History YMMV / FinalFantasyIII

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** It took ''thirty'' years, but the 2021 Pixel Remaster finally remedies the notorious lack of saving in dungeons. Now you have auto-save and a permanent quick-save slot, so the infamous final dungeon does not need to be beaten in a single sitting, nor will you lose progress in the likely event of a game-over.
** The Pixel Remaster also removes the CP needed to change jobs from the Famicom version, and the transition phase between jobs from the remake, allowing characters to freely change jobs without either needing to grind for the right to change in the first place or penalties to their stats for a set number of battles afterwards respectively.

* NeverLiveItDown: [[ThatOneLevel The final dungeon]], and the fact that you [[CheckpointStarvation can't save the game aside from the outerworld]]. If people are going to have a discussion of the difficulty of this game, chances are they’ll mention these two elements. Keep in mind, III is actually more ''[[SequelDifficultyDrop manageable]]'' than [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI the first]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyII second]] game in some ways, the problem is the ''there are no save points'', which prevents people from saving the game in the dungeon, making it a one-way trip.
** Despite never appearing in the game itself, Noah will never live down the fact that he alone is responsible for driving Xande to villainy.

** It took ''thirty'' years, but the 2021 Pixel Perfect Remaster finally remedies the notorious lack of saving in dungeons. Now you have auto-save and a permanent quick-save slot, so the infamous final dungeon does not need to be beaten in a single sitting, nor will you lose progress in the likely event of a game-over.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation/FinalFantasy Here.]]

* IdiotPlot: The entire plot of the game could've been avoided if Noah thought for a second about his "reward" for Xande, or allowed him to switch rewards with a pupil that doesn't think of mortality as a curse.
* ItWasHisSled: Back when the game first released, the revelation that Xande was not the end of the game and that the Cloud of Darkness was the TrueFinalBoss was a substantial twist for a fairly straightforward game that wasn't as dark or twist-y as its predecessor. Thanks to PopCultureOsmosis and the [=CoD=]'s role in both ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', however, ''everyone'' knows about the infamously super hard final boss fight of ''III'' now. That, and [[ThatOneLevel the Crystal Tower.]]

** The DS remake gave the game a graphical revamp with 3D models, balanced the job system, fixed several bugs, gave the party names and distinct designs, and added several extra bosses and an arranged soundtrack. Much like the ''Final Fantasy Origins'' versions of ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI Final Fantasy]]'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'', this version became the basis for later ports outside of emulated [=ROM=]s of the Famicom game.

** The Pixel Perfect Remaster also removes the CP needed to change jobs from the Famicom version, and the transition phase between jobs from the remake, allowing characters to freely change jobs without either needing to grind for the right to change in the first place or penalties to their stats for a set number of battles afterwards respectively.

* SequelDifficultyDrop: [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer No really]]. For all the flak the game gets when it comes to the difficulty, to some extent, it can be easier than the previous two games:

** At the end of the game, it is revealed that there must be a [[BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil balance between light and darkness]], and the Cloud of Darkness is released when either grows too strong -- a thousand years ago, a flood of ''light'' nearly destroyed another world when its balance was disrupted, and four Warriors of Darkness had to defeat the Cloud of Darkness and drive the light back. All of this information and these ideas about DarkIsNotEvil and LightIsNotGood are relegated entirely to the last hour of the game, which up until that point is a standard story about the [[LightIsGood Warriors of Light]] defeating a DarkLord and driving back the [[DarkIsEvil Darkness]].

* ItWasHisSled: Back when the game first released, the revelation that Xande was not the end of the game and that the Cloud of Darkness was the TrueFinalBoss was a substantial twist for a fairly straightforward game that wasn't as dark or twist-y as its predecessor. Thanks to PopCultureOsmosis and the CoD's role in both ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyDissidia'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', however, ''everyone'' knows about the infamously super hard final boss fight of ''III'' now. That, and [[ThatOneLevel the Crystal Tower.]]

* NightmareFuel: The Nepto Dragon's design in the original Famicom version is [[http://static4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080217165631/finalfantasy/images/c/ca/FF3NES-NeptoDragon.gif very unsettling]].

** Also applies to the ''Pixel Remaster'' version compared to prior versions. The Capacity Point and Job Adjustment Phase systems from the previous releases have been dropped, allowing the player to change jobs without repercussions; arrows now have unlimited ammo; a minimap shows all the secret passages in dungeons; several jobs have new abilities, and some already-existing abilities have been buffed; and the final dungeon contains a few healing points.

* DarthWiki/WhatAnIdiot: Noah, the master who trained Xande, Unei, and Doga, decides to give his pupils a gift as a reward for completing their training.
** '''You'd Expect''': Noah would give them all the same gift, or at least one he ''knew'' they'd like (which is arguably the point of gift-giving). And if they object to their gifts, let them switch it around.
** '''Instead''': Doga gets granted immense magical power, Unei gains dominion over dreams, and Xande is rendered mortal.
** '''The Result''': Xande is ''pissed'' at getting his immortality taken from him (''especially'' as it was done so without his permission), seeks out the [[GreaterScopeVillain Cloud of Darkness]], and becomes the bad guy.

* WhatAnIdiot: Noah, the master who trained Xande, Unei, and Doga, decides to give his pupils a gift as a reward for completing their training.

