Final Fantasy III | KnockBack, Episode 266

As we continue our cruise through the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters here on KnockBack, we come to the enigma that is Final Fantasy III. Like Final Fantasy II, III never got a western release at the time it came to Famicom in 1990. But unlike II, which finally saw the light of day in the west late in the PSone era, we had to wait until 2006 to play Final Fantasy III in western markets, and we did so via a 3D remake on Nintendo DS with a sterile and boring aesthetic overshadowing an otherwise solid job-based title. Finally, though, we can experience it as intended, with chibi sprites and chiptunes, and we're glad we did. A prelude to beloved Final Fantasy IV -- not in story, but in substance -- Final Fantasy III is a worthy old-school JRPG, one we're pleased to present thoughts on today. What's even more exciting, though, is that we can now be unleashed on the truly amazing series entries to come...

[@BurnoutsAndBourbon]

So happy you all are going through the entire LEGACY!

[@Preskryption]

These conversations you have with your brother are ones I wish I could have with my dad, RIP pops. Thanks boys for the warm and fuzzies

[@daganmoriarty1973]

[@MerlinYggdrasill]

Final Fantasy III is an amazing game in all of iterations. I've beaten the game about 25 times and played the Pixel Remaster twice when it came out and I somehow managed to get all the achievements before anyone else in the world! The leaderboards show the top spot at July 30th but somehow I got it a day and a few hours earlier! My final party was Ninja, Sage, Dragoon, Evoker. I'm a super huge fanatic for this game and I'm actually doing a long video series on it. I'm so glad you two really liked and appreciated this game for what it is instead of bashing it.

[@daganmoriarty1973]

THAT'S hardcore !

[@matthewsan78]

In the middle of FF III right now. Trying to keep up with you guys! I’ve really been enjoying III so far.

[@solvirtusinvicta]

Final Fantasy III has so much concepts that I adore as a fan of fantasy. Crystal Tower, Eureka The Forbidden Land, Floating Contents and the quirkiness of the towns you visit makes for an unforgettable experience.

[@mattgrundy27]

Such a great time! Gotta go replay FF3 now. Thanks boys. You gotta do Chrono Trigger at some point. Cheers! 🍻

[@daganmoriarty1973]

oh HELL YEAH ; )

[@mattgrundy27]

@@daganmoriarty1973 keep up the GREAT work man. You guys rock. 🤘

[@darthmarth87]

I finally played 3 via these pixel remasters and I actually really fell in love with it, simple but charming adventure, fun job system and shout out to "Eternal Wind," the map theme - contender for my personal favorite world map theme in the series. Also a ton of concepts in 3 are implemented and expanded upon in FF14 and I enjoyed seeing the influences retroactively.

[@matthewsan78]

Agree on all counts. The map theme is great!

[@isturbo1984]

Dark Crystals, the final dungeon soundtrack, is a banger. Especially the version in the pixel remaster.

[@johnnada6855]

The DANCERS make me think that is something really 80s, remember the breakdance fights?., that´s some 80s AF thing lol, and you know the square team were 80s teens

[@16BitDungeon]

I was big on fan translations. The only way I could play and enjoy FF5, FF2, FF3 was with fan translations. I owe my childhood to them.

[@rocksliketoast]

Loving these knockback episodes along with the pixel remasters and like most FF3 and 5 have been a blindspot in my gaming history. 3 was an interesting playthrough as I got more joy out of it from a historical perspecitive rather than a gaming one. It was cool they tried out a job system and was a good idea but I don't think they are balanced very well which kinda dragged down the game a bit for me. I also think they went backwards in narrative by simplifying the story to basic warriors of light and had a pretty unmemorable main villain. Looking forward to the rest of the Knockbacks especially 5 since, playing it now, out of the missing North American games I feel would have not only done really well here sales wise but would be treated in the same high regard with 4. (6 i think is on an another level and takes every lesson learned and is a true culmination of the series up to that point.)

[@Clayton0693]

My introduction to JRPG's was FFIII on DS. Never got to unlock the Onion Knight because for whatever reason, they locked the class behind the online functionality of the DS. You needed to send a message in game to another DS player with the same game over Wi-Fi, which I never had the chance to as a kid. Bummer.

[@daganmoriarty1973]

oh, wow! really? damn, that's nuts!

[@viciousvictortee1298]

For those who are the uninitiated. "Terra In Black."You're welcome! Edit: I'm 2 minutes in. So not sure if this song is brought up. It should be. Extra Edit: Son of a bitch! He's talking 3 not 6! LOL egg on face. Pay attention to thumbnails VICIOUS!

[@StraightcheD]

I love this one. It's a product of its time, but the job change was so good. Dropping it in FF4 and bringing it back in FF5 was the origin of the split fanbase in Japan in terms of what it means to be an FF game.

[@SooRandomTV]

I know nothing of these games except ff7 but I like listening to you two go through them

[@ragnaruq]

There have been a few cases of fan translations being used for official releases. Recently Trails from Zero & Trails to Azure only got official western releases because NIS were able to use fan translations from a group called Geofront. Right after they released the translation for the second game, NIS announced they were going to use Geofront's work as the basis for the two games localization.

