Please Teach me.

Final Fantasy takes place in an unnamed fantasy world with three large continents. The world's elemental powers are determined by the state of four glowing crystals ("orbs" in the original North American localization), each governing one of the four classical elements: earth, fire, water, and wind.
In the two centuries prior to the start of the game, violent storms sunk a massive shrine that served as the center of an ocean-based civilization, and the water crystal went dark. Two centuries before that, a group of people known as the Lufenian, who used the wind crystal's power to craft giant aerial stations ("Flying Fortresses") and airships, watched their country decline as the wind crystal went dark. Eventually, the earth and fire crystals also went dark, plaguing the earth with raging wildfires and devastating the agricultural town of Melmond as the plains and vegetation decayed. Some time later, a sage called Lukahn tells of a prophecy that four Warriors of Light will come to save the world in a time of darkness.

The game begins with the appearance of the four youthful Warriors of Light, the story's protagonists. The Warriors of Light each carry a darkened crystal, one of each element. They arrive at Cornelia, a powerful kingdom that has just witnessed the kidnapping of its princess, Sarah, by a rogue knight named Garland who wants to conquer the kingdom. The Warriors of Light travel to the ruined Chaos Shrine in the corner of Cornelia, defeat Garland, and return Princess Sarah home. The grateful King of Cornelia rebuilds the drawbridge that enables the Warriors of Light passage east of the country.

Traveling east, the Warriors of Light learn that a dark elf wizard named Astos has been terrorizing the area surrounding the southern continent's inland sea, Elfheim, stealing a crystal that the witch Matoya needs for sight, putting the prince of the elves into a coma, and stealing the crown of a minor western king. As they travel, they liberate the town of Pravoka from a band of pirates and acquire the pirates' ship for their own use. The Warriors of Light now have the ability to travel across the water, but remain trapped within the Aldean Sea, in the center of a large continent. A large rock blocks the only exit from the sea. There is a group of dwarves in Mount Duergar trying to remove the rock, but they find themselves unable to proceed without Nitro Powder. The Nitro Powder is contained in a locked room in Castle Cornelia, the only key to which is held by the sleeping elven prince. They retrieve the stolen crown, only to find that the minor king was actually Astos. After defeating Astos, the Warriors of Light recover Matoya's crystal and return it to the witch, who makes them a herb that will awaken the elven prince. The prince gives them the Mystic Key, with which they travel to Castle Cornelia and retrieve the Nitro Powder, which they then take to the dwarves to help them finish their canal. With the rock now cleared, the Warriors of Light proceed into the greater world.

Sailing to Melmond, the Warriors of Light seek out and destroy the Fiend of Earth, the Lich, who is responsible for the earth's rotting. The Warriors of Light then enter the volcano Mount Gulg and defeat the Fiend of Fire, Marilith, who was awakened two hundred years prematurely by the Lich's defeat. The Warriors then acquire an airship and visit the Cardia Islands to meet with the dragon king Bahamut who gives them the task of surviving the Citadel of Trials and getting proof of their deeds. When they return he gives them greater job classes, improvements of their original ones. The Warriors then defeat the Fiend of Water, the Kraken, in an underwater palace near Onrac, and Tiamat, the Fiend of Wind, in the Flying Fortress. The four Fiends defeated, and the crystals restored, the Warriors find that their quest is not yet over: The Fiends created an archdemon, Chaos, using the body of Garland, and sent him 2,000 years into the past. Following Chaos into the past, the Warriors discover that it was Chaos who had sent the four Fiends into the future, creating a time loop paradox.

The Warriors of Light, upon defeating Chaos, return to their own time. Having broken the time loop, peace has been returned to the world, yet it is a much different place. While all of its people are completely unaware that the entire ordeal had taken place, and though even the Warriors themselves do not recall their adventure either, order has been restored and the darkness has been vanquished for their world's future.


