Final Fantasy III

For the game originally released as Final Fantasy III in North America, see Final Fantasy VI.

Final Fantasy III is the third installment in the Final Fantasy series, developed by Square Co., Ltd., and released on the Nintendo Family Computer (Famicom). It was never released outside Japan until recently for the Nintendo DS.

Up until 2006, it was the only installment in the series to have never seen official English localization, and the only main 2D Final Fantasy game to not see a port or remake. There had been an earlier plan to remake the game for Bandai's WonderSwan Color handheld (as had been done with the first two installments and the fourth game), but the developers faced difficulties converting the original Famicom version's cartridge size to the WonderSwan Color, leading to several delays and eventually cancellation after the premature death of the platform. However, an enhanced remake for the Nintendo DS handheld system was released in 2006 in Japan and the U.S., and subsequently released in other parts of the world in 2007. The DS remake of Final Fantasy III is the first iteration of the game to be released internationally.

Final Fantasy III was scored by Nobuo Uematsu, and it is Uematsu's twenty-first video game music composition.

Gameplay
Gameplay contains elements of the first two Final Fantasy games, along with some new features. The experience point system featured in the original Final Fantasy makes a return following its absence from Final Fantasy II. There is a new class system featured in Final Fantasy III, however. Unlike the original Final Fantasy, where the player chose each character's class alignment at the start of the game, and Final Fantasy II, where there are no specific classes, Final Fantasy III introduces the "job system" for which the series would become famous. Jobs themselves are basically interchangeable classes: all four characters, the Light Warriors, start out as "Onion Knights," but before long the player is given the option to have them switch to a variety of other classes. The classes featured in Final Fantasy III are:
 * Warrior-type jobs
 * Onion Knight
 * Freelancer (DS version only)
 * Warrior
 * Monk
 * Hunter
 * Knight
 * Thief
 * Dragoon
 * Viking
 * Black Belt
 * Magic Knight (NES version only)
 * Dark Knight (DS version only)
 * Ninja
 * Mage-type jobs
 * White Mage
 * Black Mage
 * Red Mage
 * Scholar
 * Geomancer
 * Evoker, also known as Conjurer
 * Bard
 * Devout, also known as Shaman
 * Magus, also known as Warlock
 * Summoner
 * Sage

Final Fantasy III is the first game in the series to feature special battle commands such as Steal or Jump, each of which is associated with a particular job. It is also the first game in the series to feature summoned creatures.

Main Characters
In the original NES version of the game, the player controlled four generic Light Warriors, four kids who had no distinct personalities, who just stumbled on the Wind Crystal and were granted its power to save the world. Indeed, their genders are never revealed, but it is universally accepted that they are all male. Along the way, they meet several support characters. These characters join the party, but don't actually fight. Instead, they offer help on the world map.

The DS version, however, gives all four of the protagonists personalities, names, and even makes one of them female. Their back-stories help move the plot along faster, and supporting characters, such as Cid still join your party, but now will randomly help the party in battle, either by attacking monsters with a weapon or spell, or by healing the party.

Story
Many years ago, on a floating continent hovering high above the surface of an unnamed planet, a technologically advanced civilization sought to harness the power of the four elemental crystals of light. They did not realize that they could not hope to control such fundamental forces of nature. This power of light would have consumed the world itself had the light crystals not had their natural counterparts: the four dark elemental crystals. Disturbed by the sudden interruption of the careful balance of the light and the dark, four warriors were granted the power of the dark crystals in order to re-contain the power of the light crystals. These so-called Dark Warriors succeeded in their quest, and restored harmony to the world. But their victory came too late to save the doomed civilization that had foolishly tried to harness the power of the crystals to begin with. Their once-proud culture was reduced to ruin, though their floating continent remained, a reminder of what had come before. And on that very continent, the circle of Gurgans, a race of blind soothsayers and fortune-tellers, predicted that eventually things would come full circle. Just as the power of light can be abused, so too can the power of darkness. And when that occurred, the crystals of the light called forth their own champions to restore balance to the world....

One day, an earthquake opens up a previously hidden cavern in Altar Cave near the village of Ur on the floating continent. Four orphaned youths under the care of Topapa, the village elder, go exploring and come across a crystal of light. The Crystal of Wind. The crystal grants them a portion of its power, and instructs them to go forth and restore balance to the world. Not knowing what to make of the crystal's pronouncements, but nonetheless recognizing the importance of its words, the four inform their adoptive family of their mission and set out to explore.

In the DS Version, only Luneth falls down and discovers the Crystal of Wind. He then goes to find his friend Arc, who is being picked on by the other kids of the village. Together they journey to Kazus, the village cursed by the Djinn. They seek out Refia, and all three journey to Castle Sasune to see the King and retrieve the Mythril Ring. They are granted access by the royal guard Ingus, who becomes their fourth companion.