* WhatAnIdiot: Noah, the master who trained Xande, Unei, and Doga, decides to give his pupils a gift as a reward for completing their training.
** '''You'd Expect''': Noah would give them all the same gift, or at least one he ''knew'' they'd like (which is arguably the point of gift-giving). And if they object to their gifts, let them switch it around.
** '''Instead''': Doga gets granted immense magical power, Unei gains dominion over dreams, and Xande is rendered mortal.
** '''The Result''': Xande is ''pissed'' at getting his immortality taken from him (''especially'' as it was done so without his permission), seeks out the [[GreaterScopeVillain Cloud of Darkness]], and becomes the bad guy.

* ThatOneLevel: Do you like [[LevelGrinding grinding]]? No? Well, then you better get used to it, because you'll need to do a ''lot'' of it in order to get through [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon final dungeon]] without having to retread it every single time you die. One of the bosses, at least in the remake, has high strength and attacks [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard three times per turn.]] If he decides to target your dedicated healer, you might as well reload your save and climb back up. The four optional bosses have over 90,000 HP, three times more than the bosses you've faced up until that point. Actually, the bosses aren't so much "optional" as they remove the [[LuckBasedMission luck-based]] element from the upcoming FinalBoss. (The Cloud of Darkness has a TotalPartyKill attack which can only be countered by beating the four bosses in the area. Unless you're prepared to spend hours LevelGrinding you're going to get trapped in a HealingLoop even if your party has Sages) Worse yet, there are [[CheckpointStarvation zero opportunities to save]]! It's so notorious that most walkthroughs and people in the ''Final Fantasy'' community suggest that you grind your characters up to level 60. For reference, if you've been playing normally with no opportunities for grinding, you ought to be in your late forties. Even [[WordOfGod Sakaguchi himself]] called this dungeon horrible! Sadly, the DS remake also failed to curb the infamous final dungeons' difficulty.
** Fortunately, this is not the case in the 2021 ''Pixel Remaster'' version for the most part, which adds quick saves, making the final dungeon gauntlet a lot less grueling, as you can save anywhere and you don't have to do it on a single sitting, and even after you're past the [[PointOfNoReturn point of no return after triggering the cutscene with the mirror]], there's newly added healing points in the shape of the [[DarkIsNotEvil Dark Crystals]], overall improving the experience and lessening the perceived pain from the final dungeon.
** The Cave of Darkness, especially in the Pixel Remaster. All of the enemies in the dungeon split if they're physically attacked by any one not a Dark Knight. So while the obvious solution is to change some of your characters into Dark Knight, the other problem is that the equipment they can use is severely limited, requiring you to go to another town. Except they don't sell much equipment for them to make them worthwhile compared to what other physical attackers you may have. On top of this, the dungeon itself has 11 floors and is filled with hidden passages all over, some of which lead to dead ends or loops. And when you get to the end? You have a fairly challenging boss fight.

* NeverLiveItDown: [[ThatOneLevel The final dungeon]], and the fact that you [[CheckpointStarvation can't save the game aside from the outerworld]]. If people are going to have a discussion of the difficulty of this game, chances are they’ll mention these two elements. Keep in mind, III is actually ''[[SequelDifficultyDrop easier]]'' than [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI the first]] and [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyII second]] game in some ways, the problem is the ''there are no save points'', which prevents people from saving the game in the dungeon, making it a one-way trip.

** While there's the return of the magic charges from the first game, the game has more of a balance than the first game to not make it too wasteful.

** SequelDifficultySpike: Combined with DifficultySpike for the game itself, [[DisappointingLastLevel the final dungeon]] is considered to be the most unforgiving part of the game, and it's not only harder than the first two games for this, but it's probably among the hardest final dungeons of the series.

* ThatOneLevel: Do you like [[LevelGrinding grinding]]? No? Well, then you better get used to it, because you'll need to do a ''lot'' of it in order to get through [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon final dungeon]] without having to retread it every single time you die. One of the bosses, at least in the remake, has high strength and attacks [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard three times per turn.]] If he decides to target your dedicated healer, you might as well reload your save and climb back up. The four optional bosses have over 90,000 HP, three times more than the bosses you've faced up until that point. Actually, the bosses aren't so much "optional" as they remove the [[LuckBasedMission luck-based]] element from the upcoming FinalBoss. (The Cloud of Darkness has a TotalPartyKill attack which can only be countered by beating the four bosses in the area. Unless you're prepared to spend hours LevelGrinding you're going to get trapped in a HealingLoop even if your party has Sages) Worse yet, there are [[CheckpointStarvation zero opportunities to save]]! It's so notorious that most walkthroughs and people in the ''Final Fantasy'' community suggest that you grind your characters up to level 60. For reference, if you've been playing normally with no opportunities for grinding, you ought to be in your late forties. Even [[WordOfGod Sakaguchi himself]] called this dungeon horrible! Even the DS remake also failed to curb the infamous final dungeons' difficulty.
** Fortunately, this is not the case in the ''Pixel Remaster'' version, which adds quick saves, making the dungeon a lot less grueling, as you can save anywhere and you don't have to do it on a single sitting, and even after you're past the [[PointOfNoReturn point of no return after triggering the cutscene with the mirror]], there's newly added healing points in the shape of the [[DarkIsNotEvil Dark Crystals]], overall improving the experience and lessening the perceived pain from the final dungeon.