Two years after Final Fantasy 2 came out, the 8 Bit era of gaming was at its twilight years. The Sega Genesis was out, and the Super Famicom was on its way towards store shelves. However, the Famicom (or the NES, for us westerners) was still a popular console, and one that still had games being made for it, and one of those games was Final Fantasy 3, a game designed to push the Famicom's capabilities as far as possible. Because of its extremely complex coding, it was nigh impossible to translate, and in fact this would be the one Final Fantasy to take the longest to ship out outside Japan: a full 16 years had passed between its original 1990 release date, and its international 2006 release on the Nintendo DS. Furthermore, it must be said: there are so many substantial differences between the Nintendo DS and the Famicom version of the game, they may as well be two different games. However, the version I'll be talking about and analyzing today will be the Famicom version, for the simple reason that it came out first.
Allow me to introduce Sir Not-Appearing-In-The-Game
The story begins with four little orphans falling down into a cave. Seeking a way out, the orphans discover the Wind Crystal, which grants them a mission: restore balance to the world. Granting them the power of ancient warriors, the orphans become Warriors of Light, destined to fight the darkness that is slowly enveloping the world. The powers they obtained are: The Fighter, the Black Mage, the White Mage, the Red Mage, and the Monk.
Leaving their hometown behind, the orphans set out for the town of Kazus, which had been cursed by a Djinn. Joining Princess Sara, the five go to a cavern called the Sealed Cave, kill the Djinn and free the town of its curse. Cid, a local inventor, decides to aid the warriors with his airship, which takes them to the town of Canaan.
In Canaan, the orphans are told of a warrior named Desch, who holds the powerful Mini spell, and who had been missing for some time. The four decide to look for Desch, but are soon kidnapped by the dragon Bahamut, who seeks to feed them to his children. Escaping Bahamut's nest, the warriors encounter Desch, who helps them reach their next destination, the Viking's cove.
Needing a ship to cross the ocean, as Cid's ship was destroyed earlier, the orphans volunteer to help the vikings with their problem: the Nepto Dragon keeps destroying their ships. Traveling to the nearby Nepto Temple, the warriors discover the reason for the Nepto Dragon's wrath: the statue that controls the dragon is missing an eye. After fixing the statue, the Dragon calms down, and the vikings give the orphans their best ship, the Enterprise.
Using the Enterprise, the orphans travel to the Village of the Ancients, where the Gulgans, a race of one eyed oracles, tell them a horrifying truth: the land they call home is actually a floating continent, flying above a considerably larger world. Furthermore, there is a force aiming to destroy the continent! Traveling to the Tower of Owen, the five discover Medusa, a servant of the wizard Xande, who seeks to destroy the tower and destroy the continent. After defeating the gorgon, Desch reveals his secret: he is one of the Ancients, and is the only one capable of saving the tower. Throwing himself to the tower's core, Desch saves the continent, at the cost of his own life.
The orphans next head towards the realm of the Dwarfs, where the Fire Crystal resides. After retrieving the crystal, they gain new powers: the power of the Ranger, the Knight, the Scholar, and the Thief. From there, they go to Angus Castle, where everyone has been kidnapped by the evil Chancellor Hine, and placed in a floating fortress. The heroes rescue the citizens of Angus, and the King grants them the Ancient Wheel, which allows Cid to convert the Enterprise into an Airship, which then allows the orphans to leave the Floating Continent to the world below...
...which is entirely flooded, save for a two small islands. The evil Kraken has taken over the world, flooding it with the power of the Water Crystal. In a shipwreck, the orphans meet Elia, a priestess of the Temple of Tides, who can open up the Temple where the Water Crystal resides. In the temple, the orphans confront Kraken, who takes the opportunity to kill Elia. After defeating the beast, the waters secede, restoring the world once more. Also, the Water Crystal grants the orphans new powers: the power of the Black Belt, the Evoker, the Dragoon, the Bard, the Geomancer, the Barbarian, and the Magic Knight.
