Final Fantasy III (NES, 1990)
Graphics-8 Sound-8 Control-6.5 Challenge-6.5 Story-5.5
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7 Originality-7
Overall Score-7
+
Some innovations ("per enemy type" multi-targeting (unique to this game?) besides "target all", rings (armor type), spells can be unlearned (put in inventory) or swapped to characters who can't use them, Skill/Job Level increases based on action taken in battle (similar to skill stats in FF2 - see notes for a guide), Defend command, door opening switches, healing springs (some for hp/mp, some for revival, replaces churches and are always free), switch leader by pressing select (just cosmetic except for the thief's lockpick ability), numbers indicating who is striking what target in the next round), the Job system (a modification of FF1's class system featuring 22 interchangeable classes with different abilities and gear restriction (initially Fighter, Monk, Red/White/Black Wizard - more interesting jobs are made available in intervals over the course of the game))
Use items on NPCs (see FF2)
Change weapon/shield equipment during battle (doesn't cost a turn)
Shop discounts from buying more of an item at a time (4=10% off, 10=20% off)
Equipment customization (unhanded, two weapons/dual wielding, double handed, sword and shield, even two shields; gear effects on stats - leads to some tactical depth) - FF2?
More interactive environment (play the piano (possible to make an entire bar room dance), shoot the cannon in the viking base, find items in pots)
Introduces summons (Chocobo, Shiva, Ramuh, Ifrit, Titan, Odin, Leviathan, Bahamut - these have different effects depending on what job uses them) + ancients + fat chocobo + moogles
Can change rows during battle (especially useful in back attacks which weren't there in the prequels, costs a turn)
New abilities (peep and study (enemy HP and weaknesses respectively), boost, jump, steal, lockpicking (for doors requiring a magic key), flee (improved run), defend other (knight, automatic), sing, cheer) and spells (sight - world map, aero - air+ice elemental damage, libra - show enemy HP, wall/reflect - doesn't reflect your own spells in this game but also dissipates after one enemy spell attack, whirlwind - air attack that puts target at 1 HP, petrify - gradual/time-based petrification, quake - earth elemental damage (used to be an item in FF2), meteo - strong non-elemental damage, terrain-based magic/geomancy, split - enemy clones itself, wall change - enemy changes its weakness and makes itself absorb other elements)
Plenty of hidden treasure (better clues to where you can go through a wall this time)
Can teleport out of dungeons and towns (via the Exit/Teleport spell which you get pretty early on, much later on you can also do it via the otterhead item)
Can move around inside the last airship at will (the previous ones can be examined before takeoff), the last airship can give you support fire at the beginning of random encounters in the air, shops and stash in the last airship
Some gear can be used as items during battle to cast spells/special attacks - FF2?
Damage indicator on the actual monster sprites (still doesn't show status spell effects there though)
Enemies with spell and weapon type affinities - FF2?
There's a hack that adds running
Two optional dungeons and three bosses
Underwater exploration (features a submarine vehicle and an underwater overworld)
Temporary party members that follow the party in the overhead view and can be talked to manually (they don't participate in battle however) - useful to get hints on what to do next
Some memorable characters (princess Sara, Desh)
Some memorable locations (midget forest, floating continent)
Some decent humour (let's sleep in the princess bed!)
Turn into midgets on the overworld and enter midget town (toads as well later on - kind of gimmicky in this case since you don't get to swim around and don't need to stay frogged after entering either of the two dungeons where it's needed)
More chocobo forests (now with item stashes)
The writing is better than in FF1 DoS but not quite on par with FF2 DoS (more childish, naive and lighthearted)
Fast overworld travel by ship and then airship some ways into the game
Static party when it comes to battles (no controllable characters leaving or dying), party characters don't suddenly leave
One larger city (Salonia)
World change at a certain point (raise the land of the overworld outside of the floating continent)
The back row no longer moves to the front if the front row is wiped out in battle
Can attack allies in the back- or front row from either row
Good art direction overall (has a somewhat cutesy look to it), somewhat more expressive character sprites than before, some nice visual details (moving through a waterfall, animated water/lava in the top down view, ship turning into an airship, etc.), decent in-game cutscenes marking major story events (pretty expressive in-game sprites for what they had to work with, there's also a proper cutscene during the ending), pretty good spell effects overall (summons), weapon differences sometimes show on the character sprites in battle
Extended chocobo theme and separate ship theme
Town dialogue updates more frequently after key events? (maybe a little)
Somewhat comical tone (whimsical; moonwalk reference, dancing, etc.)
