Even the smallest action can change the world: Final Fantasy III Final Fantasy III was the last title in the series produced for the Nintendo 8-bit system (also known as the Famicom). The absence of this title left many disparaged fans in America, who only got to hear of a title that milked the 8-bit system of its worth, producing one of its most remarkable performances.
The Japan-only logo
The Story Unlike the previous 2 titles, the heroes of Final Fantasy III are not royal by birth, nor warriors on a quest for a greater good. Rather, they are merely 4 curious youths who fell into a cave one day. In melodramatic fashion, they chance upon the Wind Crystal who chooses them as the 4 Light Warriors to restore balance in the world. Upon leaving their home Floating Continent via an airship, the party ironically find the rest of the world flooded.
Using the Crystal of Water, the tide ebbs and the Crystal Tower appears. Upon defeating Zande, a mage whose power is only matched by his tainted nature, the party is transported to the Dark World. There, they meet their evil counterparts, aptly named the Dark Warriors.
After the battle, the Dark Cloud once again confronts the foursome; this time round however, the party receives help in the form of the Dark Warriors who are trying to rid themselves of the tainted influence. They weaken the Dark Cloud just enough for the Light Warriors to defeat it.
Dreaming the Dream
While the games certainly are a fantasy, the work behind them is anything but. As a tribute to the series, UrbanWire takes a look at the people behind the magic. This week
Director
Yoshinori Kitase
Having worked on most of the later games, namely Final Fantasy V onwards, Kitase serves as the series' flagship director, taking over Hiromichi Tanaka.
An aspiring film director initially, Kitase's work features a more noticeable cinematic approach towards story-telling and theatrical direction, a style that later became the series trademark.
His works are deeply influenced by his love for travel especially to Asian countries and are evident in the later instalments like Final Fantasy X .
Meet the family...
The Heroes Interestingly enough, Final Fantasy III doesn't name any of its main characters, leaving the choice to the gamers themselves. Character development comes through the aid that the party receives, from Cid, an engineer; Sara, the princess of Sasoon; Desh, a fearsome fighter; to Elia, keeper of the Water Crystal.
Other supporting characters include Arus, Prince of the Kingdom of Saronia; plus Doga and Une, 2 of the world's 3 most powerful wizards who are hermits.
The Villains The first main villain is, of course, Zande. As the story would have it, he turns out to be a former friend with Doga and Une, who leaves them because he'd been corrupted by the Dark Cloud. Very obviously, the Dark Cloud is the ultimate evil in the game.
System Mechanics The character growth system in previous titles has been completely revamped; instead of assigning a certain skill to a particular character, all characters can access any abilities whether a fighter's skill or a mage's spells from the new Job System.
As such, each character is judged based on his or her proficiency in that particular job. Naturally, the more one character uses that job, the more powerful he or she becomes by gaining points to improve the various abilities within that job. This allowed for greater flexibility as players no longer had to worry about battles that requires all mages or just plain physical strength.
Release Notes More bad news: When SquareEnix finally decided to remake and translate some of the older games for the current consoles, Final Fantasy III was the ONLY game that they skipped. Perhaps the American audience are fated never to experience this wonderful game
Darkness lies not in the night, but in the hearts of men: Final Fantasy IV
