Jesus, I knew Sakaguchi's mother died but burned alive in her home?! That is horrific. I can't even imagine something like that. Bless that man for continuing to work on this series so many love, even when he was at his lowest point. They would have understood. Anyone would.
This is fantastic. Truly. I played FF3 on the DS but it was the Pixel Remaster that is the true experience for me. Beating it was fun. I also had no idea that Sakaguchi's mom died while FF3 was in development. I have to wonder if it had an effect on Sakaguchi while FF7 was being made.
as i continue to watch these videos one after the next, it fills my heart with SO MUCH joy seeing another person who truly understands and realizes what they're looking at.. besides pokemon, i dont think another game series has EVER done so much for my life, as much as final fantasy and its family of games. i've played and replayed the FF series for so many years and learned everything i could so i'll see things nobody else sees and then Andrew releases a video upon his playthrough and goes into EVERY. SINGLE. DETAIL. giving credit and shining the spotlight on everybody involved. its a beautiful compilated deep dive into the history of the people creating this series and the company at large, the gaming world at the time, and the climate of ideas being tossed around to create the next big thing. bravo my brother, you have stunned me yet again with this one, and i cannot wait to see the later videos where you're playing 6, and 9. the work it takes to compile so much information into one video, the editing, and the way it loops music in the background, i dont even realize i've been watching for an hour by the time it ends.. i'm hooked from the beginning and stay invested the whole way through! easily one of my favorite content creators in the platform right now and you deserve waaaaaaaaayy more views and recognition for this level of insanely good material... bravo mate, another one for the record books, hopefully I can boost my patreon subscription higher soon
I'm in awe... these retrospectives are so well done. Huge respect to you Andrew for all the work and time you've put into this series. It really shows.
I was always under the impression that the early FF games were made in such a way that the devs were alternating what their priorities were during development, with 1, 3 and 5 being focused on the gameplay experience and 2, 4 and 6 being built around their stories. This retrospective series has illustrated to me that this likely wasn't the actual intent, but I find it interesting how well it fits anyway. That idea is also my headcanon as to why 3 gets overlooked so often these days as well - it's the awkward middle child between the inception of the job system in 1 and then its evolutionary leap in 5. The game does definitely deserve a better rep than its getting nowadays - I've always really liked it.
A clarification about the 3D remake's job adjustment period: the stat penalties for switching jobs are fairly paltry. The reason new classes feel terrible is because of how much job level is tied to a character's power. For physical damage classes, job level increases accuracy, and therefore number of hits. For mages, job level drastically improves spellcasting power. Jobs level based on number of actions taken, even the Guard command, not by exp, which can lead to a feeling of new classes just not being very good because you need to grind their job level to at least 20, often taking upwards of 100 or more commands in battle in other words, before the class could be considered competent in any way. Whether or not you think that's a good system is up to the player, but the job adjustment period is maligned for reasons not based in any objective understanding of the game's mechanics, especially since 6-10 battles should realistically only take 5 minutes maximum anyway
I clearly think the difficulty of the 3D version is blow out of proportion by the community, I'm currently playing the 3D Remake after finishing the Pixel Remaster, cause the 3D version was sitting on my backlog for a very long time, I just forget I had bought it due to other games to play, so I gave it a try, and it's really not that hard, mobs feel tougher but are fought in smaller amount, if you take time to raise Job LV which is definitly more important than your actual LV imo, and you can gain 1 Job LV each battle if you really want to taking time to do so, I reach the fire crystal boss with Job LV around 50 while my character LV was 18 for instance, and I was dealing significantly more damage than another player I watch who was LV21 with a Job LV of about 30 (like their Black Mage with Blizara was dealing 700-750 damage to the boss, while mine was dealing nearly 1000 damage). And I also argue that the boss are more fair, yeah they can attack 2 times per turn, however unlike their 2D counterpart they are much less susceptible to spam their 1 AoE attack, which makes most of the 2D bosses an endurance test than anything else, and in all honnestly makes the overall boss selecton in the 2D boring over half of them are just the same stupid design of having 1 powerfull AoE that they just spam ad nauseum, like Salamander which is the first offender to this design in 2D, was just spamming is Flame Breath over an over and over on 2D, on 3D he does it much less which IMO makes the fight actually easier.
Thank god someone else said this! That whole bit about the """masochistic""" difficulty just sounds like someone overreacting negatively due to, in all honesty, stubbornness and lack of engagement with that version's new and/or twisted mechanics. The only time I truly grinded was getting Arc's Thief JLV to 71, cause for some reason they made Gugnir only available to Odin's boss fight, which as a result made that little stretch at the end of the Earth Crystal portion too easy. Every other time though, INCLUDING the Mognet side quests *and* the infamous Crystal Tower/World Of Darkness stretch, in which I died _once_ in? Never. Just went straight to each point no problem, maybe did some JP loop tech but very rarely did it call for that. The original is *mostly* the same in this regard, to be fair, but CT/WoD definitely feels like you need to grind just a bit more levels within Eureka to get anywhere. With that said, you do not need it to be at JLV20 for it to get anywhere - I'd say it starts to feel comfortable around JLV3-5, which is somewhat after the Adjustment Phase for a particular class (is about to) end. Also, concurring w/ nesou here, the second half's bosses are for sure better in the 3D Remake due to the changes made, but I'd go a step further and say you can feel this by the time you reach Medusa. In the original, she's pathetic, heavily using Break despite the fact she has a low hit rate on it, that's then worsened if you built your PMs just right, so it turns this whole, big fight against her into bitchslapping her into oblivion. Boring. In the 3D remake, not only is that added turn able to give her a chance to *actually* do a physical move on someone, her hit rate for Break has been buffed by a good bit so that it'll _at least_ affect someone once, *and* gained access to Blizzard (or Blizzara, I forgot which) making it another move to watch out for. I don't even need to mention how Cloud Of Darkness is like, an actual fight now, with two targets to take care of first, all of which having different properties to juggle between, instead of the original slog that was Heal & Attack, Heal & Attack, over and over cause she just loved Particle Beam that much. If it sounds like _I'm_ overreacting now, well, for someone who's (seemingly, this is my second video of his) dedicated to thoroughness and expressive understanding of a game and their mechanics, his woeful performance and carelessness in regards to the functionality and overall appeal of the version I now like (I need to stress that I, too, hated this as a kid), to the point of dismissing those that like it as "those who like difficult games or have a severe hate for sprite-based games", is pretty damn disappointing, to say the least.
