April has been a big month for Square-Enix, as not only hasFinal Fantasy 7 Remakebroken sales recordsshortly after releasing earlier this month, but April 27th, 2020 also marks the 30th anniversary forFinal Fantasy 3. This final title in Square’s original run ofFinal Fantasytitles for the Famicom, or NES for fans outside of Japan, introduced the job systems and a number of now foundational mechanics for the series.
The focus on mechanics inFinal Fantasy 3has given it a reputation as a less story-heavy game as its predecessors, especially when looking at the more story focusedFinal Fantasy 2, that had some ofthe most memorable momentsfrom the early series. An interview with Hiromichi Tanaka and Koichi Ishii, two developers who worked onFinal Fantasy 3, fans may have just gotten the answer as to why the focus had turned more towards mechanics than story.
RELATED:Kitase Assures Fans Concerned About Final Fantasy 7 Remake Changes
According to Tanaka, the story ofFinal Fantasy 3was written by Hironobu Sakaguchi as opposed to Akitoshi Kawazu, who wrote the story forFinal Fantasy 2. Kawazu has a reputation for adding what Tanaka referred to as a sort of signature style to storytelling, which lends itself to long, complex stories that put themselves to the forefront of a game. Sakaguchi would of course go on to direct and write for a number of otherFinal Fantasy’s, including the recently remadeFinal Fantasy 7and theoriginal continuity currently being remade.
“That’s because Mr. Kawazu wasn’t involved. [laughs] When Mr. Kawazu creates stories, they have a certain distinctive characteristic to them, so his involvement often has a tendency for that game to be remembered as story-heavy.”
In addition to the change in writer, there was clearly an incentive to move to a more mechanically impressive game inFinal Fantasy 3as well, as the Famicom’s cartridges had been increasing in data capacity in the lead-up to the SNES at the time. As a result, this meant that the team working on the new game was focused on pushing the new, higher-capacity cartridges to their limit, which most took as adding more mechanics like the job system, creatures, and other assets. Learning from this push seems to also be what led theFinal Fantasyseries to keep pushing forward and introduce even bigger games with even more mechanicslike epic summons, customizable magic systems, and branching leveling formats.
While fans outside of Japan may have not been able to play an officially localized release until 2005,Final Fantasy 3still stands as a strong inflection point in the series. Early games looked to create compelling stories that would lead the player forward through the game, with relatively simple mechanics that the game builds on. With the introduction of the job system,Final Fantasy 3added a welcome complexity to the series, and the effects can still be seen in howmodern combat systems handle customizationin the latest installments of the series.
Final Fantasy 3is available now on Android, iOS, PC, and Nintendo DS.
MORE:Final Fantasy 7 Remake Producer Comments on How Many Parts the Game Will Be
