Final Fantasy III - NES - 1990

Final Fantasy III came out in Japan in April 1990 for the Nintendo Famicom – just over two months before the original Final Fantasy was released in North America.  It was the third and final instalment to be published on the 8-bit console before the franchise moved over to the 16-bit Super Famicom/SNES.  Like Final Fantasy II the game wasn’t released in the West so I will be using a fan translation.  The only English version was a 3D remake for the Nintendo DS from 2006.  There were quite a few differences but I will use those instructions as the basis for my playthrough.  The rest I will have to work out as I go along.

I was hoping this instalment was going to be a little more original.  The plot says that your party of four orphans have been tasked with 'sweeping away the Darkness' that is threatening the world.  So far, so very Final Fantasy.  The graphics are also pretty much the same…

Hopefully the story and the ‘job system’ will make things more interesting.

The first thing to do is to name the four protagonists.  Lacking any imagination, I took the names straight from the DS manual.  You are then plopped in the bottom of a dungeon which had been created after an earthquake.  The only graphical difference between the characters is their colour.  Their default job is listed in the game as ‘onion kid’.  I can’t begin to guess why the starting class is named after a pungent vegetable.  In the dungeon there were a few simple combats followed by a boss.  Combat uses the same system as the previous two Final Fantasy games.  As well as gaining Exp and Gil (currency) after combat, you also accumulate Capacity Points.

Capacity Points form the basis of the ‘job system’ as they are needed to change your ‘job’ or character class.  The longer a character remains in the same class the more proficient they become.  This is something I will need to experiment with as I go.  I can already foresee plenty of grinding.

After defeating the dungeon boss you come across the Wind Crystal who says the balance of everything is crumbling and the characters have been chosen to restore it.  The Crystal also gives you some of its power which allows access to the initial selection of jobs.

South of the dungeon is their home town of Ur.  As before, speaking to the citizens results in a stock response.  This normally changes once a related quest has been completed.  It looks like the option to memorise key words that was introduced in Final Fantasy II has been removed.

So far I have upgraded my party to three Fighters and a Monk.  My plan is for two of the Fighters to become a White Mage and Black Mage after a little grinding.  I have covered the first overworld area (there is boulder preventing any further progress) and have discovered a second town, a castle and the entrance to another dungeon which is blocked by a lake.

As is my wont with JRPGs, I began with some pre-emptive grinding.  One improvement over the earlier games is that if a character targets an enemy that is subsequently killed he automatically targets another - the attack is no longer wasted.  I also took this opportunity to experiment with the job system.  The initial choices are Onion Kid (the default class), Fighter, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage and Red Mage.  I retained Luneth as a Fighter and Arc as a Monk. I made Refia a White Mage and Ingus a Black Mage.  Although the whole party were gaining levels, only Luneth and Arc were gaining job skills from the combat.  It was the same when I tried a Red Mage even though they are able to use most weapons.  I therefore reverted the Mages to Fighters.  After finding a SLEEP spell in the Altar Dungeon I changed Ingus back to a Black Mage.  Ingus tends to go last in combat so is still not gaining skills as fast as the melee characters.

I used Ur as my base for grinding as one of the buildings contained a couple of springs.  One spring restores all hit and magic points, and the other resurrects dead characters.

I didn't even know that was a word

After my initial bout of grinding it was only left to fully explore the first area.  I had previously visited the Altar Dungeon north of Ur which offered up some good items and the aforementioned SLEEP spell.  Kazus was literally a ghost town.  The earthquake had broken the seal that held a Jinn who in turn changed the inhabitants into ghosts.  It was mentioned the Jinn could be defeated using a Mithril ring that was made for Princess Sara of Sasoon Castle.  The ghost of Cid said he had hidden his airship in the nearby desert and I could use it to cross the lake to the Cave of the Seal where the Jinn was hanging out.

My next stop was Sasoon Castle but the Jinn had got there before me as everyone here had also been turned into ghosts.  Princess Sara, who was protected by the ring, had already made her way to Cave of the Seal.  I found a Wight Sword which a guard said would help against the undead in the cave, but only a Red Mage could wield it.  I changed Refia to the Red Mage and returned to Ur to stock up on potions and spells.

