Final Fantasy III - (by SQUARE ENIX)

[Riotgirl]

Originally Posted by Psac42

I think this is the last day of the sale. FF3 gets blasted by a lot of the reviews on the app store. Is it worth getting? I picked up FF4 already.

In the reviews, click "All versions" and then you'll be presented with a broader spectrum of reviews.

Whether it is worth getting is based on whether you (as the player) can deal with gameplay from 23 years ago. In many respects, I greatly enjoyed FF 3 (although have yet to go back to it to finally complete it, since I last posted in this thread. I will, once I have finished a couple of tasks IRL) in terms of charm, job system, musical score and iconic FF elements.

Combat and UI definitely showing their age re: constant random battles and a godawful menu system. If you can handle the difficulty and the grind, then you may enjoy FF 3. The couple of hours that I put into FFIV, mark it has the decidedly superior game in terms of graphics, plot, character development and narration. Negatives: no job system (fixed classes) and ABS (active battle system - not a fan).

[Psac42]

Originally Posted by Riotgirl

In the reviews, click "All versions" and then you'll be presented with a broader spectrum of reviews.

Whether it is worth getting is based on whether you (as the player) can deal with gameplay from 23 years ago. In many respects, I greatly enjoyed FF 3 (although have yet to go back to it to finally complete it, since I last posted in this thread. I will, once I have finished a couple of tasks IRL) in terms of charm, job system, musical score and iconic FF elements.

Combat and UI definitely showing their age re: constant random battles and a godawful menu system. If you can handle the difficulty and the grind, then you may enjoy FF 3. The couple of hours that I put into FFIV, mark it has the decidedly superior game in terms of graphics, plot, character development and narration. Negatives: no job system (fixed classes) and ABS (active battle system - not a fan).

Thanks for the detailed review. With the limited time I have, I'll go with FFIV (already bought), and if it gives me a jones for more FF, I'll pick up III at the end of year sale. Thanks again!

[Riotgirl]

I've recently resumed FFIII to finally complete it, since I was at Ancient's Maze. I've just completed Eureka and obtained all of the ungodly end-game weapons from that dungeon (Mastery items left to acquire).

Sadly, I've just realised that Arise (level 8 White spell) is too valuable not to switch my JL99 White Mage to a Devout and start grinding up the JL's. Whilst acquiring the Masamune Sword, my Dragoon spent nearly the whole fight dead because I was unable to revive her and cure her without getting clobbered - once more - by Kunoichi's triple attack.

I'm at a good place now. If I wished, I could push on regardless into Crystal Tower, but the completionist in me wishes to locate the Legendary Blacksmith to obtain Mastery Items, as well as level up my Devout.

The orchestral soundtrack is so good that playing the iOS port has provided a road to Damascus moment as to why the orchestral shows playing musical themes from Final Fantasy are popular.

Note: bugger. Mastery is exactly what it implies: current JL99. Ninja JL24, Dragoon JL83, Devout JL2 and Knight JL66. All level 49. Good thing that I'm fairly relaxed about completing the game =/ Goodamn completionist tendencies!

[Isilel]

Originally Posted by Riotgirl

Note: bugger. Mastery is exactly what it implies: current JL99. Ninja JL24, Dragoon JL83, Devout JL2 and Knight JL66. All level 49. Good thing that I'm fairly relaxed about completing the game =/ Goodamn completionist tendencies!

You can always switch your Devout back to White Mage for the purpose of the Legendary Blacksmith quest. You can't get mastery items from her at the same time as you complete her quests anyway, not in my experience at least.

Also, you are a little underlevelled for the last boss, you want to be in the mid-fifties for that, even with the Eureka weapons. So, I'd say go to the crystal tower, explore every nook and cranny, get all the loot, that may be enough to get your Dragoon to 99, then teleport out and do the Blacksmith quest and maybe get the Dragoon mastery item from her, if you have the patience. That's how I did it, at least.
Then return and do the quickest path run through the crystal tower. This way you'd have more resources for the last leg of the journey, too.

Do you want to know how to recognize that you are close to the point of no return?

[Riotgirl]

Hi Isilel,

I'm following your advice and have been levelling JL'S in Crystal Tower and Eureka. I have also realised that I have not acquired a set of Crystal armour for my Dragoon. I have a nasty feeling that I might have absent-mindedly sold a couple of pieces =/ At least my Knight is decked out in Crystal armour.

I'll refrain from spoilers regarding the point of no return. My usual tactic for dungeons is to exit after acquiring a few good items, to save. I'll make sure that I'm mid-50s and have at least Mastery items for my Dragoon (I do not have the patience to level up JL'S for my Ninja or Devout - I might obtain Mastery for my Knight).

How have you found FFIV? Have you bought FFV? I decided against the latter due to the decision to use 2d Sprites. Also, the plot and narration isn't too dissimilar from FFIII.