A few stat increasing items (only temporary though; for example god's wine and turtle shell)
Stat bonuses from gear are shown by the game as you equip it
Toaded characters can now heal themselves using the Maiden's Kiss item
Longer quest than in FF2 according to HLTB (~31 hours; not sure considering the encounter rate+leveling up takes longer+there are more trap rooms in FF2)
+/-
Returns to the crystal theme (fleshes it out a little bit more though)
The intro is just plain text
Need resources (capacity) to change jobs and some changes are more expensive (however the cost is reduced based on levels gained in a job you're changing to)
Different stats increase no. of attacks/spell casts every 16 points (some strategy in planning your characters)
No experience gained for a character who's KO'd or petrified at the end of a battle
Some jobs are fairly situational so it's usually preferable to switch between several throughout the game (takes some experience with the game to judge when to use what but most jobs are useful at some point)
Unlike in FF2 you can hit monsters not in the front row with melee attacks (includes Jump) again but the hit ratio is lowered if you do
Ambidextrous characters (means it doesn't matter which hand you put their weapon(s) in, unlike in FF2)
Need to use a spell (Sight) or Midg(et?) Bread to view the world map
The entire party becomes much more vulnerable if just one character tries to run (doesn't happen to enemies)
esuna and basuna are divided further (soft, wash, pure/poisona etc.) until you get Heal
Haste still affects no. of attacks and attack power rather than battle order (there's also no Slow spell here)
Enemies can now fail to escape from battle
Resource management (ammo-based bow attacks, low MP on characters/high MP costs on spells early on (no ethers and generally no springs in dungeons)
Limited inventory (there's an item stash (fat chocobo) at any chocobo forest if you bring a carrot but they're not always nearby - this combined with having to remove a character's gear to switch jobs can get tedious in dungeons with locked doors)
Doesn't make advanced items available until later (different from FF2; also can't buy elixirs or phoenix downs here)
Sage is overpowered
Set inn prices are back and some inns are free
Separate shops for weapons and armor
Brings back the more traditional stat and experience mechanics from the first game (some of it unintuitive - Intelligence and Spirit affect the power of black magic and white magic respectively (as well as general Magic stats))
Some classes/jobs can't use Defend
Get the airship much sooner than before (however it doesn't fly over mountains initially and you lose it pretty quickly)
Set character personalities and sex
While characters still speak there's no distinction between who's talking and there aren't individual backstories for the initial four party members
Hostile areas in towns (sometimes easy to run into if you're not being careful and talking to everyone so you get a heads up)
Excited narrator marking some events (similar to Link's Awakening)
Very limited spell inventory again (only three per level - inflexible but forces some strategy)
Save only in the overworld (can be a problem before the Hyne encounter since you can't warp out of his dungeon and you're put there by surprise)
No skill point growth from casting white magic outside of battle? (makes healing items more useful)
Some stackable spell buffs (Protect/Safe, Haste, Build Up/Boost skill)
Very linear structure at first (can't do the tree quest before the plot wants you to?) but the game opens up a bit by the time you get the submarine
Static difficulty (grinding makes the game easier)
Grinding required to buy all new gear and spells as you encounter them (there's hidden money in some spots early on which helps a bit)
The game is pretty vague about where to go after getting the new airship (directs you to a waterworld style overworld with almost nothing in it)
All characters can memorize/store both white and black magic spells (but not all jobs can use them)
River encounters are back
Can't rest in-doors (except for at inns (and technically at springs); could've worked like in Baldur's Gate)
Several fetch quests
Tile-based movement (stiff around walls)
Can't spread out multiple hit attacks among different enemies (means you need to think about how to attack efficiently but also hinders some tactical flexibility)
Can't cast stat boosting spells outside of battle (could've been time limited - see D&D games, initial buffing procedure during battle gets a bit tedious)
Tells a pretty straightforward story with mostly shallow characters and scenarios
Negative status spells take a while to become useful but later on can become overpowered
Undead are now damaged by curative spells/items and using a drain type attack on them damages the caster (Hyne is an exception)
chests with monsters in them (along with the item) - can't use a spell or item to detect them
A few non-random encounters (bosses only)
Areas off the suggested path are made unavailable by impassable terrain again (not always the case though - see optional dungeons)
The story kills off two NPCs that follow the party around (sort of, their spirits live on and have an active role, there's also a funny scene near the end where Desh apparently survived jumping into the floating continent engine and being stuck there for almost the entire game)
Can't buy one use items with a spell effect (they can be stolen though but most of them become useless around the mid-late game)
Toad and Mini spells are a bit overpowered (they work well even in the late game and will insta-kill enemies unlike when they're used on the party)
Dungeons are about as varied and complex as in FF1 (so not very except for the locked doors plus occasional springs and shops plus a few switches that open new paths)
Enemies never flee?