The party awakens from their ordeal to find a restored world. After a few adventures, the party heads to the Kingdom of Saronia, where their ship is destroyed during a civil war. The orphans discover that the king has gone insane, and that the prince, the kingdom's only hope for peace, is in danger. When the king himself appears to murder his son, the orphans discover that he was under a spell by his Chancellor, Girgameth. The warriors defeat the evil chancellor, and since the king killed himself to prevent his son from being harmed, the prince becomes the new king, bringing an end to the civil war.
The scholars of Saronia grant the orphans the airship Nautilus, which they use to find the wizard Doga. Doga tells them the story of he, Unei, and Xande. Long ago, the three were apprentices to a mighty wizard who granted each one special skill. Doga was given immense magical powers. Unei was given the power to control dreams, and Xande was given mortality...
...wow, what a dick...
So now Xande, angered at his 'gift', aims to destroy the world by disrupting the balance between Light and Dark. Doga commands the orphans to find Unei, while he himself goes to search for the Eureka Key. Upon finding Unei, she grants them the mightiest airship of all: the Invincible. With it, she orders the orphans to go find the Earth Fang, which will help them find the Earth Crystal and enter Xande's lair.
Upon finding the Earth Crystal, the orphans are granted new powers: the Summoner, the Magus, and the Devout. Doga and Unei grant them the Eureka Key, which will grant them entry to Eureka, the land where the ultimate power is hidden. The orphans travel there and gain the ultimate powers: the powers of the Ninja and the Sage.
Making their way to Xande's lair, the quartet confront the mad wizard, who swears on his life he will be all powerful AND immortal. Xande had previously attempted to destroy the world with Light, but he was stopped by the Warriors of Darkness. This time, he will envelop the world in Darkness. As the warriors beat Xande, he uses his magic to shatter the Crystals, believing this will stop all of time. Instead, it summons a vile being named the Cloud of Darkness, the incarnation of pure evil, which kills Xande. In their toughest battle ever, the orphans defeat the Cloud of Darkness, once again restoring the balance between Light and Dark,
Final Fantasy 3 is a fantastic RPG, and to me, it's where the series finally got some direction. The game combines the absolute best of Final Fantasy 1 (solid gameplay and replayability) with the best of Final Fantasy 2 (a solid, original, yet easy to follow story). This is also the game that started Square's habit of pushing current gaming technologies to their limit, bringing gamers the world over unique experiences.
The game makes great use of some tropes, like Amnesia, the Orphan Hero, the Tragic Villain, the Evil Chancellor, as well as many story telling elements like a civil war, secret worlds, lost histories, among others. The story also explores the concepts of self sacrifice, friendship, camaraderie, and balance.
This is the first Final Fantasy to have a main, unifying theme to its story, and in this case, it's Balance. The game makes it clear that there needs to be a balance between Light and Dark, and that if one side gains advantage over the other, then it'll be a catastrophe for the world. The Cloud of Darkness itself is not, necessarily, a being of Darkness, but is merely a being of evil that takes the shape of whichever of the two elements has the advantage. There is also the fact that here, Dark doesn't mean evil, as there has been a previous group of warriors called the Warriors of Darkness that helped save the world.