The four journey back to Kazus and enter the Sealed Cave. There they find Princess Sara, who has the Ring and with her help, they are able to defeat the Djinn. She returns to the castle while they are transported to the Altar Cave, where lies the Wind Crystal. It bestows upon them its light, and officially makes them the warriors of light. They are instructed to restore the other crystals and bring equilibrium back to the world.

Back at Castle Sasune, Princess Sara uses the Mythril Ring to break the curse and free the people. The warriors say farewell, Ingus promising to return to visit Sara, and then go and find Cid in Kazus. He uses his airship to aid them in ramming the boulder that blocks their way. Unfortunately it comes at the cost of the airship and they are land bound for a while. In order to fulfill their destiny they must find King Argus, however, they must first find a ship.

In the mean time, they journey to the town of Canaan and meet Cid's wife and a strange girl named Salina. She mourns the disappearance of her love, Desch. The four, hearing that he bought the last Mini spell which they were searching for, journey to Dragon's Peak where he was last seen. After scaling the peak, they encounter and are kidnapped by Bahamut, who drops them off at its nest. There they encounter the mysterious Desch. They learn that he has lost his memory, and so he decides to join them in hopes of regaining it.

Using Desch's Mini spell, the group heads for Tozus, the hidden village of the gnomes. The main purpose in traveling there is to pass through Tozus Tunnel, beneath the Myranos Mountains, and reach Vikings Cove, where they may acquire a ship. However, they find the Vikings in an uproar as their feared water deity, the Nepto Dragon, has become wild and angry. The Viking Chief requests the warrior's aid.

They journey to the Nepto Temple, and there they find that an idol of the Nepto Dragon is missing an eye jewel. They shrink down to size, and work their way through the Temple walls, fighting enemies along the way. Eventually they find the missing eye, which was taken by a rat. They restore it, and the Nepto Dragon is appeased. In gratitude, the Vikings bestow upon the heroes the good ship Enterprise.

Sailing upon the Enterprise, the heroes then explore the continent. They travel to the Village of the Ancients, and learn that the continent they are on is actually floating above the old world. They eventually find the Tower of Owen. They battle through the tower, hearing taunts from a mysterious person every now and again. When they reach the main room, they find Medusa, servant of Xande, waiting for them. After defeating her, Desch's memory comes back. He recalls that he is one of the ancients who was the Guardian of the Tower. He also tells the warriors that the tower is the force keeping the floating continent up. As it threatens to fall, Desch leaps into the central furnace, much to Refia's dismay. The tower soon stops shaking and the four leave.

They head for Dwarven Hallows, in search of the Fire Crystal. The dwarves are preoccupied because one of their precious ice horns was stolen by Gutsco the Rogue. They follow him into the subterranean lake, making use of the Toad Spell. After "defeating" him, they make their way back up to Dwarven Hallows, followed by a mysterious shadow. When they reach the main altar, Gutsco reveals himself and grabs both horns.

The four pursue him again, this time into the Molten Cave. Gutsco leads them straight to the Crystal of Fire, whose power he absorbs. He turns into a dragon and the battle ensues. After they finally defeat him for good, they receive the Light of the Fire Crystal, and return the Horns of Ice.

With their new jobs and abilities, the Warriors of Light sailed to Tokkul, a village left in shambles. There they learn that the evil Hein, advisor to King Argus, has captured the King, enslaved the people, and uprooted the Elder Tree from the Living Woods. They are attacked and kidnapped by Hein's men, and taken to Castle Hein, which is actually the floating Elder Tree.

The warriors of light defeat the evil sorcerer and restore the Elder Tree. Upon reaching Castle Argus, King Argus welcomes them and thanks them for their deeds. They receive the Wheel of Time from the King, and finally takes it back to Cid. He then changes their ship into an airship and tells them the truth. The four of them are not from the floating continent but are instead from the world below. They were traveling with Cid when they were very young, and ran into a mysterious cloud. The ship crashed and Cid never saw them again. Made even more curious by the news, the four travel back to the world below and find that their "continent" is nothing but a small island on the face of a huge world.

The Overworld is a swirling mess of darkness with a few large landmasses visible here and there. They fly the Enterprise to a wrecked ship and find an old man tending to a young girl inside. They aid her with a potion and immediately she recovers. She instantly recognizes them as the Warriors of Light and asks if the world is no longer frozen. Hearing that it isn't restored, Aria, the girl, journeys with the warriors to the Temple of Water and recovers the shard of the Water Crystal. Using the shard, she opens the way to the Cave of Tides.

