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Regardless of whether you happen to agree with it or not, the majority opinion of fans still colours your experiences; I'm far more critical of Final Fantasy 7's storyline than I really should, because I've been told repeatedly (as no doubt you have) that it's a multi-layered emotional and psychological epic, so it's all the more notable when it turns out not to be. Likewise, Mystic Quest seems more enjoyable than it would otherwise be, because we're conditioned to think that it's an embarassment that should never have been released, rather than an amusing little game that would be pretty cool if you didn't have to pay for it.
FF3 is an odd case, because nobody seems to have an opinion about it at all, beyond "It's sort of like FF5, but sometimes you have to be a frog". This is the first (and probably last) time I've played a Final Fantasy title without any kind of context - even FF6, the first one I played, I was assured was an instant classic by the ever-reliable Nintendo Magazine System in a four-page review where the writer admitted to only playing for four hours, but gave it 96% anyway. The first thing I noticed about FF3 is that, despite the file's name ensuring me it had been translated into English, it wasn't. It wasn't in Japanese either, but rather... well, let's see:
Mmm.
Apparently there's some patch or whatever that makes it work. Considering that reading RPG dialogue and searching for NES ROM patching programs that I'm never going to use again are both fairly pointless activities, I'm sure as hell not going to waste my time and do both. So, no, I have no idea what the hell was going on. How exciting!
IT'S SORT OF LIKE FF5, BUT SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO BE A FROG
"Imagine a hat so stupid that it threatened the very life of the planet. And at the center of that hat will be me!"
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Yeah, kind of. Like FF5, we've got a fixed party of identical characters who can change their class, with new classes added to the roster every time they get one of the four elemental crystals. It differs by making each class change cost a certain number of Class Points, gained in minute amounts after successful battles, which affects the characters' evolution more than you'd think at first glance, since the cost of the change is dependant on not only how powerful the class is, but also what levels that character has in other classes, and how much the new class deviates from their present one - a character who switches from Fighter to Knight to Paladin over the course of the game will only use up a small number of Class Points, but if they then want to switch to a magic using class, you could be using up over half your supply in one shot. It encourages you to stick with a 'theme' for each character, but it isn't totally restrictive, although the possibility of running out of Class Points made me very cautious about experimenting with the more oddball jobs like Geomancer and Bard - which is kind of a shame because the Bard is apparently actually useful in this game.
The other major difference between this class system and FF5's is that abilities don't carry over from class to class, so you can't have a Mage Knight with X-Fight anymore (which also renders Archers totally useless). Stats kind-of-sort-of carry over, but only in the sense that my Ninja who spent a while as a Berserker had about 300 more HP than my Ninja who used to be a Paladin (and not that much more than my two Sages), so it's not that massive. A class' power is defined in terms of what items and magic it can use, rather than stats, which makes the end of the game a let down, since the 2nd last dungeon gives us a class who can equip every weapon and a class who can use every spell - Unlike the end of FF5, where there were a bunch of possible approaches to class / ability setups, FF3 simply hands you two new classes which are objectively superior to all the old ones in every way. I mean, Ninjas can wield a boomerang and Excalibur at the same time, as well as attack 16 times per turn while wearing platemail armour - who the hell designed this, the Real Ultimate Power kid?
So, about the frogs. There are a few dungeons that require the party to be either shrunken or turned into frogs to progress. This doesn't make as much of a difference as you'd immediately think. Most of the time, you simply shrink / frog yourself, go through a hole, then cure yourself on the other side, without any combat at all. The 'proper' dungeons that require you to be shrunk (there are no frog dungeons, sadly) are interesting in theory, but in practice they just involve running from every random encounter and casting a lot of magic on the boss. It's a nice twist, but nothing's really done with it.
5 + 4 = 3
"Only one is the REAL Andrew Vestal, the others are harmless illusions! Choose carefully, Light Warriors!"
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FF4 doesn't seem like as much of a leap forward for the series anymore, because it turns out that big chunks of it showed up in FF3 first (aside from the ATB and the 'cinematic' storyline, which are pretty big parts, but never mind). We get multiple kinds of vehicle in the same order - first a boat that's converted into an airship, then a submarine, followed by a much larger, legendary airship capable of traveling to previously unreachable areas. Speaking of which, we also get multiple overworld maps for the first time - upon acquiring our first airship, we discover it's possible to fly off the edge of the world itself, leading to the revelation that what we previously thought was the game's world is actually a tiny levitating rock in the middle of a vast ocean. Exploring this new world eventually gives us the secret to raise the new world's sunken continents - by changing the world itself, progress is less stifling affair, unlike the previous two games which consisted largely of walking around the world in a big circle.
Aside from the class system, it also predates FF5 by giving us an alternate 'Dark World' with its own four elemental crystals and chosen warriors. They suck, and you spend the entire final dungeon rescuing them, which involves completing an abridged version of the entire game again, only with no chance to save or rest - it's probably the hardest final dungeon in the series, not necessarily because the monsters are tough, but because it's so damn long. Luckily, you have Ninjas.
Just before we finish, because I couldn't find anywhere else to put it: For once, the lava floors in the fire dungeon don't drain your HP, Doom works 100% of the time, and this was the first game with Moogles in it. I couldn't tell if they said "Kupo" or not.
Revised opinion: It's sort of like FF5 with bits of FF4, and sometimes you have to be a frog, but it doesn't really make that much difference.
| BONUS! THE STORYLINE, AS INTERPRETED BY ME |
Once upon a time, a Black Mage and a line of pixels were the best of friends.
Together, they had all manner of adventures.
"Black Mage", said the line of pixels one night, "Tomorrow, I should very much like to travel to the Cave of Death". While others would have ignored a simple line of pixels, the Black Mage was a kind-hearted soul and agreed.
And so, the very next day, they set out on an adventure to the Cave of Death.
Upon touching the magic crystals contained within, a miraculous transformation took place! Standing before the Black Mage was not a simple line of pixels, but Stepin Fetchit!
"Black Mage", said Stepin Fetchit, "For showing me kindness, I shall grant you three wishes".
"I wish for an autographed picture of hot young talent Matthew Waterhouse", asked the Black Mage. And his wish was granted.
But as for his other two wishes... well, that is another story.
THE END
PROGRAM: NASSIR
CHARACTER: Y AMANO
SCENARIO: K TERADA
MUSIC: N UEMATSU
DIRECTOR: H SAKAGUCHI
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