History VideoGame / FinalfantasyIII

* NintendoHard: It isn't as hard as the [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI the first]] or [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyII second]] game, but it's still pretty challenging:

** The game's magic system also kicks things up a notch: Rather than the Mana system found in later games, characters are capped at casting a certain number of Level 1 spells, a certain number of Level 2 spells, etc. based on level. Mana isn't restored when you switch jobs and there's no such thing as Ether, so you have to use either the extremely valuable Elixir or a Tent to restore magic. The DS version actually ''reduces'' Mana, especially for low-level spells. This is much worse than it sounds, since Cure and Cura are extremely valuable in the late game because they're not competing with Raise or other high-level White Magic for MP, and high-end black magic is overkill against most random encounters.
** Phoenix Downs cannot be bought in stores in either version. You can only find them in treasure chests, by stealing them from rust birds, or in hidden locations. [[ThisIsGonnaSuck There are about 30 of them to find throughout the entire game -- unless you use a thief to steal an infinite number from the rust birds on the dragon mountain.]]

* KnifeNut: The Thief and Ninja classes.
* KungFuFighting: The Monk and Black Belt classes.

* JokeItem: The Gold Sword has an attack power of ''one,'' making it the weakest weapon in the game, but [[VendorTrash it can be sold for 10,000 gil,]] logically enough for a valuable yet soft metal.

* VendorTrash: The golden swords you find in Goldor's mansion are utterly useless for fighting with, but merchants will happily buy them from you for an extortionate sum.

** The end game gauntlet has this is spades. [[CheckPointStarvation Zero save-points]] ''anywhere'' once you enter the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon? Check. All the mooks are BossInMooksClothing? Check. Actual bosses having ''99,999 HP?'' Check. The FinalBoss having a TotalPartyKill attack that requires you to have an obscure piece of equipment only gotten from fighting four optional bosses in the area? Check. The optional bosses getting ''three hard-hitting attacks per turn?'' Check... The list goes on and on. [[ThisIsGonnaSuck Have fun reclimbing the lengthy final dungeon every time you die.]]

* HardLevelsEasyBosses: The Famicom version has shades of this. If you can make your way through CheckpointStarvation, GoddamnBats, and [[WolfpackBoss Wolfpack]] [[BossInMooksClothing Bosses in Mooks Clothing]] without bleeding your mages dry, the bosses have HP you can shear off in five turns. Contrast the 3D versions, where bosses act twice a turn and have their HP multiplied by ten.

* StandardStatusEffects: The Black Mage and Magus classes.

* BonusBoss: [[spoiler:The guardians of the Dark Warriors, who will help in the final battle if freed.]] They are not completely optional in the DS remake, but the remake does add [[spoiler:[[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere the Iron Giant.]]]]

* RealityEnsues: Gold swords are about as effective as they would be in real life, and they're also just as valuable if you want to sell them.

** Meanwhile, the DS remake automatically heals the party after a boss fight, which is a blessing during [[spoiler:the [[BossBonanza final gauntlet in the World of Darkness]]]]. The PSP versions onward, including the Pixel Remaster also add an autobattle feature which repeats the last action taken, making it ideal for grinding levels and job levels.

** In the official manga for the original game, there was a female Onion Knight named Melfi.

* GenderedOutfit: Refia's Job outfits are sometimes at-odds with the three boys of the group, such as the [[http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/a/ab/FF3-Thief.png Thief,]] [[http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/a/a8/FF3-Summoner.png Summoner,]] and [[http://images.wikia.com/finalfantasy/images/b/b9/FF3-Ninja.png Ninja.]] It's not hard to pick her out of the line-up.

* AdaptationDisplacement: Invoked by WordOfGod, though subject to a FlipFlopOfGod -- some materials state the four orphans from Ur are [[{{Retcon}} now]] considered the same characters as the DS heroes. Spin-offs still use the Onion Knight as the game's representative hero[[note]]Though ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy 012'' has Luneth and Ingus skins as DLC[[/note]], and he's mentioned to be one of the four orphans from Ur, even though in appearance and personality he's a distinct character from any of the DS heroes.

Little do the orphans know, they're about to stumble on a power which will change their lives. With the crystals of light sensing that darkness is about to take over, they [[SealedGoodInACan bestow their powers onto the four]]. It's now up to these kids, so inexperienced that they're called Onion Kids/Knights (after the Japanese term ''negibozu,'' literally a green onion sprout but also meaning a callow youth), to save the world.

Similar to ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyII II]]'', your party consists of 4 nondescript characters who can become whatever you want them to be. By far the biggest innovation in ''III'' lies in the JobSystem, which builds on what ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'' rolled out two years earlier. Although ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' has [[CharacterClassSystem character]] and {{prestige|class}} classes, it does not feature an interchangeable system like this game does. You can move all of your Onion Kids into any job at any time, albeit for the right amount of [[PointBuildSystem Capacity Points]] (won by fighting battles and spent whenever you change jobs). ''III'''s Job system set the framework for ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyV V]]'', ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2 X-2]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/IvaliceAlliance Ivalice Alliance]]''.

