Post by Richard El Britannia on Aug 23, 2008 15:51:58 GMT
Gameplay:
Two words to sum up Final Fantasy III? Old school. This game is an old school RPG through and through. Compared to today's RPGs the gameplay can seem a bit thin, but the gameplay is still brilliant. If you're a hardcore fan of RPGs, you'll definitely love this.
The turn-based battle system is pretty simple and similar to most of the Final Fantasy games. You pick a command from a menu to do something in battle for each of your characters. This could be to attack with your weapon, use a special attack such as 'Jump' or flee from battle. The way I described that gave it no justice, but if you play RPGs or have played RPGs, you'll know there's a lot more depth to it. This usually comes from the strategies you devise and what skills your characters have.
In Final Fantasy III, a job system is used. Each of your characters have a job and each job excels in certain skills. For example, a White Mage is good with healing and good status magic, whilst a Warrior is strong with weapons and is a good attacker. There are many jobs to unlock in the game, too, which can add to the strategies you devise for battles.
When you're not in battle, though, you just explore the different maps, go through dungeons, buy weapons, talk to people, whatever. You basically just progress through the story. Again, writing it like that doesn't give it justice, but it's truly a fun experience. Unless the random encounter rate gets really high.
Random encounters are how battles start. As the name implies, it's just random. It won't happen all the time, though. For example, if you're walking through a town, monsters aren't gonna be there, so there aren't any random encounters. However, if you're on the world map or in a range of other places, monsters can randomly attack. Normally, you can walk enough steps, I found, with just the right amount of battles. Sometimes, though, you can get places where there are too many encounters and it kinda detracts from the gameplay, to be honest. It's not often, though, so don't let that put you off; it's a brilliant game.
The story has something to be desired, though. In my opinion, it's really cheesy, predictable and not very good. Compared to recent Final Fantasy games, the story is pish. Then again, this game works ... It's not very story dependant like the newer Final Fantasy games and I easily enjoyed it without a good story behind it.
Gameplay Score - 9/10
Graphics:
The graphics in this game are truly awesome. This game has some of the best visuals the DS has to offer. Admittedly, sometimes when you zoom in really far, it doesn't look very pretty, but kept at the default camera angle, it looks brilliant.
Graphics score - 8.5/10
Sound:
The sounds in the game are pretty good. They're not the best that the Final Fantasy series has to offer, but they're still nice, with a few common soundtracks you're sure to recognise such as the chocobo theme and the end of battle jingle - for lack of better words.
Sound Score - 8/10
Overall:
Overall, awesome game. It has a great gameplay and is a beautiful game. It's quite a long game, too, which certainly isn't a bad thing in this case.
Two words to sum up Final Fantasy III? Old school. This game is an old school RPG through and through. Compared to today's RPGs the gameplay can seem a bit thin, but the gameplay is still brilliant. If you're a hardcore fan of RPGs, you'll definitely love this.
The turn-based battle system is pretty simple and similar to most of the Final Fantasy games. You pick a command from a menu to do something in battle for each of your characters. This could be to attack with your weapon, use a special attack such as 'Jump' or flee from battle. The way I described that gave it no justice, but if you play RPGs or have played RPGs, you'll know there's a lot more depth to it. This usually comes from the strategies you devise and what skills your characters have.
In Final Fantasy III, a job system is used. Each of your characters have a job and each job excels in certain skills. For example, a White Mage is good with healing and good status magic, whilst a Warrior is strong with weapons and is a good attacker. There are many jobs to unlock in the game, too, which can add to the strategies you devise for battles.
When you're not in battle, though, you just explore the different maps, go through dungeons, buy weapons, talk to people, whatever. You basically just progress through the story. Again, writing it like that doesn't give it justice, but it's truly a fun experience. Unless the random encounter rate gets really high.
Random encounters are how battles start. As the name implies, it's just random. It won't happen all the time, though. For example, if you're walking through a town, monsters aren't gonna be there, so there aren't any random encounters. However, if you're on the world map or in a range of other places, monsters can randomly attack. Normally, you can walk enough steps, I found, with just the right amount of battles. Sometimes, though, you can get places where there are too many encounters and it kinda detracts from the gameplay, to be honest. It's not often, though, so don't let that put you off; it's a brilliant game.
The story has something to be desired, though. In my opinion, it's really cheesy, predictable and not very good. Compared to recent Final Fantasy games, the story is pish. Then again, this game works ... It's not very story dependant like the newer Final Fantasy games and I easily enjoyed it without a good story behind it.
Gameplay Score - 9/10
Graphics:
The graphics in this game are truly awesome. This game has some of the best visuals the DS has to offer. Admittedly, sometimes when you zoom in really far, it doesn't look very pretty, but kept at the default camera angle, it looks brilliant.
Graphics score - 8.5/10
Sound:
The sounds in the game are pretty good. They're not the best that the Final Fantasy series has to offer, but they're still nice, with a few common soundtracks you're sure to recognise such as the chocobo theme and the end of battle jingle - for lack of better words.
Sound Score - 8/10
Overall:
Overall, awesome game. It has a great gameplay and is a beautiful game. It's quite a long game, too, which certainly isn't a bad thing in this case.
