Video Game Review – Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster

The latest Pixel Remaster review is ready. Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster will be the next one.

Company Credits

Title: Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster
Developer: Square Enix
System: iOS, Android, and Steam
Release Date: July 28, 2021 in this form. The original release was April 27, 1990.
Game Type: JRPG

Premise

Four orphans are chosen by the crystals of light to save the world. Something is amplifying darkness, and that darkness is ready to swallow the world.

High Point

This introduced the job system to Final Fantasy, which has long been one of my favourite elements. (See also my upcoming Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster review for more.)

Low Point

To make room for the expansive world and the job series on the relatively small Famicom cartridges, they dropped the personalities of the heroes that had been developed in Final Fantasy II. This is a huge game, but the leads don’t even have names until the 2006 3D remake came out, which was also the first time this game was (legally) released in English.

The Scores

There are gameplay elements that were original in 1990. The story is expansive, but not too original, aside from the inclusion of characters that I hesitate to name because they show up in the final dungeon only. I give it 4 out of 6.

The story is well told, if it now feels mired in cliche. Despite that, it’s still engaging. I give it 4 out of 6.

The graphics are a nice update of the classic style. I give it 4 out of 6.

The sound is a beautiful update of the original intents, as if it was played on the best sound hardware of 1990. I give it 4 out of 6.

The playability is good. They dropped the points that earlier versions needed you to earn in order to change jobs, so you can now change at will with no adjustment period. It still takes a lot of grinding. My original plan was to master every job with every character, but I left off the last five of those because the game clock was already pushing 60 hours. The controls work well for mobile if you switch to “tap mover” mode. I give it 5 out of 6.

The immersion is ok, but not great. The story is involving, but I kept losing story focus to emphasize the mechanics of developing job levels. I give it 4 out of 6.

Overall, this is the strongest of the 8-bit generation. It’s no surprise that this was on the NES Classic when it came out in Japan. It’s more than the sum of its parts. I give it 5 out of 6.

In total, Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster receives 30 out of 42.