* AdaptationDisplacement: Invoked by WordOfGod, though subject to a FlipFlopOfGod -- some materials state the four orphans from Ur are now considered the same characters as the DS heroes, and the Onion Knights/Onion Kids are CanonDiscontinuity. However, spin-offs still use the Onion Knight as the game's representative hero[[note]]Though ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy 012'' has Luneth and Ingus skins as DLC[[/note]], and he's mentioned to be one of the four orphans from Ur, even though in appearance and personality he's a distinct character from any of the DS heroes.

** Meanwhile, the DS remake automatically heals the party after a boss fight, which is a blessing during [[spoiler: the [[BossBonanza final gauntlet in the World of Darkness]]]]. The PSP versions onward, including the Pixel Remaster also add an autobattle feature which repeats the last action taken, making it ideal for grinding levels and job levels.

** The World of Darkness' random encounters include enemies with double the hit points of ''bosses'' from the previous dungeon. The mini-bosses have triple. And the random encounters can ambush you and hit you with Meteor, which ''will'' kill at least one party member before you can do anything at all. [[spoiler: One of the random encounters is Xande's Soul, which is ''more powerful'' than Xande, who you fought just before entering the World of Darkness and who probably gave you a lot of trouble. The World of Darkness isn't messing around: it ''will'' kill you.]]

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: One of the final bosses, Zande (straight romanization) /Xande (DS translation).

* StealthPun: The Onion Knights / Kids. The Japanese word for onion can be read as a callow youth.

** In the original Famicom version, the "Onion Knight" ultimate class didn't exist as a separate class -- it was just that the weak, no abilities starting class "Onion Kid" got super-high stats at Level 90 and up, and was able to equip the ultimate Onion equipment, which granted huge stats bonuses itself. So the class becomes useless as soon as the first set of jobs becomes available -- unless you powerlevel, at which point it becomes the ultimate killing machine.

** Notably, Doga and Unei, who got ultimate magical power and power over dreams respectively, point out that their gift pales in comparison to Xande's gift of mortality. Given the fact that you have to [[spoiler: fight and kill both of them, but they both continue to live afterwards, for a specific definition of living]], implies that they may be on to something.

** Meanwhile, the DS remake automatically heals the party after a boss fight, which is a blessing during [[spoiler: the [[BossBonanza final gauntlet in the World of Darkness]]. The PSP versions onward, including the Pixel Remaster also add an autobattle feature which repeats the last action taken, making it ideal for grinding levels and job levels.

For a long time this game was considered one of the 'lost' ''Final Fantasy'' games, as it was [[NoExportForYou not released outside of Japan]] for many years; after ''II'' and ''V'' were finally released in English (in 2003 and 1999, respectively), ''III'' stood as the last Japan-only mainline entry. In 2006, it was finally remade for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, with more plot and characterization, thus exposing the game to a wider audience. The DS remake was again tweaked to improve some gameplay issues and has been ported to the [[UsefulNotes/IOSGames iOS]], [[UsefulNotes/AndroidGames Android]], and [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable PSP]], as well as PC via UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}.

** The remake buffs just about every non-Sage/Ninja job, while nerfing those two jobs. As a result, jobs no longer follow a SortingAlgorithmOfWeaponEffectiveness they had in the NES version.

* BalanceBuff: Another plus is that they made mages truly dangerous, probably moreso than in any other ''FF'' game past or present: In ''I'', they were limited to only a few castings (there was no way to restore [[{{Mana}} MP]] apart from {{Trauma Inn}}s), and in ''II'' they were only useful for their [[OneHitKill Death]] spells, and were only there to haste and heal while other party members attacked bosses...who were immune to Death spells. In this game, mages can adapt to whatever situation the game throws at them. Useful status ailments like Shade (paralyzes), Blind, Sleep, and Break 2 (petrifies) are all included. They also have access to the now-familiar Meteo, Holy, Bio, Quake, Aero, and the almighty Summons: Franchise staples such as Bahamut, Leviathan, Titan, Ifrit, Ramuh, Shiva, and Odin all make their debut as summons here.

* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: The Dragoon class. Plus, you know, Bahamut.

* ZettaiRyouiki: Refia as a Devout and Scholar. And for bonus points, Scholar gives her {{Meganekko}} glasses and GirlishPigtails.

* TrialAndErrorGameplay: This game gives you absolutely no clue as to the pros and cons of the jobs you choose.
* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: The World of Darkness.

For a long time this game was considered one of the 'lost' ''Final Fantasy'' games, as it was [[NoExportForYou not released outside of Japan]] for many years; after ''II'' and ''V'' were finally released in English (in 1999 and 2003, respectively), ''III'' stood as the last Japan-only mainline entry. In 2006, it was finally remade for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, with more plot and characterization, thus exposing the game to a wider audience. The DS remake was again tweaked to improve some gameplay issues and has been ported to the [[UsefulNotes/IOSGames iOS]], [[UsefulNotes/AndroidGames Android]], and [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable PSP]], as well as PC via UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}.

Little do the orphans know, they're about to stumble on a power which will change their lives. With the crystals of light sensing that darkness is about to take over, they [[ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest bestow their powers onto the four]]. It's now up to these kids, so inexperienced that they're called Onion Kids/Knights (after the Japanese term ''negibozu,'' literally a green onion sprout but also meaning a callow youth), to save the world.