Topic: Final Fantasy III PSP(Now With Pictures)

[xnamkcor]

I just started playing the PSP version of Final Fantasy III.
It reads my system settings to know my language and my X/O functions. Unfortunately nobody told the HUD. The screen will still say "O Accept" and "X Cancel", even though that isn't true. So far It's a fun game. Dual Wielding all over the place. Luneth is usually dual wielding the two most powerful weapons, while everyone else usually uses the shop stuff.

I hate how slow the zoom is and how claustrophobic I have to be to see the secret switch/item indicator. If it were faster I could bare it. Maybe I'll make a cheat or something for it.

I love the Auto Battle system, but I don't like that I can't hold Select to cancel it as I'm going into a battle. If I win with it on I have to hope the next battle isn't special or I'm fast enough at pressing select rapidly. I like that it speeds up when Auto Battling. I might try to make a cheat that lets me toggle the speed increase in controlled battle. Maybe it even works out of battle?

I'll have some screenshots in the random picture thread eventually.

Alos, anybody who's played 3(though it may not matter since I'm sure they rebalanced the Jobs, even different from the DS version), How does Warrior, Black Mage, White Mage, Thief sound? I want to have all warriors, but I know that will probably screw me over in the obligatory "physical attack resistant monster" dungeon that will teach me to use magic. Also, is Monk any good? I know in FF1 it had a side effect of getting multiple hits, so monsters who nullified all attacks to 1 were easily defeated if they had low HP. Maybe I'll do Warrior, Thief, Red Mage, Monk.

I thought I'd start up a thread for this game since it was so many questions and maybe other people would want a thread for the game.

[Joseph Collins]

I have a question.  Is it just a 2D port of the BS Nintendo DS version?  Or did they decide not to add more story elements and keep things simple, like in the original version? (And of course, make everything bigger and prettier with totally awesome music.)

[xnamkcor]

I've played but a glimps of the original FF III, I can make no comparison.
I also had no idea that Bandai had any sort of hardware for the DS, so I can't answer that question.

But I do know that it looks very good, and sounds good enough. It has the option to switch between Original and Arrange Soundtracks as long as you have access to the Menu.

It's 3D. It looks similar in style to the DS one, but due to the PSP's power the textures are much more colorful and detailed, and the higher polycount results in only slightly SD character models instead of the horrible abominations for most of the DS Final Fantasy ports.

[Joseph Collins]

Er, when I said "BS Nintendo DS version," I was calling the Nintendo DS version of Final Fantasy III "bullshit."  They radically changed so much, it was hardly the same game anymore.  Or maybe I just took the whole "add a storyline to game that didn't have one" thing personally.

[xnamkcor]

You mean ad a story arc/element that wasn't in the original, or are you saying the original had no story, at all, and you're mad that they gave FF 3 a story?

I'm no expert on FF, but I think they all have story of some sort.

Edit: I did it, I got codes for turning Auto on and off and it turns out the game speeds up by adjusting the frame limiter. It seems to be at 30 FPS most of the time, and if I set it to 60 the game tries to go as fast as it can, but not higher than 60. In the field, it almost always barely exceeds 30 FPS, but in towns you get a nice speed boost.

Edit: Screenshots
[spoiler=64 Screenshots of FFIII PSP On the Wall...]































[/spoiler]

[Joseph Collins]

God damn it!  It is a port of the DS version of the same [tornado fang]ing game!!  Where the [tornado fang] are my Onion Knights!  Yes, I'm pissed!
Simply put the original version of Final Fantasy III was about a group of nameless kids running around the world, doing whatever errands would help them save the world.  When Square remade the game for the Nintendo DS, they changed the nameless group of kids to a bunch of kids with actual names, plots, motives, and so forth and so on.

In sort, the original Final Fantasy III for the Nintendo Family Computer did not have character development like Final Fantasy II and every game after III.  And that was part of the charm of the original!

And that, my friend, is why I'm pissed.  [tornado fang]ing Square-Enix.  I'm surprised they didn't do the same thing with the first game by now.

Also, please consider putting those screenshots in a Spoiler tag.