Balance also figures into the gameplay as well. There are 22 character classes in the game, evenly split between Magic oriented classes, and Physically oriented classes. The Physical classes are:
1- Onion Knight
2- Fighter
3- Monk
4- Ranger
5- Thief
6- Knight
7- Viking
8- Magic Knight
9- Dragoon
10- Black Belt
11- Ninja
While the Magic classes are:
1- White Mage
2- Black Mage
3- Red Mage
4- Scholar
5- Conjurer
6- Geomancer
7- Bard
8- Devout
9- Magus
10- Summoner
11- Sage
Special attention should also be payed to Xande, the main villain of the game. Unlike Garland of Final Fantasy 1, and Mateus of Final Fantasy 2, Xande is a villain with a very clear goal and a back story. Xande was given mortality, while his peers were given unequaled power, so obviously Xande felt slighted by his master. And honestly? He has a point. After all, Doga was given magic power second to none, while Unei was given power over dreams. Xande, on the other hand, was given the power to die. That's his gift, the idea that someday, he'll die. And in all honesty, considering this is an 8 Bit RPG, this is a very fascinating back story. Xande isn't your generic, every day Saturday Morning cartoon villain (like Mateus or Garland), he is a relatively deep, understandable character with a motivation that is easy to understand. Yet at the same time, you can make the claim that, by being given mortality, Xande was being spared a lonely eternal existence, and given the chance to be among people, to live like them, laugh like them, and maybe find love. But Xande's anger, bitterness and fear blinded him to the blessing he had been given, and so he sought to destroy the world to prevent his own death. This makes Xande the series' first Tragic Villain, setting a precedent to future villains in the series.
The heroes, however, are nothing special. In the Famicom version, they have no names, few lines, and a token back story that does not, in any way, shape, or form, influence their actions throughout the game. What we know about them is: they are orphans, they are kids, they were raised by the elder of the village of Ur, and they are curious. That's it. Admittedly, this is a step up from Final Fantasy 1's Warriors of Light, who had ZERO back story. But after Final Fantasy 2 gave us heroes with established back stories, this is a large step backwards. The Nintendo DS re-release, however, fixes this, by giving the four orphans a more elaborated back story, more personality, established genders, and names:
Final Fantasy 3 showed the world (er...Japan) that the series knew what it wanted to be, that it was developing a signature style that would help it stand out from the rest of the pack. However, when Squaresoft entered the 16 Bit market, and produced their fourth Final Fantasy, that is when the world knew that Final Fantasy was the RPG franchise to keep an eye on! Join me next time where we look at the game that defined the franchise!
In Canaan, the orphans are told of a warrior named Desch, who holds the powerful Mini spell, and who had been missing for some time. The four decide to look for Desch, but are soon kidnapped by the dragon Bahamut, who seeks to feed them to his children. Escaping Bahamut's nest, the warriors encounter Desch, who helps them reach their next destination, the Viking's cove.
Needing a ship to cross the ocean, as Cid's ship was destroyed earlier, the orphans volunteer to help the vikings with their problem: the Nepto Dragon keeps destroying their ships. Traveling to the nearby Nepto Temple, the warriors discover the reason for the Nepto Dragon's wrath: the statue that controls the dragon is missing an eye. After fixing the statue, the Dragon calms down, and the vikings give the orphans their best ship, the Enterprise.
Using the Enterprise, the orphans travel to the Village of the Ancients, where the Gulgans, a race of one eyed oracles, tell them a horrifying truth: the land they call home is actually a floating continent, flying above a considerably larger world. Furthermore, there is a force aiming to destroy the continent! Traveling to the Tower of Owen, the five discover Medusa, a servant of the wizard Xande, who seeks to destroy the tower and destroy the continent. After defeating the gorgon, Desch reveals his secret: he is one of the Ancients, and is the only one capable of saving the tower. Throwing himself to the tower's core, Desch saves the continent, at the cost of his own life.
The orphans next head towards the realm of the Dwarfs, where the Fire Crystal resides. After retrieving the crystal, they gain new powers: the power of the Ranger, the Knight, the Scholar, and the Thief. From there, they go to Angus Castle, where everyone has been kidnapped by the evil Chancellor Hine, and placed in a floating fortress. The heroes rescue the citizens of Angus, and the King grants them the Ancient Wheel, which allows Cid to convert the Enterprise into an Airship, which then allows the orphans to leave the Floating Continent to the world below...
