Final Fantasy III

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

Final Fantasy III (ファイナルファンタジーIII Fainaru Fantajī ) 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 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 has been released in 2006 in Japan and the U.S., and releases in other territories will happen 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 21st 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 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, also known as Onion Kid
 * 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 Onion Knights, 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 kids personalities, names, and even makes one of them female. Undoubtedly, their back-stories will help move the plot along ever more now. Supporting characters still join your party, but now they will randomly help you in battle.

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 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.

You begin by doing various quests and deeds for the denizens of the continent while searching for the other three crystals. Eventually the 4 heroes make it to the village of the ancients where the seers explain what is going on. That they are standing on the floating continent, the remains of the great civilization of light. And while you are up here the world below is being consumed by darkness. After exploring the rest of the continent the heroes find the second crystal of light.The fire crystal, which gives the heroes its blessing. After this the heroes must venture off the floating continent to the world below and save it from the consuming darkness while searching for the remaining crystals of light.

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, is heading the project as both the executive producer and director. His guidance and supervision is needed because the game will not 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 are identical to the original. Ryosuke Aiba, the art director of Final Fantasy XI, is the new art director. Akihiko Yoshida is the new artist who will be revamping previous character designs, and the game will change the main party characters completely. The characters are given default names: Luneth (Runesu), Arc (Arukuu), Refia (Lephia) and Ingus (Inguzu), and they are now three males and one female. They will be given new personalities and background stories, and additional scenes will be added to expand upon their personalities and tales, but the main storyline will not be changed. Also confirmed are 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 becomes the default job for the characters at the beginning of the game (Onion Knight is now a separate class with its own advantages and disadvantages), and changes to use of Capacity Points. Unlike the original Famicom version, most of the jobs will remain useful for the entire game; the ultimate jobs, the Ninja and the Sage, will be rebalanced so that they will be at the same level as the Warrior and others.

Finally, the game makes 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, where players can exchange friend codes in order to send messages to one another. Besides being a way to share thoughts, using Mognet in FFIII also permits certain side-quests to be unlocked.

On April 24, 2006, Square Enix issued a press-release announcing that Final Fantasy III would be part of their E3 2006 lineup, and that after 16 years, the game will see a release outside of Japan. The game was slated for a 2006 release in Japan and North America. 

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.

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-targetting. Both of these aspects were also adapted in the remakes of the previous two games.
 * The names of Doga and Unne, 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 "Une'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.