Final fantasy hit the ground running on the famicom and intendo entertainment systems.
The last FF title on the famicom was pushed so far to its limits, that it was unable to
even be translated. With a continuation of the warriors of light and a host of new additions
that would become staples to the franchise, FF3 remains one of the greatest gems that
Western audiences were unable to enjoy until much later.
This.
Is the final fantasy 3 iceberg.
Last To Be Localized.
While the original final fantasy was released worldwide, the 2nd and 3rd final fantasy games
were never released outside of Japan until much later. Out of all the early final fantasy
games, the third game was the most recent to be localized for Western audiences in 2006.
This is at least partially due to the fact that the 3rd game was pushed to its absolute
capacity on the famicom release. It would eventually become one of the largest RPGs
ever developed for the NES and famicom consoles. The game was so full of content, that the
game was literally unable to be remade for other systems in the intervening years. This
was unfortunately the case until the game was entirely remade for the nintendo ds system.
Especially since a wonder swan version of the game was cancelled, the title became somewhat
of a lost game, until it was remade many years later.
The Return of the warriors of Light
The original ff game featured a nameless cast of heroes that formed your team. The second
game veered away from this formula, having a named cast of characters. In the original
famicom version of FF3, we are in control of another nameless cast of four generic warriors
of light. These heroes of light would become a recurring theme in the series. We learn
that the four heroes are chosen by crystals, to embark on a journey to battle evil, and
restore order to their planet. These heroes remain nameless, until the 3d version of the
game was released much later. These characters were named Luneth, Arc, Refia, and Ingus.
Throughout the game, the heroes encounter their opposites, the warriors of darkness,
who were once tasked with defending their own world from the light many years before.
These two forces band together to battle the cloud of darkness. The warrior of darkness
can be seen briefly in ff14. While the warrior of light theme recurs in over a dozen titles
in the franchise.
Get a job!
Another recurring tradition that's present within this game is the job system. In fact,
this game introduces the earliest forms of it, which have also been found in over a dozen
ff titles. In ff3, your heroes start as a basic starter class, known as onion knights,
or freelancers. These starter jobs become basic jobs after making some progress. Players
can freely change between jobs, and progress in each of them. Increasing a job's level
can grant certain abilities. Leveling as certain jobs will grant additional perks, like a knight
or warrior increasing their HP pool at a faster rate than a black mage. Master versions of
jobs will eventually become unlocked. Although the job system was refined in future iterations,
this was a popular core mechanic that many fans adored. The new jobs also offered the
first new commands outside of the basic options, commands like Summon, jump, and throw. All
of which have seen multiple appearances throughout the franchise.
The New Mascot
FF2 first introduced the chohcoboh, which quickly became one of the mascots for the
franchise. But the third game brought us the fat chohcoboh, an enlarged version of the
familiar mascot, that can be summoned in an area that smells like chohcobohs. This obese
bird utilizes its sizable belly to store items for your party. Perhaps even more important
than the introduction of the fat chohcoboh, is the introduction of the moogle. These characters
were based on the artist's childhood drawing of an all-white koala. They were originally
planned to be a simple race of cave-dwelling people and nothing more. The original moogle
didn't have a pom pom on their head, or even have a speaking role until several games later.
Little did they know at that time, the significance that moogles would play within their franchise.
Child Labor
It's been said that the warriors of light in ff3 are a group of 4 orphaned children,
without distinct identities. This is the first instance within the franchise, of characters
being children or teens. Although this has appeared in other ff games, the trope of children
being chosen for saving the world, has never made much sense from a logical story telling
perspective. Nevertheless, the trope can be seen through a number of other games inside
and outside of the franchise.
Quality of Life Improvements
The previous entries in the FF franchise featured a very heavy text based presentation within
their battles. Attacks, spell names, damage variables, number of hits, and other information
was displayed in cascading windows at the bottom of the screen. FF3 was the first in
the series to replace this with the damage variables being displayed on the enemy sprite
right after the attack was made. Obviously this would become the staple for games thereafter.
There was another massive quality of life improvement that was first implmented in FF3.
The first two games had an interesting feature. If you queued up an attack on a specific enemy,
and that enemy died before the attack was initiated, the attack would not go through
and simply be wasted. Instead, the game would simply display the message, ineffective. However
in FF3, your characters queued attacks would automatically target another enemy in line,
instead of being wasted. Not surprisingly, this became another staple mechanic for future
games in the franchise.
From Black to Blue
Right alongside the quality of life changes, we have the default window background color
change. The black background featured in the first 2 games was changed to a blue color.
This aesthetic change was well received and became another staple within the franchise.
Games would eventually allow players to select which color they prefer.
