13) Final Fantasy III (1990)
Final Fantasy III can really easily be summed up as Final Fantasy Plus. While the second game smartly decided to give your player characters names and tales to tell, the third went back a step and gave you four clones just like in the first. The reason it’s so much better than either of its predecessors is because FFIII introduces the job system. It’s not as advanced or deep a system as can be seen in later entries like FFV or FFX-2, but its introduction is noteworthy regardless.
The pacing is also much better than before, as the story moves swiftly along without much need to stop and endlessly grind. Unfortunately it’s still a bit boring overall thanks to the main protagonists being nameless duplicates of each other and having no personal stories to tell (putting aside the lazy backstories they were given in the 2006 DS remake). Aside from the job system, this game also introduced series mainstays like summons and moogles, and as such should rightly be remembered. All things considered however, the entire game is pretty forgettable.
Oh, and the difficulty spike when you reach the final boss is completely, unrelentingly brutal. Minimal grinding needed throughout the entire game, then several hours of dedicated grinding required just for the last fight of the game is no way to wrap things up.