@blazingwaters7469 I've come to a conclusion recently that a lot of people who play JRPGs actually dislike or hate JRPG combat mechanics, because most of the time when people play the older games in the genre that have longer stretches of dungeon with legitimate resource management that necessitates preparation in the form of leveling up and buying items, they make videos like these and complain about how punishing and unfair it is. Like the final dungeon in this game, you have all the time in the world to grind and buy as many items as you want before going in, something you should have learned by now, not to mention being given access to multiple elixirs by this point in the story. I like to reference the original Pokemon games as well, which punished a lack of a preparation for some of its sections due to the sheer volume of trainer fights in areas that also had random encounters. When you strip away this encounter design and difficulty from JRPGs, they all more or less become a foregone conclusion, especially if you actually pay attention to the mechanics and prepare before doing dungeons/fights
I never bothered with any of the pixel remasters, but I did play both the 8-bit version of III and the 3D Remake. I didn't find the 3D version very difficult personally and found that it had a lot of charm. I also quite enjoyed the music. I like it for what it is : )
I completely disagree on the FF3 remake. I just played it for the first time on the PS Vita, after buying it years ago. I loved it. The music was great, I enjoyed the story and the 4 named characters. Refia starts the game wanting to leave her life as a blacksmith apprentice but by the end appreciates the idea and wants to go back to it. Ingus starts as wanting to hide his feelings for the princess and put his duty above them but at the end decided to accept them and stay by her side. Arc starts as bullied and not confident but later stands up for Alus, showing he has gained confidence traveling as a warrior of light. Luneth starts out courageous, but reckless charging into things by himself but as the game goes on he learns to rely more on others and think more before acting. They all grow throughout the game, it is just subtle. It sucks you missed that playing it.
FF III's difficulty is not so punishing that you can't go through the game with any jobs you want. In the 3ds remake for example I ran scholar as my healer by utilizing its bonus item potency. Did the whole game with this, and a geomancer, no ninjas, no sages etc. The only boss in the entire game that is too difficult for such strategies is the cloud of darkness which is very upsetting.
I love these retrospectives, incredibly detailed and I love the backstory provided. I will disagree on the note of the 3D remake, however. Even coming off of playing Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy IX, I was in awe that such a beautifully presented and well-fleshed out RPG with a job system similar to what I experienced in Final Fantasy Tactics was possible on a handheld. I agree the game is super grindy, but I take that and enjoy the game regardless.
Absolutely fascinating hearing the 3D version described as overly difficult. Maybe it came from experience with chemist in V, but as soon as I unlocked Scholar I found the game to be so easy, only Pixel II has beaten it for "easiest FF title"
Are you planning on doing every mainline game in the series? These are so well done man. Definitely some of the best coverage of these early games I’ve seen.
that final fantasy 4 video can't come soon enough, brilliant analysis. Regretting my decision to go with the ds version but I've climbed my way out of the curve and it's starting to be fun. I abuse items and the boss fights being really difficult is fun, the dungeons are engaging and I like the mechanic where you need to tilt the camera to see hidden items and switch! The story, I've just beaten Hein, I was really sad when Deicht died and shocked at how much of a proto Zach he was.
So much hard work that goes into these videos and they turn out absolutely amazing!! So incredibly captivating. Can't wait for the SNES, and *especially*, PS1 era.
i took forever to watch this due to just bad brain-- really appreciate what a great and thorough video this is, as someone who played the hell out of 3 back in the late 90s via a partial translation; really appreciate the hate for the 3d soundtrack (and that version in general, bleh) and love for the pixel remaster's version. this soundtrack really is one of uematsu's finest and some of the finest chiptune on the nes imo, and the pixel remaster's soundtrack is beautiful love 3 so much
What an incredible video, an incredible retrospective, and an incredible analysis of everything this has to offer! Narrative, mechanics, music, everything! Absolutely amazing work my friend!
I'm making my way through FF3 DS at the moment and knowing the Invincible is on its way fills me with joy. The fantasy of having a flying home is just that strong.
I absolutely love your videos of Final Fantasy! I have played one through three and after beating each one I watch your retrospective. your video has given birth to a deeper love to this series that I wouldn't have been able to have if it wasn't for your videos. I really enjoy and find it interesting to hear about the behind the scenes, the deeper meaning in the games story and design, and and all the ins and outs that you go into in your videos. I truly appreciate all your hard work that you put into your retrospectives. It truly is a work of love and it shines through in each video. Just as hope shines through even the greatest of despair. I raise my sword in honor of you, final fantasy, video games, art, life, and love and I hope you continue to work on videos in this series as my journey now takes me to Final Fantasy 4.
I've actually been doing the same thing, playing through 1 through to 6 for the first time and then watching these retrospectives afterwards, which is absolutely giving me a deeper appreciation for each game. I'm thinking of holding of playing IV until the retrospective comes out since its supposed to be soon.
Yet another great FF retrospective!! As someone whose only FFIII history is the 3D remake, I will say this video has me wanting to go play the pixel remaster and maybe never look back at the 3DR ;)
I haven't played the pixel remaster yet... but I did play the DS version when it was new, and I can't say I recall the bosses being a painful slog, as you describe it. I do recall issues, though, in the dungeons you had to cast mini on yourself where enemies would just one-shot party members, and so I found myself running from every battle. Though I also did have a lot of spare time, I'll admit, to devote to mindless grinding. Also I think because I got used to the idea of the four onion kids being actual characters, shallow as they are, it feels like a step backwards to me to go play a game where they're blank slates like FF1.
These FF videos have been exceptional, in the literal sense of the word, and I'm so glad you've made them. Genuinely some of the best videos I've seen on RUclips - very much looking forward to future instalments.
FFIII was the first one I played as a kid, around the age of 10. Back then I would find myself at a dead end very early, because I never really understood the job system. The stats and benefits weren't really that transparent. They didn't even have a mini description like in FFI. Coming back to it at an adult age however, it was an absolute blast.