Ports and Remakes:
Family Computer version to MSX2 version

The MSX2 computer standard was roughly analogous, in terms of technical capabilities, to the Famicom/NES, and so, as a result, the MSX2 version of Final Fantasy is probably the closest to the original Famicom version. However, while the Famicom was designed to operate exclusively as a gaming console, the MSX2 was intended to be used more generally as a personal computer. In practice, this meant that the game was subtly altered to take advantage of certain features offered by the MSX2 and not by the Famicom, and vice versa.
Format. Released on floppy diskette, the MSX2 version of the game had access to almost three times as much storage space as the Famicom version (720 KB vs. 256 KB), but suffered from a variety of problems not present in Nintendo's cartridge media, including noticeable loading time.
Altered graphics. Relatively minor upgrades. In general, the MSX2 version sports an ostensibly improved color palette which adds a degree of vibrancy to character and background graphics. However, some have commented that the choice of colors sometimes seems "off", and argue the Famicom version's graphics were of higher quality, despite the technical superiority of the MSX2 in this field.
Subtly altered random battles. The world map seems to have been moved slightly, meaning that the placement of monster "areas" on the world map is slightly different, and that monsters appear in different places than in the Famicom version.
Different saved game system. Game data could not be saved onto the original program diskette, so it was necessary to provide a blank floppy diskette to save one's progress. For some reason, it was possible to store only one saved game on any given disk at one time, although it was possible to have multiple diskettes for multiple saved games.
Upgraded sound and music. The MSX2 featured more sound channels than the Famicom, and as such many music tracks and sound effects were altered or improved for the port. Also, some dungeon music has been swapped.
Miscellaneous engine tweaks. In the Famicom version, the Black Belt's strength would increase with his experience levels, meaning that very soon the player would reach a point where a Black Belt could do more damage without weapons than he could with one equipped. In the MSX2 version, this is not the case: Black Belt's strength does not increase nearly as quickly, and as such he cannot operate effectively as a barehanded fighter. Also, a few (though not all) items available in stores have had their costs changed.

Family Computer version to Nintendo Entertainment System version

The 1990 North American localization of Final Fantasy was essentially identical to the original Japanese game. But technical limitations, and the censorship policies of Nintendo of America, resulted in a few minor changes to certain elements.
Truncated magic names. The original game program provided only four character spaces for magic spell names, meaning that a lot of original Japanese spell names had to be abbreviated to fit into the space requirements for the English version. These changes include "Flare" being reduced to "NUKE", "Thunder" being reduced to "LIT" and "Warp" being reduced to "ZAP!".
Censorship issues. Nintendo of America policy prohibited games from featuring any overt Judeo-Christian imagery or reference to death. As such, some graphics were modified, so that, for instance, churches no longer featured crosses. (This is probably why the Kill spell was renamed as "Rub".)

Family Computer version to WonderSwan Color version

Many more changes were introduced for the game's WonderSwan Color remake.
Upgraded graphics. The 8-bit graphics of the original Famicom game were completely redrawn for the WSC version, bringing the game roughly on-par with 16-bit era graphics. The color palette was much larger and battle scenes featured full background images.
Parity with later games. Character sprites (especially the upgraded classes) were redesigned to look more like characters from the Super Famicom Final Fantasy games. In the Famicom version, shops and inns had no interior map: once a character entered the building, they were greeted with a menu-based purchase screen. In the WSC version this was changed to more closely resemble other games in the series, where each building had an interior, along with a shop counter where the transaction screen could be accessed. Similarly, the battle screen was redesigned, with all textual information moved down to a blue window stretched across the bottom of the screen in an arrangement similar to that utilized in Final Fantasy II through Final Fantasy VII.
Added cutscenes. Short cutscenes, using the internal game engine, were added to expand the game's story somewhat. One such cutscene involved the construction of the bridge by the Corneria army.
Expanded text. The original Famicom version did not have the ability to display more than one window of text during a conversation, which meant that all conversations with non-player characters were strictly limited in length. The WSC version removes this restriction.
Optional engine tweaks. In the original version, any attempt to attack a monster that had been killed by a previous character's attack would result in an "ineffective" attack. The WSC version introduced an option wherein the attack would be redirected to another monster rather than fail. Similarly, a "dash" option had been introduced: holding down a specific button while walking around in a town or dungeon map would cause the character to move around at twice their normal pace. Both of these options can be turned on and off via the game's configuration screen.
Deletable spells. As in the original version, every magic using character has successive "spell levels". Each character has only three available slots per spell level, but is given the option of choosing from four spells. Once that choice had been made in the original version, there was no way to "unlearn" spells to free up a space for the unchosen fourth spell. In the WSC version, this has been changed so that it is possible to delete spells once purchased.
More save game slots. The original Famicom cartridge could only store one set of game data at a time, and every time a new save was made, the previous one was overwritten. The WSC version provides up to eight distinct slots for saved game data. The "quick save" feature was also added, which allows the player to save his or her progress at any time (except during battles). This will exit the game, however, and as soon as the game is resumed, any quick save data is lost.
Changed item system. In the original version, only items specifically assigned to a character could be used during battle. In the WSC, this has been changed so that there is a party-wide "pool" of items which can be accessed at any time by all characters. Certain status healing items and spells (such as Life and Soft) could now be used during battle. The status ailment Silence no longer prevents items from being used.
Added music. In addition to remixing the soundtrack, composer Nobuo Uematsu has composed several new tracks, including a new "boss battle" theme.
Bosses have more HP. Because many of the above changes make the game simpler, the hit points of certain monsters, and almost all boss monsters, have been substantially increased (doubled, in some cases) in order to better balance the gameplay.

