Not many have played the original to the popular DS title: Final Fantasy III. And the reason being is that we never were given the original. Also, that is also partially the reason we got our numbers mixed up with later Final Fantasies, like Final Fantasy VI. Though, back in the day, I had the privlage to play through the entirety of the original... and with just recently beaten the DS version, I would like to take this opportunity to share with you my thoughts.



The first, and most obvious change is the leap into 3D. But how does the DS do it with regards to it's roots? Well, it does it perfectly. It's like they took the world map, and just left everything as it was and just rendered it in 3D. It was obvious that Squenix took a lot of care and effort to keep the integrity of the original in tact.

One new, and very important, aspect brought to the table was that the protagonists had personalities. They had backgrounds, dialog, and developed relationships. The original, all 4 were orphans who grew up together. That's all you knew... and all 4 were in your party from the get-go and never spoke a word. In the DS release, you started off with only 1. Though, all 4 of them still ended up being orphans. This new additions really makes you, the player, connect with the game on a more personal level.



Now that we know that storyline and graphics pass with flying colors... what about battle? Well, I wouldn't be surprised if they somehow managed to copy and paste the code for battle. It couldn't have been any closer. My levels job classes and even equipment was the same at the end of the game in DS as it was in the original. They even brought back the strange MP system from the original. There are 8 levels of magic. And you have charges for each level (or you learn to use more charges). Once all the charges for a level are used up, that's it till you sleep at an inn. I also liked how you were free to equip two weapons (one in each hand) at any point. In later Final Fantasies, it became a Ninja exclusive ability. There are "new" job classes to unlock in the DS version. Though that job class is what you start out as in the original.



Which brings me to a few things I would like to mention. Final Fantasy was popular in the early 90's in Japan. And back then, RPGs didn't really conform to players needs as much. What I mean by that is that... well, it wasn't an easy game. And that didn't change for the DS. In fact, the most the LAST time you have the opportunity to save your progress is about 2 hours before the final battle. During this time you are fighting multiple bosses who aren't easy by any stretch of the imagination. The fact that you can't save after all those boss fights... or before the final fight really spits in the players face. Also, there is a sever lack of armor, helms, and bracers. You get weapons all the time, but your party members can get wiped out in two hits, even in the final dungeon and being fairly leveled up. I think they should have changed these things for the DS release. Besides, back then, maybe we had hours on end to try a few times. But now? Not so much. Sadly, I'm going to have to recommend this to the hard core Final Fantasy fans only. Either that or players who don't mind grinding levels for an excessive amount of time.

With that said, Final Fantasy III DS is the spitting image of it's former glory. If Final Fantasy IV DS is of the same quality to it's original (or any future re-make for that matter) then we live in a good time to be gamers. If you are up for the challenge, then go grab this game. I am still amazed that they could re-make a game and make it look so new with changing so little. Definately a thumbs up. But now you'll have to excuse me... I've got some Final Fantasy IV DS to play.