[@isturbo1984]

Been playing through all the FF games in chronological order. I am of the mind that the FF team split into two. And A Team and a B Team. It is clear that FFIII is a completely different team than I & II. The job system was cool, but the writing and characters were abysmal. The B team went on to make FFV while the A Team handled IV and VI.

[@CaptHowdyarchives]

you can just read the original credits and know that's not really what happened

[@isturbo1984]

@@CaptHowdyarchives actually, i was going to say that this has pretty much been confirmed with all the storied about the development throughout the early FF titles. i just rarely see it framed this way. the teams were just smaller then. different leads handling things in different ways. another commenter layed out interviews and articles that blueprinted the vision of each of the games. so yes, that is what happened. i am right. you are wrong.

[@CaptHowdyarchives]

@@isturbo1984 you are claiming they were made by completely different teams, when you can just look at the credits and see 95% of the exact same people in the exact same roles between FF2 and FF3. there is no A and B team, they were the same team

[@isturbo1984]

@@CaptHowdyarchives nope

[@Gabzilla27]

Loving this series!!

[@bdre5555]

Great conversation, despite me having no interest in the Final Fantasy series. Except for Final Fantasy Tactics, which features music composed by my favorite composer Hitoshi Sakimoto. I really want to play Tactics Ogre Reborn in the near future. Have you guys never played it? It also features music by Sakimoto.

[@Aleut1]

1:28:08 I think you just needed to scroll up to load the autosave, Dagan 😅

[@johnnada6855]

FINAL FANTASY 3 for sure was part of a conceptual trilogy., if you see the art of amano, there were two swords that were very important in the original trilogy and the original conceps, the EXCALIBUR and the BLOOD SWORD., the red one, so important that the first action rpg spin off "Seiken Densetsu" was literally the secret of the sword and was around swords instead of crystals, Swords were also more important than Chocobos, moogles or Summons which came later., FINAL FANTASY 4 marked a cut and a new focus, putting a spin and focusing on the story, FF 5 was kinda a going back to the original trilogy and FF 6, 7 and onwards started the "experimental" fase of Final Fantasy

[@grashoprsmith]

"Dorf"❤

[@johnnada6855]

Final Fantasy 3 and 5 are for sure the most OBSCURE ones from the main line cause were never released in the west., those came very late as remakes, literally 10 + years later., plus are kinda the most "hardcore" of the bunch cause the focus in both entries is in the mechanics over characters and story., and the gameplay is for sure more complex than the other systems.,

[@Ragucci25]

The first classic Final Fantasy I played was III via the DS remake and I have to disagree with Colin, I think it's very good. It's nice to have both now that I am currently playing the PR on PS5.

[@joemurray]

I really actually loved the ff3 ds edition too :)

[@hanes2]

The "FF4 Complete" version on PSP is just so better than the DS version. Much more true to the original than the DS which was quite different.

[@proggz39]

Colin must’ve been on his ADHD meds to get this plat in 15hrs 🤯

[@philipboardman1357]

I'm from the rusted out town park of upstate NY 😂

[@johnnada6855]

COLIN., if you are making a JRPG please watch these anime, Robotech 1, 2, and especially 3; Slayers, and the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon from the 80s, these 3 cartoons have an amazing character dynamics., between personalities, drama, and teamwork, other cartoons like Dragon Ball, Ranma, Evangelion or even Berserk don´t really mix well the group dynamic, maybe at some point of the stories but usually everything relies on the protagonists., i think Patlabor also is good in that sense, a good JRPG must have a) great complex, balance and challenging game mechanics, b) and EPIC story and feel, think never ending story, ocarina or shadow of the colossus, c) Team work with inner relationship and with different and useful skills, d) Missable stuff, magic, items, quest, or team members, that can screw your progress, and the npcs can hint stuff, e) hints of secrets of the world or secret bosses and enemies., i loved that from all the jrpgs i´ve played

[@Thecomedian1243]

1:45:31 What was that 😳

[@FereldenKrogan]

Bizarre take about fan translations,even so from the guy that praises Working Designs, notoriously for doing horrible translations. That are games they completely changed the history lol.

[@bivisbuns]

Colin's point about fan translations is so stupid, no offense. Whether a game is translated by translators the company hired or fans who are doing it out of love, it's either a good translation or a bad translation, and you are none the wiser to the original language or intent either way. Many fan translations are great and clearly a labor of love, and usually if a translation is particularly bad you can either tell or it will be well-known / pointed out by others online. Also kinda stupid to demean fanart and shit when you literally talk about other peoples' art for a living, if fanart is "not making anything new" this podcast is even below that. Love the show and Colin in general but jesus dude, some of his takes are atrocious

[@TheLoneGamr]

Really disagree with Collin on the DS remakes of 3 and 4. Currently playing through FF 4 DS and the game is excellent and in no way soulless.

[@impotenceaura]

@dagan bravely default is a good class based jrpg thats a bit longer to let you enjoy the classes