You can switch jobs before a level up to gain more HP from higher vitality (mages lose spell charges (mp) though) - other stats?
attacking and casting spells on yourself still counts towards Skill increases (doesn't really help here since there's a 1 skill level cap per battle)
-
Frequent random encounters which can't be avoided besides escaping during battle (can't lower the encounter rate?, leads to some overleveling and having to backtrack to recharge spell stocks, can't escape from sea battles)
Still can't run (fixed in one of the two fan translation hacks)
Spells and battle items don't auto re-target enemies if the original target is killed
Sometimes archaic interface (no command memory feature in battle, can't see how many of an item you have in the shop menus, can't see skill/job level experience points or how many you need until the next level, hidden Magic Multiplier stat (no. of casts each time you use a spell in battle - increased every 16 levels and job levels), can't see equipment stats in the equipment or shop screens (the former does show how attack and defense are affected though but not all other stats), characters cheer (implying they can use something) in the shop screen even if they're currently equipped with or are using a better piece of equipment than what you're looking at, can't simply switch equipment (have to first remove the equipped piece) outside of battle, have to manually strip a character of its equipment before changing jobs (not one piece at a time though), no button combination/shortcut for running/escaping from battle and running is too difficult in some situations (magic circle cave knights) - not all jobs include the command either, lacking item/gear/spell descriptions in menu (curative items show one if you attempt to use them), doesn't sort out the non-relevant gear types when equipping gear of one type (crosses out what can't be equipped though - however the game only displaying the prefix makes it hard to see what's what in this situation)), somewhat slow menus (main party menu and certain actions during battle)
First and fourth character have the same palette in the menu (but not on the field) and characters with the same job use the same colours
Clichéd story (four kids chosen by destiny to become light warriors and save the world, more crystals to restore to grace)
Trial & error (no visual or other clues to most fake walls (Argas's castle), trial & error element to the battle order unless characters’ Agility/Evade stats differ a lot (the game doesn’t show how the turn will play out beforehand), some shields providing elemental resistance that the game doesn't tell you about?, poor directions after beating Hyne, jump attack is also affected by which row you're in, Shiva is non-elemental, some chocobo forests can be hard to spot, instant death if you go near the statues of the quest too soon, a character can only gain 1 Job level per battle, when to use certain spells or elemental weapons (scan type spells help but there's still the limited inventory to deal with), several jobs aren't optimal to use at the point you get them and some aren't very useful period (conjurer/evoker, scholar, viking; some jobs like red mage and ranger become obsolete around the mid-game), spells can miss even against enemies that are weak to them (Hyne), items with spell/elemental effects have a chance of missing, enemy weaknesses won't always align with what's available for purchase in a new area, point of no return at Tower of Owen toad entrance, limited no. of charges on in-battle attack items (per battle - it won't disappear), hidden magic multiplier stat, the game doesn't do a good job of introducing the job system, no indication of Reflect or Haste being in effect (or status effects on monsters in general), some advanced mechanics (level and job level 1 count as level 0 by the game, dragoon's jump attack doesn't remove confusion, only a character's Int and Mind affect in-battle attack items), enemy abilities/loot/affinities, Defend command doesn't affect magic defense, some later dungeons can't be warped out of (leads to backtracking or worst case scenario a slow death), Zande's unblockable Meteo attack)
Still can't teleport between visited areas
Various bugs (the Erase spell (removes Reflect) doesn't work and Reflect doesn't work on party members, Protect and Haste can be partly or fully negated by certain actions, Lamia Harp doesn't inflict Sleep, etc.)
