Final Fantasy III previews

Overall an excellent game – a superbly done remake that really does justice to the original. Be prepared to put in the hard yards levelling up though – once you start to fall behind in a battle it's not easy to pick yourself up (limited Phoenix Downs etc). The job system is great and keeps things interesting throughout, the only downside is you pretty much have to have a white mage most of the time, as the enemies tend to do fairly substantial damage. While the character/story development is obviously not up to the same level as some of the newer games, it's still very nicely done and clearly has been revamped from the original version. The great thing about this game is it WILL keep you going for hours, days, months, unlike a lot of the other DS games out there. This alone makes it worth the (kinda steep) purchase price. Highly recommended.

Not sure what the other person is confused about the save system for. It's pretty standard. You can save outside, but can't save in towns or dungeons. Unlike some of the newer FF (which I admittedly haven't played) games there also aren't any special camp areas in dungeons. In fact, you can't camp at all, to recover you go to a pool or inn in town.

As for the actual game, it's quite tough at points, especially during the second dungeon if you don't level up a bit before entering. It's not too bad though. Later on are a couple of areas where the next dungeon in the storyline is a bit tough but if you just go explore some of the recently accessible side areas and then return to the next area it tends to be fine. About 16 hours into it and I haven't had to go grind to level yet, just go and explore other areas and then return to where I was.

Expect it to be slightly tougher than the newer games, or at least different. You can't buy phoenix downs in any stores, and you can't camp to recover. Very early on there are no reviving shrines so you'll need to use what few phoenix downs you find to revive party members.

Looks very good for a DS game.

You can use the d-pad/buttons or the stylus to control everything. Nothing requires one or the other which I really like. The stylus is fun but gets tiring after a while.

This is the most beautiful looking DS game released PERIOD.

A couple of annoyances though. Post battle celebrations are static, that is there is no animation on the character(s). Also during battle when you attack you character does not move from the spot they are on and you just see an animated sword slash and you magically hit an enemy a few metres away. Also, the background used for battle is the same no matter where you are in the area you are in, so even though the game is in 3D you don't fight where you see yourself on the screen and instead you get a generic backdrop for that area.

There's a weird save system to. You can sometimes save using the SAVE function, but other times it only let's you quicksave. If you choose to quicksave the game will tell you to power off your DS when it's done. To load your quicksave you need to reboot the game and select CONTINUE (not LOAD game, weird), and also once you have loaded your quicksave it is LOST forever…

But apart from these minor annoyances FF3 is exactly what you'd expect from a Final Fantasy game (except of course that this is a really old FF game with a fresh coat of paint). The one change appears to be a ZOOM button which let's you find hidden areas or items hidden in objects.