...which is entirely flooded, save for a two small islands. The evil Kraken has taken over the world, flooding it with the power of the Water Crystal. In a shipwreck, the orphans meet Elia, a priestess of the Temple of Tides, who can open up the Temple where the Water Crystal resides. In the temple, the orphans confront Kraken, who takes the opportunity to kill Elia. After defeating the beast, the waters secede, restoring the world once more. Also, the Water Crystal grants the orphans new powers: the power of the Black Belt, the Evoker, the Dragoon, the Bard, the Geomancer, the Barbarian, and the Magic Knight.
The party awakens from their ordeal to find a restored world. After a few adventures, the party heads to the Kingdom of Saronia, where their ship is destroyed during a civil war. The orphans discover that the king has gone insane, and that the prince, the kingdom's only hope for peace, is in danger. When the king himself appears to murder his son, the orphans discover that he was under a spell by his Chancellor, Girgameth. The warriors defeat the evil chancellor, and since the king killed himself to prevent his son from being harmed, the prince becomes the new king, bringing an end to the civil war.
The scholars of Saronia grant the orphans the airship Nautilus, which they use to find the wizard Doga. Doga tells them the story of he, Unei, and Xande. Long ago, the three were apprentices to a mighty wizard who granted each one special skill. Doga was given immense magical powers. Unei was given the power to control dreams, and Xande was given mortality...
...wow, what a dick...
So now Xande, angered at his 'gift', aims to destroy the world by disrupting the balance between Light and Dark. Doga commands the orphans to find Unei, while he himself goes to search for the Eureka Key. Upon finding Unei, she grants them the mightiest airship of all: the Invincible. With it, she orders the orphans to go find the Earth Fang, which will help them find the Earth Crystal and enter Xande's lair.
Upon finding the Earth Crystal, the orphans are granted new powers: the Summoner, the Magus, and the Devout. Doga and Unei grant them the Eureka Key, which will grant them entry to Eureka, the land where the ultimate power is hidden. The orphans travel there and gain the ultimate powers: the powers of the Ninja and the Sage.
Making their way to Xande's lair, the quartet confront the mad wizard, who swears on his life he will be all powerful AND immortal. Xande had previously attempted to destroy the world with Light, but he was stopped by the Warriors of Darkness. This time, he will envelop the world in Darkness. As the warriors beat Xande, he uses his magic to shatter the Crystals, believing this will stop all of time. Instead, it summons a vile being named the Cloud of Darkness, the incarnation of pure evil, which kills Xande. In their toughest battle ever, the orphans defeat the Cloud of Darkness, once again restoring the balance between Light and Dark,
Final Fantasy 3 is a fantastic RPG, and to me, it's where the series finally got some direction. The game combines the absolute best of Final Fantasy 1 (solid gameplay and replayability) with the best of Final Fantasy 2 (a solid, original, yet easy to follow story). This is also the game that started Square's habit of pushing current gaming technologies to their limit, bringing gamers the world over unique experiences.
The game makes great use of some tropes, like Amnesia, the Orphan Hero, the Tragic Villain, the Evil Chancellor, as well as many story telling elements like a civil war, secret worlds, lost histories, among others. The story also explores the concepts of self sacrifice, friendship, camaraderie, and balance.
This is the first Final Fantasy to have a main, unifying theme to its story, and in this case, it's Balance. The game makes it clear that there needs to be a balance between Light and Dark, and that if one side gains advantage over the other, then it'll be a catastrophe for the world. The Cloud of Darkness itself is not, necessarily, a being of Darkness, but is merely a being of evil that takes the shape of whichever of the two elements has the advantage. There is also the fact that here, Dark doesn't mean evil, as there has been a previous group of warriors called the Warriors of Darkness that helped save the world.
