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The earthquake was only the beginning. The great tremors that swallowed the crystals, the light of our world, only to spawn monsters from the depths of the scarred land, are nothing but harbingers of what has yet to come. Something is coming... fathomless, ominous, and full of sorrow... But hope is not yet lost. Four souls will be blessed with light, and so it shall begin.

Beaten: 2007, 2024
Version played: Nintendo DS, Switch (Pixel Remaster)


In 2023, when the Pixel Remasters came out on Switch, I decided to dive in and replay the series. I hadn't played the first six games in years, and I really wanted to experience them again. I devoured FFI and FFII in short order, absolutely enamored with both of them.

And then I got to FFIII and completely stalled.

Here's the thing about FFIII: it's really lacking in characters. The DS version, which is the one I originally played, gave the four heroes names and the barest sketches of character, and that was enough to carry me through the game. The Pixel Remaster version, by contrast, is a remake of the NES version and has blank slate characters.

But FFI is the same way, and I had plenty of fun with that. So why didn't FFIII connect with me? Honestly, I'm not sure. It took me a year to go back to it, and while I eventually beat it again, I just didn’t like it very much.

It’s not that FFIII is a bad game — really, it’s perfectly serviceable. But that’s kind of it. I think the setting is interesting, and it was fun to explore, but it just didn’t click. To be perfectly honest, I like how FFXIV used elements from this game more than I like FFIII itself.

I did enjoy the DS version when I played it in 2007, though my memories of it are pretty faded at this point. The one thing that's crystal clear in my memory is the final dungeon: it took four hours to go through it, and there are NO SAVE POINTS. It was an absolute slog, but it felt very satisfying to beat it!

Favorite character

Yeah, I don't have one. This game is extremely light on characters.

Favorite music

I have to go with "Eternal Wind," although this is mostly my bias from FFXIV (which pulls from FFIII extensively). Some other favorite tracks:

Favorite location

I have to go with the Crystal Tower, although again this is my FFXIV bias speaking. Still, it's one of the more beautiful final dungeons in the series, and it's a genuine struggle to get all the way through it in one piece.

Eureka is also pretty fun! I had completely forgotten about it when I went back to it in 2024, and it was fun to explore it all the way to the bottom.

Gameplay thoughts

Here’s the problem with FFIII: FFV does it better.

That’s it, really. The job system is great! But it’s so hard to look at FFIII in a vacuum when there are later games that expand so much on the job system. The individual jobs are interesting, and the late-game offerings are fantastic (especially Sage and Ninja), but the game just doesn’t have as much flexibility as FFV. There are certain points where you’re clearly meant to use specific jobs, which makes your choices feel less organic.

Also, to be honest, I don’t like that you don’t have MP but instead have set numbers of each level of spell. It’s fine once you hit the end of the game, but before that it can be quite daunting to not run out of magic.

One thing I'd completely forgotten about was the use of Mini to traverse the overworld at certain points. I do have to give credit where it's due: FFIII really stepped it up from the first two games in terms of world exploration.

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