I always liked the yin-yang symbolism of how light and darkness are presented in this game. But there's one element of the story that still leaves me wondering. Namely, on multiple occasions an event called "the flood of light" is mentioned. I saw some reviewers on RUclips interpreting it as the same entity as the Cloud of Darkness, just growing in power and attacking Earth at a different point in time. Whereas I have always seen it as a different creature of the Void - more like CofD's light equivalent, but not CofD itself.
The dialogue of the Warriors of Darkness in the original implies (and the remake confirms) that the Cloud of Darkness did indeed attack during the Flood of Light. The name "Cloud of Darkness" is a bit of misnomer: The Cloud represents nothingness rather than darkness, so whether it's light or darkness that tips the balance is irrelevant. Dissidia adds to this by giving the Cloud a costume that seems to have been inspired by the Flood of Light.
@@ThatGuy-tc6uv I had a bit of a giggle at how its the big bad monster of darkness (more appropriately void as you mention), but has a love heart on its head
As someone whose favorite FF is FF5, I really wish I had had the chance to play 3 back in the day. I'll have to pick up the Pixel Remaster one of these days, it sounds like a blast.
Not sure if you'll see this Andrew, but thank you very very much for this video mentioning what Ishii had in mind for the concept behind the Dark Knight/Warmage of this. It actually led to me finding more info on the other job designs that served a valuable source for expanding the information on the job's page on FFWiki! Your series has been reviving my love for looking more into the nitty gritty for a lot of the old design concepts for these titles. Thanks a lot! :3
Such a beautifully written and preformed video essay on a final fantasy 3 retrospective. This is a fantastic piece of work and I sincerely hope you continue all the way to 15!
After being stonewalled by the punishing 3D version as a child, I came here after beating the pixel remaster just yesterday! Maybe one of my favorite final fantasy games now
I'm slowly working through your videos as I finish each game in the pixel remaster collection and I really love all the attention to detail, development information and changes from version to version that is detailed. Keep up the great work
So I finished the PR FF3 this past weekend, and I have to say it's been my favourite out of the three so far!!! The music blew me away, Eternal Wind is one of my favourite game tracks of all time. It made me realise that FF2 was a bit of a misstep, seeing just how great a FF can be. The story was dripped in nicely and appropriately fantasy based again, I enjoyed the surprises along the way. The difficulty was fine, but I enjoy grinding and grind throughout the game to avoid being overwhelmed. I wasn't sure what the job system was going in, I expected some kind of mini game. I was surprised to find out it was just a name for changeable classes. Very cool. I picked the Warrior, White, Red and Black mages, and I wanted to stick with these throughout the game, so I didn't change to any of the others, until I realised later on that some of them are just outright upgrades. It would have been better if they actually upgraded those classes, like in FF1, rather than presenting them as new jobs. So my Red Mage, falling behind in power became the Evoker, then the Summoner. I fell in love watching the summons, they're very fun, then finally changed the Sage that can do everything, including summon. I had a lot of fun with the changing of classes, and would enjoy playing it again one day this time going with different classes, I'll save that for my 3D playthrough. I absolutely adored finding out that the continent was floating, and that there was more to the world. The vast open ocean had such an alien feeling to it, then to find I brought the land back struck me with awe with how much more there was to do. The themes of growing up, accepting help, sacrifice and hope all hit home. There is definitely a deeper feeling to this game. I had a lot of fun completing it over the weekend! I too would highly recommended FF3 to anybody who likes the 2D Final Fantasies. What a great ride. A true squeal to the original, fixing the missteps of FF2. Thankyou for another great video recap. I await your IV review.
i cant beleve i am 2 mounths late but still i love these videos. i am so glad more pople are icking up on this channel. while i havnt played 1-3 i have plans to an these vides have deffedently help me with that. but yeah i cant wait for the future and eventully the games after the final fantasy games
FFIII on DS was the first FF Game ive played, since back then i only had nintendo consoles,so while it's not on My top 5 FF games, i still have a soft spot for it, it's part of the first stage into My Journey of rpgs, and for that i'm thankful
I tried it on nes fan translated and got miffed at the shrink and dark knight dungeons and again in the 3d version just trying to level up the characters. The pixel remaster though was exactly what I wanted and I loved it. I thought the pixel remasters 1-3 were fantastic with enough quality of life changes to improve the gameplay at the cost of difficulty though as someone with kids; I'm perfectly fine with that. Only complaint is the bonus content left out but I'll take it.
I find it hard to believe that Nasir still has a job, after locking code behind a cypher that completely changed the entire point of the last third of FF2. He'd have been fired and replaced once the roms got shipped for cart pressing, if I was in charge.
The problem is, they couldn't get rid of him for 3 for the same reason he wasn't fired on the spot for what he did in 2: nobody else could get FF to work on a Famicom/NES, so they relied on him and he knew it.
I recently decided to play through all the ff series since I never played 1-6. I have been watching all these videos after beating them to get a better understanding of the games as a whole. You are doing a great job and thank you for your work.
These are excellent. I can't wait to see the rest. Final Fantasy 4 is probably my favorite game of the SNES generation just because of sentimental reasons and 6 is an all around better game in most respects and is probably my second favorite over all. I'm really looking forward to these two. 5, on the other hand really angered me when they took my only healer for story reasons right before a boss fight and brick walled my progress. I haven't gone back to it yet. I also love 14 and have a frankly embarrassing amount of hours in it. I love the story, the lore, the world crafting and the love from the developers that you can feel in every aspect of the game so I am looking forward to that retrospective (is it a retrospective if the game is still current? I don't know. Probably best not to mess with the formula).
Even if FF11 and 14 are still around, they are not what they were at launch. So there is definitely plenty to talk about for both in a retrospective manner.
For a three week span of time, thirteen years ago, I played this came straight through while levelling up every job. The ending gave me a peaceful mindset, moreso than the first. It is a gem. I guess the point of games of this era was to play them on their terms, rather than mine.
Parts of the Boundless Ocean song remind me of Heartful Tears you hear in Final Fantasy Legend 1 and 2. Very similar if you listen to them back-to-back.