She reveals that she is one of the last Priestesses of Water. They make their way to the Crystal, and Aria returns the shard. As she stepped from the altar, she instructs the warriors to return the light to the crystal. As they approach, Aria suddenly pushed Luneth out of the way of a blast of magic. She falls, and Kraken reveals himself. The four battle him, and once he falls, light is restored to the Crystal and the World is returned to normal, as Aria slowly dies.

In the new world, the four awaken in the Town of Amur. They find their ship tied with a chain, and so journey to Goldor's Mansion to retrieve the key and the Fourth Crystal. Goldor shatters the crystal, but drops the key. They return to Amur and free the Enterprise.

They fly around, visiting several towns, but are shot down over the Megalopolis of Saronia. They find the kingdom in uproar over the decrees of the seemingly mad king. The army has been divided against itself and shops everywhere have been closed. They find the King's son, Prince Alus in South west Saronia, who has been banished from the castle by his own father. Arc convinces the rest to aid him. Strangely they are permitted to enter the castle upon their return but later that night, Alus wakes up to find his father standing over his bed with a knife. His father plunges the knife into his own chest and is immediately free from the spell placed upon him by Garuda. They fight and kill Garuda, and Prince Alus becomes the new king.

Shortly afterwards, scholars inform them that they unearthed the Nautilus. Using it they journey the perilous skies to the Dalg Continent. There they meet Doga and his Moogle body guards. He joins them and together they set off to find the final crystal and stop Xande from upsetting the balance between light and dark.

Nintendo DS version
The Final Fantasy III Nintendo DS remake was first revealed to be in development on October 7, 2004, but detailed information did not emerge until a year later. Hiromichi Tanaka, one of the main designers of the original, was the head of the project as both the executive producer and director. His guidance and supervision was needed because the game was not meant to be a mere graphics update like the updates for Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls, but a total overhaul using the Nintendo DS's 3D capabilities; however, the layout of the dungeons and towns remained identical to the original. Ryosuke Aiba, the art director of Final Fantasy XI, was hired as the new art director. Akihiko Yoshida was hired to revamp previous character designs, and the game changed the main characters into developed characters. The characters were given default names: Luneth (Runesu), Arc (Arukuu), Refia (Lephia) and Ingus (Inguzu), Luneth, Arc and Ingus being male and Refia being female. The characters were given their own background and development, but it would not change anything in the main storyline. There were also made overhauls to the job system, including the rebalancing of the classes, the addition of new abilities, a new "Bare" ("Freelancer" in the US version) class that became the default job class for the characters at the beginning of the game (Onion Knight became a separate class with its own advantages and disadvantages), and it was changed to use of Capacity Points. Unlike the original Famicom version, most of the jobs remained useful for the entire game; the ultimate jobs, the Ninja and the Sage, were rebalanced to stay on the same level as the others.

Finally, the game made use of the DS' Wi-Fi capabilities through an e-mail system known as "Mognet", in a nod to Final Fantasy IX's similar system, for players to exchange messages to each other through Wi-Fi communications. Besides being a way to share thoughts, using Mognet could also be used to unlock and complete sidequests, as well as just send mail to the NPCs they meet on their way.

The DS remake of Final Fantasy III was released in the United States on November 14, 2006. The game was released in Europe on May 4th, 2007.

Special Edition DS


On the same day that Final Fantasy III was released, Square-Enix began selling the bundle package with the game and a special Crystal White DS Lite. The DS has Akihiko Yoshida’s artwork on the top of the system. The DS Lite was released in Japan only and is shown with the FFIII logo and a few of the main characters emblazoned on the front.

Trivia

 * In 1999, Final Fantasy III was unofficially translated into English by Neill Corlett and Alex W. Jackson.
 * This was the first appearance of Moogles and the Fat Chocobo in the series.
 * The "walk around the world on a chocobo and I'll give you a prize" quest was repeated in Final Fantasy V.
 * This was the first game in the series to graphically show hit points when a target was attacked or healed, rather than use caption as in the original versions of the previous two games. It was also the first to contain auto-targeting. Both of these aspects were also adapted in the remakes of the previous two games.
 * The names of Doga and Unei, two key characters in this game, appear in multiple Final Fantasy games including Final Fantasy IX, which contains a sub-quest involving two items named "Doga's Artifact" and "Unei's Mirror".
 * A crab-like monster named Uruk-Hai exists in this game; the name, although not the monster itself, is a reference to J.R.R Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.
 * Several of the game's songs were used in Chocobo Racing, including the opening theme ("Crystal Cave") and the final battle theme.
 * Though most of the sprites for 8-Bit Theater are from the original Final Fantasy game, many other sprites including the new class changed Light Warriors are thanks to the original Final Fantasy III game sprites.
 * The original background music for the town of Amur was used in creating the song "Cloud Smiles" in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.
 * In the original idea of the DS version Luneth, Arc, Refia, and Ingus were adopted children of Topapa ,but this was changed to make the four seperate characters have their own stories.