The Final Work of Naseer
The first three ff games were all programmed by the same man, naseer gebelli. He worked
side by side with Sahkagoochi to create some of the most influential titles in gaming.
Unfortunately this was his last time working with the squaresoft team before going to work
on another RPG giant, Secret of Mana. Which by the way, let me know in the comments if
you'd like to see that game covered). As a farewell gesture, naseer included a hidden
message that could be accessed through a specific button combination. When properly input, a
black screen would appear that would display this message. While this may have been a final
method of cementing himself within the franchise, others suggest it could also have been used
to determine if the game was a legit or pirated copy.
The Item Glitch
There exists 1 major glitch for the N E S version of the game, and one major glitch
for the D S version. The NES version is known as the item upgrade glitch. Players can stack
99 of an item that can be won through battle, most commonly a potion. When that item drops
from a battle, it is transformed into a different item, which varies depending on its place
in the equipment index.
An item duplication glitch was found on the DS version of FF3. This method allowed you
to dupe consumable items, such as phoenix downs, which are not sold in shops. Through
a series of inputs while in battle, players were able to achieve an extra copy of the
item. And most importantly, the trick can be repeated as many times as necessary. However
like with many glitches, it can cause your save file to corrupt.
Memory of Heroes
As a part of the 25th anniversary celebration for final fantasy, square released a novelization
retelling of the first three games. This named the warriors of light for the first time.
Although the names were different for the ds version of the game. Memory of Heroes released
in Japan in 2012, but was only recently released in English in 2020.
The mahnga
In addition to the novelization, a mahnga was also introduced, that chronicled the events
of the game with different warriors of light. The mahnga drahmatized the retelling of the
story with huge and epic boss fights. It also goes further in detail into the characters
and the world that they inhabit. The story in the mahnga is said to be much darker than
depicted in both the NES and 3d remake. It featured large-scale destruction, nudity,
and horror scenes. And although it covers the same overall events and outline of the
game, most of the dungeons and bosses do not appear.
The Mailing Address Girl
When the game originally came out in 1990, we lived in a different age. Nintendo power
and other magazines were about the closest people could readily get to a community. The
internet was not as prevalant, and communication was slower. Square included an NPC in the
famicom release, that encouraged players to send inquiries into square through the mail.
They even included their mailing address so fans could write in.
The Fifth Party Member
The first three FF games all had 4 party members. But this wasn't always the case. While FF3
was in its developmental phases, they toyed with the idea of adding a fifth member to
your crew. Square took their knowledge of party composition from dungeons and dragons.
Smaller parties of 3, are easier to manage. However, larger 5 person teams are able to
survive more dangerous encounters, allowing the challenge to be increased. Square felt
a fine balance had been struck with an optimal 4 party members. Although this was obviously
still experimented upon through the rest of the mainline series. A guest character named
Desch, was rumored to be the original fifth party member.
FF3 and 8 Connection Theory
Fans have constructed a theory that suggests FF3 and FF8, might take place in the same
world, after several hundred years have passed. Just to start, If you take a look at the giant
clock tower within ultihmecia's castle. The hour hand points to the three, and the minute
hand points to the 8. The world maps between the 2 games are somewhat similar. After several
hundred years of continental shifts, it's not too far fetched to see a similarity. There's
also a floating continent in FF3, that has an identical location to the deep see research
center from FF8. And we know that the floating continent was only barely able to stay afloat
during the events of FF3. The deep sea research center was most certainly a man made architecture,
suggesting that it was something that simply sunk into the water. On top of this, bahamut
was also living on the floating continent in FF3, and he can also be found in the deep
sea research center in FF8. Fans suggest that these two locations are one in the same.
A sorcerer named Hyne ruled over the floating continent and was eventually defeated by the
warriors of light in FF3. And through various sources in FF8, we learn of a being named
Hyne as the originator of the sorceress power. Some people even spoke of Hyne as a god that
created homo saypiens. There is a lengthy legend of Vascaroon that can be heard in 8,
the story of Hyne and his rule. The legend states that the Great Hyne created people.
And among them, the sorceresses, were given a fragment of his own power. We also learn
that calling a sorceress, hyne's descendent, is a show of great respect. The esthari representatives
address Rinoa as this term, though we're given no explanation behind it. It is believed that
Hyne is most likely the progenitor of the sorceress's power in FF8. And that Hyne was
the same being that existed in FF3.
FF3 was a pivotal stepping stone in square's journey. It was the culmination of the team's
work on the nintendo and famicom. This may even be one of the least played FF games,
with its inability to release in the West until 2006. Nevertheless, square made sure
to end the famicom generation in style with this tremendous title.
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