The Final Fantasy series has always been one of my favorite game series, thanks in no small part to its expertly developed characters and epic stories of good versus evil, love, and standing up to do what is right. However, as I've generally worked my way backwards through the series, I've found that the early ones were pretty lacking in the story department, and ultimately why I find myself just not caring as much.

THE STORY SO FAR
One day an earthquake strikes the world, and one of our main characters named Luneth finds himself in a cavern, and after working his way through it, he finds a magical crystal that tells him of his destiny and that he must gather the others to save the light. In a rather rapid fashion, Luneth is partying up with his fellow orphan friend Arc, a runaway daughter named Refia, and a kingdom knight named Ingus. After meeting up with the crystal again, the four journey off to search the land, and save the light by – what else – fighting off the dark.

Right from the beginning, it is evident that Final Fantasy III diverges greatly from the path the more modern day fans of the series are probably used to, because everything felt so sudden, and I was getting bombarded with characters and events quicker than it would take other Final Fantasy games two or three hours to get to happen. And then, after you finally get your party together (the only four you'll ever have in your party – except the occasional helper who will stay with you for a bit), you learn it was essentially just a long tutorial to get you to the real game.

Kafka, Sephiroth, Seifer – don't expect any major villain like this throughout the third game, because there is no branching all encompassing evil, which is really sad to see. Encountering a villain over and over, only to fight their grand form as the very last boss battle has always been a staple of RPGs, but here, you just run into one situational problem after the next, never really caring about your mission at all.

Also, unlike other Final Fantasy games, there isn't any hand holding, as you'll get lost over and over, not exactly sure what you are supposed to be doing. For example, early on I needed to find a ring that a man said was harvested from their mine, so you'd think you have to head there next – right? So I went there and got whooped up on by massive damage dealing enemies, and it was only after trying to level up enough to beat them that I stumbled upon another location and that I wasn't even supposed to go to that destination yet.

You see, there are no "Beware of Dog" signs in this game. There isn't anything to warn you that you aren't supposed to be going here yet (if at all). Instead, you have to search the place out, get your butt whooped, and then think, "Hmm…do I just suck, or was I not supposed to be there." Of course, things don't get any easier, when the world opens up more to you and you keep getting lost over and over, wondering what you are supposed to be doing.

GAMEPLAY
Final Fantasy III is like almost every other RPG out there: walk around, talk to people, battle creatures, battle more creatures, level up until you are strong enough to take on boss, beat boss, then head to next area and do it all again. Yippee! And as mentioned already up above, a lot of the time you'll wander around with only a very vague idea of where to go or what you are supposed to do next. Take out a serpent in the water so I can use the boat – don't even think about doing the obvious thing, which is jumping in the boat to do battle with the monster. The game isn't played that way.

Beyond the usual trappings that you'll find in every other RPG out there, the thing that made Final Fantasy III back then when it was originally released and makes it stand out a tad with this go around the town is the job system of the game.

At first, you'll only have a bare minimum of jobs available to you, including the Warrior, Monk, White Mage, Thief, and Black Mage job races. Each of these are good for something another, so it really all depends on how you want to play the game. As for me, after the tutorial section was done and I could finally access jobs, I went with a Warrior for an average, all around character; a Monk for a hard hitting tank; a White Mage to heal myself; and a Black Mage to do some magic damage. As you go along, you'll find even more jobs to choose from, including Ranger, Scholar, Geomancer, Black Belt, Bard, and even more. Though the customization early on is fairly limited, once you start getting more jobs, who you will use depends on your own play style, and that makes the game fun since (at least in this area) the game doesn't force you to play it its way.

Another rather nice thing is that it didn't feel as if you needed to do to much grinding to get to high enough levels to advance through the game, and it was more for leveling up characters and jobs to the max for the Final Fantasy completists out there. Because by simply going through a level at a brisk pace and taking the time to occasionally level up in an easier area, there weren't a lot of times I had to just sit in place and play the same battles over and over. For that matter, character levels and jobs level increase and level up at a pretty brisk pace.

Since the game is on the DS, you just knew touchscreen capabilities would come into play, and really it is all very "meh." The idea of selecting your actions by using the stylus to click on the menus and make your character run at first seems like a good idea, but once you start trying to implement it into your actual feel for the game, you'll find yourself finding the game moving too slowly, and so instead (much like me) you'll probably fall back to the same old directional pad and button presses style of Final Fantasy play.

Other than the fact that the game feels like every other Final Fantasy and seemingly every other RPG out there, the only real downfall besides not knowing where you are supposed to go was the fact that there are no magic points, but rather your magic spells are assigned to various skill levels, and for every time you use that magic, you lose one skill point; once that skill level reaches zero, none of those spells are now at your command any longer.

GRAPHICS
The graphics have a very manga/anime artstyle to them, which isn't exactly a bad thing, but at times the game doesn't look the best it seems it could've possibly been. Characters look nice during close up cutscenes, but when running through the world or viewed in battle, they look just okay. The enemies are also a mixed bag, as sometimes they'll look really cool and well-designed, while at other times they seem like poorly done messes that make you wonder how they got put into the game in the first place.

SOUND
There isn't any spoken dialogue throughout the game, so on one hand there isn't any horribly acted lines, but on the other hand there isn't any spoken dialogue at all. The sound work is equally okay, but after awhile it will be the same sword slashes and hit sounds you've heard since the first few minutes of the game. The music, however, does do better, which should come as no surprise since the music is always one of the things heralded about the series. The music is at times cheerful and playful, and at others dark, somber, and mellow. If only voices were added and the sound effects improved, there would've been absolutely nothing wrong with the sound department.

IN CONCLUSION
If you are looking for a RPG to tide over your Nintendo DS, Final Fantasy III is probably your best bet, because though it isn't the greatest, it will still give you your role playing fix when you need to take a system on the road. Otherwise, unless you fall in that category or are a Final Fantasy fangirl or fanboy, then give it a rent first or pass altogether. It is good, but not the Final Fantasy good as we have become accustomed to in this day and age.

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