The Game That Shaped Final Fantasy (And Why Nobody Talks About It)

Final Fantasy III is a game that has eluded me my entire life. With a handful of memories with the DS version I never connected with, it sits in the back of my mind, gnawing at my brain stem and decimating my parietal lobe. Oh well!
I've always wondered though, is there a reason as to why so few people seem to have really dug into the game? While there are obvious answers to that extremely stupid question, I wanted to dig a bit deeper. In the process I've found a game that stands as a landmark title in the growth of the Final Fantasy series! And thus, a video was born. Watch it! WATCH IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!
Video Credits:
Ocarina of Time - Cubex
FF3 NES - ultimatedragon25
FF2 NES - HCBailly
FF1 NES - Jerupitus
FF6 - FenixDown83

[@cRutles228]

Oh FF3 what a joy it is. It sets up the groundwork for so many recurring things in the series. And the job system severely flawed as it is, is still a joy and many games build on that foundation and expand on it. Glad to see you get to this one and can't wait for you to get to 6

[@SpaceCat1111]

I can't remember who said it in the game, but I believe everyone under the water was turned to stone. Also, if I'm also not misremembering, if your lead character is wearing ice equipment while walking through lava, the whole team won't take damage.

[@Super_Hambone]

I should scrub through my footage yo see what i was wearing at the time lol

[@SpaceCat1111]

@@Super_Hambone To be fair, this is my memory of the original Famicom version, and assuming they kept those two things in the pixel remaster.

[@MinecraftMartin]

The saddest trend over the past 20 years in games is the seemingly growing perception that expecting players to figure things out is bad game design. "Nothing told me I was supposed to do that!" Somehow we were able to figure these out without internet. Not everything, sure. Sometimes we learned from a friend or magazine. But most of these "no clue puzzles" we just looked around in the room, look in our inventory, pay close attention to our environments to not miss anything.

[@thomasffrench3639]

FFIII is considered one of the best Famicom RPGs in Japan, as Final Fantasy just a D&D game, and Final Fantasy II is the first SaGa game. It is not the "forgotten Final Fantasy", it's the classic that shaped the franchise. It's the definitive 8-bit Final Fantasy, and it helped prove that this could be an amazing series. In Japan, the first Final Fantasy is the shining example of first game syndrome, and I am totally inclined to agree. Final Fantasy I is probably the least talked about in all honesty. Also I'm pretty sure that other RPGs like Momotaro Densetsu, Glory of Heracles, Mother, Destiny of an Emperor, Sweet Home, Fire Emblem, and Metal Max sold better than the first Final Fantasy game, and are better remembered. But none of those have sold as well or as popular as Final Fantasy III, which says a lot. I feel like the first Final Fantasy game is more fondly remembered in the west because of nostalgia for the most part. Mr. Gentleman put it the best when he said that Final Fantasy III is to Final in Japan as the Super Mario Bros. 3 is absolutely everywhere. But all things considered I really like this video, because it gives a western perspective, but it is not the only perspective. I would say that Final Fantasy V is seen in Japan like a lot of people see Mario World (although not all of them, because Mario 3 is still the GOAT) where it takes the masterpiece of the third entry and improves it in every way. But there will still be people who stand by Final Fantasy III, and just because a game is a better version doesn't mean that the original version doesn't have it's own positives. Although who knows, Final Fantasy Tactics is just considered Tactics Orge with a Final Fantasy coat of paint in Japan, which you don't seem to agree with, so who knows.

[@Super_Hambone]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! You may be the only person i've ever seen to mention Destiny of an Emperor, the true best NES RPG

[@Kayas]

So funny story, I was playing Star Ocean: The First Departure R and saw that you actually made a video on it and saw that. What surprised me was that this video straight up did not appear in my feed at all. I really enjoyed the first two Final Fantasy videos (watched them again as a refresher) and watched this. Either way, hit the bell so I won't miss an upload cause I genuinely enjoy your work and having someone relatively close in my age making videos on games I give a shit about is refreshing (also helps that you make good videos too). Commenting for the algorithm, good video man Fuck the Crystal Tower

[@cronoesify]

FF3 is absolutely a game that you play if you are a legitimate *fan* of the Final Fantasy series. When I first played the NES version back in 2000 or thereabouts when the English patch was released, I was floored by how close it was to 4 and 5 in quality. I was expecting it to be worlds worse than it was, and was shocked to find so many established and beloved aspects of the series as a whole got their origination here. Sure, it's not done the best, but you get points for being the original. Whenever I am told to rank my top 5 FFs, I always try to have a spot for a game from the 1-5 era - and this is actually my choice (because 4 makes everyone's list, anyway). It best represents everything FF was from as far back as 1, and has influenced games as far forward as anything made today. 4 and 5 don't quite achieve that, as they feel very much so removed from what 1 was.