[dappa]

Just cleared this game, I own all the other final fantasies out there but recently cleared this game for the first time, was a great game. I grinded my characters to level 99 using the kum kum trick in the crystal tower, then did some of the blacksmith quest weapons and finally defeated the superboss Iron Giant in the secret dungeon.

For those of you who dont want to get locked into fighting the final dungeon and just wanna level your characters in the crystal tower stay away from the black mirror at the top of the tower.

I'm playing Final fantasy 5 on ios now even though I own it on multiple systems already, and am enjoying it, would of loved 3d graphics but doubted square enix would of done them as all the other ios final fantasies are all ports of other versions. Would love to see Final fantasy 6 in 3d.

[Isilel]

Hi!

Originally Posted by Riotgirl

I have a nasty feeling that I might have absent-mindedly sold a couple of pieces =/ At least my Knight is decked out in Crystal armour.

No, you probably just didn't find the second set yet. It is in the Crystal Tower.
Re: Mastery for Dragoon, when I wanted to quickly level a job for one character, I had everybody defend when fighting easier enemies and only this one character attack. This speeds up the matters considerably and since defense also counts for job level, the other characters don't fall back much either.

BTW, hang on to Shurikens with your Ninja.

How have you found FFIV? Have you bought FFV? I decided against the latter due to the decision to use 2d Sprites. Also, the plot and narration isn't too dissimilar from FFIII.

Didn't yet start FFIV, which I bought during the last Squeenix sale.

Had to finish:

The Bastion - a great action RPG Lite. Beautiful, great gameplay, great narration, great music - all round great game.

The World Ends with you - which didn't resonate with me as much as I expected, what with it being such a DS hit. It has quality presentation, but gameplay and story didn't do it for me. It has some good ideas, which didn't really gel, IMHO.

And 2 point-and-click adventures:

The Silent Age - an atmospheric adventure game with really neat special mechanic and very concise areas, which make it accessible even to newbies to the genre. Offered for free by idealistic devs, too.

Hector 3 - very satisfying conclusion to the Hector trilogy. Full of crude, dirty British humor, but very funny and very well designed, IMHO.

And now I am addicted to Kingturn - a great SRPG with interesting gameplay mechanic (control of spawn points instead of just wiping out enemy troops, you retain the character progress and loot even if you lose) and neat story and characters. The Prologue is free and should be tried by everybody remotely interested in turn-based combat, IMHO!

I guess that FFIV will have to come after that.

As to FFV, I will get it eventually. I don't have any nostalgia for 16bit era, so Spritegate doesn't bother me, and what I heard of the gameplay sounds good, but I do want to get through my backlog and buy Baldur's Gate and Gemini Rue first.

Originally Posted by dappa

I grinded my characters to level 99 using the kum kum trick in the crystal tower, then did some of the blacksmith quest weapons and finally defeated the superboss Iron Giant in the secret dungeon.

You have my admiration. I just don't have patience for so much grinding, I confess. All the FAQs say that you need to be in the 70-ties to have a chance of beating the giant, my party was 57-58 when I got to him, I grinded to 60 and gave up. Did all other quests in the game and discovered all areas, though. Great game.

[Riotgirl]

Originally Posted by Isilel

Hi!

No, you probably just didn't find the second set yet. It is in the Crystal Tower.

Aha! Thanks. I suspect that the rest of the end-game equipment is in the Crystal Tower (barring weapons obtained via Eureak or via Legendary Weaponsmith Mastery items).

I've obtained Mastery items for:

1. Thief
2. Dragoon
3. White Mage

I'm grinding JL's for Devout to obtain access to level 8 spells via Crystal Tower, as you suggested **.

** In fact, I've switched to FFIV and am enjoying the story-telling experience, although it is very much on rails at the moment.

Originally Posted by Isilel

Didn't yet start FFIV, which I bought during the last Squeenix sale.

Had to finish

Bastion is on my list. However, I'll buy on the Xbox360 platform because I prefer to use a physical controller.

I've considered TWEWY - like you, I suspect the gameplay wouldn't resonate with me, although I would like to experience the musical score.

I'm also interested in Kingturn, as I haven't played a TBS in many a year. Like you, I also have a backlog: FFIII, FFIV, Autumn Dynasty (superb intuitive touch controls), and then back to complete Avadon. I also have RDR and ME2 (which I dislike - EA's influence is telling) on the Xbox360.

I just discovered that Ultima 7 is available via GOG for the Mac! As soon as I've finished my iOS games (couple of months), I'll be playing Ultima 7.

In truth, I need to complete FFIII & FFIV before FFVI launches ...

Originally Posted by Isilel

You have my admiration. I just don't have patience for so much grinding, I confess

Snap! Great game, agreed.

[BobCat5142]

I can get this game for $10 on my ps3! WTF!