Well now that Square has taken over the world, one can't help but wonder just how many of their newfound fans have even laid hands on a Super Nintendo controller. The Super NES was home to Final Fantasy 2 and Final Fantasy 3, and even then the games were starting to become huge. It wasn't until Sony bought the franchise and tossed out 7, 8 and 9 that Final Fantasy ever became a widely acclaimed series.

Well, the Super NES is practically obsolete by now, but I know I'm not alone when I say that it has been one of the greatest gaming systems to hit the market. I'd even go so far as to say that, even aside from the fact that Final Fantasy never hit the Nintendo 64, the Super NES bypasses the Nintendo 64. Or I could just be turning into an old man who is partial to the system that brings back memories of the good old days, the days when things were simple.

I don't think I have ever in my life anticipated a game quite like I did Final Fantasy 3. When I was on the search for my first job, I remember that Final Fantasy 3 was my biggest inspiration for finding one. Until I did, all I had was my Nintendo Power magazine, with eight pages of the juiciest screenshots and other tidbits you could ever imagine. I wouldn't allow myself to spoil it by looking at those pages, though, I just couldn't do it.

I wound up with enough money to get the game before I actually found a job, though. So on that fateful January afternoon in 1995, I bought Final Fantasy 3. Just holding the box in my hands, I felt immortal.

Now my pledge was that I could not play it until I found a job. AS IF! I sat on the couch that very night, about a quarter to midnight, with the Nintendo Final Fantasy 3 cartridge sitting right out in front of me on the coffee table. I had already read the instruction manual three times in the bathtub that evening. And there was my faithful Super NES, eight feet away on the entertainment center.

I could be experiencing Final Fantasy 3 in fifteen seconds if I wanted to.

Needless to say, it only took a short eight hours from the moment of purchase to the moment my resolve shattered.

Final Fantasy 3 took me away like no other game ever had, and no other game since. A lot of little things took me by surprise from the beginning. The graphics were stunning, and the music (further enhanced by my own feeling of guilt) was hauntingly gorgeous. The characters' faces were more expressive than ever before, and even something as simple as adding a sprite for the character's head to look slightly to one side or the other exponentially increased the feeling in their conversations. These guys were my friends in an instant.

Of course, this was back in the days when 3-D graphics were only beginning to emerge as a real possibility in a home gaming system. The lack of 3-D capabilities does not in the least little bit detract from the entertainment value of this game, though. The fully-rendered background images for the battle scenes look every bit as good as any flat background you see on today's 3-D games, and far better than the blurred backgrounds of many Nintendo 64 games.

Even though most of the monsters still don't move, they're plenty big enough. Who can forget that intimidating feeling one gets on the first face/off with Atma Weapon?

The character animations in battle started to feel so real with Final Fantasy 3. Rather than stepping forward and striking with two frames of animation for the strike, the characters here hop forward and strike on the way down. Not only does it add some oomph to the hit, but it is, for lack of a better word, kind of cute. It looked like they were really trying to hit the enemy as hard as they could. This whole same thing also applies to running away from battle. More frames; they look a lot more "shivery", frightened and eager to get out of the battle.

The sound is also a welcome improvement. The transition from NES to Super NES carried with it the best improvement in sound quality I've seen yet. Maybe I just don't pay attention to it the way I once did, but I find the difference between NES and Super NES sound to be right around twice as great as the difference between Super NES sound and anything that's out today. I'm just wondering if we'll ever hear a Gamecube or PS2 version of Final Fantasy 2's boss battle music, which is the greatest battle music ever conceived. (As jeremy1456 pointed out, though, Mystic Quest is surprisingly competent in that department as well.)

The music in Final Fantasy 3 is breathtaking. Everything from the funky claustrophobic musical riffraff of Zozo to the heart-squelching harmonic bliss of the Opera House scene is masterfully put together. From any one area to another, the music blends cohesively. It always seems to be reminding its listener that everyone suffers, and that some people live to sacrifice a lot and give things that can never be taken back.

Story

There are a lot of different stories going on in Final Fantasy 3, but the great thing is that you never find yourself spending too much or too little time on any one story to the point that you either grow sick of it, or forget about the others. And, at one point, you will be able to resolve all of these stories in any order that you please.

The main story focuses on a young girl called Terra. She has an uncanny ability to communicate with these insanely powerful creatures called Espers, that were sealed away long ago when it was determined that they could not co-exist with humans. She is being pursued by the Empire who wants to use whatever it is that she's got to channel the Espers' power and make the Empire rulers of all the world. The revelation of just how she comes to possess her powers is astounding, one of the greatest plot movements in all of Final Fantasy history.