I just fought the cloud of darkness for the first time. I wasted all of my sheriken or however you say it so I was just doing the damage damage heal technique. I was doing good but I got out of rhythm when I used an elixir and I got swept by the particle beam 😅
Great video, but looking at your footage of the 3D remake, I can see why you think that version is so hard as you claim. Not trying to come off as a jerk but you need your healers to heal and not use their weak weapons to attack. Even if all party members are at full HP, you would still use a healing spell since the turn order is somewhat random. A boss might go first and use a multi hit attack.
FF3 was great when i played the Famicom version emulated with a translation patch prior to the 3D releases, and i especially loved just how huge the world seemed. I haven't played any of the Pixel Remaster FF titles, but i do look forward to playing them when i have more time, especially FF3-6.
if asked if you should play this game, I recommend just playing 5 if you haven't already. Much better game with probably the best class system in any of the classic final fantasy games. A system so good they essentially used it again in tactics.
Played a fan translation rom in the early to mid aughts. Was the 2nch or 3rd ff I had played. That was a good experience, right until the end gauntlet, when you are mainly continuing just to get it over with.
I came across these retrospectives when I decided to finally play FF via the pixel remasters for PS4 about a month ago. I've watched each one several times, there's a certain soothing quality to these videos, it's clear you put a lot of effort into this production and you care a lot about the source material. Currently playing FFIII after getting the platinum trophies for I & II. Much looking forward to your FFVI video. Cheers
This is one of the two mainline FF games I want to give another shot. I played the PSP version and between the load times and lot of what you said it was kind of a not so awesome experience.
I'm not trying to flex here, but I didn't really think the DS version was all that hard. There were a couple of times, maybe a few, where I was underleveled, but it didn't take too much effort to grind up. Of course, grinding isn't all that fun, but it didn't feel like it took too long.
In a way, they both are; the misconception comes from a PlayStation interview from 1997 where he said his mom died during FF3's development. It was misconstrued in the west that she died during the development of FF6, which was called FF3 here at the time. He would draw on his thoughts about life and death for FF7, just as he seemingly used FF3 to work through his grief.
Just finished watching retrospectives for 5 and 4, except for some pronunciation issues with Japanese, I'm quite impressed, looking forward to retrospective for 6, my favorite in the series. I'm curious are you going to go through all the main series?
Wait, what? You found the 3d port difficult? I personally found it much easier than the Famicom port. The Iron Giant was really the only big challenge of that port. My main issue with the 3d port was playing down Xande in favor of playing up the Cloud of Darkness, probably because people who didn't get it was an elemental force of nature cried it came out of nowhere, while mentions of the coming tide of darkness were everywhere in the original. Xande playing with powers above his own vast comprehension to stave off death was a glorious theme played well, and being asked to redeem him yet failing was the icing on the cake- he didn't need a big speech to get a point across. Being consumed by the very power he attempted to control, wanting to take all to the void with him when he perished- just so much crammed into his actions he didn't need words.
Wow that message about pressing on when all hope seems lost, finding that smallest speck of light... that is the plot of Endwalker. I never knew that originally came from FF3.
This is the only game of the ones that I've had a chance to play on my own that I've never gotten to finish...well...the 3Ds port...never played the original FamiCom version.
Huh. I played this on DS some years back. After how brutally hard II was, oh man. Maybe it was gaming the job system, maybe it was having online guides, but the game was soooo easy. Like, Dragon Quest IX easy, Sentinels of the Starry Skies.
![BRASIL vs. URUGUAY [1-1] | RESUMEN | ELIMINATORIAS SUDAMERICANAS | FECHA 12](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/-hWBAuxF1eY/mqdefault.jpg)
Jesus, I knew Sakaguchi's mother died but burned alive in her home?! That is horrific. I can't even imagine something like that. Bless that man for continuing to work on this series so many love, even when he was at his lowest point. They would have understood. Anyone would.
I thought her mother died during FF7's development, was it just a myth?
I wonder if that played a hand in Ryddia's story in FFIV.
@@zyrkugilgamesh looks to be that way, a longstanding bit of misinformation, seems to be a lot of that with this series
@@woogha ouch... This is really sad
@@woogha There's quite a bit of Final Fantasy characters who were orphaned via fire.
This is what RUclips was made for. Researching, editing, writing on a professional level. Cannot be more pleased
Eh not rlly. RUclips was made for small form funny videos. Or js yapping for a few minutes
This is my fav channel tho
This is fantastic. Truly. I played FF3 on the DS but it was the Pixel Remaster that is the true experience for me. Beating it was fun.
I also had no idea that Sakaguchi's mom died while FF3 was in development. I have to wonder if it had an effect on Sakaguchi while FF7 was being made.
I mean, if you want to know more abt ff7 and its development. the final fantasy 7 video is out now. I hope you’ve seen it, or will see it
as i continue to watch these videos one after the next, it fills my heart with SO MUCH joy seeing another person who truly understands and realizes what they're looking at.. besides pokemon, i dont think another game series has EVER done so much for my life, as much as final fantasy and its family of games. i've played and replayed the FF series for so many years and learned everything i could so i'll see things nobody else sees and then Andrew releases a video upon his playthrough and goes into EVERY. SINGLE. DETAIL. giving credit and shining the spotlight on everybody involved. its a beautiful compilated deep dive into the history of the people creating this series and the company at large, the gaming world at the time, and the climate of ideas being tossed around to create the next big thing. bravo my brother, you have stunned me yet again with this one, and i cannot wait to see the later videos where you're playing 6, and 9. the work it takes to compile so much information into one video, the editing, and the way it loops music in the background, i dont even realize i've been watching for an hour by the time it ends.. i'm hooked from the beginning and stay invested the whole way through! easily one of my favorite content creators in the platform right now and you deserve waaaaaaaaayy more views and recognition for this level of insanely good material... bravo mate, another one for the record books, hopefully I can boost my patreon subscription higher soon
fuckin nerds
(I love them)
Bruh I already started the research phase for 6. That video's gonna be a big one.
This 💯
Pokémon has a crap story
I'm in awe... these retrospectives are so well done. Huge respect to you Andrew for all the work and time you've put into this series. It really shows.
