfort features, like quick saving at any point, and a menu to increase exp and gil multipliers from 0.5x to 4x and the option to disable random encounters

Graphic/Audio/Tech
For the Tech, I had zero issues, no stutters no crashes, the game is perfectly optimized for modern PC’s

On the graphic side, if you enjoy pixel art, this game looks fantastic. The world is full of wonders, and the sprite art is great. Enemies, Combat backdrops, and dungeons in general offer so much variety in their optic. The spells especially look fantastic when used, and you won’t grow bored of looking at them.
The soundtrack of Final Fantasy III is still a feast for your ears, it’s really amazing how much they managed to do with the tools they had back in the day.

Final Thoughts
If you like older jrpgs or are a fan of the Final Fantasy franchise and haven’t played this game yet, I can only recommend it. The world is huge and offers a lot of variety, the combat system is a lot of fun and its all packed into a good story that keeps you hooked from start to finish.
It maybe takes a while to get the hang on it, but it is absolutely worth doing so.

And if you are a Final Fantasy XIV player like me, you will discover so many places which also exist in FFXIV, it will put some smiles on your face and provide a lot of “ahhhh” moments.

Final Fantasy III Pixel Remastered is a fantastic revival of a beloved classic. The game's pixel art has been beautifully updated, retaining the nostalgic charm while enhancing the visual experience. The job system is a standout feature, allowing players to experiment with different character classes and build a unique party composition. This adds a layer of depth and strategy to the gameplay, making each playthrough exciting and engaging.

The soundtrack is another highlight, with the original compositions beautifully rearranged to sound fresh and vibrant. The addition of quality-of-life improvements, such as autosave and a minimap, makes the game more accessible without losing its classic appeal. Overall, Final Fantasy III Pixel Remastered is a must-play for both long-time fans and newcomers to the series.

Final Fantasy III is a big improvement from the first 2 entries. The gameplay is more diverse than I, and III reverts back to a better leveling system/encounter rate vs II. Additionally, the story felt a bit more full vs both FFI and FFII... though don't go expecting an incredible story as usual. The music features a few new soundtracks (alongside the old soundtracks) that I thought were really nice. The game is still old, but I enjoyed playing FFIII.

This one is a bit more annoying to 100% since there are more missable things + more regions to hit up, but if you follow a guide... it still shouldn't be hard.

I didn't really like the first half of the game because of how you are forced to flee or use toad/mini on yourself, but the story and music were great, I found myself In a huge grind in early game and think I spent more time grinding on this game then actually playing it. I enjoyed FF1 and FF2 better then 3. Also this is only my 3rd final fantasy game, I am playing them in order wish me luck FF4 is next!

It may be a bit on the dated side, being an update of what was originally a NES game, but it smooths down a lot of the flaws of the NES original and is probably my favourite version of FF3 to date. :3

Far superior in every way to Final Fantasy 1 and 2. I really enjoyed the leveling and job systems, along with the story, the item hunting and treasure grinding... It was all perfectly made. This is when Final Fantasy started taking itself much more seriously, and it shows! I highly recommend playing through the whole series!

Of all of the turn based Final Fantasy games, FFIII is my least favorite and I still recommend it. This works perfectly on my Steam Deck, the added achievements are a nice touch, and I do so love the job system, though it is perfected in FFV.
I still only recommend that you get this as the full Pixel Remaster set though. If you really only want Final Fantasy III you are probably better off with the 3D remake that originally dropped for Nintendo DS, but is here on Steam as well.