Meteor is pretty much obsolete by the time you get it
Monsters rarely have anything good to steal
Can't talk to some NPCs (those behind bar counters)
Unintuitive town exits (easy to exit by accident in some towns)
Plot oddities (NPCs generally trust the party and often act like they're giving you pieces of a walkthrough, vikings don't react to the party being midgets, enemies aren't small in the shrine under the sea dragon, can't re-enter the mountain after getting the ship, fairly easy to accidentally miss the boss voice and Desh's memory recovery in the tower of owen, how'd the survivor from Tokkle get to the dwarf cave?, hard to believe the party reaction to Elia's sacrifice since you've just met her when it happens, ), lazy plot devices (Desh sacrificing himself because it's his destiny, Guzco not stealing both horns right away (instead the party is 'tricked' by him being a floating stick following them back to the dwarf cave)
Some NPCs still say the exact same thing
No Sap/Osmose/Curse/Berserk/Aura/Blink/Shell/Dispel/Slow/Swap/Fear spells (reduce enemy MP/steal MP/lower attack and defense/raises attack (FF2) or makes target use physical attacks over and over/stronger physical attacks against most enemies/increase Evade/increase MDef/reduce enemy MDef/reduce Accuracy (FF2) or number of attacks (FF1)/switch hp & mp with target/make target more likely to flee)
A spell cast on an ally is wasted if the target character dies before it's cast (in FF1 & 2 on GBA it's used on the next character (?) instead)
No explanation/reaction when encountering an area on the overworld that can't be entered until a certain condition is met (floating thing in the desert, whirlpool to the north, tower neat the shipwreck)
Some annoying music (tower of owen)
Some less useful spells (Break, )
Still can't skip/speed up the resting and resurrection animations
Some dead space (dead ends, empty rooms)
Sometimes uneven difficulty (Kraken is easier than Hyne)
Still no dungeon maps
Somewhat vague stat growth info at the end of battles (doesn't show numbers for Skill growth)
Hard to tell if a status spell affects more than one enemy when casting on a group
Locked doors are relocked after exiting the area/floor
Limited store inventories (need to memorize where some items are sold)
No revival spring in some towns
A ~20 second long music theme plays every time an important NPC dies
Life spell and built up Karateka attacks can miss
Somewhat tedious path to and from the cave of darkness/shadows
Can't repurchase a sold item unless the store you're at already has it in stock
Some near useless item-based spell attacks (due to their attack power not scaling when your characters become stronger)
Rather anonymous main villains
Some redundant loot/abilities/spells (Kill?, Break 1? (gradual Petrification+damage), Mini (same effect and level as Toad though some enemies might be weak to just Mini?), level 8 attack spells compared to the summons, Scan is only useful at one point in the game)
curative items/spells about to be used after all enemies are dead in a battle are skipped
No journal or notebook feature (for writing down/saving collected info from NPCs for later - you can talk to following NPCs for hints fairly often though) and no keyword feature (see FF2)
Re-used enemies in some areas makes each of them feel less distinct
The final boss requires grinding or cheesy tactics at ~lvl 46 (partly due to the random nature of the battle turns; you can use three sages with cure 3/4 and high level magic) and she/it only has one form of attack and no other moves
Palette swapped enemies (fewer than before though?)
No automated item sorting
Slight music delay when opening menus
Battle backgrounds are still mostly black
Notes:
-Several creatures, including the Helldiver, Stalagmite, and Myrmecoleon all inflict Petrification in an odd way: it is actually full Partial Petrification. This affects a number of armor pieces that protect against Petrification but not Partial Petrification.
-Though it protects from Petrification and the 1/3 and 2/3 (and full) versions of Partial Petrification, the Genji equipment does not protect against 1/2 Partial Petrification.
-If a monster has both a resistance and a weakness to the same element, the weakness takes precedence. However, if a party character equips armor with conflicting resistance and weakness (e.g., Flame Mail and an Ice Helm), the weaknesses are removed and the character becomes resistant to both elements.
-If you target all enemies with a typical spell, but an enemy uses Divide or Summon before the spell is cast, it will not target the new enemies (unless they have replaced another enemy in the same spot on the screen). However, Summon spells choose their targets at casting, so they can hit newly created enemies.
