With this being the first time FFIII was localised in a form reminiscent of its original style, this was the Pixel Remaster I was most anticipating. However unlike the prior two games, I can’t say this rose to the occasion. “Let down” is not quite how I would put it, but rather that I found it shockingly nondescript. There are still a handful of powerful moments in the journey – particularly the sense of foreboding mystery that arises from leaving the floating island and being greeted by a totally flooded world. But on the whole the story felt lacking in presence. Particularly, I felt that they took too much liberty with player assumption. Events and characters tend to take a running start with a critical lack of introduction. Why am I doing this? Where did I learn I needed to? Why do those guys already understand my goal? Either I was accidentally and persistently sequence-breaking, or the game just wasn't explaining itself properly. The characters talk more yet are less memorable than Garland and Firion. Resulting from this, compared to most other entries in the series I too find myself without much to say. It's a necessary breather after the experimental second game, maybe? In writing and structure it feels like it’s shied away from the ambition that the second game had built itself upon, but in the long run perhaps it was good for Final Fantasy to have taken its time to establish a core status quo here. It’s clearly an important piece for the franchise since there are notable references carried forward. Cloud Smiles being adapted from an FFIII tracks is something I was aware of, but not which one specifically. However the first time you set foot in Amur that familiar melody immediately washes over you. Beyond the franchise, the victory lap that marks farewell to the game is enacted once again in Chrono Trigger. The lengthy miniaturized sections and the way the party call for aid before the final battle are things that probably went on to influence Earthbound. One of the most interesting things about finally tackling the earliest Final Fantasy titles is noting just how influential each new game was, and III does not slow down in that regard. It’s a very visible step in the franchise’s growing identity.

I knew the DS remake was notorious for being tough, but the difficulty even in this streamlined version was a rather dramatic leap from the previous two games. Sometimes that makes for a refreshing challenge, since the gil runs sparse for most the game and thus requires taking careful inventory of your potions and phoenix downs. The encounter rate is much more bearable here than in the prior two games, which helps. Other times though, especially as it builds to the finale, it’s plainly just annoying how it becomes intoxicated with the idea of multiplying enemies and inundating the player with quake, meteor or particle beam spams. The runtime winds back down to about 10 hours so the game ends before you'd ever decide to drop it, but it is straight up frustrating more often than I’d have liked.