It took a couple of attempts to get to the Jinn but he wasn't too difficult to defeat due to my earlier grinding.  Princess Sara then warped us back to Sasoon Castle.  For saving his life and the lives of his daughter and his subjects, the King bestowed upon us…a…a canoe?!  A poxy canoe!  At least we can cross the lake to retrieve the airship.  A guard revealed there was a secret passage to the King’s treasury which I cleaned out before I left.  That’ll learn the tight-arsed git.

In Kazus they were more grateful.  A smith made a mithril bow for the airship with which to ram the boulder that was blocking our passage.  The collision between the rock and the hard place resulted in both the boulder and the airship being destroyed.

I am now back on foot, but with the first area open the world is now my oyster – at least until the next obstruction.  Before heading out I will grind some more against the undead in the Cave of the Seal; the CURE spell harms undead creatures (which kind of makes sense) so I can use that to improve Refia’s White Mage job skill.  I will note my thoughts below…

• While grinding it became apparent the enemy can now jump our party from behind and get a free attack in.  It confused the hell out of me at first.

• There are a lot of hidden items and secret passages to discover.  Some can be seen, some are revealed by NPCs and others can be found by accident. For example, Cid allowed us into his already secret storage room after we cured his ailing wife.  This contained another secret passage leading to yet more items.  Although they have nothing to do with the main quest these little extras make rewarding diversions and can offer up useful items.

I knew there was a reason why some steps when into the water.

• Job changes can be forced upon your characters.  I had to cast the MINI spell on my party to enter a couple of dungeons.  The small characters could only cause a maximum of 2HP damage with weapons so I had to make Luneth and Arc mages so they could cast offensive spells. 

• Locked areas in Final Fantasy III are a lot smaller than in the earlier titles and can be quickly cleared before moving on.  At least for now there doesn’t seem to be any way to return to previously visited locations so it’s hard to determine the overall size of the game world.  As yet there has been no need for mapping.

• Soon after writing the above I acquired a ship which opened up (almost) the rest of the ‘world’.  The ‘world’ turned out to be one of those floating continents that show up from time to time in fantasy games and novels.  This continent was quite small and could be circumnavigated in a matter of minutes on a chocobo (this was a side quest).

The edge of the floating continent.  Using chocobo avoids random encounters.

• While on the subject of chocobos – there is a fat one you can summon in certain places to store items and ease the burden on your inventory.

• A good feature I would have liked to have seen on some other RPGs is that equipping weapons and armour alters your Attack and Defence values, so you can easily compare items.  These values, and XP and HP, were the only stats I really needed.  For me, the main stats screen was mostly superfluous.

• On the floating continent we discovered another crystal that gave us more jobs to choose from.  I only elected to upgrade Luneth from Fighter to Knight.  After completing all the quests, Cid converted our sailing ship into an airship allowing us to reach the world below. 

• This world appeared to be mainly open ocean and the SIGHT spell proved invaluable in allowing us to locate the few pockets of dry land.  We came across a shipwreck and were told the populace had been turned to stone and the earthquake had caused the land to sink.  Reaching the Water Crystal caused the land to rise again and gave us more jobs.  I changed Arc from Monk to Karateka.

• I had to cheat a bit and use a map from the internet to spare me the pain of creating one myself.  Apart from the floating continent (which didn’t need mapping) there is another large overworld area and an equally large undersea area.  For the most part dungeons were pretty simple affairs that could be memorised (apart from the Cave of Darkness and later the Dark World which both contained numerous secret passages).

The world had to be explored from both above and below the water to avoid missing anything.

 

• There is a good selection of airships available during the game including the submersible Nautilus and Invincible that can be used to traverse mountains for a short distance.  Invincible also contains a bed, vending machines for (weapons, armour, spells and magic items) and a fat chocobo.

The Invincible contained everything you could need.

• The last section of the game took part in three interconnected dungeons - Forbidden Land Eureka, Sylx Tower and Dark World.  These are surrounded by yet another dungeon - The Ancient's Labyrinth.  I had heard this last section was very difficult as the game cannot be saved in a dungeon - only on the surface.

The final save point.