Also-also, I think RemoteJoyLite only displays at 30 FPS to begin with.  I've never gotten it to run at a full 60 FPS.  You may want to consider upping the clock speed on your PSP, however, if the game itself is giving you frame rate issues. (I love running Rockman Rockman at 333/166 Mhz.  Custom levels full of enemies just zoom by at that speed.)

[xnamkcor]

I'm not using RJL. It skips too many frames. And I always use 333.

Also, how dare they put a story in my RPG?

Also, you do know the PSP can emulate the famicom very well. You are perfectly welcome to play the game you love so much.

Also, I'm only in the first few minutes of the game, how do we know there is development?

[Joseph Collins]

I've never heard of 333.  I may have to look into that, if it works better than RemoteJoyLite...  Does it have joypad emulation like RJL?  That's a bit of a deal breaker if it doesn't.

Also, you're missing the point.  Square-Enix screwed with a game that didn't need to be screwed with by adding more storyline than it needed.  The original version stood just fine on its own for years.

Also, yeah, yeah, yeah...

Also, the characters won't stop talking to each other.  That's how.

[Acid]

I played this back when it was on DS. And I must say... it's probably my least favorite FF title. I found the music forgettable, the monster were pretty uncreative, the characters couldn't be called so and it had severe balancing issues. Plus random encounters every second step. I'd rather not play it again if I'm honest.

[xnamkcor]

333 is a CPU speed.

the monster were pretty uncreative

It is Final Fantasy. What's to be expected?

the characters couldn't be called so

Well, that good, because characterisation seems to be on Joseph's list of "bad" things.

it had severe balancing issues

They rebalanced the PSP version.

Square-Enix screwed with a game that didn't need to be screwed with by adding more storyline than it needed.  The original version stood just fine on its own for years.

They didn't screw the game. The game never changed. If you wish to play FF III for FamiCom, you are welcome to at any time.

[Joseph Collins]

You know, Mac.  Everyone's entitled to their opinions.  Granted that you don't have to like or understand them, but it's generally a good idea to respect the fact they're there.

Now, I'll leave you and your topic alone because this has just been a source of aggravation for me today.  Enjoy your game.

Cheers.

[Sakura Leic]

Xnamkcor can you please put the pictures in spoiler tags, it takes up too much space and a long time to load.  


Now then I will say that Final Fantasy 3 is by far my least favorite of the first 6 games of the series, though I have not played 2 I think I would like that more due to the fact that I play Pokemon competively and I know the basics of Disgaea in terms of weapon stat grinding.  

Characters and Story
[spoiler]I don't think anything was wrong with both versions stories, the stories were relatively unchanged as far as I've seen and are very simple but not really complex.  The characters in the first game were so generic that all four Onion Knights may have well been the same character.  I mean we didn't know the gender of these characters unless you read a manga that revealed that there is a female, when I saw the Famicon version I thought that they were all boys.  The added characteristics were very small and simple but at least made them slightly more individual.

Refia is a caring tomboy and, for the first time in any of the games, she is a heroine that is not a love interest.  I like Arc and Ingus the most, Arc is the only one that has some character developement he goes from a timid boy that is consistently bullied to a passionate young man who wants to help others.  Ingus' loyalty and devotion to Princess Sara is adorable and you can see the feelings they have for each other without it saturating their entire character.  Luneth is very generic and I have nothing to say about him, he's the standard brave courageous hero that is a base for most heros in most RPGs.  All in all it's still very simple I see nothing complex about these characters but they aren't that bland either.

The story is generic as heck, easily poorest of the first 6.  It's like Final Fantasy 1 trying to be Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy 4.  The story is simple but it adds the complex thoughts of how both Light and Darkness can be corrupt and I felt the fact that there was a Surface World and a Floating Continent was completely pointless.  I think it would have been better to say that the four orphans were descendants of the Dark Warriors instead of coming from a different land all together. Aria was also pointless, I honestly felt she could have been a bit more.  The opening of the DS version made her seem like once of the most important characters but she's not, in fact I felt she was the least important.

