The Making of Final Fantasy III | A Complete History and Documentary

[@FinalFantasyUnion]

If you'd like to support the creation of these long-form documentaries, you can find out more information here: www.patreon.com/ffunion

[@zakirstocks9514]

You guys should try doing *The Complete History of Final Fantasy IV!*

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

Thank you for another awesome retrospective!!

[@WolfCyphr]

Please keep this up. Most retrospectives of games from other creators are just elongated reviews. This is a proper history lesson. If I may, I would love this format for a FFV. I hear that was when FF finally exploded in Japan, and if true I'm curious of its impact in Japan in the 90s.

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

MrHappy is also doing those for the previous games.

[@captainhakob814]

​@@fernandozavaletabustos205liem triforce does really good old school retrospectives.

[@JustAnotherGamerUS]

THIS. SOO MUCH!

[@robwaters8848]

​@@captainhakob814 Also kingk!!! He does incredible Zelda retrospectives.

[@twelfthknight]

That they arrived so quickly on the Job System - which one way or another would define the franchise as a whole - is remarkable. You have AAA games today with years of development and millions sunk into them that don't have the same level of thought put to into their core mechanics.

[@LunarWingCloud]

Final Fantasy III is far and away fhe most underrated game in the series to me. Barely anyone talks about it, and yet it's a solid game start to finish and some peak retro RPG goodness

[@BB-te8tc]

This documentary really gave a lot of context to the whimsy of the game's world. I remember playing it for the first time and being surprised how early you get the (first!) airship, how there's multiple world maps, etc. It's got a really charming, imaginative, almost childlike essence to it, and knowing the designers were like "let's push the NES to its limits and go nuts!" certainly explains a lot.

[@OrphanOfDarkness]

It didn't come out in the west for such a long time so most people totally missed it

[@punkrockdavid]

I dunno cloud of darkness laser move was kind of bullshit

[@tronixchl2004]

My Final Fantasy journey started on 2009-2010 (i almost cant remember now) with a hacked PSP and Final Fantasy III, i swear on my life i'll finish every main line Final Fantasy someday

[@georgehouliaras7239]

The Onion Knight is a real knight for protecting Terra in Dissidia. Also he helped in killing Chaos!

[@ManaRawk]

Onion Knight in Dissidia was one of my favorite characters in both the story and gameplay.

[@ZoraTheExplora]

Tbf the onion knight could solo the franchise.

[@VanitasSentiment13]

​@@ZoraTheExplora I would love for an FF spin off to feature the Onion Knight class again. Hell I'll even take another main line

[@gspeedy619]

​@@ZoraTheExploraI'd say Bartz would instead

[@xXRubyishereXx]

Still my headcanon that luneth is onion knight but that's just me

[@DapperFatCat]

Where FF IV is my all-time favorite Final Fantasy, there is no way that wonderful game could exist without FF III doing what it did. This game was absolutely astounding at the time and it is still such a compelling story. So pumped to see the Complete History of FF IV when you're able to do it. You lot are amazing.

[@karebushmarebu233]

I would say FF2 had much more of an influence on FF4 (and the franchise) than 3. 3 is great and it introduced the job system, but two introduced so much of the things we think of as final fantasy, as well as crafting a compelling and surprisingly dark narrative, in fact the narrative of 4 clearly takes massive influence from that of 2. The only difference being that death is a much bigger deal in 2 than 4. In 2, when characters die, they stay dead and it’s sad. Anyways putting that aside, I know the community tends to band wagon against ff2, but the problems if had have been fixed ever since the ps1 version of the game. If you play the pixel remaster, ignore all the shit you’ve heard (like attacking your own party), if you just play the game normally you’ll find it’s enjoyable, you barely have to grind at all and progression feels natural

[@DonCactuar]

Another wonderful video. Love this series. As someone said in the comments, I highly praise the historical context that is included in these retrospectives.

[@davidnakayama8671]

Fabulous documentary! It's astounding the level of detail you've been able to include here.