[@dylanjcp2212]

FF3 was the first and only DS rpg I played, and I FREAKING loved it. I was too young to appreciate the story and gameplay to its full extent, but I’d love to play it again someday.

[@LuZRepliCant]

Boy I cant wait for you to get to my personal favourit final fantasy game. 5! Really interested in seeing what you'll say about it!

[@Super_Hambone]

Believe me, I also can't wait to get to 5

[@vaughnother8370]

FFIII is kinda in a weird spot for me. The DS remake was not only my first Final Fantasy game, but also one of the first games I ever played. I've replayed it at least three times since then, and it's a genuine joy every time I go back to it. To me, FFIII represents the very core of the classic Final Fantasy experience. It has all the staples I've come to expect and does so many things right. However, in the grand scheme of Final Fantasy, it is still nowhere near my favorite. I can't say I like it more than the PS1 titles, and looking at the game from an objective standpoint it just isn't the best at even the things it does really well. Even though I personally like it more than I, II, and even IV, I totally get why people might prefer other classic FF games to III. To me at least, though, it will always be a sort of standard and backbone to the series, but never the best that Final Fantasy has to offer. Also, I have to recommend you give the DS remake another shot. Just the addition of having actual named characters with Luneth, Arc, Refia, and Ingus really completes the experience. That's not even mentioning the added dialogue, realized 3D world, and plenty of other little stylistic and story changes that make this particular version special.

[@Super_Hambone]

If I ever find myself with extra time, i'd love to make a video on the DS III and IV remakes. They're so interesting, such cool ways to experience the games! No promises though.

[@MikhailKutzow]

I'm pretty sure the DS version of FF3 was my fully traditional RPG. Despite many good RPGs (including remakes of every other FF game) on the GBA, I just never touched the genre until this game. And man, it probably really shaped a lot of my weird quirks in my tastes, and my tendency to have a very high tolerance for BS in games. It's very interesting how full of ideas the game is. Even if the execution doesn't necessarily land, I feel like this amount of creativity is something really special about older games. It's a shame we didn't get it sooner, so it never really can get the credit it deserves.

[@TheTateful]

Great video! One note I would like to make is that the Scholar class is highly underrated. I brought one along for my last playthrough, and they are far and away the best boss slayer in the game.

[@INhumanLAST]

I still remember the music, the broad plot of importance of mortality and the stupid difficulty spike in the end. I still dread the last fight gauntlet which had stupid randomness in jt

[@Challacade]

I played FF3 a ton on the DS. Never managed to beat it though!!

[@Chelaxim]

The Pixel Remaster of III really surprised me how much i liked it and 7 year old you was correct. An actual bad remake is bad when you have no reference of the orginal. Just like with Megaman and Bass only officially coming out on the GBA in the west and suffering from major screen crunch...the orginal western release of Final Fantasy III Is suffers the same fate. The western perception of both of those games was irrevocally warped due to a bad port and bad remake. Not even the OST was spared. People said it was Uematsu's weakest composition even though two other people went in and remixed it. Then with the PSP version you could switch back to the 8 bit OST and you see how great it sounds. The 3D version also rebalanced the jobs to make everything endgame viable and just made everything worse. Making the scholar more powerful leads you to using it more. But the scholar has the worst vitality in the game If you level up more than two times you will never cap out max HP. And if you're going to make weaker jobs more viable maybe you should introduce new item since in the 2D version The game knows when a job is no longer viable so they stop selling equipment for them. It's not Final Fantasy V, Some jobs are literally straight upgrades from other jobs. You don't need to buff the weaker job and debuff the stronger job.

