One of the main reasons why I couldn't stop playing this game was because I developed a relationship with these fictional characters, which varied depending on my mood. They each had their own unique scenario/story shaped by their unsolved past, mistakes or evil doings of the Imperial army and later, the villain, Kefka. Many of the character's stories included betrayal, loss, desire and/or the need to rediscover their spirits after enduring major hardships. As a player, I wanted to help them succeed since I felt connected to their story and couldn't turn away until something was solved. Somehow I can relate to some of these hardships, although not to the same extreme, but still on a similar emotional level.
The characters in the story especially had an emotional appeal since I had spent so many hours controlling, upgrading and following these characters in their adventure and interactions with others. I began to feel for the characters in their interactions and always had a reaction to events that happen with them, both negatively and positively. When the characters were sad, I felt sad and when the characters encountered someone evil, I felt tense, as did the fictional character. A lot of the emotions came with the music and events in the story.
Final Fantasy III has the best combination of music and game play, which enhances the overall gaming experience. Each character has a theme song, which was composed in a sad, yet heroic type of tune. This combination of music with the tragic moments in the story enhances the game play especially one that is mainly narrative like this role-playing game. Each theme song matched nicely with each character perfectly, which further brings out their character and personality to the story’s effect. I actually switched favorite characters many times and end up cycling through almost all of them on the basis of their theme song. I especially love the ending where the composer Nobuo Uematsu combined each character's theme song into one masterpiece, which flowed nicely and was absolutely brilliant for the timing of the game.
One of the most emotional parts of the game, which most people remember, is the suicide attempt of Celes. Celes, one of the main characters of the story, tried to commit suicide when the last person on earth, her guardian, died and she had finally lost all hope. She tried to jump off the mountain as she spoke negatively while her theme song played. Luckily, her suicidal attempt failed and at that moment, noticed a bandana on a carrier pigeon, which belonged to her close friend. She realized that her friends were still alive and she had to look for them. Her theme song that played while she jumped off the mountain, along with her suicidal words, felt extremely sad and I always get teary-eyed and on the verge of crying, every time I play it. The power of words and music can really shape a character in a game, which was portrayed strongly for each character in this game. With the diversity of characters in the game, I somehow felt included.
This game filled the void of not having many friends growing up before college. I wasn't part of any clique and was considered a loner and socially awkward since I didn’t talk much. Playing this game, I encountered many things that I wouldn’t have experienced in real life. One of them is feeling I actually have friends and perceived human interaction. This game had many opportunities of adventure with different fictional people who I thought were awesome. An airship was the game's "main street" and all the characters congregated there while a party of up to four would venture out to fulfill a quest. Having the freedom to pick and choose any four characters was very liberating and felt like these fictional friends trusted my decisions. When you talk to each character, they usually had something positive to say that would encourage the player to keep on rolling while staying in character themselves, so it felt realistic.
The main lesson that stuck with me is that everyone is important as individuals and the interactions we have with others can greatly shape lives, but it is up to us to decide which choices to make and what we want to happen. There are many consequences in the way we play the game and in life. Deciding on unwise choices will definitely waste time and create negativity in our lives. I try to live my life to promote positivity and equality with all living creatures.
Final Fantasy III also showed me that loners and misfits have an important part to play in the overall scheme of life. In this game there was no stereotypical hero that was clearly identified for us, which takes out the idea that the single hero will get all the praise despite it being a group effort while others perceived not as important take the backseat or end up dead. Even watching American movies and film, the hero is someone who I couldn’t relate to physically, because I don’t identify with them. Most of the films, I relate more to the one who got killed or the one who wasn’t as outspoken as the bossy protagonist. This game, on the other hand, has equality, which many people from different backgrounds can relate to since there is that diversity of characters and the freedom to choose which character(s) to improve on.
In this game, the characters were created equal. They were presented to us with two or three main characters that helped carry the story, but since the game composed of more hours concentrating on each character’s side quests and stories, the level of equality among the characters was about the same. The character’s theme songs were also evenly played throughout the story, which suggests the fairness and time devoted to the characters. This gaming experience has definitely taught me that everyone is equal despite other forms of media saying otherwise. Now, I use Final Fantasy III as a tool of comparison in judging other forms of media.
Final Fantasy III has always been a comparison tool for other Final Fantasy series games and other media. Considering the story, the character development and level of simplicity that went into user interface for the equipment and battles, I feel that Final Fantasy III is still the best of them all, despite newer versions with better graphics and similar interfaces. I would choose this 8-bit game over any new 3D game anytime unless they did a 3D remake.
This game offered a lot of freedom that hasn’t been found in any other game I played. The freedom of collecting and conquering side quests and items was definitely a plus in this game. The second part of the game has major flexibility in the conquest of the game. Tons of optional side quests are available in any order to recover all the missing characters as well as weapons, armors, relics and espers (magic) to discover.
The amount of time spent improving our favorite character empowers us to develop our wants and desires that we wouldn't otherwise fulfill in life. We as people always project ourselves onto other people/things even without knowing it. Our values and desires shape the way we make decisions and this can definitely affect how we play an RPG, which has many decisions to make. The freedom to pick and choose which characters and what events we want to achieve is really an outlet for us to carry out those desires that we wouldn't normal express outside the gaming world.
Final Fantasy is also used to help me compare activities such as viewing TV, sports, arts and movies. Many of the things I look for in different types of entertainment media is the level of character and story development that Final Fantasy III had plenty of. That is, how much of the music and script can evoke an emotional response out of people and make them believe what they are seeing is real.
Today, watching youtube videos of the game play really brings back memories, emotions and much carefree life. I feel nostalgic and feel like I am part of a community every time I read the many youtube comments of people who will always love this game. The shared positive emotion within this online community touches my heart every time.
Final Fantasy will always be an important chapter in my life. It has shaped my preferences in gaming and decisions in life, mainly for the good. I believe there is still a Final Fantasy III hype where everyone still think this game is the most epic of all and no other game has ever came close to it. I am one of those believers.
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