I do like the 3 students of Noah and Xande did have a good motive for why he was doing what he was doing honestly while mortality is a good gift to make you realize what it is to be human he was scared of it knowing he will die because before he couldn't.  I felt Unei had the weirdest gift as the Dream World didn't have much presence and the fact that she couldn't wake up on her own really makes me wonder what Noah was thinking, then again Noah didn't exactly seem normal from what little we heard if him much like Kluya in 4 and Mithos in Tales of Symphonia, they didn't think of the concenquences of their actions and how they would effect the populace and the world.  Of course anything about Xande was ruined when the Giant Space Flea from Nowhere, the Cloud of Darkness, shows up at the last minute.[/spoiler]

Battle and Game Mechanics
[spoiler]Now on to the battle mechanics and game mechanics and how bad I think they are.  As Acid mentioned before there is a major balancing issue in the game mechanics I mean I understand why they had Spell Counters back then but not for the DS remake, I'm glad that the PSP version seemed to have gotten rid of that. It really didn't make sense for the Devout and Magus classes since they had a pyramid Spell Counter distribution rather than a different one especially for the Devout. You use Cure and Cureraja more than the other cure spells, Cure for outside of battle is a cost effective god send.  

The Thief Class is very stupid the only useful thing you can Steal is the second most powerful Spear the Gungir but you have to have a Thief Class level of 71 when you steal it from Odin and since there are much better classes than Thief chances are you aren't at that level.  Also the fact that while the Thief Class can unlock any lock, when you switch from one class to another you get a Stat Penalty and have to wait until the character adjusts to make the Penalty disappear.
I understand they did it to balance it but it's really stupid.  Then again I love how broken Final Fantasy 5 is with the job system so I could be spoiled because of it.

I also don't understand why everyone can Duel Wield it makes 0 sense.

However what really sucks is getting the Ultimate weapons, you either have to max your job level or get them through Wi-Fi.  I rather do a quest than level grinding to the max and I don't think I can use the Wi-Fi.  Not to mention you may not be able to grind that high until the end of the game and very useful unless you have Wi-Fi since you need Wi-Fi to use the Mognet and get the Super Boss.  I think the Onion Knight class could have been a great New Game + hard mode but without Wi-Fi you can't get it and to fully utilize it you need a High Level Thief.

Overall it's good as a simple game but the game mechanics make it unbearable and without Wi-Fi it can get boring after the main quest.
[/spoiler]

[Acid]

xnmakcor, if I somehow crossed you in the wrong way I am sorry. I was merely sharing my thoughts.
It was not my intention to spoil your fun in any way.

[xnamkcor]

xnmakcor, if I somehow crossed you in the wrong way I am sorry. I was merely sharing my thoughts.
It was not my intention to spoil your fun in any way.

I do not recall you giving me a hard time.

I also don't understand why everyone can Duel Wield it makes 0 sense.

Because Dual Wielding is awesome.

Edit: After considering my options, I've decided to go with the incredibly diverse team of Red Mage, Red Mage, Red Mage, Red Mage.

PS:
[spoiler]

Xnamkcor can you please put the pictures in spoiler tags, it takes up too much space and a long time to load. 

Now then I will say that Final Fantasy 3 is by far my least favorite of the first 6 games of the series, though I have not played 2 I think I would like that more due to the fact that I play Pokemon competively and I know the basics of Disgaea in terms of weapon stat grinding. 

I don't think anything was wrong with both versions stories, the stories were relatively unchanged as far as I've seen and are very simple but not really complex.  The characters in the first game were so generic that all four Onion Knights may have well been the same character.  I mean we didn't know the gender of these characters unless you read a manga that revealed that there is a female, when I saw the Famicon version I thought that they were all boys.  The added characteristics were very small and simple but at least made them slightly more individual.

Refia is a caring tomboy and, for the first time in any of the games, she is a heroine that is not a love interest.  I like Arc and Ingus the most, Arc is the only one that has some character developement he goes from a timid boy that is consistently bullied to a passionate young man who wants to help others.  Ingus' loyalty and devotion to Princess Sara is adorable and you can see the feelings they have for each other without it saturating their entire character.  Luneth is very generic and I have nothing to say about him, he's the standard brave courageous hero that is a base for most heros in most RPGs.  All in all it's still very simple I see nothing complex about these characters but they aren't that bland either.