[@MerlinYggdrasill]

I absolutely love FF III! I'm a fanatic for the game as it's one of my favorite games ever. Great to see your thoughts on the game and not just mindless hating of it and comparing to future games. I played the Pixel Remaster when it came out and was the first person in the world to get all the achievements for it. It's a really unique game and the series wouldn't have as many iconic things in it if it wasn't for FF III.

[@Super_Hambone]

Well to be fair, I definitely do a lot of comparing😅 But whether or not I think future games outshine III, that didn't effect my enjoyment in the end. It was too charming

[@xenofes2]

I first played the psp version of the remake while I was starting to work my way through the entire series. It was so bad, easily my least favorite in the series. I later played most of the pixel remaster, and it's a much better version, though I don't think it redeems it entirely. I do agree with most of what you say in this video, but some of the differences in the 3D remake have forever soured my opinion on it, particularly in your point about how the main progression is always clear. In the 3D version there are a couple of times where that's not the case. At the very start of the game I couldn't find out how to progress, because you have to talk to Cid (while he's "invisible") in the Inn, a building I didn't enter because the first two games had trained me to believe that inns never had important progression, and you're able to fully restore your party at another town that's like two steps away on the map. Later, after getting your airship unchained, there is a single space on the world map that you have to fly over in order to progress, and the 3D version provides no hint toward that. The pixel remaster added an NPC telling you to talk to Cid in the inn and added smoke in the spot you need to fly your ship, so it definitely solved those problems, but this was the only FF game I ever had to follow a walkthrough for, which shows serious issues with progression in certain versions. I also despised being forced into certain jobs and such, but you covered all that. I'll also add that while the SNES Fire Emblems do deserve remakes, it's not hard at all to emulate. It takes like 2 minutes to set up, snes emulators aren't janky at all, and it's very widespread in the fanbase.

[@mauri4140]

been waiting for your FF3 video! it was definitely worth the wait, i had a blast watching it so thank you! your FF videos were my introduction to your channel and wat made me a big fan of your content. cant wait for whatever else you're cooking next!

[@OverratedGames]

stoked youre talking about this game! ive always thought it didnt get enough shine from the fanbase here on youtube

[@st.anselmsfire3547]

Job level matters when it gets really, really high. The black belt, for instance, is great and all, but it becomes a person of mass destruction when you get to job level 50. The bard is useless until job level 20, then gets awesome. The geomancer is a disaster until above job level 25 or so. Thankfully, you can power-level the jobs by abusing the defend command.

[@Bob-qk2pw]

I do find the 3d remake to be more enjoyable due to better combat balance and thus better gameplay compared to the original. I have never played the Pixel Remaster but I assume it is very similar to the original Famicom + some QoL.

[@OnyxSkiesXIX]

Can’t wait for that FFIV video! I played the first three games all the way through finally for the first time last year, and I didn’t dislike any of them. I is a fun little adventure, II actually has a story which instantly makes it more engaging than either of the other two, and III is … fine. Like it doesn’t do anything bad (other than having multiple mini dungeons) but it’s also just kinda I but with more options (or V with less options and less story).

[@PlaytendoSwitchGaming]

Good to see another video from you! I missed your face. Keep up the good work 😊

[@zedorian6547]

This was a great video. I want to watch the FF1 video now…and the extra corny jokes at the end legit earned you a sub lmao keep up the good work!

[@rezterralico4369]

Waiting for the pixel remaster to get a larger rebate and getting it mainly to play FF3 with charges like FF1 on the Wii VC.

[@kaeflex]

ff3 is so fucking good, im also a big fan of the maeson and redux rom hacks that re balance the game

[@CyberBinary]

For as much flak as it catches, I prefer FF2 to 1 and 3. Granted, I also played the pixel remasters and enjoyed all three of them. I felt like FF1 had barely any story and the storytelling methods were very limited. FF3's story feels like a bunch of "and then this happens!" in that it's a game where a lot of events transpire but the connective thread is very loose. It doesn't feel as cohesive as the adventure of the second entry. I can understand that this opinion is an unpopular one. Despite all its flaws, I felt like Final Fantasy 2 resonated with me more.

