I Was With You Till That Last Bit...

Author's Rating:

Pros: Beautifully remastered, complex plot with excellent variety of in-game choices, true to Final Fantasy standard

Cons: Unusable email feature is required to unlock some game quests, final level is nigh unplayable.

The Bottom Line: 
A must-play for Final Fantasy fans, may be a challenge to those new to the genre. Redesigned with aesthetics in mind and a few unfortunate glitches.

Author's Review
I am Final Fantasy. It was my first love, my first heartache, my first $100 phone bill (darn Nintendo Hotline). When the opportunity to play Final Fantasy III came to me, I jumped on it, just as I jumped on I, II, IV, and VI, Legends I and II, and even Adventure, silly game that it was.

I was not disappointed - initially. Final Fantasy III DS is a well-crafted, beautifully implemented role-playing game that straddles the line between classic appeal and new technology.

Story:
Four friends (typical of Final Fantasies) must save the world from encroaching darkness with the power of the elemental crystals.

Jobs:
By locating the various crystals, the friends can take on new roles, such as Monk, Summoner, Ninja, or Knight. Each role has distinct advantages and disadvantages, and the gameplay often hinges on making the correct job selection for your party. The Final Fantasy series has often used the job/class system for character development, but this game does a better job than most of the others I've played at really making job changes worthwhile.

Battle:
As in most early Final Fantasy games, battles rely on turn-based attacks. You select an action for each party member, then they (and enemies) implement the actions based on their speed statistic. Some jobs are faster than others, and being the first or last to act can have advantages in battle. The remade battle animations are excellently done, the monsters are beautifully illustrated and move fluidly, as opposed to the static sprites of older versions.

Items:
This game features a nice variety of purchasable and quest-based items. You won't be lost if you skip a few, but you also won't be wishing for more options (except maybe at the very end of the game a bit). You'll also find an appropriate, but not over-generous, amount of gold (gil) is available.

Controls:
A few updates were made to the control system for the DS version, including the ability to perform any action in the game using the stylus. Tap a monster in battle to select it, tap twice to attack. Tap the Menu button in the top corner of the world map to jump into the menu. Touch and drag on the screen to move your character through a town, dungeon, or the map. The game can also be played traditionally without ever touching the stylus. I found a blend of both was the best fit.

Quicksave:
One nice feature added for the portable version is the Quicksave feature. This allows you to save your progress wherever you are (not just on the world map). You don't get to keep the data - it's lost when you reload the game - but it comes in handy when you have to get on the airplane, eat dinner, or see a man about a horse mid-dungeon.

The Bad:
Ok, I hate to bad mouth my baby, but this is one Final Fantasy that needed a few more trips through Quality Assurance:

-Email: Whatever idiots passed the Mognet email system through development should be fired and banned from ever working with software again. You can only send one message an hour. You and your friends must each add each other before you can send or receive email. The space bar is on a completely different screen from the letters and numbers!! Typing is ridiculously difficult, with tiny letters entered one by one with either the stylus or directional pad, and some buttons, but not all, require two presses.

-The final Level: This isn't a spoiler, I won't tell you who you fight or what happens when you beat the game. Because I haven't. That's because for the last 2 hours of the game, you can't save. There's no warning, you just pass a certain point, and you can't ever save again until you either win or die. And if you make a wrong turn, you're in a deathtrap regardless of your level. I am not one to turn down a challenge, but this is ridiculous. Even with the quicksave feature, it is appalling that the developers could assume a modern RPG player would go over 2 hours without saving. Most of us save every time we level up.