Final Fantasy III takes all the elements from Final Fantasy I left behind in II and makes them BETTER while taking some of the few elements that did work from II and adding them to the mix.
The story is more akin to Final Fantasy I, and you once again create your own protagonists. The story is, OK, nothing really that amazing, but nothing terrible. The NPCs actually have character now, and the story actually is somewhat engaging. Rather than forcing you to lump around dead weight with a rotating fourth story-related party member like Final Fantasy II, characters now "Join your party" by simply following you around, allowing you to talk to them, which is neat.
The world itself also feels incredibly large, as you realise midway through that you've only been exploring a fraction of the map filled with hidden areas and details opened up to you as you gain more modes of transport. My main gripe with the overworld is why exactly they thought it was a good idea to have half of it just be empty sea that all looks exactly the same, its insanely hard to navigate due to this and just frustrating as you aimlessly fly over the blank void of water.
The EXP system is returned as it was in Final Fantasy I, with the rather groundbreaking addition of the job system. Now any character at any time can fulfil any role and switch between them at a moment's notice. You need to gain points in order to switch, which is kind of a meaningless system as you almost always have enough points, and if you don't you just have to effortlessly grind for them (This system was removed in the remakes). Each job has a unique action and playstyle giving a large variety of options for forming your party, adding replayability. The game has moments that are like puzzles where you must choose the correct job types in order to progress, however, you can also solve these problems by simply using specific spells or actions. More jobs unlock as you progress, further encouraging you to switch it up as you go. The only issue with this is the final jobs you unlock are leagues above any other jobs you had for the whole game, I feel these jobs should have been a post-game reward or something akin, rather than being practically handed to you at the end game. This makes the battles in this game fun and engaging, and the levels of the enemies are never too high or too low for it to become annoying or monotonous. The final dungeon is an exception to this, with a huge spike in difficulty, forcing you to fight waves of over-levelled enemies with no save points for a long stretch of time.
The dungeons themselves are also well-designed, they are fun to explore and don't have any of the annoying bullshit from Final Fantasy II's dungeon design. Once again the exception to this is the final dungeon which is far too long and filled with dead ends. The finale is definitely the worst part of Final Fantasy III, even the final boss is terrible it just spams ONE OP attack at you over and over, no strategy, just grind.
The soundtrack is good, and brings back a few staples from Final Fantasy I skipped over in II, and creates new traditions from the tracks from II.
Final Fantasy III is a great improvement to Final Fantasy I, it's one of those "true sequels" after a bumpy middle child. Definitely the best Famicom Final Fantasy, and perhaps the best JRPG on the Famicom period. The remakes for Final Fantasy III are about the same as the original as far as I can tell, and I find the 3D visuals of the DS and PSP version really ugly, but thats just me.
The story is more akin to Final Fantasy I, and you once again create your own protagonists. The story is, OK, nothing really that amazing, but nothing terrible. The NPCs actually have character now, and the story actually is somewhat engaging. Rather than forcing you to lump around dead weight with a rotating fourth story-related party member like Final Fantasy II, characters now "Join your party" by simply following you around, allowing you to talk to them, which is neat.
The world itself also feels incredibly large, as you realise midway through that you've only been exploring a fraction of the map filled with hidden areas and details opened up to you as you gain more modes of transport. My main gripe with the overworld is why exactly they thought it was a good idea to have half of it just be empty sea that all looks exactly the same, its insanely hard to navigate due to this and just frustrating as you aimlessly fly over the blank void of water.
The EXP system is returned as it was in Final Fantasy I, with the rather groundbreaking addition of the job system. Now any character at any time can fulfil any role and switch between them at a moment's notice. You need to gain points in order to switch, which is kind of a meaningless system as you almost always have enough points, and if you don't you just have to effortlessly grind for them (This system was removed in the remakes). Each job has a unique action and playstyle giving a large variety of options for forming your party, adding replayability. The game has moments that are like puzzles where you must choose the correct job types in order to progress, however, you can also solve these problems by simply using specific spells or actions. More jobs unlock as you progress, further encouraging you to switch it up as you go. The only issue with this is the final jobs you unlock are leagues above any other jobs you had for the whole game, I feel these jobs should have been a post-game reward or something akin, rather than being practically handed to you at the end game. This makes the battles in this game fun and engaging, and the levels of the enemies are never too high or too low for it to become annoying or monotonous. The final dungeon is an exception to this, with a huge spike in difficulty, forcing you to fight waves of over-levelled enemies with no save points for a long stretch of time.
The dungeons themselves are also well-designed, they are fun to explore and don't have any of the annoying bullshit from Final Fantasy II's dungeon design. Once again the exception to this is the final dungeon which is far too long and filled with dead ends. The finale is definitely the worst part of Final Fantasy III, even the final boss is terrible it just spams ONE OP attack at you over and over, no strategy, just grind.
The soundtrack is good, and brings back a few staples from Final Fantasy I skipped over in II, and creates new traditions from the tracks from II.
Final Fantasy III is a great improvement to Final Fantasy I, it's one of those "true sequels" after a bumpy middle child. Definitely the best Famicom Final Fantasy, and perhaps the best JRPG on the Famicom period. The remakes for Final Fantasy III are about the same as the original as far as I can tell, and I find the 3D visuals of the DS and PSP version really ugly, but thats just me.