-Safe (Def up) works against the final boss's attack
-Job Skill guide (Skill Data): http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/563415-final-fantasy-iii/faqs/29389
Bugs:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/563415-final-fantasy-iii/cheats
http://guides.gamercorner.net/ffiii/quirks/
-There's an item sorting bug making items go back to default sorting after fighting a battle
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7 Originality-7
Overall Score-7
+
Some innovations ("per enemy type" multi-targeting (unique to this game?) besides "target all", rings (armor type), spells can be unlearned (put in inventory) or swapped to characters who can't use them, Skill/Job Level increases based on action taken in battle (similar to skill stats in FF2 - see notes for a guide), Defend command, door opening switches, healing springs (some for hp/mp, some for revival, replaces churches and are always free), switch leader by pressing select (just cosmetic except for the thief's lockpick ability), numbers indicating who is striking what target in the next round), the Job system (a modification of FF1's class system featuring 22 interchangeable classes with different abilities and gear restriction (initially Fighter, Monk, Red/White/Black Wizard - more interesting jobs are made available in intervals over the course of the game))
Use items on NPCs (see FF2)
Change weapon/shield equipment during battle (doesn't cost a turn)
Shop discounts from buying more of an item at a time (4=10% off, 10=20% off)
Equipment customization (unhanded, two weapons/dual wielding, double handed, sword and shield, even two shields; gear effects on stats - leads to some tactical depth) - FF2?
More interactive environment (play the piano (possible to make an entire bar room dance), shoot the cannon in the viking base, find items in pots)
Introduces summons (Chocobo, Shiva, Ramuh, Ifrit, Titan, Odin, Leviathan, Bahamut - these have different effects depending on what job uses them) + ancients + fat chocobo + moogles
Can change rows during battle (especially useful in back attacks which weren't there in the prequels, costs a turn)
New abilities (peep and study (enemy HP and weaknesses respectively), boost, jump, steal, lockpicking (for doors requiring a magic key), flee (improved run), defend other (knight, automatic), sing, cheer) and spells (sight - world map, aero - air+ice elemental damage, libra - show enemy HP, wall/reflect - doesn't reflect your own spells in this game but also dissipates after one enemy spell attack, whirlwind - air attack that puts target at 1 HP, petrify - gradual/time-based petrification, quake - earth elemental damage (used to be an item in FF2), meteo - strong non-elemental damage, terrain-based magic/geomancy, split - enemy clones itself, wall change - enemy changes its weakness and makes itself absorb other elements)
Plenty of hidden treasure (better clues to where you can go through a wall this time)
Can teleport out of dungeons and towns (via the Exit/Teleport spell which you get pretty early on, much later on you can also do it via the otterhead item)
Can move around inside the last airship at will (the previous ones can be examined before takeoff), the last airship can give you support fire at the beginning of random encounters in the air, shops and stash in the last airship
Some gear can be used as items during battle to cast spells/special attacks - FF2?
Damage indicator on the actual monster sprites (still doesn't show status spell effects there though)
Enemies with spell and weapon type affinities - FF2?
There's a hack that adds running
Two optional dungeons and three bosses
Underwater exploration (features a submarine vehicle and an underwater overworld)
Temporary party members that follow the party in the overhead view and can be talked to manually (they don't participate in battle however) - useful to get hints on what to do next
Some memorable characters (princess Sara, Desh)
Some memorable locations (midget forest, floating continent)
Some decent humour (let's sleep in the princess bed!)
Turn into midgets on the overworld and enter midget town (toads as well later on - kind of gimmicky in this case since you don't get to swim around and don't need to stay frogged after entering either of the two dungeons where it's needed)
More chocobo forests (now with item stashes)
The writing is better than in FF1 DoS but not quite on par with FF2 DoS (more childish, naive and lighthearted)
Fast overworld travel by ship and then airship some ways into the game
Static party when it comes to battles (no controllable characters leaving or dying), party characters don't suddenly leave
One larger city (Salonia)
World change at a certain point (raise the land of the overworld outside of the floating continent)
The back row no longer moves to the front if the front row is wiped out in battle
Can attack allies in the back- or front row from either row
Good art direction overall (has a somewhat cutesy look to it), somewhat more expressive character sprites than before, some nice visual details (moving through a waterfall, animated water/lava in the top down view, ship turning into an airship, etc.), decent in-game cutscenes marking major story events (pretty expressive in-game sprites for what they had to work with, there's also a proper cutscene during the ending), pretty good spell effects overall (summons), weapon differences sometimes show on the character sprites in battle
Extended chocobo theme and separate ship theme
Town dialogue updates more frequently after key events? (maybe a little)
Somewhat comical tone (whimsical; moonwalk reference, dancing, etc.)