The story is generic as heck, easily poorest of the first 6.  It's like Final Fantasy 1 trying to be Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy 4.  The story is simple but it adds the complex thoughts of how both Light and Darkness can be corrupt and I felt the fact that there was a Surface World and a Floating Continent was completely pointless.  I think it would have been better to say that the four orphans were descendants of the Dark Warriors instead of coming from a different land all together.  Aria was also pointless, I honestly felt she could have been a bit more.  The opening of the DS version made her seem like once of the most important characters but she's not, in fact I felt she was the least important.

I do like the 3 students of Noah and Xande did have a good motive for why he was doing what he was doing honestly while mortality is a good gift to make you realize what it is to be human he was scared of it knowing he will die because before he couldn't.  I felt Unei had the weirdest gift as the Dream World didn't have much presence and the fact that she couldn't wake up on her own really makes me wonder what Noah was thinking, then again Noah didn't exactly seem normal from what little we heard if him much like Kluya in 4 and Mithos in Tales of Symphonia, they didn't think of the concenquences of their actions and how they would effect the populace and the world.  Of course anything about Xande was ruined when the Giant Space Flea from Nowhere, the Cloud of Darkness, shows up at the last minute.

Now on to the battle mechanics and game mechanics and how bad I think they are.  As Acid mentioned before there is a major balancing issue in the game mechanics I mean I understand why they had Spell Counters back then but not for the DS remake, I'm glad that the PSP version seemed to have gotten rid of that.  It really didn't make sense for the Devout and Magus classes since they had a pyramid Spell Counter distribution rather than a different one especially for the Devout.  You use Cure and Cureraja more than the other cure spells, Cure for outside of battle is a cost effective god send. 

The Thief Class is very stupid the only useful thing you can Steal is the second most powerful Spear the Gungir but you have to have a Thief Class level of 71 when you steal it from Odin and since there are much better classes than Thief chances are you aren't at that level.  Also the fact that while the Thief Class can unlock any lock, when you switch from one class to another you get a Stat Penalty and have to wait until the character adjusts to make the Penalty disappear.
I understand they did it to balance it but it's really stupid.  Then again I love how broken Final Fantasy 5 is with the job system so I could be spoiled because of it.

I also don't understand why everyone can Duel Wield it makes 0 sense.

However what really sucks is getting the Ultimate weapons, you either have to max your job level or get them through Wi-Fi.  I rather do a quest than level grinding to the max and I don't think I can use the Wi-Fi.  Not to mention you may not be able to grind that high until the end of the game and very useful unless you have Wi-Fi since you need Wi-Fi to use the Mognet and get the Super Boss.  I think the Onion Knight class could have been a great New Game + hard mode but without Wi-Fi you can't get it and to fully utilize it you need a High Level Thief.

Overall it's good as a simple game but the game mechanics make it unbearable and without Wi-Fi it can get boring after the main quest.

[/spoiler]

Spoilers?

[Sakura Leic]

I meant because of how slow a computer with bad internet can be sometimes due loading the pictures hench why we have a 56K warning on any major image posting thread.  Now excuse me while I put Spoilers tags on my post since it's long and it indeed has spoilers.  I would have done it before but I was using a iPad and it's hard to do specific things without directional keys and a precise cursor.

[xnamkcor]

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/keyboards/keyboards/Wireless-Solar-Keyboard-K760-for-Mac

[Sakura Leic]

While that is a viable solution I'm not willing to shell out $80.00 for a keyboard, I'm a college student without a job as of this moment.  I might look for a cheaper option sometime in the future but as of right now I really should try to avoid making long rants on my iPad instead of my Laptop.

[Align]

If they're not going to bother making fights interesting, to the point that you [tornado fang]ing fast forward through them, why not just give me some xp and money and scratch damage every few steps instead of wasting time with the battles?

[Joseph Collins]

What?  You mean like in the Mother series? (Or at least the second and third games.)  I kind of liked that.

"You're a bit too powerful for these enemies so... here.  Have some XP and maybe an item and be on your merry way."

[Hiryu]

I do wish more RPGs had that feature as well.

I'd say the monk isn't a bad job. I do remember the higher up class was really good with the damage output.

You going to use Red Mages until after the Rat dungeon?

