Thoughts on Final Fantasy III

FF2 created this massive freedom with regards to what weapons and spells the characters could use. In what initially feels like a step backwards, FF3 then introduces the jobs. It’s really limiting. You have to “main” certain jobs on your playthrough. However, I eventually realized that you have to maintain a balance of jobs. Certain boss fights are only possible if your party has the “correct” composition of classes.

In hindsight, this adds a very interesting layer of strategizing to combat. Turn-based JRPGs can be stale; however, trying to figure out the right combination of jobs with the right types of weapons and jobs is really fun, in the end.

I tried “maining” a job for each of my characters. Ajati was a Red Mage, Kalmor was a Rogue, Falkenbor was a Warrior, and Saga was a White Mage. In fact, for most of the game they remained in these classes. The Garuda fight, however, made me change Ajati, Kalmor, and Falkenbor into dragoons. Afterwards, Kalmor remained a Dragoon, but Falkenbor became a Knight. Then, there came the dungeons were you could hit enemies only with cursed weapons, so I made my damage dealers into Dark Knights, which became Ajati’s final job.

The final dungeon, the World of Darkness, made me once again change the jobs of all my characters. In the end, I created a really formidable team in which each of my characters could fulfill quintessential party roles: Ajati the Dark Knight and Kalmor the Dragoon were my damage dealers, Falkenbor the Viking (using two shields!) was my tank, and Saga the Sage was my healer. With 9 Elixirs in my inventory, I was able to spam Curaja and defeat the Cloud of Darkness relatively easily.

(Oh also, Saga went through a brief Devout phase where she had cat ears, it was great.)

Also, for Light’s sake, please display enemy hitpoints. I understand that it adds to the stress but I want to know how long there’s left in a fight! Am I spoiled after having hitpoint bars in every video game? Is this what my players feel like when we’re playing D&D?

That being said, the trick to “unlocking” most boss “locks” is by grinding and attaining higher numbers and stats. I guess that’s unavoidable for the NES era JRPGs.

What were some other interesting mechanics? There are dungeons where you have to cast “Mini” or “Toad” on yourself to enter. This “forces” a handicap, especially if you don’t know that casting those spells once again reverts their effects. There are, however, places where you are not allowed to revert the changes.

I am starting to see the throughline that’s connecting all Final Fantasy games and it’s that sense of hope. Power of friendship always defeats evil. Darkness can never stand against the hope that there always can be a better future. That’s a nice message to have in your game that was meant for kids, but that also is the reason why the games hold up I think. It’s good to fantasize that hope and friendship can help us defeat anything evil can throw at our way.