I've been watching long form critiques for a good while now and I absolutely agree with this comment.
Dude is putting in some serious work on research and editing. There are a lot of videos about Final Fantasy games, but his are some of the best.
I was always under the impression that the early FF games were made in such a way that the devs were alternating what their priorities were during development, with 1, 3 and 5 being focused on the gameplay experience and 2, 4 and 6 being built around their stories. This retrospective series has illustrated to me that this likely wasn't the actual intent, but I find it interesting how well it fits anyway.
That idea is also my headcanon as to why 3 gets overlooked so often these days as well - it's the awkward middle child between the inception of the job system in 1 and then its evolutionary leap in 5. The game does definitely deserve a better rep than its getting nowadays - I've always really liked it.
was so surprised to see how small this channel is, the quality is way above what you'd expect for such a small channel
There's quite a few small FF channels I've been watching, Ludiscere, Alternate SC, and BrandoSP (though he's a bit larger now). All great content.
A clarification about the 3D remake's job adjustment period: the stat penalties for switching jobs are fairly paltry. The reason new classes feel terrible is because of how much job level is tied to a character's power. For physical damage classes, job level increases accuracy, and therefore number of hits. For mages, job level drastically improves spellcasting power. Jobs level based on number of actions taken, even the Guard command, not by exp, which can lead to a feeling of new classes just not being very good because you need to grind their job level to at least 20, often taking upwards of 100 or more commands in battle in other words, before the class could be considered competent in any way. Whether or not you think that's a good system is up to the player, but the job adjustment period is maligned for reasons not based in any objective understanding of the game's mechanics, especially since 6-10 battles should realistically only take 5 minutes maximum anyway
I clearly think the difficulty of the 3D version is blow out of proportion by the community, I'm currently playing the 3D Remake after finishing the Pixel Remaster, cause the 3D version was sitting on my backlog for a very long time, I just forget I had bought it due to other games to play, so I gave it a try, and it's really not that hard, mobs feel tougher but are fought in smaller amount, if you take time to raise Job LV which is definitly more important than your actual LV imo, and you can gain 1 Job LV each battle if you really want to taking time to do so, I reach the fire crystal boss with Job LV around 50 while my character LV was 18 for instance, and I was dealing significantly more damage than another player I watch who was LV21 with a Job LV of about 30 (like their Black Mage with Blizara was dealing 700-750 damage to the boss, while mine was dealing nearly 1000 damage).
And I also argue that the boss are more fair, yeah they can attack 2 times per turn, however unlike their 2D counterpart they are much less susceptible to spam their 1 AoE attack, which makes most of the 2D bosses an endurance test than anything else, and in all honnestly makes the overall boss selecton in the 2D boring over half of them are just the same stupid design of having 1 powerfull AoE that they just spam ad nauseum, like Salamander which is the first offender to this design in 2D, was just spamming is Flame Breath over an over and over on 2D, on 3D he does it much less which IMO makes the fight actually easier.
Thank god someone else said this! That whole bit about the """masochistic""" difficulty just sounds like someone overreacting negatively due to, in all honesty, stubbornness and lack of engagement with that version's new and/or twisted mechanics. The only time I truly grinded was getting Arc's Thief JLV to 71, cause for some reason they made Gugnir only available to Odin's boss fight, which as a result made that little stretch at the end of the Earth Crystal portion too easy. Every other time though, INCLUDING the Mognet side quests *and* the infamous Crystal Tower/World Of Darkness stretch, in which I died _once_ in? Never. Just went straight to each point no problem, maybe did some JP loop tech but very rarely did it call for that. The original is *mostly* the same in this regard, to be fair, but CT/WoD definitely feels like you need to grind just a bit more levels within Eureka to get anywhere. With that said, you do not need it to be at JLV20 for it to get anywhere - I'd say it starts to feel comfortable around JLV3-5, which is somewhat after the Adjustment Phase for a particular class (is about to) end.
Also, concurring w/ nesou here, the second half's bosses are for sure better in the 3D Remake due to the changes made, but I'd go a step further and say you can feel this by the time you reach Medusa. In the original, she's pathetic, heavily using Break despite the fact she has a low hit rate on it, that's then worsened if you built your PMs just right, so it turns this whole, big fight against her into bitchslapping her into oblivion. Boring. In the 3D remake, not only is that added turn able to give her a chance to *actually* do a physical move on someone, her hit rate for Break has been buffed by a good bit so that it'll _at least_ affect someone once, *and* gained access to Blizzard (or Blizzara, I forgot which) making it another move to watch out for. I don't even need to mention how Cloud Of Darkness is like, an actual fight now, with two targets to take care of first, all of which having different properties to juggle between, instead of the original slog that was Heal & Attack, Heal & Attack, over and over cause she just loved Particle Beam that much.
If it sounds like _I'm_ overreacting now, well, for someone who's (seemingly, this is my second video of his) dedicated to thoroughness and expressive understanding of a game and their mechanics, his woeful performance and carelessness in regards to the functionality and overall appeal of the version I now like (I need to stress that I, too, hated this as a kid), to the point of dismissing those that like it as "those who like difficult games or have a severe hate for sprite-based games", is pretty damn disappointing, to say the least.
@blazingwaters7469 I've come to a conclusion recently that a lot of people who play JRPGs actually dislike or hate JRPG combat mechanics, because most of the time when people play the older games in the genre that have longer stretches of dungeon with legitimate resource management that necessitates preparation in the form of leveling up and buying items, they make videos like these and complain about how punishing and unfair it is. Like the final dungeon in this game, you have all the time in the world to grind and buy as many items as you want before going in, something you should have learned by now, not to mention being given access to multiple elixirs by this point in the story. I like to reference the original Pokemon games as well, which punished a lack of a preparation for some of its sections due to the sheer volume of trainer fights in areas that also had random encounters. When you strip away this encounter design and difficulty from JRPGs, they all more or less become a foregone conclusion, especially if you actually pay attention to the mechanics and prepare before doing dungeons/fights
I like how that one guy's professional business picture has him smoking a cigarette. Such different times compared to today
Bruh, Asians smoke more than anyone, it's actually pretty impressive how go hard they are about it
I never bothered with any of the pixel remasters, but I did play both the 8-bit version of III and the 3D Remake. I didn't find the 3D version very difficult personally and found that it had a lot of charm. I also quite enjoyed the music. I like it for what it is : )
I completely disagree on the FF3 remake. I just played it for the first time on the PS Vita, after buying it years ago. I loved it. The music was great, I enjoyed the story and the 4 named characters.
