Game BoyOverview
Final Fantasy Legend III is the third game in the SaGa series to be brought over to the United States under the "Final Fantasy Legend" moniker, and one of four Gameboy games total to capitalize on the Final Fantasy name (the other non-Legend game being Final Fantasy Adventure, originally Seiken Densetsu of the Mana series). Square-Enix announced a remake for the Nintendo DS in late August 2010 (see SaGa III).
Gameplay
Transformations
In a slight departure from the Final Fantasy Legend and Final Fantasy Legend II, Humans and Mutants are able to evolve between monster, human and robot by consuming meat or installing components; in previous games, only meat was consumable, and only monsters could consume the meat. Typically, a human character starts out at neutral, with the robotic aspects on one side of the spectrum and the monster aspects on the other. For every piece of meat a human consumes, s/he moves one step closer to the monster side of the spectrum. For every component s/he installs, s/he moves in the opposite direction. The spectrum, with Human/Mutant form in the center, can be visualized as follows: Robot - Cyborg - Human / Mutant - Beast - Monster
In addition to the transformations, Final Fantasy Legend III adds a bit more to the gameplay than was present in previous Legend games. For starters, the player's avatar is able to jump while traversing in the map screens. Also, more enemy sprites are visible on screen at once, allowing for a greater variety of enemy combinations (as opposed to in games past, where only three enemy types were allowed on-screen at once). Most significantly, the game changes how weapons are used in combat. Instead of each weapon, spell or ability having a limited amount of uses, each character can equip one weapon, possess a few "talents", and learn spells that consume Magic Points, much like more "traditional" Final Fantasies.
Critical Reception
When reviewed by Electronic Gaming Monthly the game received scores of 8,8,8 and 8 adding, "...This game has a very involving storyline to keep you interested, pretty decent tunes, and very detailed graphics [which] add up to a real winner".
