Because I will need people to cheer me on to keep playing. Not because I don't like FFIII (its my favorite of the NES era) but because playing on my computer is not very comfortable for me. Anyway, I started this file last year during Depression Moon's playthrough so here's a breakdown of what's happened so far.
My party is created! Inspired by Pitchfork's awesome retrospective of the series, I decided to name my party after some of my favorite musicians.
The leader is psychedelic genre creating former glam rock idol David Bowie.
Next is Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin cause everyone needs a rocking guitar.
Because its almost traditional for their to be at least one girl, I decided to choose one of the most ass kicking girls in 70s/80s rock, Joan Jett. She should easily be able to hold her own against the boys.
Finishing up the line-up is the lead singer of super awesome anthem rock gods Queen's Freddie Mercury.
So my first foray into the NES version of FFIII has me pretty stunned. I've heard the game seriously pushed the NES to its limits but I often feel that screeshots don't do it any justice. You kinda have to experience the game to understand the hooplah. Its graphically on par with FFIV in many places and the music is gorgeous. The battle system is also a vast improvement over the previous titles simply because it introduced the ability to auto-target so if two character attack the same creature and character one slays it, unlike the first two games where the party will continue to target the empty space, in FFIII, your second character will auto target the next available monster making planning out your attacks feel like a total gamble and increasing efficiency.
This boss hits pretty hard and you are very squishy, he's a surprisingly tough first boss if you were going to fight him fair. Instead I chuck my two ice items at him and knock him down a peg.
Bowie often set the bar for sambiguity in both his sexuality and his musical stylings, he tends to want the whole shebang if you know what I mean so, the Red Mage's Jack of all Trade seemed like a good fit.
Plant is a guitar genius and anyone who listens to Kashmir could tell you that what Plant does with that guitar is magical, combined with his brief interest in the occult, I felt it was perfect for him to be a Black Mage.
Joan is not going to sit idly by and be the goddamn medic, she's an ass kicking lady so we're going to buck the "girls are always white mages" trend and make her a beefy warrior.
Freddie really loves showing off his skin and I can't think of a class that fits his fashion sense more than a burly monk, besides I bet Mr. Mercury could totally kick anyone's ass in a fist fight.
Interesting, cause Ingus plays this part in the DS remake. Ascended Extra? Anyway, everyone in the town and castle are cursed, so while they were whining around about the Djnn, I looted both places for any extra item, I figure it as a fair trade. So I use the airship to get to the Sealed Cave to both track down the missing Princess Sara and beat up the Djnn for an inept kingdom... why does this sound so familiar...?
Looks like I found the princess, she wants to use the Mythril Ring she has to seal away the Djnn but she can't fight her way through the monsters, so she proposes a unique relationship.
Holy crap she's hot... where was her number again? B or A? I'm on a keyboard, smurf...
Final Fantasy III 201301131514064.png
So suffice to say that most of the monsters in this game really hate Joan Jett, apparently a lot of them like the Runaways and are still miffed about their break-up. So she dies... a lot. I make it to the Jinn and Sara proves to be useless cause the Jinn is too powerful to be contained so it looks like it's going to come down to an old fashioned negotiations... with fists.
So we beat down the Jinn and seal hm up, throw his cursed ass into Holy Water and watch him do his impression of the wicked witch from Wizard of Oz. Swants to come along but realizes she would just cramp the bands style, I mean David Bowie is Bishonen he counts as the cute chick, realizing Bowie only wants her for her boots and matching cape, Sara leaves the party. We chat up with the king who is so happy we saved his daughter and kingdom, he gives us a Canoe as a reward... Seriously? A smurfing Canoe? I swear this just feels so damn familiar...
I'm loving it so far! I haven't played this through myself (and have a few others in line before I get to it) so I'm looking forward to seeing how it pans out.
First Cid to join your party... unfortunately he's more Key Item than character... but he's Cid and he looks like a happy little gnome!
Anyway, there is a boulder preventing us from progressing so we have to talk to Tokka to get a Mythril Bow (more like Mythril Battering Ram installed on my...er Cid's airship.
Those who played the DS version, this is Refia's foster father.
Anyway we use the device and destroy the boulder by smashing my damn aiship into the rock. Apparently David Bowie was channeling his alcoholic drug abuse stage persona of the Duke at the time... I would have a screen cap but I was too shocked watching my damn airship blow up!
Anyway... after some light sobbing and a rule that Bowie can't drive anymore vehicles...
Final Fantasy III 201301131541575.png
Cid tries to perk me up by telling me where another airship could be obtained. I scrounge the city and find an Elixer, but Cid's wife needs it cause apparently she went boozing while her old man was out and has a massive and fatal hangover going on, apparently elixer's not only restore all health and mp, but cure hangovers. If only we could live in such a wonderful world of magic...
Cid is grateful allows me to rob his secret storehouse created to keep thieving rogues my band from coming in and trashing the place. Now it's time to go to a mountain?
Final Fantasy III 201301131553364.png
Stupid birds, I have Fire Magic now... ineffective? Oh yes, I'm playing the NES versions where magic can and will miss...
Anyway, I fight my way up to the top where Bahamut snatches me up and throws me in a nest, cause despite being an intelligent talking dragon, he now acts like a bird.
