Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster (PC) review "Square to its player base: Get a job!"

I didn't feel like I had to play the first two Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster entries so much as “get through” them. I'm honestly way burnt out on the original title, mainly because it comes across as quaint nowadays. As for the second installment, its previous iterations never captivated me. Both its balancing and level-building systems underwhelm and leave the experience feeling too experimental. Sure, it places a firmer emphasis on plot than its predecessor, but it also features a one-dimensional main antagonist who's only ever referred to as “Emperor.” The series doesn't truly start to warm up until its third act...

No, I'm not saying Final Fantasy III Pixel Remaster (which I'll call FFIII from here on because I'm lazy) is a totally spellbinding mesh of roleplaying goodness and fantasy storytelling, as some folks like to say about this franchise in general. Rather, it takes the best parts of the primary affair, tosses in some new features that actually add to the finished product, and steps up the series' narrative qualities a tad. In a lot of ways, it is an alternate retelling of the first title, where four nobodies become the fabled Heroes of Light, thus embarking on an odyssey to rid the world of the evil causing it to wither.

As always, you smash wicked monsters with a snappy turn-based combat system that's about as easy to figure out as blinking or breathing. When a warrior's turn comes up, you select a command like “fight,” “item,” or a special, job-exclusive technique, and your pixelated pal performs that precise maneuver. Plus, you can expedite the proceedings by initiating an automated mode that executes the last commands given, along with a fast-forward mechanism.



This time, though, you don't select jobs for your nameless party right out of the gate. Instead, they all start as basic “onion knights” (“freelancers” in the DS remake) and gain additional jobs as the campaign advances. Similar to its inspiration, your journey revolves around securing elemental crystals that have been imperiled by the forces of evil. By toppling bosses at various points and revitalizing the crystals, you gain new jobs. Where before you only had onion knight available, later phases see you adding white mage, black mage, dragoon, monk, bard, and a whole slew of others. Plus, you gain advanced versions of early classes later on, thus replacing your white mages with devouts, your monks with black belts, your evokers with summoners, and so on.

Oh, and your characters gain job levels in addition to their standard ones. Yes, classic level-building is back, where you gain experience from each random encounter instead of bolstering stats with use, a la FFII. However, your gain additional bonuses by strengthening your proficiency in a job via initiating commands. After so many successful moves in combat, you gain a job level, thus bumping up your attack or magic power, or any other relevant statistic.

More than anything, FFIII's job system sets it apart from the other 8-bit era entries and adds a gracious amount of depth. Not only do you get to toy around with a variety of characters who can perform differing duties in battle, but you have multiple methods at your disposal for dealing with various situations. For instance, if you find you're not dealing enough damage to a boss, you might consider switching out some jobs to either exploit its elemental weakness or dish out more physical punishment. Hell, you might even need a particular type of support just to keep you alive longer, steering you away from overusing the old “only select fight” method.



Unfortunately, some of the classes don't add much to the title and can be easily ignored. Bard and geomancer are neat little jobs to fiddle with and arguably useful, but they don't really make or break you ability to advance. The same can be said for dark knight, which is both cool and limited.

“Both cool and limited” is a recurring theme here. The world you visit in FFIII shows promise, placing you on a continent floating in the sky. From there, you set out on a mission with all kinds of creative choices, from a segment where you shrink yourself to advance through a tiny tunnel to a moment where fight a famous gorgon from Greek mythology atop a tower to quell a whirlpool. You also rescue a king and his men from a charismatic skeleton and oust a djinn asserting a stranglehold over another kingdom. This is all standard fare for a Final Fantasy adventure, and yet it all feels just right, like a snug, old pair of slippers.

However, you don't get much freedom with this creativity. You mosey from your little hovel to the aforementioned kingdom and its genie problem, stopping there only because a bolder stymies you. From here, you only get a few places to visit, and advancing any part of the campaign only grants you so many areas you can check out. Even when you open the sea up or gain a new airship, maybe two or three new locations pop up for you.



And yet, because of this you don't feel like you're bumping around in the dark, talking to literally every NPC to get clues for your next destination. The game guides you better than most RPGs from its time, but at the cost of tightening its rail.

If you've never delved into old-school roleplayers, I will caution you not to expect a modern Final Fantasy level of yarn-weaving. This one skimps on fleshing out its main entourage in favor presenting bite-size personalities for a supporting cast. Cid, for instance, is a lovable old coot who looks like a garden gnome, while another guy named Desch takes the role of admirable warrior who may just have to sacrifice himself in order for you to progress. No, this isn't a playable novel or anything deep like that. The tale is more there to add a bit of flavor to the segments you play, and in that respect it does just fine.

That said, this FFIII hits all the notes it ought to, allowing you to revisit this gem without downloading an NES emulator and a translated ROM—not that I'll look down my nose at you if you do so. You can finally experience the 2D version of this oldie with added pizzazz and fewer awkward 3D cutscenes. That alone makes this one worth picking up.

Staff review by Joseph Shaffer (November 09, 2024) Rumor has it that Joe is not actually a man, but a machine that likes video games, horror movies, and long walks on the beach. His/Its first contribution to HonestGamers was a review of Breath of Fire III.