[@matthagen67]

The original FFIII on Famicom is, to be honest, the first Final Fantasy that is still fun to play even now. Both games that came before it didn't age well... unless we're talking about their remakes/remasters. FFIII is the kind of game I wish I played as a kid. If I had nostalgia for it, it would probably be one of my favorite games of all time.

[@plewlonehitknown4812]

And then the 4th entry hits... Damn... There was so much passion to realize a "final fantasy"! Thanx for your work. FF 4 was and will be forever my favourite game of the franchise. I truly realized what this is when I got my Playstation 1. FF 7 was great, but when I bought the remake of the 4th Piece(Anthology released in Europe) I knew that there was more backstory than I thought. What a great game the Final Fantasy 4 entry was. I even think I learned valuable lessons for life from this f****n' great piece of art.

[@Edowin-jz2sj]

To this day, this is the only main line FF game that I still haven't played, though I intend to now that the Pixel Remaster has been released. I was extremely upset and frustrated when the Nintendo DS version released for two main reasons: 1. I have a very difficult time playing any video games on small screens including mobile and handheld due to eye strain. Past handheld games had been playable on full sized TVs through officially released accessories (Gameboy, GBA, PSP), but the DS never offered one. 2. The changes to the game. I loved the 16 bit conversion that had been done for FFI and FFII on the PS1 and GBA as the games were otherwise mostly the same, but it looked like FFIII had been much more drastically changed from the original and I didn't care for the 3D art style that was used for this or the DS version of FFIV. I'm very glad to see that this game finally got something of a faithful release for consoles and I'm looking forward to playing it once I get caught up on my gaming backlog.

[@mjbuffalo716]

Maybe because it was locked away from the English market for so long, but III holds such a huge spot in my heart and still sits somewhere in my top 5 favorites. Easily my favorite game from the DS

[@Darkjedi1019]

Fantastic video. Your channel is one of my favorites. All of your videos are excellently made, and you can feel the passion that you have for this franchise. Can't wait for the history of Final Fantasy 4.

[@di_avo]

Excellent! Thank you again for this! Only problem I have now is which version to check out.

[@NotTheWheel]

FF3 is definitely one of my favorites any FF that explores a job system generally are with exception for 4, 6, and 9 which I also like very much.

[@andrewhudson7108]

That thumbnail with the FFRK avatars breaks my heart. Hopefully (though probably not) they’ll make a Final Fantasy Record Keeper Offline the same way there’s Mega Man X Dive Offline

[@bobjoemac1]

Started with 4 (2 on the snes) when I was a child, played them all as they came out. Eventually getting around to playing through FF1 and trying 2 on the ps1 release. But 3 was always such a mystery that I tried a Rom and couldn't get into it then the DS version...which I couldn't get into... and now I'm about to try out the Pixel remaster. But it was super interesting to hear the history of the one final fantasy that has always been a mystery to me. Very excited for 4 as it was my first in the series and it still remains one of my favorites.

[@isayasbashiri5371]

You already started with the best track from FFIII OST

[@Cloud971]

What a good coincidence, i'm currently playing the Pixel Remaster version of this game for the first time. 🙂

[@ZX-Gear]

Can't wait to grind for the Sage and Ninja job classes. I am at FFII at the Pixel Remaster.

[@kaspauf06]

Another amazing video, thank you FFU!

[@ArcadeTheatre]

Not sure if it was a joke or an error, but there is some footage and images from FF6 in this video. Either way, amazing documentary.

[@eliotwildermann]

Fantastic video as usual ffunion team 👏 😊

[@Beryllahawk]

Absolutely loving this series, especially as it lets me learn even more about why FFXIV is so damn great. I hadn't a clue that the Crystal Tower was from FFIII. Yeah, I could have gone and read about that, perhaps but - this video is MUCH more fun!!

[@ethanleach1252]

Amazing job!! Loved watching this

[@austineaves739]

I love your vids. Your voice is so soothing and your knowledge is impeccable and interesting ❤

[@ThwipThwipBoom]

Loved the documentary and I learned a lot. Thank you!

