From its memorable characters to its amazing music, Final Fantasy III is probably the greatest game of its kind.

User Rating: 9.9 | Final Fantasy VI SNES
Many gamers know Final Fantasy III as the sixth game in the most widely celebrated series of role-playing games ever, but it was still just the third game to make it to the US on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The most popular game in the series, Final Fantasy VII for the Playstation, is credited with energizing the genre and bringing it into the mainstream, but its predecessor is a better game in almost every way, with the lone exception being its technical and artistic graphics. In fact, the only aspect of Final Fantasy III that is not incredible and awe-inspiring is its graphics, which are in fact very well done and a pleasure to look at. Most other SNES games don’t look nearly as good, but then again, no other SNES game can do anything else Final Fantasy III does. The game’s story is truly remarkable. Everything from its mysterious premise to its compelling universe to its jaw-dropping plot is exceptionally well done. The game’s short introduction will likely fly right over players’ heads when they first power up their console, but it soon becomes clear that the first character that you play as, Terra, is a dangerous mage who is being controlled by a sinister Empire who wants to revive and control magical creatures called Espers for its own demented use. After a few minutes of play, she is soon freed, and is picked up by an organization opposing the Empire called the Returners. She meets Locke, a “treasure hunter,” whose specialty is stealing items from enemies, as well as Edgar, a brilliant king, whose specialty is using deadly tools to destroy enemies. Terra, who knows nothing about her past, has to make up her mind whether to help the Empire or the Returners, and when she does, the Returners set their plan in action to bring down the Empire. Along the way, you’ll recruit many unique and colorful characters, such as Edgar’s twin brother Sabin, a martial arts expert, Cyan, a noble knight of a defeated kingdom, Strago, an old mage and everybody’s favorite dancing moogle, Mog. Terra is by no means the focus of the plot, although her story is instrumental to the first half of the game. Almost every character has complex interactions and relationships with other characters, and although this sort of thing is commonplace in a game today, no game before Final Fantasy III had these kind of characters who you came to love, hate, and empathize with. Evil empires trying to unlock things better left locked are nothing new today and were nothing new in 1994, but the players of the Empire are all well-conceptualized. General Leo, the consummate soldier, believes in serving his emperor but fighting fair. Celes, the beautiful knight, has been genetically altered and is in seemingly constant anguish. Finally, Kefka, the deranged and genuinely evil deputy to the Emperor, is one of the most memorably funny and dark characters in video game history. You will notice at the start that Emperor Gestahl does not care for Leo’s adherence to honor or Celes concern over magical weapons, although his interest in power should not be mistaken for Kefka’s interest in “Hate, hate, hate!” This is one of the longest games of its time, and almost none of your time playing is boring, bland, or repetitive. After a cataclysmic event scatters your characters midway through the game, you will have a chance, much like in FF III contemporary Chrono Trigger, to go to the last part of the game. You’ll almost certainly want to find your missing characters, though, as well as some new ones, to not only round out your party but explore their extensive sidequests. Cyan is tortured over his failure to protect his family, and you will literally journey into his soul to kill his demons. A dangerous monster who Strago always wanted to confront in his younger days reappears. Terra is conflicted about her place in the world, and has to be convinced to join your party rather than protect a defenseless village from monsters. You’ll want to play through all of these side quests, and assuming you do, you’re in for a 50-60 hour game involving opera performances, ridiculous talking octopuses, and the three stooges... dream stooges, that is. Many players will still feel like replaying Final Fantasy III, which is atypical of many great RPG’s simply because combat is free flowing and not at all tedious. The beauty of the game’s combat system is its depth. Anybody remotely familiar with RPGs will be able to get into it and effectively play without any instruction, but even the most dedicated veterans will have trouble immediately grasping the intricacies of the real time combat system. Every player starts with the option to fight, use a unique special power, or use an item. As time goes on, more players will be able to utilize magic through willing Espers sympathetic to your cause, but Terra and another character are the only ones that can use magic from the start. The characters’ special moves can generally be used repeatedly without penalty, and they range from offense-oriented to defense-oriented to everything in between. Edgar’s tools, such as the crossbow and the chainsaw, can simply be selected from the menu to attack one or all enemies wherever applicable. Sabin’s blitz involves inputting sometimes complex button sequences to pull off a powerful move. Cyan’s Sword Technique involves simply deciding how long to let a meter power up. Although not every special technique was created equal, they all have specific enough uses that finding the best four party members will never be easy. Magic is finite, and can be learned from Espers. Unlike Final Fantasy I and II, when the fight menu is up for each character, time continues to move, and the monsters will attack, making Final Fantasy III much more real time than most other Japanese RPG’s. Your time in dungeons and on the overworld are fairly straightforward, and random battles happen just often enough to be challenging, but usually not often enough to annoy you. Boss battles are quite frequent, and can often happen back to back. The bosses are usually quite challenging, especially when playing them for the first time. The sheer variety of special moves and attacks performed by both bosses and regular enemies is dizzying, and only a Final Fantasy scholar could keep track of all of them. Equipping and buying items is convenient and easy to learn. Almost all of the game’s menus are very user-friendly. Warriors such as Edgar and Terra can equip almost all heavy armors, shields, and helmets, but ninjas such as Sabin can only equip robes or similar garb. Also, many characters have their own unique weapon, whether it be claws, rods, swords, knifes, or katanas. Each character can also equip two relics, which have various effects, such as hasting the character, or reflecting magical attacks cast on the character. Finally, starting a bit into the game, characters will be allowed to equip and use espers to learn magic. The graphics in Final Fantasy III are impressive. The overworld is brightly colored, and different regions are highlighted well. Dungeons and towns look good, as do the varied backgrounds during fights. The character portraits and models look excellent, and do a good job of making all 14 characters look seem more real. Enemies and bosses also look great, but there is a fair amount of repeating in terms of enemy models, although that was quite common in the SNES era. The game looks just plain great overall, from the backgrounds to the overworld to the character models, and few SNES games could match its beauty. Even more impressive than the graphics is the music. The game’s extensive, exquisite soundtrack was and still is one of the greatest, if not the greatest soundtrack in the history of video games. Every character, almost every dungeon, and even an opera (even though it may appear goofy now, it was more impressive ten years ago) compromise the dozens of music tracks. Even the massive, 30-minute-long ending has all-new music. The sound effects, such as weapons striking, are less impressive, but considering the incredible depth and breadth of the music, it almost seems frivolous. Final Fantasy III was the last 2D game in the series, and it contained incredible story, characters, and music, making it a worthy SNES finale in every way for Square. It’s not an especially difficult game, nor is it especially easy, so both beginners and experts alike will have fun with it. From its memorable characters to its amazing music, Final Fantasy III is probably the greatest game of its kind.