If Final Fantasy 2 was representative of sequel output for the NES/Famicom, then Final Fantasy 3 is as well. Those first sequels were a bit weird and different but the second sequels were much more direct (Mario Bros 3, Castlevania 3 etc) and really laid out the types of sequels we typically see today of building and expanding upon the the mechanics of the old and improving the overall quality of features.
In fact, I'd say that Final Fantasy 3 is the Final Fantasy 2 that the US never got. It's lineage is easily traceable to the First game. We start again with 4 custom named heroes of light who set out to save 4 crystals. It employs a similar class system that has been expanded and lets you freely change throughout the adventure. We still see some of the vestigial systems like separating out status effects, KO and HP/MP which require different mechanisms to recover. And we surprisingly return to the awkward magical charge system instead of MP.
But at the same time you can see it laying down the framework for the games to come. While Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy 2 features labyrinthine dungeons, Final Fantasy 3 simplifies them. There's also a main path that is clear but branches to get to treasure chests. The random encounter rate is also toned down a bit. There's also much more of a plot this time. There are other characters with small sub-plots expanded a bit from Final Fantasy 2's story-telling but unlike Final Fantasy 2 the games is trying to be a focused hero's adventure rather than a war epic. It's also the first time we see the summoning class of magic and some side content and optional bosses.
The battle system is most similar to Final Fantasy, doing away with the awkward stat-up system of Final Fantasy 2. Level ups matter a lot more this time as progression is much more linear. New caves and dungeons will typically have difficult enemies that become easier as you gain a couple levels to being insignificant as you progress a few more. This along with the changes to dungeon structure change the battle balance. Instead of a bunch of battles you clear in a single turn, random battles around your level take 2 or 3 turns leaving a lot more room to take damage and forcing a retreat even in the much shallower dungeons. The game also does not have ether or tent items so a retreat is back to the nearest city if you don't have the 3rd airship which lets you heal in the field for free. At first I though the game would be much shorter as less time was spent in dungeons but it turns out that grinding is a bigger deal as you simply won't encounter enough enemies to keep you level in the right area if you don't specifically slow down and get into fights. This becomes a big deal toward the end and ate up a lot of time for me.
In addition to levels there are now job levels. This system is hard to intuit. You generally get higher damage and more effective skills as this number gets higher but how it goes up and how strong it makes you isn't very clear. The main level take priority, even a low level class can have good output if the main level is high but job levels are still necessary. This become more obvious if you ever switch classes as your damage output drops significantly. I think my estimation was you needed to be about job level 15 to be proficient. This also discourages switching jobs. There's really no point in switching other than you want to try something different and a few end game jobs that are clearly stronger than the rest. So because there's not a strong benefit and you'll spend a lot of time weaker it's usually best to stick to something and there were entire classes I just never tried. It would take them until Final Fantasy 5 to really find the right foundations.
There's a surprising amount of plot content given that this is still an NES game and it's actually kinda engaging. One thing I did notice is that the expansion in dialog really lets it set the tone adopted by the later entries. There's a lot of silly humor than doesn't come across in Final Fantasy I and 2 because sentences are just so terse, but 3 gives us that along with the bits of melodrama. Seeing this actually re-contextualizes a bit of those previous games a bit. There's also a nice little twist about halfway through the game (and yet another baffling end game twist around the final boss which has become a series tradition at this point).
Exploration-wise 3 is definitely a huge step up. The game start in a more narrow world before opening up though the strange part is that the initial area is far more dense as nearly half the game take place there. This is partially because the game gives you an airship very early but has a couple gating mechanisms. The second part is much more exploring the landmass presented rather than taking prescribed roads through mountainous walls. You are even given the ability to explore underwater, which while very cool and one of my favorite tropes (Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire, Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages) it doesn't do very much with it. There's an entire world of area but only 3 caves and nothing else. At the end the game also grants you a bigger, badder airship which is also very cool as it includes shops and a bed making it feel like a mobile fortress. By this time, random battles in the sky are pretty much well below your level but they even added a feature where the airship will attack with cannons which is a nice touch. While the dungeons are simplified on feature they went in on is using magic to navigate, both as a frog to get underwater and as mini to get into small places. These are good ideas but poorly executed. All 4 members need to be shrunk/frogged but especially in the early game you are unlikely to have 4 charges making it really annoying to mini and then have to go back to an inn or other re-charge area to shrink the remaining members and then it might also be necessary to unshrink/unfrog them on the other side again wasting charges and making things more tedious than they need to be. For mini sometimes you can't unshrink and get to explore a tiny dungeon which is cool but then you need to know this ahead of time because only magic is effective and you need to change class. This could have been handled better.
A particularly exceptional part about this entry is the music. The earlier 2 games were no slouches and the orchestral scores were very good but I think the music in 3 is particularly great. The boss theme in particular is probably one of the better in the series and while I had heard it via many various remixes and compositions this was the first time I really was able to sit with it and add visuals and gameplay as accompanying context.
I was really enjoying myself up until the end. The end section is basically 3 interconnected dungeons with no recharge points and without tents. Since magic is based on charges you'll need to traverse it several times when you run out fighting the multiple bosses along the way. It was here that I really started to use the "enemy encounters off" functionality because it was such a slog. Had this been structured a little differently I would have been less soured but it wasn't a good finish to a game I thought was really remarkable for its age. Still I think this is my favorite of the NES/Famicom trilogy and sets up a lot of good ideas that would find their way into later entries.
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