WonderSwan Color version to Final Fantasy Origins
The PlayStation remake of Final Fantasy was released alongside its sequel, Final Fantasy II, in a collection titled Final Fantasy Origins (or Final Fantasy I+II Premium Collection in Japan). Both of these games were based on the WonderSwan Color remake, and most of the changes instituted in that version remain. However, there are a few differences:
Higher resolution graphics. Although the graphics are basically the same as in the WSC version, the PlayStation's higher screen resolution means that most of them have been improved to some degree, with quite a bit more detail.
Remixed soundtrack. Nobuo Uematsu remixed the soundtrack to Final Fantasy IX quality to utilize the Sony PlayStation audio capabilities and also composed a few new tracks like the ones used in the opening movies.
Rewritten script. In the Japanese language version, the script has been changed to include kanji. The English language translation, too, has been completely rewritten, and is, in most cases, much closer to the Japanese than the original English NES version was. Character and magic name lengths have been increased from four to six characters, as well.
Even more saved game slots. Saved game data takes up one block on the PlayStation memory card, which means that up to fifteen games can be saved onto each memory card. The "quick save" feature of the WSC version has been excised, but in its place a "memo save" feature has been introduced where game data can be temporarily saved to the PlayStation's RAM. This data remains until the system is turned off, or its power supply is otherwise interrupted.
Added full-motion video cutscenes and omake. The game is now book-ended with two full-motion, prerendered video cutscenes. An "omake" (or bonus) section has also been made available. It includes a bestiary, an art gallery, and an item collection that are unlocked as the player progresses through the game.
New "Easy Mode". A new "easy mode" has been introduced wherein shop prices are cheaper, experience levels are gained more quickly, and stats are increased more rapidly. This mode is optional and is chosen at the start of the game.

