#3: Final Fantasy III

Released In: 1994
Developer: Square
Publisher: Square

      One thousand years ago, warring gods created powerful magical beings called Espers and sent them against each other. In the vicious battles that ensued, the world was left in complete ruin. Most of humanity was destroyed, and the Espers were thought to have been completely destroyed. As the generations passed, the story passed in legend, and the magic that had destroyed the world was nearly forgotten. But it was not completely forgotten. The Empire, led by the evil Gestahl and his top general Kefka, has learned of the magic of old and they hope to use it to conquer the world. And when the Empire finds a frozen Esper in an old mine, that plan begins to comes to full fruition. Now, the only ones who stand in the way of the Empire's plans are a motley group of unlikely rebel heroes... can they possibly succeed? This game is really Final Fantasy VI.

Syd Lexia: I fucking love Final Fantasy III, but Kefka is a severely overrated villain. If America had gotten a release of Final Fantasy V, I seriously doubt Kefka would be as revered as he is, because he's the same damn character as Lord Exdeath. Blowing entire cities and being massively psychotic? That was Exdeath's bit before it was Kefka's. Also, Exdeath has a way cooler name.

greeneyedzeke: As good as its immediate predecessor was, Final Fantasy III marked the epitome of Super NES excellence from SquareSoft. Eschewing the confined linearity of Final Fantasy II (III actually let you pick which party you wanted to follow and the order in which you chose to do so!), the game upped the RPG ante in every possible way. The cast was bigger, the world more varied, and the situations were equal parts incredible and bizarre. Hell, what other game made you successfully sing an opera to continue on in the quest?

Final Fantasy III has my favorite soundtrack of any game in the series (the musical downgrade – minor content edits notwithstanding - is the only thing stopping the Game Boy Advance remake from trumping the original) The graphics made use of subtle flourishes to bring the world to life, while the character sprites were way more expressive than should have been possible.

So, yeah, as awesome as Final Fantasy II and Secret of Mana were, and as cool a concept as Chrono Trigger held, Final Fantasy III is the RPG that defines the Super NES.

Valdronius: I'm not going to say a lot about this game at this point in time, as I have much more to say about it then can fit in this paltry little space. This game is superb. You don't see any awesome wrestlers naming themselves after Street Fighter characters, do you? No, I didn't think so.

Murdar Machene: This is the only Final Fantasy that I don't hate. In fact, I really like this one. I like the little sidequest story arcs for all the characters, and the music is awesome. I remember threatening my dumb cousin that I would erase his save game. My cousin was a nerd and he bought the soundtrack.

Douche McCallister: Dinosaur Forest, anyone? Trying to beating Chupon in the arena? This game was/is incredibly awesome. Cool story? Check. Cool characters? Check. Cool sidequests? Check. No matter what I did I could never get a second Offering even though my friends told me step by step how to get it. I later found out they were assholes.

Knyte: I personally would have placed Final Fantasy II higher than this. This is inarguably one of the finest SNES RPGs, but it has a cheestastic plot. I mean come on, there's an amnesiac girl with super powers AND a maniacal villian with a strange laugh? Throw in David Canary and you'd have a hit soap opera.

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