Balance also figures into the gameplay as well. There are 22 character classes in the game, evenly split between Magic oriented classes, and Physically oriented classes. The Physical classes are:
1- Onion Knight
2- Fighter
3- Monk
4- Ranger
5- Thief
6- Knight
7- Viking
8- Magic Knight
9- Dragoon
10- Black Belt
11- Ninja
While the Magic classes are:
1- White Mage
2- Black Mage
3- Red Mage
4- Scholar
5- Conjurer
6- Geomancer
7- Bard
8- Devout
9- Magus
10- Summoner
11- Sage
Special attention should also be payed to Xande, the main villain of the game. Unlike Garland of Final Fantasy 1, and Mateus of Final Fantasy 2, Xande is a villain with a very clear goal and a back story. Xande was given mortality, while his peers were given unequaled power, so obviously Xande felt slighted by his master. And honestly? He has a point. After all, Doga was given magic power second to none, while Unei was given power over dreams. Xande, on the other hand, was given the power to die. That's his gift, the idea that someday, he'll die. And in all honesty, considering this is an 8 Bit RPG, this is a very fascinating back story. Xande isn't your generic, every day Saturday Morning cartoon villain (like Mateus or Garland), he is a relatively deep, understandable character with a motivation that is easy to understand. Yet at the same time, you can make the claim that, by being given mortality, Xande was being spared a lonely eternal existence, and given the chance to be among people, to live like them, laugh like them, and maybe find love. But Xande's anger, bitterness and fear blinded him to the blessing he had been given, and so he sought to destroy the world to prevent his own death. This makes Xande the series' first Tragic Villain, setting a precedent to future villains in the series.
The heroes, however, are nothing special. In the Famicom version, they have no names, few lines, and a token back story that does not, in any way, shape, or form, influence their actions throughout the game. What we know about them is: they are orphans, they are kids, they were raised by the elder of the village of Ur, and they are curious. That's it. Admittedly, this is a step up from Final Fantasy 1's Warriors of Light, who had ZERO back story. But after Final Fantasy 2 gave us heroes with established back stories, this is a large step backwards. The Nintendo DS re-release, however, fixes this, by giving the four orphans a more elaborated back story, more personality, established genders, and names:
Left to Right: Arc, Refia, Luneth and Ingus. Refia is the only girl.
Final Fantasy 3 took everything its predecessors did and improved on it substantially. While FF1 offered 6 character classes, FF3 provided 22. While FF2 provided an original story with an otherwise generic villain, FF3 provided the same but with a more outstanding villain. In Final Fantasy 1, the classes you chose at the start are the ones you go through the whole game, in Final Fantasy 3, you can change character classes at anytime outside of battle. Final Fantasy 2 provided a common story of evil empire versus good rebels, Final Fantasy 3 provided an original story of four heroic children restoring balance between Light and Dark.
For what it was, Final Fantasy 3 really brought the RPG to a new level, showing that video games could very well incorporate complex themes into their story, while still maintaining the all important element of fun. As the last of the 8 Bit Final Fantasies (not counting the Final Fantasy Legends franchise for the Gameboy, which are just SaGa games with the Final Fantasy brand slapped on), FF3 really showed Japan the limits of the Famicom, and in fact could be seen as one of the last great hurrahs of the 8 Bit Era. With the 16 Bit Era inching closer day by day, Squaresoft left the 8 Bit Era with what can only be called a magnificent triumph. This is the game that helped establish that Final Fantasy was, indeed, a franchise, which was developing it's own style of not just game play, but story telling as well.
It is an absolute tragedy, though, that outside of Japan, this was the "Lost" Final Fantasy until 2006. By the time the game had FINALLY had its release outside of Japan, several games, including other Final Fantasies that improved on what FF3 had done, had already been released years prior, so when this game finally came out, a lot of the magic was gone, and what we got was 'just' another Final Fantasy. However, this game is a masterpiece, a fantastic RPG that every aficionado of the genre owes it to him/herself to play at least once. By far the best of the 8 Bit Final Fantasies, Final Fantasy 3 is a game that is guaranteed to still be fun to play twenty years in the future!
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