Refia starts the game wanting to leave her life as a blacksmith apprentice but by the end appreciates the idea and wants to go back to it.
Ingus starts as wanting to hide his feelings for the princess and put his duty above them but at the end decided to accept them and stay by her side.
Arc starts as bullied and not confident but later stands up for Alus, showing he has gained confidence traveling as a warrior of light.
Luneth starts out courageous, but reckless charging into things by himself but as the game goes on he learns to rely more on others and think more before acting.
They all grow throughout the game, it is just subtle. It sucks you missed that playing it.
FF III's difficulty is not so punishing that you can't go through the game with any jobs you want. In the 3ds remake for example I ran scholar as my healer by utilizing its bonus item potency. Did the whole game with this, and a geomancer, no ninjas, no sages etc. The only boss in the entire game that is too difficult for such strategies is the cloud of darkness which is very upsetting.
I love these retrospectives, incredibly detailed and I love the backstory provided.
I will disagree on the note of the 3D remake, however. Even coming off of playing Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy IX, I was in awe that such a beautifully presented and well-fleshed out RPG with a job system similar to what I experienced in Final Fantasy Tactics was possible on a handheld. I agree the game is super grindy, but I take that and enjoy the game regardless.
Absolutely fascinating hearing the 3D version described as overly difficult. Maybe it came from experience with chemist in V, but as soon as I unlocked Scholar I found the game to be so easy, only Pixel II has beaten it for "easiest FF title"
Are you planning on doing every mainline game in the series? These are so well done man. Definitely some of the best coverage of these early games I’ve seen.
Yes
@@AndrewBluett cant wait, FF 14, and A Realm Reborn is gonna be a hoot.
Another incredible dive. Really looking forward to FFIV, which was my introduction to not just Final Fantasy, but RPGs in general.
that final fantasy 4 video can't come soon enough, brilliant analysis. Regretting my decision to go with the ds version but I've climbed my way out of the curve and it's starting to be fun.
I abuse items and the boss fights being really difficult is fun, the dungeons are engaging and I like the mechanic where you need to tilt the camera to see hidden items and switch!
The story, I've just beaten Hein, I was really sad when Deicht died and shocked at how much of a proto Zach he was.
So much hard work that goes into these videos and they turn out absolutely amazing!! So incredibly captivating. Can't wait for the SNES, and *especially*, PS1 era.
the way you weave Sakaguchi's personal life into your narrative is brave and brilliant.
i took forever to watch this due to just bad brain-- really appreciate what a great and thorough video this is, as someone who played the hell out of 3 back in the late 90s via a partial translation; really appreciate the hate for the 3d soundtrack (and that version in general, bleh) and love for the pixel remaster's version. this soundtrack really is one of uematsu's finest and some of the finest chiptune on the nes imo, and the pixel remaster's soundtrack is beautiful
love 3 so much
What an incredible video, an incredible retrospective, and an incredible analysis of everything this has to offer! Narrative, mechanics, music, everything! Absolutely amazing work my friend!
true
You can hear that in the Pixel remaster, Umatsu is just feeling the music.
I'm making my way through FF3 DS at the moment and knowing the Invincible is on its way fills me with joy.
The fantasy of having a flying home is just that strong.
I absolutely love your videos of Final Fantasy! I have played one through three and after beating each one I watch your retrospective. your video has given birth to a deeper love to this series that I wouldn't have been able to have if it wasn't for your videos. I really enjoy and find it interesting to hear about the behind the scenes, the deeper meaning in the games story and design, and and all the ins and outs that you go into in your videos. I truly appreciate all your hard work that you put into your retrospectives. It truly is a work of love and it shines through in each video. Just as hope shines through even the greatest of despair. I raise my sword in honor of you, final fantasy, video games, art, life, and love and I hope you continue to work on videos in this series as my journey now takes me to Final Fantasy 4.
I've actually been doing the same thing, playing through 1 through to 6 for the first time and then watching these retrospectives afterwards, which is absolutely giving me a deeper appreciation for each game. I'm thinking of holding of playing IV until the retrospective comes out since its supposed to be soon.
Great video. Funny enough my first RPG was Final Fantasy Legend that I got with the Gameboy for Xmas '90. I love the first 6 games.
Yet another great FF retrospective!!
As someone whose only FFIII history is the 3D remake, I will say this video has me wanting to go play the pixel remaster and maybe never look back at the 3DR ;)
I haven't played the pixel remaster yet... but I did play the DS version when it was new, and I can't say I recall the bosses being a painful slog, as you describe it. I do recall issues, though, in the dungeons you had to cast mini on yourself where enemies would just one-shot party members, and so I found myself running from every battle. Though I also did have a lot of spare time, I'll admit, to devote to mindless grinding.
Also I think because I got used to the idea of the four onion kids being actual characters, shallow as they are, it feels like a step backwards to me to go play a game where they're blank slates like FF1.
Looking forward to your next retrospective on my first (and favorite) FF; Final Fantasy IV.
YESSSS NEW VIDEO ESSAY
These FF videos have been exceptional, in the literal sense of the word, and I'm so glad you've made them. Genuinely some of the best videos I've seen on RUclips - very much looking forward to future instalments.
FFIII was the first one I played as a kid, around the age of 10. Back then I would find myself at a dead end very early, because I never really understood the job system. The stats and benefits weren't really that transparent. They didn't even have a mini description like in FFI. Coming back to it at an adult age however, it was an absolute blast.
I always liked the yin-yang symbolism of how light and darkness are presented in this game. But there's one element of the story that still leaves me wondering. Namely, on multiple occasions an event called "the flood of light" is mentioned. I saw some reviewers on RUclips interpreting it as the same entity as the Cloud of Darkness, just growing in power and attacking Earth at a different point in time. Whereas I have always seen it as a different creature of the Void - more like CofD's light equivalent, but not CofD itself.