A few stat increasing items (only temporary though; for example god's wine and turtle shell)
Stat bonuses from gear are shown by the game as you equip it
Toaded characters can now heal themselves using the Maiden's Kiss item
Longer quest than in FF2 according to HLTB (~31 hours; not sure considering the encounter rate+leveling up takes longer+there are more trap rooms in FF2)
+/-
Returns to the crystal theme (fleshes it out a little bit more though)
The intro is just plain text
Need resources (capacity) to change jobs and some changes are more expensive (however the cost is reduced based on levels gained in a job you're changing to)
Different stats increase no. of attacks/spell casts every 16 points (some strategy in planning your characters)
No experience gained for a character who's KO'd or petrified at the end of a battle
Some jobs are fairly situational so it's usually preferable to switch between several throughout the game (takes some experience with the game to judge when to use what but most jobs are useful at some point)
Unlike in FF2 you can hit monsters not in the front row with melee attacks (includes Jump) again but the hit ratio is lowered if you do
Ambidextrous characters (means it doesn't matter which hand you put their weapon(s) in, unlike in FF2)
Need to use a spell (Sight) or Midg(et?) Bread to view the world map
The entire party becomes much more vulnerable if just one character tries to run (doesn't happen to enemies)
esuna and basuna are divided further (soft, wash, pure/poisona etc.) until you get Heal
Haste still affects no. of attacks and attack power rather than battle order (there's also no Slow spell here)
Enemies can now fail to escape from battle
Resource management (ammo-based bow attacks, low MP on characters/high MP costs on spells early on (no ethers and generally no springs in dungeons)
Limited inventory (there's an item stash (fat chocobo) at any chocobo forest if you bring a carrot but they're not always nearby - this combined with having to remove a character's gear to switch jobs can get tedious in dungeons with locked doors)
Doesn't make advanced items available until later (different from FF2; also can't buy elixirs or phoenix downs here)
Sage is overpowered
Set inn prices are back and some inns are free
Separate shops for weapons and armor
Brings back the more traditional stat and experience mechanics from the first game (some of it unintuitive - Intelligence and Spirit affect the power of black magic and white magic respectively (as well as general Magic stats))
Some classes/jobs can't use Defend
Get the airship much sooner than before (however it doesn't fly over mountains initially and you lose it pretty quickly)
Set character personalities and sex
While characters still speak there's no distinction between who's talking and there aren't individual backstories for the initial four party members
Hostile areas in towns (sometimes easy to run into if you're not being careful and talking to everyone so you get a heads up)
Excited narrator marking some events (similar to Link's Awakening)
Very limited spell inventory again (only three per level - inflexible but forces some strategy)
Save only in the overworld (can be a problem before the Hyne encounter since you can't warp out of his dungeon and you're put there by surprise)
No skill point growth from casting white magic outside of battle? (makes healing items more useful)
Some stackable spell buffs (Protect/Safe, Haste, Build Up/Boost skill)
Very linear structure at first (can't do the tree quest before the plot wants you to?) but the game opens up a bit by the time you get the submarine
Static difficulty (grinding makes the game easier)
Grinding required to buy all new gear and spells as you encounter them (there's hidden money in some spots early on which helps a bit)
The game is pretty vague about where to go after getting the new airship (directs you to a waterworld style overworld with almost nothing in it)
All characters can memorize/store both white and black magic spells (but not all jobs can use them)
River encounters are back
Can't rest in-doors (except for at inns (and technically at springs); could've worked like in Baldur's Gate)
Several fetch quests
Tile-based movement (stiff around walls)
Can't spread out multiple hit attacks among different enemies (means you need to think about how to attack efficiently but also hinders some tactical flexibility)
Can't cast stat boosting spells outside of battle (could've been time limited - see D&D games, initial buffing procedure during battle gets a bit tedious)
Tells a pretty straightforward story with mostly shallow characters and scenarios
Negative status spells take a while to become useful but later on can become overpowered
Undead are now damaged by curative spells/items and using a drain type attack on them damages the caster (Hyne is an exception)
chests with monsters in them (along with the item) - can't use a spell or item to detect them
A few non-random encounters (bosses only)
Areas off the suggested path are made unavailable by impassable terrain again (not always the case though - see optional dungeons)
The story kills off two NPCs that follow the party around (sort of, their spirits live on and have an active role, there's also a funny scene near the end where Desh apparently survived jumping into the floating continent engine and being stuck there for almost the entire game)
Can't buy one use items with a spell effect (they can be stolen though but most of them become useless around the mid-late game)
Toad and Mini spells are a bit overpowered (they work well even in the late game and will insta-kill enemies unlike when they're used on the party)
Dungeons are about as varied and complex as in FF1 (so not very except for the locked doors plus occasional springs and shops plus a few switches that open new paths)
Enemies never flee?
