Final Fantasy III -- Initial Opinion.

There are few games that fall under the Holy Grail category. They're the great lost games. The games that never get localized and brought to your particular shore. You know them. Shining Force III Scenario B & C, Mother and Mother 3, Radical Dreamers, and so on. Final Fantasy III was a Holy Grail title. There were a few missing links in the Final Fantasy series that the Final Faithful were eternally clamoring for. Final Fantasy V was the first to come over on the PSX. And then we finally got a chance at Final Fantasy II. All that remained was Final Fantasy III and they'd have the full series. Square-Enix has finally brought them all home with the release of Final Fantasy III on the Nintendo DS. Final Fantasy III was originally released only on the Famicom in Japan in April of 1990. The game introduced the job system. It allows you to train your characters in jobs you see fit. It's an early attempt at letting you play the characters as you saw fit. The NDS version of the game is a remake with updated 3D graphics and better sound. The content of the game has been left unchanged as far as events and the story are concerned. The dialog has been rewritten beyond the new translation. The job system has been balanced. In the original you needed very specific jobs at key situations in the game. The game now allows for a more play it your way approach than before. In other words, you'll be able to scrape by what was once impossible. The game has added touch controls and the like. And they've added a zoom feature to treasure hunting. My initial impression of the game is a graphical mixed bag. It seems to be equal parts pretty and ugly at the same time. The sound rings true and lets you know more than anything that you're indeed playing a Final Fantasy title. The themes you all know are all where they're supposed to be. It gives it an at home feeling to series regulars. The story is another crystal story. It's hard to fault it as this really is a game from 1990 as far as story and character are concerned. One thing that's readily apparent is that the game is hard and you'll be grinding out levels the entire way. You take one step off the path and you're likely to find yourself dead and fast. Will this new looking old-school RPG prove worth the very long wait? Only one way to find out...