The dialogue of the Warriors of Darkness in the original implies (and the remake confirms) that the Cloud of Darkness did indeed attack during the Flood of Light.
The name "Cloud of Darkness" is a bit of misnomer: The Cloud represents nothingness rather than darkness, so whether it's light or darkness that tips the balance is irrelevant. Dissidia adds to this by giving the Cloud a costume that seems to have been inspired by the Flood of Light.
@@ThatGuy-tc6uv I had a bit of a giggle at how its the big bad monster of darkness (more appropriately void as you mention), but has a love heart on its head
I think FF14 actually has a part of its storyline that is inspired by the flood of light, but I'm not that far into the game.
I am proud on leveling my cast to lv99 on the nes emulator on my PS1. Though didnt know Onion Knight was OP.
Playing through the pixel remaster now. I’m hooked hard
1:10:34 And Tactics!
The one that used it the best~
If I could bring Hironobu Sakaguchi's mother back to life, I would. He needs a hug big time.
Only wish these could be seen by more people
As someone whose favorite FF is FF5, I really wish I had had the chance to play 3 back in the day. I'll have to pick up the Pixel Remaster one of these days, it sounds like a blast.
and here's me having loved ff3 since I was a kid, because of the 3D remake...
Absolutely amazing video. Can’t wait to see more like this one.
I love the running gag in this video of Saylor either being dead, or getting killed immediately before being healed. I hope it was intentional.
It wasn't intentional, but I asked Saylor what he thought of it. He said it made too much sense.
Not sure if you'll see this Andrew, but thank you very very much for this video mentioning what Ishii had in mind for the concept behind the Dark Knight/Warmage of this. It actually led to me finding more info on the other job designs that served a valuable source for expanding the information on the job's page on FFWiki! Your series has been reviving my love for looking more into the nitty gritty for a lot of the old design concepts for these titles. Thanks a lot! :3
Such a beautifully written and preformed video essay on a final fantasy 3 retrospective. This is a fantastic piece of work and I sincerely hope you continue all the way to 15!
After being stonewalled by the punishing 3D version as a child, I came here after beating the pixel remaster just yesterday! Maybe one of my favorite final fantasy games now
The remaster is fantastic. The best out of the 6 to get and cheaper than the snes ones.
loved all 3 final fantasy videos so far! just binged them all over the past 2 days, easy subscription!
I'm slowly working through your videos as I finish each game in the pixel remaster collection and I really love all the attention to detail, development information and changes from version to version that is detailed. Keep up the great work
Excellent video, keep up the good work my dude, subbed
So I finished the PR FF3 this past weekend, and I have to say it's been my favourite out of the three so far!!! The music blew me away, Eternal Wind is one of my favourite game tracks of all time. It made me realise that FF2 was a bit of a misstep, seeing just how great a FF can be. The story was dripped in nicely and appropriately fantasy based again, I enjoyed the surprises along the way. The difficulty was fine, but I enjoy grinding and grind throughout the game to avoid being overwhelmed.
I wasn't sure what the job system was going in, I expected some kind of mini game. I was surprised to find out it was just a name for changeable classes. Very cool. I picked the Warrior, White, Red and Black mages, and I wanted to stick with these throughout the game, so I didn't change to any of the others, until I realised later on that some of them are just outright upgrades. It would have been better if they actually upgraded those classes, like in FF1, rather than presenting them as new jobs. So my Red Mage, falling behind in power became the Evoker, then the Summoner. I fell in love watching the summons, they're very fun, then finally changed the Sage that can do everything, including summon. I had a lot of fun with the changing of classes, and would enjoy playing it again one day this time going with different classes, I'll save that for my 3D playthrough.
I absolutely adored finding out that the continent was floating, and that there was more to the world. The vast open ocean had such an alien feeling to it, then to find I brought the land back struck me with awe with how much more there was to do. The themes of growing up, accepting help, sacrifice and hope all hit home. There is definitely a deeper feeling to this game.
I had a lot of fun completing it over the weekend! I too would highly recommended FF3 to anybody who likes the 2D Final Fantasies. What a great ride. A true squeal to the original, fixing the missteps of FF2. Thankyou for another great video recap. I await your IV review.
This is great! Keep up the great work man
i cant beleve i am 2 mounths late but still i love these videos. i am so glad more pople are icking up on this channel. while i havnt played 1-3 i have plans to an these vides have deffedently help me with that. but yeah i cant wait for the future and eventully the games after the final fantasy games
FFIII on DS was the first FF Game ive played, since back then i only had nintendo consoles,so while it's not on My top 5 FF games, i still have a soft spot for it, it's part of the first stage into My Journey of rpgs, and for that i'm thankful
Great retrospective. Keep em coming.
Appreciating the deep dives!
I tried it on nes fan translated and got miffed at the shrink and dark knight dungeons and again in the 3d version just trying to level up the characters. The pixel remaster though was exactly what I wanted and I loved it. I thought the pixel remasters 1-3 were fantastic with enough quality of life changes to improve the gameplay at the cost of difficulty though as someone with kids; I'm perfectly fine with that. Only complaint is the bonus content left out but I'll take it.
I find it hard to believe that Nasir still has a job, after locking code behind a cypher that completely changed the entire point of the last third of FF2. He'd have been fired and replaced once the roms got shipped for cart pressing, if I was in charge.
The problem is, they couldn't get rid of him for 3 for the same reason he wasn't fired on the spot for what he did in 2: nobody else could get FF to work on a Famicom/NES, so they relied on him and he knew it.
@@autobotstarscream765 the guy sounds like a piece of crap.
What a fantastic retrospective! Thank you for this great work!
I recently decided to play through all the ff series since I never played 1-6. I have been watching all these videos after beating them to get a better understanding of the games as a whole. You are doing a great job and thank you for your work.
Picking one of the best themes in FF as part of the intro 🎉
The Ds version was my first final fantasy game! It was so fun!
These retrospectives are fantastic, you have a new fan.
Just got the pixel remaster and have been watching each retrospective thank you so much for this.
29:50 So we almost had "Guy Speak Moogle"?
The reflection of the onion knight was done that way because of VRAM limitations.
