Final Fantasy III

Final Fantasy III (ファイナルファンタジーIII Fainaru Fantajī ) is a computer role-playing game role-playing game developed and published by Square Co., Ltd. for Nintendo Family Computer (Famicom, known internationally as the Nintendo Entertainment System) in 1990. It was the first Final Fantasy to liberally feature the job-change system, and was one of the largest RPGs created for Nintendo's console. As of 2005, it is the only installment in the series to have never seen official English localization, although Nintendo of America and Square have announced that in 2006 they plan to release an upcoming enhanced remake for the Nintendo DS handheld system in Japan. There has been no word on a release date for North America or Europe. There had been an earlier plan to re-release the game for Bandai's WonderSwan Color handheld (as had been done with several other installments in the series), but the premature death of that system prevented that plan from being realized.

In 1999, Final Fantasy III was unofficially translated into English by Neill Corlett and Alex W. Jackson.

Gameplay
Gameplay contains elements of the first two Final Fantasy games, along with some new features. The experience point system featured in Final Fantasy I makes a return following its absence from Final Fantasy II. There is a new class system featured in Final Fantasy III, however. Unlike Final Fantasy I, 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 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 (たまねぎけんし)
 * Fighter (せんし)
 * Monk (モンク)
 * Archer (かりゅうど)
 * Knight (ナイト)
 * Thief (シーフ)
 * Dragon Knight (a.k.a. Dragoon) (りゅうきし)
 * Viking (バイキング)
 * Karate Master (からてか)
 * Mystic Knight (まけんし)
 * Ninja (にんじゃ)


 * Mage-type jobs
 * White Mage (しろまどうし)
 * Black Mage (くろまどうし)
 * Red Mage (あかまどうし)
 * Scholar (がくしゃ)
 * Geomancer (ふうすいし)
 * Conjurer (げんじゅつし)
 * Bard (ぎんゅうしじん)
 * Shaman (どうし)
 * Warlock (まじん)
 * Summoner (まかいげんし)
 * Sage (けんじゃ)

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 ("Steal" being the Thief's speciality, while "Jump" is the Dragon Knight's forte). It is also the first game in the series to feature summoned creatures.

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 recontain 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, predicts that eventually things will come full circle. Just as the power of light can be abused, so too can the power of darkness. And when that occurs, then the crystals of the light will need to call 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 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. Eventually they arrive at the village of Kazus, a small community dedicated to the mining of mithril ore. Kazus is abandoned save for a fellow traveller camping right outside the town center. The camper warns the children away, informing them that the town has been cursed, and is inhabited only by ghosts. Undaunted, the children explore the village, and soon encounter these intangible and nearly invisible "ghosts," who are, in actuality, inhabitants of the town who have been afflicted with a curse by the fire demon Jinn. Jinn had been sealed beneath Altar Cave, but was freed by the earthquake. Jinn cannot be resealed without mithril, and, once free, Jinn quickly cursed Kazus so that it would be impossible to procure enough quantities of the mineral to stop him. Also afflicted by the Jinn's curse was Cid, a traveler who was only passing through Kazus when the curse took hold. Agreeing the help the youths in exchange for their aid in lifting the curse, Cid loans the children use of his airship, which he had hidden in a desert outside of town. Travelling to nearby Sasoon Castle to procure the help of the king, they are horrified to find that the same spectral fate has befallen the castle. All except the Princess Sara, who mysteriously went missing before the curse took hold. On their own, the children locate Jinn's hideout, where they also find the princess, who had planned to use her ring of mithril to seal Jinn, but found herself unable to proceed past the monsters protecting Jinn. Escorting her to her goal, the children eventually weaken Jinn enough for Sara to be able to seal him, restoring corporeality to those cursed by him. After a brief stopover to return Sara to Sasoon Castle, the children return to Kazus to thank Cid for the use of his airship. Cid's troubles, however, are far from over. It seems the earthquake had triggered a cave in in the narrow mountain pass separating Kazus from his hometown of Canaan, preventing him from navigating his airship home. A solution is offered by the blacksmith Taca, however: Taca agrees to outfit Cid's airship with a mithril bow, which would allow it to smash through the boulders blocking the pass.

Taca's plan works, but the airship is unable to withstand the shock of the impact and is dashed to pieces in the process. The children escort Cid back to Canaan on foot, where a grateful Cid departs, informing them to seek the aid of the lord of Argass Castle, who might be able to help them procure a new airship. Before leaving Canaan, they encounter Sarina, a young woman who has taken ill following the disappearance of her beloved, an adventurer named Desh. Unable to help her, the children have no choice but to travel on. Ascending a nearby mountain, they are ambushed by the giant dragon, Bahamut, and taken to its nest, where they find none other than Desh himself. Desh, similarly ambushed by Bahamut, is suffering from amnesia, able to remember nothing but his name. With Desh's help, everyone is able to escape from Bahamut's nest, into the nearby village of Tozas, home of the midgets. In Tozas, the party helps cure a local who had somehow gotten himself poisoned. In gratitude, he reveals to them a hidden path out of the village, which leads them directly to a nearby Viking base. The Vikings, however, are running scared: the sea serpent Nepto, formerly a friend of the Vikings, has gone rogue, and sunk all of their ships save for one. The children and Desh agree to investigate, where they find that the nearby shrine to Nepto has been vandalized, and the ruby eye of Nepto's statue has disappeared. Recovering the gem and restoring it to the shrine, they are thanked by a grateful Nepto, who informs them that his mind is contained within the gem, and that when it was removed, he went berserk. Apologizing for his actions, he bids the children continue on their way. The Vikings, in gratitude, bequeath their one remaining ship, the Enterprise, to the children.

This is only the beginning, as it would be too much to take up all the events of the game here. Suffice to say the plot continues in the 'epic adventure' style, with, as final goal, the liberation of light, to bring balance back to the world.

Nintendo DS version
This remake was first revealed to be in development on October 7, 2004 at a Nintendo press event promoting the upcoming launch of the Nintendo DS. However, little news was heard on the remake, leading some to speculate that it was nothing more than vaporware. However, on October 5, 2005 at a Nintendo press event promoting Nintendo's upcoming Wi-fi online service, further details on the game emerged. Hiromichi Tanaka, executive producer of Final Fantasy XI, is heading the project, and staff members from the original game, including Kazuhiko Aoki and Koichi Ishii, are supervising the project to ensure the remake retains the feel of the original. Early screenshots suggest the layout of the dungeons and towns will be identical to the orginal. Their supervision is needed due to the fact the game will not be a mere graphics update like the updates for Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II, but a total overhaul using the Nintendo DS's 3D capabilities. (Note that the box-art on this website is poor mockup; the face is a 3d render of Kefka from Final Fantasy VI.) Square Enix is targeting a 2006 release date for the remake. 

Trivia

 * The Cloud of Darkness (or Dark Cloud in the unofficial translation) is generally considered to be the toughest final boss of any Final Fantasy game. The Emperor from Final Fantasy II is the only one comparable in difficulty, but there was a trick to defeating him (the Blood swords were needed) and no such trick exists for The Cloud of Darkness.
 * This was the first appearance of moogles in the series.
 * This was the first appearance of the Fat Chocobo.
 * 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 someone 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-targetting. Both of these aspects were also adapted in the remakes of the previous two games.