[@federicobocchi]

I played the 3D version on PC a few years ago and i really enjoyed it, sure the story isn't really something unique or special, but as a lover of job systems I absolutely have to play it. This video is interesting and fun to watch please continue with other JRPG like FF and Star Ocean! What is the music that starts at 12:38?

[@leolightfellow]

It goes by a few names - Gaia's Navel or World's Navel or Navel of the World - from Chrono Cross. :)

[@neongrey333]

back in high school when i was learning about emulation i grabbed all the 'mysterious' final fantasies that hadn't been translated by anyone. I played the Famicom version of 3 with a partial translation patch; it translated menus and items like that but hardly any dialogue. It grabbed me like immediately-- I could see things that carried forward into later final fantasies, stuff like UI foundations and gameplay seeds. I replayed it when the first full fan translation released. it's been my favourite now for Too Many years. beat the game the first time with an underleveled blood lance-wearing dragoon who got hasted by my sages but that owned lmao. ds version stinks. pixel remaster owns, and the new ost arranges do amazing things to what was already one of the best soundtracks on the famicom. it seems to have left a much bigger footprint over in Japan; in a lot of ways FF14 includes an FF7R-style sequel/remake of 3 and I don't just mean with the crystal tower stuff. Nice to see people appreciating this game in the here and now. It's far from flawless but it casts a much bigger shadow than it gets credit for. :) eta: the original capacity points system for changing jobs in the famicom version was pretty negligible; it never really matters at any point when you're actually changing jobs. it's still pretty counter to the idea of changing jobs freely that the pixel remaster rightly corrects, but it's never really in your way.

[@Super_Hambone]

Interesting! So in reality the penalties in the 3D remake sound like a huge downgrade

[@neongrey333]

@@Super_Hambone yeah very much so; some of the changes the 3d version made I at least understand to be due to hardware limitations (eg, they couldn't have nearly as many enemies on screen so that's why so many get multiple turns) but what they did with job changing... oof

[@popplio7891]

I’ll just say, when the pixel remasters came out, the only one I bought was FF3 as I’ve played all the other games but their pixel remasters ultimately lacked the bonus content that made past versions more interesting. I mainly played 3 because I only played the DS version and this was the closest I could get to playing the original. I very much enjoyed FF3, but even with the ability to save in the final dungeon, the last few bosses are an abysmal spike in difficulty and damage sponging. Also, way too many of the jobs are just straight up useless.

[@Super_Hambone]

Agreed, the boss rush near the end was pretty ridiculous. I had more than enough to push through it but good lord, not the greatest idea in regards to pacing!!

[@flanhed]

Suuuuupeeeerrrr HaaaammmBooooneeee!

[@bigumamitaste]

I watched this video with my dad. He didn't get it.

[@Super_Hambone]

It's ok, you have many other videos to convert him with!

[@fanfare3185]

leaving my comment for the algorithm. 👍🔥 loved the video!

[@YuitoScarlet]

You need more subs 😢 I need to get into more Final Fantasy. Iv only beaten 15 and 8, and i own then all due to impulsive buying 😂15 might be in my top 5 games so far. I even bought The Dawn Of The Future book. My favorite JRPG is prob Tales Of The Abyss. Also im in the middle of Arise 2nd playthrough. Not to mention i own every Star Ocean that i need to get through. JRPGs are hard to commit too.

[@usucktoo]

oh, an 8 hater. oh well, bye

[@Super_Hambone]

Have a good night!!

[@leolightfellow]

Aren't most people 8 haters?

[@mauri4140]

@@leolightfellow I adore VIII but I'm not gonna shit on people who don't like it, that's just their opinion

[@Chelaxim]

​@leolightfellow I will never understand how fans of black sheep entries don't develop thick skin. Final Fantasy VIII fans are some of the worst at this and need to take a page from Tales of Zesteria fans. They can acknowledge and agree with the negative and have a healthy relationship with the game. They haven't had 25 years to build this resilience. Final Fantasy VIII fans need to do better.

[@YuitoScarlet]

​​@@Chelaxim I like Zesteria more than Beseria. I cannot stand Velvet as a protagonist. Sorey and Mikleo, for the win! 8 is the only PS1 FF I've played havnt got through the others.