Intro:

   Final Fantasy III- the "unsung hero" of the fantasies. Final Fantasy III was released for the Famicom in Japan in 1990, but nowhere else until its decent DS remake. Being in the dark for so long, many fans tend to forget about this gem of the series. To their dismay, they are missing out on a whimsical yet challenging adventure awaiting inside!

Presentation:

   The presentation of the game is excellent. The graphics are well-done, filled with very detailed enemy sprites and shading. The character designs are also detailed and varied, from a horned Summoner, to a cat-cape wearing Shaman. The music is remarkable, with grand 8-bit tunes that are ageless. My favorite is probably the final boss's theme- "This is the Final Battle". It starts off simple, but then develops into a calypso-like tune with an allegro tempo. Other highlights are "Battle 1"- a very catchy battle theme, "The Invincible"- an epic melody when you fly in the "Invincible" airship, and "The Crystal Tower"- a simple tune with unique accompaniment that plays in the final dungeon. Overall, the presentation is very impressive.

Addictiveness:

   This game is pretty addictive! While in the game, you will go through different scenarios to keep you 'hooked', such as a Midget village, a grand castle town, a Chocobo forest, a manor full of cute Moogles, a job system, and three worlds: spoiler: floating continent, overworld, and underwater overworld (end of spoiler).The job system alone will guarantee many different play-throughs as there are 22 different jobs. The difficulty does have a factor in the addictiveness, as sometimes you may have to grind, which to some people, may be very boring. Overall, the game's features keep it addicting, while the difficulty does not.

Depth:

   Final Fantasy III has an incredible amount of depth. As shown above, there are many different scenarios and a job system. The job system capitalizes the depth of this game. You start out with the Onion Kid job, and then you gain more jobs after being blessed with an elemental crystal (four in total). After Wind, the first crystal, you have access to the Fighter, Monk, Red Wizard, White Wizard, and Black Wizard jobs. Then, after Fire, the second crystal, you have access to Hunter, Knight, Thief, and Scholar. Next, after Water, the third crystal, you have access to Geomancer, Dragoon, Viking, Karateka, M. Knight, Conjurer, and Bard. Finally, with Earth, the last crystal, you can have access to Summoner, Shaman, Warlock, Sage, and Ninja. The game is also scattered with side-quests throughout the journey; whether it is a secret dungeon, fetch quest, or a boss fight to get a summoning spell. Final Fantasy III is also considerably long for a Famicom game, as it could take around 30~40 hours to complete.

Story:

   While the story isn't anything of a wonder, it is still engaging and impressive for its time. Below are the opening words to give a general idea:
'The Gurgan quietly spoke...This earthquake is but an omen. The tremors that pulled the crystals into the earth and brought forth monsters are nothing compared to the darkness which is to come...'
'But, hope is not yet lost. Four souls will take up the quest of the Light.'
'And so it begins...'
'Four orphans have been raised by the priest Topapa in the remote village of Ur.'
'A Crystal has sunk into the earth due to the earthquake, and the four boys have come in an adventurous mood.'
'They had only intended to test their courage...'
Throughout the quest, you will be bringing light to the above mentioned crystals, and eventually, defeat the final boss (similar to standard rpg-fare). Overall, I enjoyed the simple story.

Difficulty:

   This game isn't terribly difficult, but there are some parts/aspects in the game that are REALLY frustrating. They are:
5. Running from battles: If you try to run from a battle and fail, everyone's Physical defence drops to zero. *Twitch* Game....Over....!
4. Temple of Time: This gave me some trouble, the enemies were rough: one would kill me in a hit, another was in a large group and casted an annoying spell- Lightning, which hits all party members, and I was underleved. I had to grind from 30 to 36.
3. Dungeons that Require the spell 'Mini': Some dungeons require you to be in a 'Mini' form, which in it, your physical attacks do almost nothing. You'll have to cast spells in there.
2. Cave of Shadows: In here, if you do not have a Dark Knight (i personally do not like that job) enemies will split in two with full HP if you don't kill them right away. Also, this dungeon is very long, so it may take a few tries to get through. In the DS version, Square Enix made this dungeon much easier. I wonder why....?
1. The Dark World/Saving only on map: Once you get to the Dark World, you are expected to face 4 bosses and the final boss, and if you die an any of these, you start at your last save point with ALL PROGRESS LOST! Oh, and your last save point is probably the last time you could've saved, right outside the Sylx Tower! So you have to go all the way up the Sylx Tower, go to the Dark World, defeat the 4 bosses and then the Final Boss (who is really
hard). And again, if you die, YOU START OVER. (Note: if you use save states, this won't be an issue. If you think save states are for cheaters (as I think), then Good Luck!)
(some of these "Pet-Peeves" -#3,#2, and #1- are also on Hardcore Gaming 101. I did not mean to steal from Pat R's words, I just happened to agree with them.)

Overall:
   Final Fantasy III is an excellent game. It has very good graphics, wonderful music, is usually addictive, has tons of depth, has a good story for its time, and has a fair challenge (most of the time ). Final Fantasy III deserves the score of 9.5







Happy Playing!

Starman_Deluxe : Great review, I have to say This looks like a pretty darn nice game, from what you have written here.  Keep up the good work,  And Also Keep this in mind,  According to reviewing rules,  Spoilers are not allowed,  So you may wanna edit that out.  I'll be looking forward to reading more of these reviews,  As they even passed some of my reviews in length and what not.  This is very impressive work right here.

Since you posted this same review on another site, I'll have to mark the words as ignored of your post. Since you are allowed to post your content here and on other sites, I will be keeping this open.

I usually don't try to tell people how to do reviews, but there is something here I feel I need to address. All the categories here were pretty much a footnote in comparison to your story category. This kind of crosses the border from a review to just a telling of the story. Reviews are meant to give people a general idea of what the game is like, not something that gives you the entire summary in a detailed sum up. 

rcarter2 : Thank you for the constructive comment. I'll edit the story section to make it much shorter and only say the general ideas of the game.
EDIT: I just edited the story section.

Starman_Deluxe : With this review, you'll probably be behind Fireproof in Tour De Vizzed. Anyways, great review. It is well worded, detailed, and we like getting good reviews on Vizzed! Thanks for the review, and good luck!

You also took bits of this review from other sources. That is okay, as long as you keep it to a minimum, and your review is mostly original content. You also need to remember to always cite your sources when using information from other sites, so that the original author gets proper credit, and no one suspects you of plagiarism. In most cases, you can link to the content instead of actually including it in your review, which eliminates wordiness and helps make room for more original content. Because this review was written on another site, I can't feature it for you. In order for a review to be featured, it needs to be exclusive to Vizzed; I'm sorry about that. Thanks for letting me know about the review, and I look forward to reading more of your work, if you decide to write more exclusive reviews in the future.

Thanks for all the helpful comments. I'll make my reviews better next time