[@myopinions]

I truly love your complete history series and can't wait to get to FFIX 😊

[@Ashgar225]

I thought Job Adjustment Phase was a remake only thing from the 3D version. The original required you to use a variable number of Capacity points, but still used the physical/magical and lawful/chaotic thing to determine how much you needed.

[@FinalFantasyUnion]

No, you're absolutely correct. Frustrating mistake on our part - thanks for highlighting. ~Darryl

[@andrew_stamps]

Yeah, i was thinking the same thing, i was wondering if maybe this was a planned mechanic that got scrapped as there no evidence for it in the mechanics of the original game.

[@BB-te8tc]

Just felt like saying that I appreciate that you used RPGClassics for some of the job system screenshots. I recognize that blue webpage background anywhere. :D

[@epicDiggs]

My favourite game in the series tied with FFIV. Best soundtrack

[@Magging_KFP]

Thank you for Making an in depth retrospective video of my favorite FF game of all time!

[@FinalFantasyUnion]

You're most welcome, glad you enjoyed it!

[@groge511]

Love these videos. Keep up the good work ❤

[@calvinthurston1441]

Top notch content! Now I gotta play the game!

[@vicenarian340]

I love this series, please keep it going!

[@GrinninPig]

I had to wait until emulation and then translations before I could play 2 and 3, I wish I could've played them when I was younger

[@FarelForever]

3:20 pardon me, but isn't this the boxart for the WESTERN FF3? Which is in reality FF6. It has SUPER NINTENDO written on it! 35:44 and that's the american add for FF6 as well

[@aspieatheist6040]

I liked the pixel remastered version of this game. I always felt that this game and its general idea had potential, but I had yet to play a really good version of it. The original Famicom version was very grindy, and you were screwed if you grinded the wrong job class. The DS remake had a failed attempt of a story, and it really got in the way of gameplay more than anything else. The PR version took what was best from the two versions and made a great game.

[@Gregoroth_Durai]

Amazing. Bravo y'all!

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

Thank you for another awesome retrospective!!

[@BlueTurn]

Really love these videos wonderful documentary love seeing video game history like this.

[@bernardschaeffer8000]

Great job Daryl

[@graduator14]

Another fantastic video!

[@karebushmarebu233]

Correction needed at 6:05 You say that between the release of final fantasy 1 and 2, only dragon quest 2 and another game were released in the turn based roleplaying sub genre. This is incorrect as Dragon quest 1 and 2 released in Japan before the first final fantasy had been released. Dragon quest 3 was the game that was released between final fantasy 1 and 2. This is important to note because FF2 was massively influenced by two different products 1. DQ3, which had a very customisable class/party system, this influenced the level up system of FF2 as a way to make the game more customisable 2. Empire strikes back. This movie made a big impact and we now know after seeing the movie the developers completely rewrote the story to FF2 with much more influence from Star Wars (empire, rebels, princess, scrappy rag tag young group, dreadnought/Death Star destroying planets/cities) Anyways, amazing video! Good stuff man :)

[@iamaninsomniac]

3:22 That box art is not the actual III, but is from the North American release of VI, which was retitled to III.

[@shaolinshefgaming400]

They didn't think a summoner could become a dragoon or a ninja, they must've never heard of Sung Jinwoo

[@97ajg]

I cant wait for the rest of the series to get this treatment! These videos are amazing cant wait for ff13

[@jaykknight2248]

I need to know What all the unused jobs were!!!!

[@Kevbotty]

Ok, that outro song... kinda slaps in a certain way I can't explain. It's almost nostalgic

[@AerospaceCoot35]

I see that because Luneth still doesn't have a freelancer outfit in Record Keeper and as such has to use the Warrior outfit instead for the thumbnail lol.

[@u.s.m.c.contra4439]

Looking forward to FF4 video!