• Attempt one did not go very well.  I can't remember exactly how far I got, but Arc and Refia were turned into frogs rendering them harmless.  Lacking any Maid Kisses I had a trying time getting back to the airship to track some down.  While I was at it I picked up some extra items to counter-act other status effects.  The next time I was better prepared.

• On exploring Eureka I found it contained some healing springs and shops selling the most powerful spells, armour and weapons.  You could also gain the best jobs - Ninjas were able to use all weapons and armour, and Sages could cast any spell.

• At the end of the Sylx Tower is the Dark World.  From here there is no return to the surface to save.  Companion NPCs from earlier in the game helped gain entry…

• I discovered the final boss, Dark Cloud, very easily after moving north from the entrance.  My second attempt at this last section also went pear shaped as none of my spells or weapons had any effect on her/it.  I had to reload from outside the tower and make my way through Eureka and Sylx Tower again.

• For my last try I explored the rest of Dark World before heading north.  I found there were four dark crystals, each guarded by a tough boss.  I had a few deaths but the LIFE 2 spell bought characters back to life with full health.  If Refia was killed a Fenix Down followed by an Elixir did the same thing.  Many CURE spells and Potions were also consumed.  As each boss was defeated the crystal released a Warrior of Darkness. 

• My next crack at Dark Cloud went better as these Dark Warriors had weakened it.  It was a long battle including one death (followed by a LIFE 2) and a round when all the characters needed to drink an Elixir but I got there in the end.  Here is the 10 minute ending sequence.....

Since my last Final Fantasy game I have completed three Gold Box games so it was refreshing to get back to an RPG with an intuitive interface and decent sound and graphics.  I’m glad the developers did away with the flawed levelling mechanism of Final Fantasy II and went back to the more traditional system of the first game.  The job changing mechanic also adds an interesting twist to the proceedings.  Graphics and sound effects haven’t been updated much but they were good by NES standards anyway.  The music, however, seems much better and more varied.

Bad points?  As with the earlier games the random encounters started to become monotonous towards the end of the game.  I also preferred the plot, if not the execution, of the earlier titles - in your travels you had the feeling something evil was abound in the world – especially in Final Fantasy II.  In this game the populous seemed to be behaving as normal even after they had returned from being submerged under the sea.  The last criticism applies to any RPG I have played and that is the currency.  I have yet to find a balanced system and halfway through this game I was a millionaire, though to be fair I did spend it all on shurikens in Eureka.  It would have been better balanced had every single monster not dropped money.

Overall, Final Fantasy III has renewed my interest in a franchise that was beginning to wane after only two games.  I am now looking forward to see what Square can do on the SNES.

Cyber-Lip - SNK Neo Geo AES - 1990

 

Cyber-Lip is an early title for the Neo Geo AES.  It was released in 1990 - the same year as the console itself.

The plot involves a malfunctioning supercomputer that causes all the military androids under its control to run amok.  As always, only you can save the planet.

The game is a run and gunner set across seven stages.  The player takes control of Rick (or Brook in two player mode).

The main sprites are rather, er, spritely.  The protagonists move around quickly and can jump, duck, hang off rails, and are able to shoot in four directions.  The default weapon is a fairly rapid laser gun which is handy as the enemy androids can come in thick and fast.

Certain opponents drop lettered icons which add additional weaponry to your arsenal.  These include a bazooka, grenades, flame thrower, wide shot and a faster firing version of the standard laser.  All these extra weapons can be cycled through and each have a finite supply of ammo. There is an ammo store midway through each stage where they can be topped up.  In addition a Core Bot can be collected.  This is a drone that orbits the player and can absorb a number of bullets before it disappears.  You are also up against a strict time limit and will lose a life should this count down to zero.

Each stage ends in boss that must be defeated to progress.  I was particularly impressed the first time I met the monstrosity at the end of the first level.

The game runs at a good pace and there are no complaints about the controls which are very responsive.  The graphics are colourful and fast, and there is very smooth parallax scrolling.  The music playing throughout the game is fairly quiet and not particularly memorable.  For the most part it is drowned out by the louder sound effects which is just as well.  I have no complaints about the difficulty level either – the learning curve is set just right.