Final Fantasy III 201301131607042.png
He's less cute close up, and more "I'm going to rip you a new one" instead. Suffice to say we take the other unfortunate if a bit deranged person who was caught to be dragon food's advice, and RUN....
Yep... I was right. Even in my Menu screen he's trying to pan people out of their cash, he just needs a little 8-bit bowl or hat next to him to collect his funds.
So we take the bums advice and jump off the mountain, how this worked and how we survived with no injury whatsoever is really unknown. I guess we'll sum it up to Assertion 12.
So to get past the mountain range, Desh tells us we need to shrink down to size so we can meet the little people. Seems to me like this bum may be trying to lecture my band of rock legends into not forgetting where they come from and to re-connect with the notion that while they have legions of loyal undying fans, they mustn't forget that they are no different from them. To remember that its not the fame, money or drugs that you did all this for, it was the love of music that a lonely child playing on a musical instrument in their room that got you started...
I'm having a blast. I really loved the DS version but I think I can already safely say I love the original better.
I'll use the Ninja's and Sages, but I'm not going to do FEOK or try to max out HP with the Black Belt classes. Interesting tidbit, the party I'm using is the same one I used to beat FFI few months back. I'm also being reminded to finish my Job Class evaluation thread as I keep wanting to go back and rewrite some parts cause heavens to dickens, the Red Mage class is really different between both versions. I dare say that at least concerning the starting jobs, the DS version is really unbalanced. I have another update coming up, I'm currently dealing with the dwarves and the Fire Crystal, so I'll update soon about Vikings, Nepto, Demi-god rats, and the eternal bum Desh.
So when I left off, my crew shrunk down and met the "little people" and so I could feed somebody an antidote and take their super secret monster infested tunnel to the other side of the mountain and to some damn civilization. The party wandered until they met some vikings and well...
The viking are annoyed cause the big earthquake upset some sea monster and they can't go out to sea anymore. The captain of the ship offers the band hi ship if they can defeat the sea dragon. Course if he doesn't have a ship, then how can these viking go pillaging? Me thinks he's more interested in boozing or I've stumbled upon some pyramid scheme involving a summer viking day camp and one really annoyed camp councilor.
So the statue is missing a jeweled eye? Seriously? This Fragon is either Death the Kid in disguise or takes its Feng Shui very seriously. Looks like its the Mini brigade again.
A talking mouse? This should be easy... Or that's what I would have aid had this boss not kicked my ass three times. Seriously? I mean I defeated Magic Gods, Super Soldiers with Oedipus Complexes, Giant Space Whales, and countless Demon Lords and I get curb stomped by smurfing Mickey Mouse? Okay so I did go into this fight cocky, with only two mages thinking it would be enough but the rodents knows Level 2 elemental spells and they one shot me in Mini status. So I changed my Classes...
...and still got curbed stomp because I was underleveld. So after some "Grind Time" I came back and finally thumped the damn rat, which means I've got two things over Xemnas, I have a heart, and I beat Mickey Mouse.
So yeah, now I have a ship! The Enterprise is all mine and I shall bask in the glow of the Star Trek reference... okay I'm done basking. So Nepto goes crazy if he loses one of his jewels and now that I fixed that, he can sleep again and stop bothering people. So now it is time to do the most sensible thing I can do now that I have access to a ship. EXPLORE!!!
Well my first town was a bust, everyone is afraid of the Death St... er I mean Eldest Tree fortress and don't take kindly to strangers. So let's head out.
Damn it, I finally get a sweet ride and of course there is some asshole who has to come along and show me up. Well you know what jackass? You're just compensating for what you lack as a man!!!
Ancients? Seriously? Is that what they called themselves back when they were still around? We're not the Wyobite people, no we're the mother smurfing Ancients! Take that millennium of human civilization, only we shall be remembered!!! Yet seriously, they mention the Dark Warriors and the fall of their culture by flooding the world with Light, and then Desh mumbles something about feeling everything here is vaguely familiar but the party ignores him cause he's a homeless bum and it must be his crazy homeless ramblings...
Party: It's so much easier to rob people when there is no one around.
Desh: Um aren't you the Light Warriors, you know standing for truth and justice?
Party: Shut your pie hole you damn bum!!!
So much like Obi-Wan and Yoda, the Blind Gurgan people set my party straight and tell me I need to head to this Tower cause Desh has some business there and it will lead to the next part of my journey.
Look! Gears! Not be confused with Xenogears... So I wander the Tower and fight my way up to the top where a Medusa monster is waiting for me cause she's trying to overrun the reactor to this tower thing, and it apparently keeps the whole continent floating. So after thoroughly thrashing her, Desh remembers he is actually one of the Ancients. Yet instead of enlightening us on history or culture of his people, Desh instead chooses to dive into the reactor to "fix it".
Desh kind of vanishes and then after a few moments it dawns on the party that maybe the bum isn't coming back... I'm... I'm going to miss the guy... Sure he smelled funny and rambled about Ancients and needing booze all the time, and sure he stared at us with hungry eyes while we slept but... wait a minute what the hell am I talking about. The guy was downright creepy. Good riddance.
Oh my god! It's a Fat Chocobo! Listening to its theme again and being able to actually use it like it was meant to be really took me back to when I was in Middle School playing FFIV.