Final Fantasy VI Advanced (1994) Square Enix

Final Fantasy III was released in the US on 10/20/94. It was actually the sixth in the series in Japan but this ain't Japan. I had grown up on Zelda, Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, & Ultima for the NES and the SNES but Final Fantasy III was something totally different entirely. This was melodrama, death, destruction, love, loss, a psychotic villian, a large and varied cast of kick ass heroes & heroines, hidden characters, some warped humor, and some truly difficult profanity inducing boss battles. Final Fantasy III or VI or whatever you want to call it is a completely awesome RPG that is a true classic of the genre.

I haven't played it since 94 but had been hankering to pick it up since I got a DS. For the last week I haven't touched my 360. At first I thought the game was much easier than I remembered. Levelling was pretty smooth and for some reason I remembered locations of items and the hidden characters. Combat - even boss battles - was a snap. Then I hit this point in the story where everything goes to hell and damn it the difficulty level ramped up.

The story is really frickin' awesome and I can't remember the last time I had such a good time with a Final Fantasy title, even VII. The cast of characters in pretty large - not Suikoden large but still. Sure you can only use four at a time but character management is pretty simple but with enough fiddling to satisfy stat-line whores.

The graphics are good but in some ways I wish I could actually play this on a TV because the sprites are so wee. The soundtrack is still memorable and oddly catchy.

All in all if you see any copy of this game pick it up, even if you have to buy a SNES, GBA, or DS to play it. That is of course if you're a RPG fan.