I think this version is supposed to be based on the Android version, which in turn, was based on the DS version. As far as I know, they're all the same, so if you have one, there's no point in picking this up again. I was hoping they'd add something else in this time around.

I think Final Fantasy 3 is alright. I do like the fact that they went back to the original formula here instead of 2's battle system features.
My most famous complaints about this are:

1. The rat boss and dungeon is obnoxious.
I hated the those kind of dungeons where you had to use mini to get through. It would be different if the magic system wasn't like 1 and 2's.  I don't recall there being ethers at this point, either.

2. The final dungeon could've used a save point at the top.
Like seriously, it's ridiculous if you don't have save states trying to beat the final 5 bosses.

3. You can't buy phoenix downs.
Why in the mother of God can't we buy this essential item in this game? Horseshit!

4. A few of the jobs are useless.
The scholar is used literally to make one battle easier. Who wants to be a viking? I don't even know if they're any good.

[xnamkcor]

You think not being able to buy Phoenix Downs is bad, in at least one Wild Arms game you can't buy Heal Berries(Potions) until you unlock the Black Market late in the game. Also, I think not letting people buy revives is reasonable, it adds a sense of responsibility.

I'm probably gonna play the entire game ad Red Mage since he's basically Warrior with spells.

I've seen the DS version of 4 and the graphics hurt my eyes. From what I've read they rebalanced the Job stuff.

I've never played the NES version, so this is a new experience for me. Honestly, if it was as Joseph is describing it, I would probably not play it since it sounds like a soulless electronic version of D&D.

There are always useless things in games. Street Fighter has Dan...I can't think of any other examples.

If anyone wants the address for the Frame Limiter, Auto Battle Flag, or anything else let me know. I'm working on a camera zoom hack for better screenshots, but all the axis and ambiguities of camera positioning is not fun. I'm tempted to make a code that lets them keep their normal outfit when in any class. While I occasionally enjoy the imagery of 4 sword-wielding pimps, I like the unique default dress better.

[Rin]

I... think I'm gonna play this.
Not now exactly, but soon.
Be so kind as to beam me up that frame limiter, k?
Thanks.

[xnamkcor]

I... think I'm gonna play this.
Not now exactly, but soon.
Be so kind as to beam me up that frame limiter, k?
Thanks.

Just to let you know, I'm using the Japanese release, which has English Text if your PSP Language setting is set to that, and ignore the O/X guides in the menus if you do have it set to English, they lie. The game typically is set to 30 FPS, with a limit of 60FPS for "Auto". This does not skip frames, so in fields it may not got any faster at all. If you set it to above 60 you risk freezing the game when loading new maps, especially values over 120. Don't expect to go over 90 FPS, ever, and when you do don't expect the LCD to keep up. Also, keep in mind the game only ever changes this value when you toggle Auto or enter battle with Auto on or exit battle. If you set it to 90 and then turn it off, it will stay that way until the game is told to change it.

0x001E0860

If you aren't using CW Cheat, the 0x means hexidecimal notation, the first 0 means 1-byte value. The rest is the address.

Edit: I just got the Fire crystal. Should I switch to Knight or keep Red Mage? It would seem Knight's magic use is worse and I do enjoy being able to use elemental damage on bosses. But physical attack and defense and weapon use is my main concern.

[Ladd Spencer]

3. You can't buy phoenix downs.
Why in the mother of God can't we buy this essential item in this game? Horseshit!

Do better.

I like in Lunar SSSC how you only get so many max mana items. What a devious idea that was. Ha!

[Hiryu]

I just find it annoying to not be able to buy them. I guess I've been spoiled on the later games. I mean, it's not the biggest inconvenience in the world for me, since if your healer dies atleast you can revive them after the battle via job switching.

You think not being able to buy Phoenix Downs is bad, in at least one Wild Arms game you can't buy Heal Berries(Potions) until you unlock the Black Market late in the game.

Which one was that? I've only played 2 and 3.

If you have the ability to stock up on revive effects, I wouldn't be too worried.

I've never played the NES version, so this is a new experience for me. Honestly, if it was as Joseph is describing it, I would probably not play it since it sounds like a soulless electronic version of D&D.

Just take away the character development and individuality, and you have the famicom version.