In terms of pacing and game play, if not graphics, Cyber-Lip is a little reminiscent of Metal Slug. According to Wikipedia some of the team that developed this release went on to create the latter game so they do share the same DNA.  Cyber-Lip is bog standard run and gun fare but, as an arcade quality title, that extra polish makes it good enough to get onto the blog.

A hint of what is to come.

 Example gameplay.....

Champions of Krynn - PC (MS-DOS) & Commodore Amiga (1990)

Champions of Krynn marks the start of a new trilogy of Gold Box AD&D games from SSI.  Where Pool of Radiance and Curse of the Azure Bonds were set in the Forgotten Realms universe, this is set in the Dragonlance universe and differs in many ways starting with character creation.  I will be playing the Commodore Amiga version for this blog entry.

As this is the first game in a series you have to create a party of up to six characters from scratch.  There are seven races to choose from – Human, Qualinesti Elf, Silvanesti Elf, Mountain Dwarf, Hill Dwarf, Half Elf and Kendar.  Kendar are new to the series and have their own unique weapon, the hoopak (spelt houpak in-game), for which they gain combat bonuses.  The hoopak can be utilised as both a ranged and melee weapon.  The Kendar can also taunt the enemy by using the Yell command in combat.  Affected opponents become enraged and take penalties to their THAC0 and Armour Class.

In addition to the regular fighter, ranger, magic user, cleric and thief character classes, you can also choose to become a Solamnic Knight.  Knights can only be human and must be lawful good (my least favourite alignment to role play).  They start the game wearing plate mail and carrying a long sword but must pay a tithe when entering outposts due to a vow of poverty.  The tithe is a percentage of any coins the knight is carrying and changes depending on which ‘Order’ the Knight is following.  The manual says that at least one knight is needed to complete all the quests in the game.  In addition to winning in combat and finding treasure, the Solamnic Knights also gain experience by doing 'knightly' deeds (whatever they may be).

Other differences concern clerics and magic users.  Clerics can choose a god to follow, each deity providing a bonus spell or ability.  The selection of gods depends on the alignment of the cleric.  Dwarven clerics can only worship Reorx who gives bonus of +1 to THAC0.  Mages come in two guises - Red Robe or White Robe, again dependant on alignment.  The main difference is the type of spells they have available but as both can cast magic missiles, stinking clouds and fireballs I wasn't overly concerned.  Each type of mage is also affected by the phases of the moons which govern bonus spells, saving throws and their effective level.

One major change Champions of Krynn has over the Forgotten Realms universe is the racial limits.  In the Forgotten Realms games, any non-humans had limits on what levels they could reach.  There are still limits in the Dragonlance universe but only for certain classes.  For example, elves can reach maximum levels as clerics, rangers and magic users.

Rolling good characters does not take long as the values given are on the generous side.  This came up after only a handful of re-rolls….

I am slightly concerned my party may be lacking in melee characters – I would preferably have had one more.  The manual shows a lot of undead creatures in the bestiary which is why I have four characters who can cast cleric spells and ‘turn’.  This is the party I have chosen….

Crockett – a male Solamnic Knight

Lumley – a female Solamnic Knight

Grout – a male Hill Dwarf fighter / Reorx cleric

Varley – a female Kendar thief / Paladine cleric

Carraway – a male Qualinesti Elven White mage / Majere cleric

Hazel – a female Qualinesti Elven Red mage / Shinare cleric

The game starts at an outpost in the northwest corner of the world map.  You are joined by another Solamnic Knight, Sir Karl, and have options to visit the Commandant's office, training hall, temple, vault, bar, inn or the armoury.  The Commandant tasks you with investigating the nearby town of Throtl and to report back if you see anything suspicious.  On the way you come across a caravan being attacked by draconians.  After escorting the survivors back to the outpost you hear sounds of a fight coming from the Commandants office.  You find Sir Karl standing over the body of a Sivak draconian that was impersonating the Commandant.  Sir Karl says the outpost is severely lacking soldiers and you must return to Throtl and find a patrol led by a knight called Caramon that had not yet returned…..

I will note my thoughts and experiences below….