Final Fantasy Origins to Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls

Another fairly extensive list of changes accompanies the Game Boy Advance release of Final Fantasy as part of Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls. Among them are:
Reduced difficulty level. The GBA version's difficulty level most closely resembles the "easy mode" of the PlayStation/Final Fantasy Origins version. Unlike that version, however, there is no option to switch back to the original difficulty. Similarly, the redirection of "ineffective" hits, which had been optional since it was introduced in the WSC version, is now mandatory.
Lower resolution graphics, compared to the PlayStation version. Graphics are more or less identical to the WSC version, although the GBA has a slightly higher screen resolution than the WSC, and certain sequences (such as flying around on the airship) look better on the GBA than on the WSC.
New magic system. The "spell level"-based magic system was dropped in favor of the magic point-based system used in more recent Final Fantasy games. Although spells are still classified at certain levels for some purposes (characters can still only be equipped with three of the four available spells of any given level, for instance), every spell is now assigned a point value. When cast, that value is subtracted from a total number of magic points (or MP) that applies to all spells known by a character.
New item system. Many new items have been introduced, including the reviver item Phoenix Down. Healing items are now much easier to procure, and less expensive, as well. The party starts the game with 500 gil instead of 400 as in previous versions. The player can also now obtain item drops from enemies.
Omake bestiary. The omake artwork gallery and item collection present in the PlayStation version have been omitted, but the bestiary gallery remains and operates more or less exactly as it did previously.
Miscellaneous game engine tweaks. Certain classes have been modified: the Thief and Monk have become more powerful, whereas the Red Mage has become less so. Stat growth has been altered, and Intelligence now affects the strength of weapon-based magic spells.
Altered save system. The game can now be saved at any time, anywhere (again, except during battles). There are three available save game slots.
Monsters have even more HP. Because the introduced changes make the game even less challenging, many monsters and boss monsters have had their hit points increased once again.
"Auto-naming". During character creation, the player can choose to have the game randomly assign a name to each character. These names are all taken from other Final Fantasy games and include Desh (Final Fantasy III), Giott (Final Fantasy IV), Kelga (Final Fantasy V), and Daryl (Final Fantasy VI), among others.
Soul of Chaos. Four new optional dungeons have been introduced, one corresponding to each Fiend, and becoming available after that Fiend is defeated. These dungeons are especially challenging and feature items and monsters not found anywhere else in the game. At the end of each dungeon there are a variety of boss monsters from subsequent games in the Final Fantasy series, including the bosses from the World of Darkness from Final Fantasy III, the Archfiends from Final Fantasy IV, the bosses from the Cleft of Dimension from Final Fantasy V and the bosses from Final Fantasy VI.

Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Edition

In honor of the 20th Anniversary of the first Final Fantasy game's release, Square announced another remake, this time for the PlayStation Portable. The soundtrack is borrowed from Final Fantasy Origins. The script is nearly identical to the GBA version aside from the Labyrinth of Time. The known changes and features are:

Higher resolution. The graphics have been updated once again and more detailed. Aerial effects have been added to the towns and dungeons.
Soul of Chaos Dungeons. The new dungeons from the Dawn of Souls version remain in this version. The music tracks from boss battles were also changed to the tracks of the games the new bosses originated from, which consists of five new tracks.
The Labyrinth of Time. The new dungeon with much greater difficulty than any other in the game and its new superboss surpasses even Omega, Shinryu, and Chaos in difficulty.
Amano art gallery. The art gallery featured on Final Fantasy Origins has returned on this version.
CGI Scenes. The CGI scenes from the PlayStation version have returned.

Final Fantasy for iOS

The port of the original and second Final Fantasies to the iOS is available in the US iTunes Store for $8.99. It has been released on the UK Itunes store for £5.50. Both games have graphics similar to the Anniversary Edition and their special dungeons. With a single purchase, both the English and Japanese language versions of the games are made available (through the phone's system language). The original Final Fantasy's gameplay remains the same as in the PSP port, while Final Fantasy II iOS version adds new gameplay elements, mainly the implementation of touch controls. Launched in February 25 as an HD graphic game.
The Apple iOS version of Final Fantasy includes a "quick save" that allows the player to save the party's current location either on the overworld map or in dungeon mode when the application gracefully exits. This means that when gameplay is interrupted by returning to the home screen, receiving a phone call, or putting the device in sleep mode and subsequently syncing the device (which resets the device's current status), the game will resume in the same location when "Resume" is selected at the opening screen. However, if the player chooses to open a save file or new game, the data is deleted.

Final Fantasy for iOS, v1.0.3, is available from the Apple App Store, for $8.99 USD and 81.5 MB.

