THE ENDGAME: Final Dungeons of the Final Fantasy Series Part III

Final Fantasy III is the entry with which I am least familiar. But I have done my best to look into the story and events leading up to the final dungeon and take into account the overall atmosphere it must have. But you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t place emphasis where it should be placed or vice versa.

Final Fantasy III: World of Darkness

This dungeon is very to the point. You are here to kill the Cloud of Darkness and you do not seek to do anything that does not directly relate to that end nor does the dungeon intend to provide you with anything contrary to that purpose save the boss gauntlet. The only items to be found in the whole thing are Ribbons, and as a matter of fact, the door to the final battle is literally directly in front of you when you enter the dungeon.

I admit I rather like the [illusion of] optionality in the boss gauntlet. It’s not the fiends you’ve already killed coming to you for revenge, or just powerful enemies standing directly between you and your target, but the guardians of the dark crystals. These need to be bested in order to free the Warriors of Light’s counterparts. In a nice a little touch, you require the four Warriors of Darkness’ help. As much as you don’t like each other, the cessation of existence for everything isn’t really good for anyone, so it looks like you’re just gonna have to work together. And I kinda like that, that to be a Warrior of Darkness doesn’t necessarily equal a Warrior of Evil.

Case in point, but not once he goes Warrior of Hipster on us, then he doesn’t count.

As I said, its a rather straightforward dungeon; sure it throws in some invisible walls and bridges, but its rather short compared to the last two. The music, eh, its not bad, but I like my final dungeon music to be more rousing. Its also a touch short, but with a brief dungeon its not nearly as annoying. You spend almost as much time listening to the boss music – which is very good

And any dungeon that leads to an 8-bit peep show can’t be all bad, right?

I expect to move rather quickly onto the next final dungeon, the Lunar Subterrane, so look out for that. They really start getting good from here on out, and I imagine more of you will have played them as I go on, so I’d better start hearing from you!.