The greatest masterpiece in game's history
I will do a bit different review, more emotional and self-biographic than logic and description. If you get bored easily with nostalgia feelings and comments regarding 'persona', do not read below, or jump to "for the objective readers" section.
In early 90's, I got the original NES cartridge Final Fantasy I. Well, I bought it by accident at a supermarket, thinking it was Phantasy Star or at least a version of that game that I loved so much, playing it, or at least "watching" my neighbor as he used to play it for hours every day on his Master System. I was so anxious to play Final Fantasy , so I got home, and after seeing a different battle system, I got a big disappointment at first. Some feel like, "I wasted my money and now I have a piece of crap, while my neighbor plays the great Phantasy Star on his Master System". Anyway, I kept playing... playing... and became addicted to the game. So I slowly realized that I had a masterpiece in my hands, the great Final Fantasy I, not a "Phantasy Star wannabe". Readers, please teleport yourselves to early 90's, "Final Fantasy" brand meant nothing or very little at that time. But it was simply better than Phantasy Star, more deep, better music, more party customization. I admit that my early pre-teenager (10 - 11yo) mind could not quickly figure out the deep understanding of the world of Final Fantasy, the complex combat formulaes and subtle dialogue tips (my english was not fluent at that time). Anyway, I finished the game countless times with countless party combinations. Needless to say, I started to track "Final Fantasy, the masterpiece", since then. All star team: Nobuo Uematsu, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Yoshitaka Amano, and... do not forget him: NASIR! Nasir Gebelli, the legendary programmer, unfairly forgotten. When you mix geniuses together, the result is no other than a masterpiece, of course.
I used to rent Final Fantasy III back in 1996, when I was a pre-teenager, lets say, 15 years. The rent period used to be 3 days at that time. That means: do whatever you have to do in 72 hours before you bring back the cartridge. Oh, my god, that's a bad side effect of having to rent a RPG.
So, the game started. I will not reveal any details, mention names or locations because in respect to RPG players, any kind of information can be considered spoiler, and spoilers can really RUIN the gameplay, surprises and the feeling that you are exploring something unknown. Squaresoft games rely much on surprises and plot twists, so I will not spread "I didn't like when James died in the storm" kind of comment. (By the way, James in fact died in the storm); Whoops... sorry about this spoiler........ Hey, just kidding! There's no "James" in the game. (hmm... is that a spoiler?).
For the objective readers, a sum of the game:
-> Technical: The SNES hardware was pushed to its max capabilities. The spells are greatly produced, detailed, something that was never seen before on a SNES game. Theres nothing, absolutely nothing like cartoon or too colorful, the palletes are very believable, the world map is incredibly well done in a 3D interface and a minimap gives you a perfect or almost perfect sense of orientation.
-> Gameplay: Active Time Battle system, you see speed bars filling to the right until reach your turn. That way you can somehow predict when you will be ready for your command. I particularly love this system. The battle in Final Fantasy III is truly a thing that you barely could think in a way to improve it. In my humble opinion, it's the apex of the way a RPG should handle battles and turns, but unfortunately Square-Enix is trying new stuff. I watched Final fantasy XIII trailer yesterday, I thought I was watching a Call of Duty video. (Ah, my big tongue, nevermind.). Overall, Final Fantasy III is more at the easy side, but in an enjoyable way, instead of "piece of cake". I hope you get it.
-> Sound Effects: they are very believable, specially battle ones. Some field sounds (like fire) seems "Atari" sounds, quite primitive, but believe, you will barely notice it behind the grandness of this game. Also take into consideration the fact that this game is "squeezed" in a cartridge with some inherent limitations.
-> Music: It's Nobuo Uematsu. Do I need to say more? Ah, yes, I do. It's his best score in all series. Maybe we can push it a little further, and consider it the best video game music in all time. Now go PLAY it and listen by yourself! =)
-> Story, chars, et cetera: There are a TON of playable chars, each with unique abilities, some secret chars as well. The story is very creative, and the games' playable chars and villains are very very well done in terms of personality. The main villain of the game is considered by many video games magazines as the "baddest", in terms of creation of a evil personality, in all times.
Final Fantasy kept the tradition of provoking deep emotional feelings, some times you will laugh, some times you can effectively cry in some cut scenes, or at least feel very blue. I know a couple games that could bring us deep and pure human emotions, and final Fantasy III is one, and the best of them. This game, besides having a great story, gameplay and plot, can bring back some of our primitive feelings that were buried by a cruel and merciless society, emotional values like honor, honesty and mercy, some things that should never be forgotten and should be forever in our hearts.