I had this downloaded and meant to play it for the last year but… yeah, just never got to it. I had played on a prior version (1.9 I believe) and got about half-way through with little hiccup (Ultima Weapon on the Floating Continent was a small eye-opener).

I’ve beat FFIII so many times growing up, and over the years, that it is honestly boring to play. Encounters do not require much more than “Oh, that is it’s weakness? Okay, spam that spell”, because if it isn’t magic, it is not worth doing.

So… to start:

• I don’t get the issue other reviews have about enemies having “too much power”. They have counters, yes. But you have ways to NOT trigger them. Mandrakes around Jidoor keep countering with Raid? Don’t use physical attacks! AuraBolt (Sabin), Ice (Celes), Bio Blaster (Edgar), multiple Rages (Gau), Scrolls (Shadow). All those methods will NOT trigger Raid. Or just hit it hard enough to one-shot it (Shadow’s Shuriken, single-target, will do the job). Just mashing Attack will NOT solve random encounters. Use your kit, learn what works and doesn’t.

• The only time I grinded “slightly” was for money, never experience. The money is specifically cause I want the best of everything.

• Read what equipment and items do! This cannot be stressed enough. Got something that does 2x Damage vs Humans? Good idea to bring to Zozo where ALL enemies are Human. Dark/Poison damage is in the same boat, for the same targets.

• Status effects MATTER! This cannot be overstated, especially in boss encounters. Every boss can be Sapped and Slowed, and you have multiple ways to set both. Use them! Sap ticks for over 200 damage as early as Ultros on the Lete River. It is free damage, use it!

• DEFEND! The command exists, it only uses up half your ATB bar, and if you know an attack is coming (say: Dadaluma’s Jump), just defend so it doesn’t one-shot someone!

So much of what people have left reviews as negatives, are things they could literally compensate for, and things that are covered in the Beginner’s School in Narshe (if not the Advanced School in Jidoor).

• Learn to counter-buff. Boss uses Regen? Re-apply Sap to remove it and get downwards ticking health again. Once you have Dispel, you are going to never want to go into a boss fight without it, if you can avoid it. It is that useful.
• Learn enemy behaviours. Some don’t like physical attacks (and will counter all the time), others don’t like “magical” (be it Magic, non-Physical specials, etc). Some only counter if they don’t instantly die. Others always have an on-death effect (Giants in Zozo?). Just be observant, and learn to play around them!
• Boss fights are NOT SHORT! They are health-sponges, not going to lie at all. You will be slogging away for more than 8-10 turns, easy. And their AI scripts evolve as the fight progresses, showing a sense of “urgency” as the enemy gets weaker, and starts trying to make the fight harder.
• You never need to grind experience. Some people are in the high teens to low 20s by Zozo? That is insane! I just beat Dadaluma this run with Sabin (15), Edgar (13), Celes (13), and Shadow (14). It was never “threatening”. I had 2 KOs (Shadow is built like wet-paper, and Edgar just had a bad one-two combo hit him), that was it.
• The game plays in Wait mode, entirely. Keep the ATB gauges visible, and you will see, the moment you go to pick a command to target, it PAUSES all ATB progress.
• Play with ATB gauges visible. Green = Haste, Red = Stop, White = Normal (unsure on Slow, not been hit by it yet). This was done to remove clutter from the rotating auras for Safe/Shell/Reflect.

Between this run so far, and my prior early WoR run in v1.9, I have yet to see much that isn’t acceptably fine.

Is it harder? Yes. Without a doubt. But the base game was dead boring. At least this way, I feel engaged in battle.

Bosses having unique mechanics, with unique solutions? Sign me up! Does it suck that you can’t use your expressly chosen party? Maybe, but they will have their time to shine. Everyone does. Edgar and Sabin are far the best two to take to Zozo. Magitek Research Facility though, not as much. You can basically take any two you want, as long as you don’t wind up with a Magicite complication (which I think is specifically not possible).

Just save often, pay attention, and it is a fun experience, that actually rewards you for paying attention. It is harder that the original game, but in the RIGHT ways, ways you can counter-play to.