Highly Recommended
Familiar ground, but the jobs make it worthwhile
The pixel remaster of Final Fantasy III was a genuinely surprising entry for me. This is the first version of FFIII I have played, and it is easy to see how it laid the groundwork for Final Fantasy V, with crystals granting new jobs for the party to assume. I have always loved the Final Fantasy games that let you switch between jobs and roles, and this is where that idea starts taking real shape. It is also where a handful of series regulars got their start, since both Ahriman and Garuda make their first appearance here.
The battle music is where the soundtrack got bolder. The pixel remaster’s orchestral arrangement leans a little more into rock, and the added guitar is great. Overall the soundtrack here is good, but it draws so heavily from the original Final Fantasy that most of the time when I think about FFIII’s music, I am really just remembering the first game. The battle theme is the exception, and it stands out for exactly that reason.
The story is about what you would expect from an early entry in the series. There is a big bad, a fairly predictable twist, some crystals in distress, and the heroes of light arriving to save the world just in time. What struck me is that Final Fantasy III felt more like Final Fantasy II than Final Fantasy II did. The second game tried out a lot of new ideas, and it seems like Square backpedaled for the third and went right back to the tried and true formula.
Even so, I had a lot of fun with it. If I ever revisit Final Fantasy III, I would give the 3D version a try instead. There are better entries in this long series than this one, but the job system alone makes it worth the trip.