Nintendo DS - FF3

[Xiahou]

Has anyone played this?

I read some reviews and saw some nice looking videos/screenies on the above link. The only gripe that I hear over and over again is that the story is simplistic.

I'm thinking about buying it to pass the hours I'll be spending on planes/in airports for a business trip next month. I don't need a great melodramatic plot, but I'd like one that can at least hold my interest and keep me playing. Also, the tedium of random encounters is something that I'm worried may get boring eventually.. although, I seem to remember the older FF games usually had an item you could get to decrease encounters if you wanted to.

Anyhow, anyone had any first-hand experience with the game?

Personally, I think DragonQuest IX will be one to look out for- look at those beautiful screenies. Unfortunately, I don't think there's even been a US release date announced yet.

[Bijo]

If I'm not mistaken, the random encounters were taken care of but I'm not so certain about that. They're most likely still present.

Anyway, I don't really have first-hand experience of it though a friend who'd visited America brought back a copy of it couple months ago. It looks very good and appears very fun. Probably a good one to get if you like FF.

[frogbeastegg]

This review seems to give a good overview as to what's what. Nice new graphics, old style gameplay and plot. Random encounters seem to be intact and at the same frequency as in the original game, i.e. quite high by modern standards, also comparatively difficult. There's a comments section linked at the bottom of the review so you can get quite a few other opinions.

I picked up a copy because it was so stupidly cheap (play.com, £17.99!) I thought it had to be a mistake and it would be back up to £24.99 very shortly, but I won't be playing it until I finish the GBA version of FFVI.

Actually, there's a possiblity for you. If you haven't already played FFVI get that instead. You can play GBA games on the DS.

Dragon Quest is on my wanted list too. The lack of an impending release doesn't worry me too much at present; I'm still playing through VIII.

Have you seen Magical Starsign? Another entry on my RPG to-play pile. It sounds like its fun to play, a bit different. Final Fantasy Chocobo Tales just came out too. Mini game filled card battling FF based weirdness. Opinion of it is generally favourable.

[Xiahou]

Thanks for the information folks. Sounds like less than stellar reviews, but I may try it still just out of curiosity. I haven't ever been a hardcore FF fan and missed many of the iterations, but one of my all-time favorites was always FF4 (or FF2 originally in the US). I thought it had a great story for the time- guess I should really pick that one up on the GBA at some point as well.

Am I the only one that doesnt really care for playing GBA games on the DS? -especially with the carts sticking out the bottom of the lite. I still do it from time to time, but if I was ever going to get into a long RPG I'd have to dust off my SP.

[frogbeastegg]

No, you're not the only one. I play mine on a silver GBA micro. Gorgeous little thing - the screen is outstanding, it's light and comfy for me to hold, the buttons and d pad feel spot on, and it's tiny. I was a bit dubious about buying one at the start because it semed so wasteful to buy yet another machine to play GBA games, but modern backlit technology has spoiled me so I can't stand my old original generation SP's front lit screen and I find playing GBA games on my DS uncomfortable. I knew where I could get a micro brand new for £31.50 so I got one on a semi impulse. It was love at first play

If you liked (assuming you played) Dragon Quest VIII then there's a good chance you may like FFIII, since in many respects DQVIII is an old school game.

[Xiahou]

So... I bought it anyway.

Since then, I've played it about 5hrs and so far it's been really quite good. Technically, the game is well-done. There's some amazing FMV (for the DS), and the in-game graphics, although cutesy, are also quite good. I also really enjoy the music- I usually end up putting on headphones so I don't have to listen to it through the tinny DS speakers.

Occasionally, the random encounters can bog the game down, but normally they don't stand out as an annoyance. The story obviously isn't as epic as the other games, but it's still enough to keep me interested in playing. I've unlocked my first crop of available jobs and they're serving to help keep things interesting as well. So far, I've tried monk, white mage, warrior, and red mage- but the red mage didn't get enough spell points to be an offensive caster so I switched her to a black mage at the expense of being able to use good weapons/armor.

That worked fine until I started having to play a segment in 'mini' form where you can do little or no melee damage. The monk really started to stink at that point since he couldn't do melee damage and still can't wear decent armor- so I changed him to a red mage. Now, he can do minor healing/offensive spells as well as usegood weapons & armor. So far, so good.

[Xiahou]

No, you're not the only one. I play mine on a silver GBA micro. Gorgeous little thing - the screen is outstanding, it's light and comfy for me to hold, the buttons and d pad feel spot on, and it's tiny. I was a bit dubious about buying one at the start because it semed so wasteful to buy yet another machine to play GBA games, but modern backlit technology has spoiled me so I can't stand my old original generation SP's front lit screen and I find playing GBA games on my DS uncomfortable. I knew where I could get a micro brand new for £31.50 so I got one on a semi impulse. It was love at first play

Way to go, you talked me into buying one.

They really are amazing little systems aren't they? The graphics look so much sharper than they did on my older SP. Apparently, the Micro has been discontinued in favor of the updated SP- it took a little bit, but I managed for find a new one for $50US. Well worth it imo.

Back to the original topic(FF3), I'm pretty well stuck in the Cave of Tides- I've wiped 3x when going up against Kraken and with the save system, it means you have to start the whole dungeon over whenever you get wiped out. Hardcore indeed.