Each of the other characters have stories of varying importance. Some of them, such as Gau, are just ordinary guys trying to make their way in the universe. (Although really, Gau is hardly ordinary.) Others are a bit more compelling, such as Celes who works for the Empire, but turns against them. The scene in South Figaro, the first time you see her, is absolutely heartbreaking. I can tell you that that scene changed me for life. It might not change someone who sees that all the time or thinks "Oh well, it happens everyday." I've gotten pretty upset before, but that scene upset me so much that it hasn't left me for seven years. You have no idea what I would've done to that guy. ANYWAYS...

Other stories focus on tragedy (Cyan), free-spiritedness (Setzer & Locke), responsibility (Edgar), mystery (Shadow), betrayal (Sabin), and of course, HATE HATE HATE!!! That would be Kefka, the maniacal villain. He's actually second in command to the jaded and apathetic Emperor Gestahl, and you know how those 2nd in commands can be. This guy is one of the greatest and meanest villains you'll ever meet, and one of the funniest. It's really hard to be mean and funny at the same time, but Kefka pulls it off. "Wait," he says. What do I look like, a waiter? While he's out there working over Celes' self-esteem or capturing Espers, something in the back of my mind kept waiting for him to just pass out drunk so we could finish his ^ss off.

Strategy and such

Final Fantasy 3 demands a bit more attention in battle, as well as in between battles, than its predecessor. Every character has a unique ability that you'll have to be sure you know how to use. Edgar, for instance, has the ability to use tools such as a flash that can blind enemies (pretty much it deals identical damage to him casting a Bolt-2 spell, just try it on the machines!), a drill that can penetrate tough defenses, or his Auto-Shooter, the first tool he gets and quite frankly, the most useful IMO. His brother Sabin the "muscle-head" can perform "Blitz" moves, but you have to enter a controller combo to do it. Cyan has some sweet sword-tech moves he can learn; one of which has him actually sliding across the screen and physically hitting the monsters again and again (rather than attacking them from a distance like usual). I LOVE the way he laughs as he's doing it! It's like he's saying "Payback's a b!tch, 'eh!" But enough.

Sometime later, you will be able to equip Magicite, which is the stone that remains when an Esper dies. When you equip Magicite, you will start earning Magic Points in battle that are used towards learning whatever spells are attached to that Magicite. Naturally, Shiva's Magicite will teach you the Ice spells, Ifrit teaches fire, and so on. So basically, once you get your Magicite, anyone in the game can learn any spell. One piece of Magicite may be able to teach you the same spell with fewer magic points than another, but here's the thing. Some Magicites also have an attribute such as "Strength +2" attached to them. What that means is that if you have that Magicite equipped when you gain an experience level, you will get a bonus of +2 Strength along with it. Your strength will build up naturally anyway, but if you're really obsessive like me, you can make sure that you have that Magicite equipped on whichever character is going to gain a level next. You might even go so far as to avoid a battle that will gain so much experience that someone else gains a level along with that person and doesn't get the Strength +2 before you have a chance to move the Magicite over to that person. So usually I learn the spells separately in a place where experience is low and magic points are high. (The area in the forest where you got off of the train is ideal for this, a single ghost yeilds 3 magic points there and you can heal at the spring.)

Along with all your run of the mill armor and weapons, you also have some extra equipment called "relics" that you can equip to immunize yourself against certain status effects like poison, sleep, etc. Or you can increase your strength or defense. One of my favorites is the Genji Glove which lets you carry a weapon in your right and left hand and strike twice in battle. Get one of these for Locke and then equip him with two Hawk Eyes and let him strike with equal damage from the back row, which makes up for the fact he won't be able to carry a shield. Kick ^ss! Another relic, called the Offering, cuts your damage in half, but your character strikes four times. So with the Offering and the Genji Glove you get eight hits. Talk about cleaning house. One relic in particular, called the Sprint Shoes, will make you walk twice as fast in towns and dungeons. Once you get these, you won't want to give them up, seriously.

And that, as they say, is that.

There's a lot to think about when you're playing Final Fantasy 3, and the farther you go, the deeper it gets. It's almost kind of discouraging; you work all that time to build your characters up, then you clobber Kefka and it's over. You can't help but wonder why you bothered to spend as much time as you did if you could've beat the game easily with 20 hours less of all that building. But then, isn't that the way it is with all Final Fantasy games? Regardless of how much experience you build, Final Fantasy 3 is one of the most time-consuming RPG's that ever was made because there are countless ways to do it. If anyone can still stand a 2-D game and they like RPG's, but they haven't played Final Fantasy 3, well this will keep them busy for a long long long time.

Recommended: Yes