FINAL FANTASY III

Final Fantasy III was meant to be a return to form for the series after FFII, and as such did away with a lot of the changes made in that game; the story was stripped down a lot and the classic DnD-like magic system makes a return. This game is also the first to allow players the ability to change the class of their characters on the fly, leading to a much more dynamic system where party composition and strategy meant everything. There were three versions of the game released, all of which do hold up on their own: the original NES release, the 3D remake, and the Pixel Remaster.

The NES

The original NES release of FFIII is packed full of content, originally being envisioned as a game for the then-upcoming Super Nintendo Entertainment System before deciding to keep it on the NES, the scope of the game was hardly sacrificed. In terms of NES JRPGs FFIII may be the most packed full releases, making it a marvel of 8-bit development even today, and with more polishing than the original FFI years before, the bugs are hardly as game breaking. While this version of the game would later be iterated upon, the original is still a great release to this day. It is worth noting, however, that this game was never released in English originally, and thus would require either the ability to read the original Japanese or a fan-translation in order to be played.

The 3D Remake

The 3D Remake of Final Fantasy III aimed to bring back a bit of storytelling and characterization into the mix; rather than playing as four blank-slate warriors of light, all of the characters are fleshed out individually. The story also is revised to reflect the journey of the individual characters. This version of the game also changes the magic system to that of a more traditional MP system. The focus on story is the main selling point of this version, and it is available on a wide array of platforms, from PC to the PSP to smartphones to the Nintendo DS, it is widely accessible.

The Pixel Remaster

The Pixel Remaster of Final Fantasy III aims to be more like the original, with the magic system kept in tact and backs away from the story focus of the 3D Remake. However, they did make quite a few changes to the class system, giving some classes new actions to help them be more viable than they were in the original version.