You can switch jobs before a level up to gain more HP from higher vitality (mages lose spell charges (mp) though) - other stats?
attacking and casting spells on yourself still counts towards Skill increases (doesn't really help here since there's a 1 skill level cap per battle)
-
Frequent random encounters which can't be avoided besides escaping during battle (can't lower the encounter rate?, leads to some overleveling and having to backtrack to recharge spell stocks, can't escape from sea battles)
Still can't run (fixed in one of the two fan translation hacks)
Spells and battle items don't auto re-target enemies if the original target is killed
Sometimes archaic interface (no command memory feature in battle, can't see how many of an item you have in the shop menus, can't see skill/job level experience points or how many you need until the next level, hidden Magic Multiplier stat (no. of casts each time you use a spell in battle - increased every 16 levels and job levels), can't see equipment stats in the equipment or shop screens (the former does show how attack and defense are affected though but not all other stats), characters cheer (implying they can use something) in the shop screen even if they're currently equipped with or are using a better piece of equipment than what you're looking at, can't simply switch equipment (have to first remove the equipped piece) outside of battle, have to manually strip a character of its equipment before changing jobs (not one piece at a time though), no button combination/shortcut for running/escaping from battle and running is too difficult in some situations (magic circle cave knights) - not all jobs include the command either, lacking item/gear/spell descriptions in menu (curative items show one if you attempt to use them), doesn't sort out the non-relevant gear types when equipping gear of one type (crosses out what can't be equipped though - however the game only displaying the prefix makes it hard to see what's what in this situation)), somewhat slow menus (main party menu and certain actions during battle)
First and fourth character have the same palette in the menu (but not on the field) and characters with the same job use the same colours
Clichéd story (four kids chosen by destiny to become light warriors and save the world, more crystals to restore to grace)
Trial & error (no visual or other clues to most fake walls (Argas's castle), trial & error element to the battle order unless characters’ Agility/Evade stats differ a lot (the game doesn’t show how the turn will play out beforehand), some shields providing elemental resistance that the game doesn't tell you about?, poor directions after beating Hyne, jump attack is also affected by which row you're in, Shiva is non-elemental, some chocobo forests can be hard to spot, instant death if you go near the statues of the quest too soon, a character can only gain 1 Job level per battle, when to use certain spells or elemental weapons (scan type spells help but there's still the limited inventory to deal with), several jobs aren't optimal to use at the point you get them and some aren't very useful period (conjurer/evoker, scholar, viking; some jobs like red mage and ranger become obsolete around the mid-game), spells can miss even against enemies that are weak to them (Hyne), items with spell/elemental effects have a chance of missing, enemy weaknesses won't always align with what's available for purchase in a new area, point of no return at Tower of Owen toad entrance, limited no. of charges on in-battle attack items (per battle - it won't disappear), hidden magic multiplier stat, the game doesn't do a good job of introducing the job system, no indication of Reflect or Haste being in effect (or status effects on monsters in general), some advanced mechanics (level and job level 1 count as level 0 by the game, dragoon's jump attack doesn't remove confusion, only a character's Int and Mind affect in-battle attack items), enemy abilities/loot/affinities, Defend command doesn't affect magic defense, some later dungeons can't be warped out of (leads to backtracking or worst case scenario a slow death), Zande's unblockable Meteo attack)
Still can't teleport between visited areas
Various bugs (the Erase spell (removes Reflect) doesn't work and Reflect doesn't work on party members, Protect and Haste can be partly or fully negated by certain actions, Lamia Harp doesn't inflict Sleep, etc.)