[@purplecrab4049]

I cannot and will not understate my love for FF 3. It was my first and while 14 may hold the crown 3 brung me into the franchise with Luneth, Arc, Refia and Ingus who are characters I love

[@KrusherMike]

I just want to know where you found that Dreamcast for 75 bucks...

[@JackWolf1]

…huh, so that’s where the design for Cloud of Darkness in the XIV Eden Raids comes from…

[@virtualbunksie5117]

Love these videos, but I do dislike the explanation of squares growth yada yada. I want a full timeline of the game now the directors cut.

[@Stequal2]

My favorite game!

[@zakirstocks9514]

I Absolutely Love *Final Fantasy 3/III!* The Onion Knight traveling around the globe, with his Trusted Companions and Friends, to save the World, from the Destructive Force of the Cloud of Darkness!

[@horizonkage]

I feel like history started to get a bit screwy. Jumped right ahead and brought Spirits Within in to it out of time.

[@soraniostaur3839]

really cashing in on everyone searching the Number 3 cause of Persona right now huh?

[@f937r]

Watching this on my Final Fantasy III Amano desk mat.

[@gastonalcazar130]

ah.... that history

[@RolandMIA71]

💪

[@PlatinumHaro]

I bought this for the ds thinking it was the same as ff3 for snes. I was shocked by how wrong I was, but I fell in love with it. It wasn't until ff 16 did it get dethroned as my favorite FF

[@Stequal2]

Omg yeeeeees

[@2Heavenz]

perfect

[@danielpratt237]

In 5 years and 2 months, Square and Enix were able to release Final Fantasy’s 1-4 and Dragon Quests 1-4. 8 games of incredible storytelling, innovation, and influence. Now it’s taking 8 years to release a new entry in the Dragon Quest series.

[@andrew_stamps]

it just doesn't make sense that ff3 couldn't be made on GBA hardware because of storage limitations. The 16bit-style remakes still used tile-based graphics and sample-based music. Granted the assets would have to be re-created in a way that that couldn't be simply lifted from the original gfx data from the 16-bit titles, the issue of turn of the century ROM space being insufficient is incorrect as FF5 & 6 both would use more dedicated ROM space for assets than FF3 ever could, and both of those games shipped. As for a technical challenge again FF4 was ported and many of ff4's inner mechanics are recycled from FF3 NES and SNES hardware aren't too different. Tbh I think Square just didn't want to dedicate manpower to the recreation of the assets or some other issue. but lack of storage capacity or technical capability never sat well with me.

[@FinalFantasy8911debater]

Please do the complete history of Final Fantasy VIII next.

[@TheWonkster]

Why on earth would they jump all the way to 8 from 3? Just be patient.

[@FinalFantasy8911debater]

@@TheWonkster I didn't know they were actually going in numerical order. I thought they were just making whatever videos they felt like doing.

[@kingmalcolm9605]

Bro...256kb

[@DigitalXrisXros]

can someone out here recreate use A.I. with original art work play movie series whatever 🤔

[@reinatycoon3644]

What did you guys delete my comment lol. It is a FACT that FFIII is imbalanced for the last 15% of the game in the magic vs physical department. If the game creators would have given an extra 'hit' to magic spells after every 8 job levels gained like they did for fighter classes or even every 16 or 24 then it would have solved the issue. Yet mage classes only get a damage boost from job level gains after every 32 job level increases. While fighters get a damage hit bonus after every 8 job levels. The best way to play this game is the former earlier Maeson Mix patches.

[@cronoesify]

The 3D version sucks bros.

[@abethecop1]

Looks like a mobile game kind of

[@SomniaCE]

Wouldn't it make more sense to call these retrospectives?

[@matthagen67]

The original FFIII on Famicom is, to be honest, the first Final Fantasy that is still fun to play even now. Both games that came before it didn't age well... unless we're talking about their remakes/remasters. FFIII is the kind of game I wish I played as a kid. If I had nostalgia for it, it would probably be one of my favorite games of all time.