New graphics, but its true age shows
FF3 shows how much the franchise, as well as RPGs in general, have grown over the years. All the core elements of a Final Fantasy game are here. Jobs, air ships, dude called Cid, crystal warriors chosen to save the world from evil, chocobos and ultimate weapons.

The job system allows for easy party customisation. Any character can be any class and there are a lot of classes. If you want 4 melee classes you can do that. If you want 4 casters you can do that. If you want a balanced party you can also do that.Jobs gain levels when you use them and become more powerful as you use them. Job level is based on actions taken not exp gained so a lvl 1 white mage will still need 6 actions to reach level 2 whether they are fighting Bahamut or a Goblin. This makes the game very punishing to anyone who likes to change jobs often. Combined with a transition period after switching jobs which lasts 10 battles and you will find yourself wanting to stick with the same class for the majority of the game. Some classes don't become available until the end of the game and by then your job levels will be so high you probably won't want to switch.

World exploration leads to random battles, which are turn based, so nothing new here. This makes combat pretty simple; you either heal before they hit you, or after they hit you. Everyone else attacks/uses magic. Most physical classes have minimal difference between their abilities and you will usually just attack. Equipment can be found, but later in the game it is usually bought. This becomes very expensive and encourages A LOT of grind if you want good gear early on, or at all. Many players won't even bother buying the more powerful spells because they are so expensive.

Graphically the game is a fully 3D world and it looks nice enough. Character sprites are chibified with big heads and cutesy designs but they capture the original class designs well. Dungeons are 3D but the simplistic design of many of them makes the areas lack in atmosphere almost as if they were randomly generated. Enemy design is interesting and fits the genre well, the sprites look good and animations are mostly smooth.

The story is really where FF3 falls down. The game feels souless. The four player characters have names and are all orphans. That sums up their character development. They are souless shells you control, very little character or personality comes across. There is almost no plot or story involved in this game and that is a huge dissapointment. Half of the game I wasn't even sure what I was doing because there was also very little exposition. Towns lack personality and merely serve as locations to buy spells/weapons. Supporting characters are given as little attention as the playable ones and this leaves a huge hole in the game. I didn't care at all about any of these characters, they were just sprites.

The added wifi quest is simply a mailing quest to access the most powerful weapons, but this simply acts as a barrier to those without wifi or friends with the game, or at best, a burden to those with it. It offers no new gameplay or multiplayer content, just a hoop to jump through.

Final Fantasy 3 was a fun game to play through and graphically was very nice. Unfortunately the absence of a story or character development is a severe flaw which makes the experience feel empty and forgettable, especially compared to the increasingly complex stories of modern RPGs. With a little more love this could have been a great game. It is currently just a good game. The game play is fun enough and there is enough content to keep you going for 30+ hours. Fans of the old school RPG will enjoy the gameplay, but will probably crave a deeper story. People expecting a FF title as polished in every area as the more recent releases will probably be disappointed.

Yes! It's is The Final Fantasy
For those who seeking an original PRG, this is the game for you. It will drive you into the age of knight and magic when Bad guy rule the world and only you, the light warrior, could defeat the army of him. Classical plot, but very enjoy. I love it more than modern RPG in 3D world. And I wish Square-enix will keep transform FF V, FF VI into NDS.

old school rpg remake
A faithful remake of an old but very solid rpg originally for the Japanese nes with a few added bonuses such as wireless communication.
The 3D graphics are amazing for a nintendo DS game, the sound and music are both high quality and the gameplay is both solid and challenging.

Pleasantly surprised
I had seen mixed reviews about the game but finally decided to get it and I'm glad I did. It's been done really well. I'm really impressed with the graphics and gameplay. The only let down is the seriously dated storyline; by today's standards it's rather cliche, but thats to be expected with a remake of an older game. Definitely worth the purchase.

fun but HARD!
This was a really fun game to play, but as someone who doesn't like to use strategy guides, I found myself unable to get through the last challenges and never finished the game...