• I found the early game very tough going for my level 1 and 2 party with evil Warriors, Mages and Clerics being encountered early on.  Not yet able to cast fireballs, my most frequently used spells were sleep, magic missiles and hold person.   Draconians also seem partially immune to magic. 

The fourth or fifth location.  In Pool of Radiance I would still be fighting Kobolds at this point.

• The manual puts an emphasis on draconians in the bestiary.  Draconians are created by corrupting metallic (good) dragon eggs and most have rather unpleasant consequences for the party in their death throes.  Baaz draconians turn to stone which can trap weapons until combat is over (the manual suggests doubling up on melee weapons).  Kapak draconians have a chance of paralysing when they hit and dissolve into pools of acid when they die.  Sivak draconians are powerful fighters who get three attacks per round.  Bozak draconians can cast spells and explode when they die.  Auraks can also cast spells and are immune to ranged attacks.  They seem to have a couple of lives and burst into a blast of magical energy when they eventually perish.  

• Steel coins seem to be the main currency.  I found some copper and platinum pieces but no gold.

• Graphics and sound have been improved no end over the previous games.  Static graphics are still in 16 colours but their quality is much better.  Spells now look and sound more like you imagine they would.  There are also more spot effects in combat.  

• Unfortunately, the 3D view is still the same.

• Collecting coins and looting dead opponents is not as initially important as it was in Pool of Radiance.  There is only a small selection of weaponry and armour to buy in the outpost armoury and levelling up at the training hall is free, as opposed to 1000gp in the previous games.

• The world map has been reduced in importance over the previous games.  Half the map is unused and wandering off the beaten track results in monotonous encounters.

• Although the game uses the same combat mechanics as the previous Gold Box games, I didn't find them as enjoyable.  There seem to be fewer types of enemy with most battles fought against draconian or human opponents.

• As usual, notes and letters found in the game are written out in full in the Adventurer's Journal.  A lot of them referred to the Solamnic Knights as the 'good army' which sounded plain odd.  Did they refer to themselves as the 'evil army'?

• I found Champions of Krynn to be very linear.  It was basically go to Sir Karl and later the commandant, receive a quest and return once complete.  Even then the game managed to get its knickers in a twist.  The last quest I received from Sir Karl was to collect a silver rose. I returned to find he had been taken prisoner and had perished whilst escaping.

Wha..?  I hadn't given the rose to him yet!

• Each quest involved exploring one or more 16x16 maps.  Each area was only used once – there was no point returning to previously visited locations.

• Mapping the game also took a long time as there seemed to be a combat every few steps. Some of the enemies came in combinations that didn't make sense - giant centipedes teamed up with giant rats and snakes.  Wouldn't the rats have made an easier meal for the snakes than armour clad warriors?

• The overarching story involved an antagonist called Myrtani who is secretly in the process of creating draconians from good dragon eggs.  I was under the impression Mrytani would be an evil wizard but it turns out he himself was a draconian, but that’s by the by.  Anyway, with this draconian army and an army of undead (controlled by a Death Knight) he intended to take over the world.  It was up to me to put a stop to his actions.  There were mentions of a ‘good’ army but they only put in an appearance after the game was effectively over.

• I didn't like the last 20% of Champions of Krynn as it was unsatisfying and felt quite rushed.  One moment I was investigating the city of Sanction, and the next I was whisked off by gold dragons to some flying citadels and then onto the end game.  All my characters were weighed down with unidentified treasure from fixed encounters and were badly in need of levelling.

• Combat seems to rely as much on luck as it does on skill.  In the final encounter against three red dragons my party was massacred before I had a chance to react.  I remember I had used a scroll of protection against dragon breath earlier so reverted to a previous save.  On working my way back to the final fight I forgot to use the scroll yet only one of my characters took any damage.  A lot of battles followed this pattern.

The End...

That'll be right.  Turn up late, take my good gear and bugger off.  Bastards.

At least someone appreciates me.

Despite my criticisms I did enjoy Champions of Krynn, just not as much as the earlier Gold Box titles.  As Zenic Reverie prophesied in his comment at the end of Curse of the Azure Bonds, “Enjoy these first two, as the rest of the series gets kind of stale from what I recall”.  I think he may be right.