Meteor is pretty much obsolete by the time you get it
Monsters rarely have anything good to steal
Can't talk to some NPCs (those behind bar counters)
Unintuitive town exits (easy to exit by accident in some towns)
Plot oddities (NPCs generally trust the party and often act like they're giving you pieces of a walkthrough, vikings don't react to the party being midgets, enemies aren't small in the shrine under the sea dragon, can't re-enter the mountain after getting the ship, fairly easy to accidentally miss the boss voice and Desh's memory recovery in the tower of owen, how'd the survivor from Tokkle get to the dwarf cave?, hard to believe the party reaction to Elia's sacrifice since you've just met her when it happens, ), lazy plot devices (Desh sacrificing himself because it's his destiny, Guzco not stealing both horns right away (instead the party is 'tricked' by him being a floating stick following them back to the dwarf cave)
Some NPCs still say the exact same thing
No Sap/Osmose/Curse/Berserk/Aura/Blink/Shell/Dispel/Slow/Swap/Fear spells (reduce enemy MP/steal MP/lower attack and defense/raises attack (FF2) or makes target use physical attacks over and over/stronger physical attacks against most enemies/increase Evade/increase MDef/reduce enemy MDef/reduce Accuracy (FF2) or number of attacks (FF1)/switch hp & mp with target/make target more likely to flee)
A spell cast on an ally is wasted if the target character dies before it's cast (in FF1 & 2 on GBA it's used on the next character (?) instead)
No explanation/reaction when encountering an area on the overworld that can't be entered until a certain condition is met (floating thing in the desert, whirlpool to the north, tower neat the shipwreck)
Some annoying music (tower of owen)
Some less useful spells (Break, )
Still can't skip/speed up the resting and resurrection animations
Some dead space (dead ends, empty rooms)
Sometimes uneven difficulty (Kraken is easier than Hyne)
Still no dungeon maps
Somewhat vague stat growth info at the end of battles (doesn't show numbers for Skill growth)
Hard to tell if a status spell affects more than one enemy when casting on a group
Locked doors are relocked after exiting the area/floor
Limited store inventories (need to memorize where some items are sold)
No revival spring in some towns
A ~20 second long music theme plays every time an important NPC dies
Life spell and built up Karateka attacks can miss
Somewhat tedious path to and from the cave of darkness/shadows
Can't repurchase a sold item unless the store you're at already has it in stock
Some near useless item-based spell attacks (due to their attack power not scaling when your characters become stronger)
Rather anonymous main villains
Some redundant loot/abilities/spells (Kill?, Break 1? (gradual Petrification+damage), Mini (same effect and level as Toad though some enemies might be weak to just Mini?), level 8 attack spells compared to the summons, Scan is only useful at one point in the game)
curative items/spells about to be used after all enemies are dead in a battle are skipped
No journal or notebook feature (for writing down/saving collected info from NPCs for later - you can talk to following NPCs for hints fairly often though) and no keyword feature (see FF2)
Re-used enemies in some areas makes each of them feel less distinct
The final boss requires grinding or cheesy tactics at ~lvl 46 (partly due to the random nature of the battle turns; you can use three sages with cure 3/4 and high level magic) and she/it only has one form of attack and no other moves
Palette swapped enemies (fewer than before though?)
No automated item sorting
Slight music delay when opening menus
Battle backgrounds are still mostly black
Notes:
-Several creatures, including the Helldiver, Stalagmite, and Myrmecoleon all inflict Petrification in an odd way: it is actually full Partial Petrification. This affects a number of armor pieces that protect against Petrification but not Partial Petrification.
-Though it protects from Petrification and the 1/3 and 2/3 (and full) versions of Partial Petrification, the Genji equipment does not protect against 1/2 Partial Petrification.
-If a monster has both a resistance and a weakness to the same element, the weakness takes precedence. However, if a party character equips armor with conflicting resistance and weakness (e.g., Flame Mail and an Ice Helm), the weaknesses are removed and the character becomes resistant to both elements.
-If you target all enemies with a typical spell, but an enemy uses Divide or Summon before the spell is cast, it will not target the new enemies (unless they have replaced another enemy in the same spot on the screen). However, Summon spells choose their targets at casting, so they can hit newly created enemies.
-Safe (Def up) works against the final boss's attack
-Job Skill guide (Skill Data): http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/563415-final-fantasy-iii/faqs/29389
Bugs:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/nes/563415-final-fantasy-iii/cheats
http://guides.gamercorner.net/ffiii/quirks/
-There's an item sorting bug making items go back to default sorting after fighting a battle