These are excellent. I can't wait to see the rest. Final Fantasy 4 is probably my favorite game of the SNES generation just because of sentimental reasons and 6 is an all around better game in most respects and is probably my second favorite over all. I'm really looking forward to these two.
5, on the other hand really angered me when they took my only healer for story reasons right before a boss fight and brick walled my progress. I haven't gone back to it yet.
I also love 14 and have a frankly embarrassing amount of hours in it. I love the story, the lore, the world crafting and the love from the developers that you can feel in every aspect of the game so I am looking forward to that retrospective (is it a retrospective if the game is still current? I don't know. Probably best not to mess with the formula).
Even if FF11 and 14 are still around, they are not what they were at launch. So there is definitely plenty to talk about for both in a retrospective manner.
For a three week span of time, thirteen years ago, I played this came straight through while levelling up every job. The ending gave me a peaceful mindset, moreso than the first. It is a gem. I guess the point of games of this era was to play them on their terms, rather than mine.
Parts of the Boundless Ocean song remind me of Heartful Tears you hear in Final Fantasy Legend 1 and 2. Very similar if you listen to them back-to-back.
Your retrospectives are so well-made and entertaining to watch. Thanks for these!
Clearly, you deserve a lot more views and subs!
You made me care about FFIII. That's an amazing feat!
I just fought the cloud of darkness for the first time. I wasted all of my sheriken or however you say it so I was just doing the damage damage heal technique. I was doing good but I got out of rhythm when I used an elixir and I got swept by the particle beam 😅
Deserves way more views!
Fantastically informative video, keep up the good work!!
Another outstanding retrospective - hope to see FF4 in the future
Aiming for April.
Hope to see FF4-16 retrospect soon lol. Keep up the great work! Seriously though, FF4 for now would be appreciated 👍
The remake was my First final fsntasy and one of the First rpgs that i played , that forseken Tower , when that cloud bastard died i felt true bliss
Great video, but looking at your footage of the 3D remake, I can see why you think that version is so hard as you claim. Not trying to come off as a jerk but you need your healers to heal and not use their weak weapons to attack. Even if all party members are at full HP, you would still use a healing spell since the turn order is somewhat random. A boss might go first and use a multi hit attack.
Andrew’s the sort of imbecilic workman who blames his tools as opposed to his own lack of skill.
FF3 was great when i played the Famicom version emulated with a translation patch prior to the 3D releases, and i especially loved just how huge the world seemed.
I haven't played any of the Pixel Remaster FF titles, but i do look forward to playing them when i have more time, especially FF3-6.
This series is amazing! So much insight
if asked if you should play this game, I recommend just playing 5 if you haven't already. Much better game with probably the best class system in any of the classic final fantasy games. A system so good they essentially used it again in tactics.
Played a fan translation rom in the early to mid aughts. Was the 2nch or 3rd ff I had played. That was a good experience, right until the end gauntlet, when you are mainly continuing just to get it over with.
I LOVE YOUR CONTENT!!
I came across these retrospectives when I decided to finally play FF via the pixel remasters for PS4 about a month ago. I've watched each one several times, there's a certain soothing quality to these videos, it's clear you put a lot of effort into this production and you care a lot about the source material. Currently playing FFIII after getting the platinum trophies for I & II. Much looking forward to your FFVI video. Cheers
Decht == Zach Fair
Aria == Aerith Gainsborough?
Am I going crazy?
This is one of the two mainline FF games I want to give another shot.
I played the PSP version and between the load times and lot of what you said it was kind of a not so awesome experience.
I'm not trying to flex here, but I didn't really think the DS version was all that hard. There were a couple of times, maybe a few, where I was underleveled, but it didn't take too much effort to grind up. Of course, grinding isn't all that fun, but it didn't feel like it took too long.
Amazing review, subbed
Really looking forward to the next 3 game retrospectives! Ff6 is my favorite
Wow Andrew, great work. Keep it up!
Ff14 did a great service basically retelling ff3's story so newer people or people who dont want to play ff3 can learn about the story
Wait I thought Final Fantasy VII was inspired by Sakuguchi's Life.
In a way, they both are; the misconception comes from a PlayStation interview from 1997 where he said his mom died during FF3's development. It was misconstrued in the west that she died during the development of FF6, which was called FF3 here at the time. He would draw on his thoughts about life and death for FF7, just as he seemingly used FF3 to work through his grief.
I actualy used the bard till the final fight in the pixel remaster. Their healing ability is insane if you level them high enough
I'm sorry, the beavers were supposed to be MOOGLES???
This changes everything!
Yeah but "Guy speak moogle" just wouldn't have been as great :D
@@Dfeneck that's... that's true you're right.
Dudes great. Subscribed. 👍👍👍👍
incredible content, earned yourself a sub
Just finished watching retrospectives for 5 and 4, except for some pronunciation issues with Japanese, I'm quite impressed, looking forward to retrospective for 6, my favorite in the series. I'm curious are you going to go through all the main series?
Yes
Wait, what? You found the 3d port difficult? I personally found it much easier than the Famicom port. The Iron Giant was really the only big challenge of that port. My main issue with the 3d port was playing down Xande in favor of playing up the Cloud of Darkness, probably because people who didn't get it was an elemental force of nature cried it came out of nowhere, while mentions of the coming tide of darkness were everywhere in the original. Xande playing with powers above his own vast comprehension to stave off death was a glorious theme played well, and being asked to redeem him yet failing was the icing on the cake- he didn't need a big speech to get a point across. Being consumed by the very power he attempted to control, wanting to take all to the void with him when he perished- just so much crammed into his actions he didn't need words.
Wow that message about pressing on when all hope seems lost, finding that smallest speck of light... that is the plot of Endwalker. I never knew that originally came from FF3.
I always thought the Onion Knight job was OP.
Looking forward to seeing an FFIV retrospective
This is the only game of the ones that I've had a chance to play on my own that I've never gotten to finish...well...the 3Ds port...never played the original FamiCom version.
Huh. I played this on DS some years back. After how brutally hard II was, oh man. Maybe it was gaming the job system, maybe it was having online guides, but the game was soooo easy.
Like, Dragon Quest IX easy, Sentinels of the Starry Skies.