Final Fantasy II was the first game to have an actual main cast of characters with names and histories. The first three characters can never be changed, whilst the fourth character is always changing.
Firion is the main character. The adopted friend of Maria and Leon, and childhood friend of Guy, he seeks to destroy the empire in hopes of avenging his fallen family.
Maria is Firion and Guy's childhood friend, and the female lead. She quests in the hopes of finding her brother Leon, who disappeared after being attacked by the Empire.
Guy is a friend of Firion and Maria. He speaks in a stunted manner, and has the ability to speak to animals. However, this is a unique ability and it is only used once in the entire game.
Leon is Maria's older brother, and the new Dark Knight of Palamecia. He went missing during the attack on Fynn, and has since grown to be the emperor's most faithful follower.
Minwu is a White Mage and Hilda's personal adviser. He joins the party during their first adventures, and is learned in the arts of magic.
Josef is a miner, and helps the resistance gain mythril. He joins the party for only a short time, but his small contribution matters greatly in the end.
Gordon is the prince of Kashuan, and fled from battle after his brother, Scott, died in the battle for Fynn. He believes himself to be a coward, and to prove himself fit for the throne, he journeys with Firion and his allies to aid in the defeat of the empire.
Leila is a pirate who attempts to rob the party, but her crew is weak and Firion, Maria, and Guy easily defeat them. She repents, and decides only to attack the Empire instead.
Ricard Highwind is the last Dragoon of Deist. Having been stuck in Leviathan for some time, he is quite eager to return to action and stop the Empire in order to avenge his fallen allies.
Scott is a prince of Kashuan and the older brother of Gordon.

The story concerns the adventures of four youngsters from the kingdom of Fynn named Firion, Maria, Guy and Leon. Maria's, Guy's, and Leon's parents are killed during an invasion by the army of The Emperor of Palamecia, who has summoned forth monsters from Hell in his quest to dominate the world. Fleeing the Emperor's monsters, the four are attacked and left for dead. Firion, Maria, and Guy are rescued by Princess Hilda of Fynn, who has established a rebel base in the nearby town of Altair. Eager to prove their value to the resistance movement, the three remaining youths undertake a variety of missions against Palamecia and join forces with a variety of allies not only to defeat the Emperor, but to locate Maria's missing brother Leon as well.
After Hilda asks Firion, Maria and Guy to go to Fynn to talk to her fiancée, Prince Scott, the party go to Fynn and find out Scott is in a secret place of the town. When the party finally finds him in a secret room in the town pub, he is in the last moments of his life, but he is still able to tell the party the defeat of Fynn was because of Count Borghen's betrayal. He also tells the party about his brother Gordon, telling them he knows Gordon has great strength. Scott gives Firion his ring to bring back to Hilda and tells him that he will always love Hilda, using his last breath to say these words. The party returns to Altair and Firion gives the ring to Hilda; she recognizes it as Scott's ring and asks Firion to keep it, saying it is a ring from a brave man. Hilda asks the party to go to Salamand to search for Mythril. Josef, a member of the rebellion was sent to search for it, but Hilda hasn't heard anything from him since. Hilda's right-hand man, Minwu, also joins the party for this mission.

The party finds Josef, but he is unwilling to give any information, as the Palamecian empire have kidnapped Nelly, Josef's daughter, and Borghen has threatened to kill her if he helps the resistance. The party travels to the Semitt Falls where Nelly is held and frees her from the empire. After defeating one of the imperial Sergeants, they take the Mythril and make their way back to Altair.

After the weaponsmith Tobul crafts Mythril Equipment for the resistance, the party is dispatched to Bafsk. The Palamecian Empire have enslaved the residents and made them build a powerful airship known as the Dreadnought. It was built under the watchful eye of an imperial known as the Dark Knight, however, he has been withdrawn since the empire lost the Mythril and has been replaced by the hapless Borghen. This gives the resistance the perfect opportunity to destroy the Dreadnought before it is finished. However, just before the party reaches the massive airship from the Bafsk Sewers, the Dark Knight, who actually has not left Bafsk after all, appears and takes off with the Dreadnought before the party reaches it. The Dreadnought attacks the cities of Poft, Paloom, Gatrea and Altair, but miraculously the secret base at Altair is unharmed. A plan is formed to use the Sunfire from Kasuhan Keep but to enter, they need either the Goddess Bell or the voice of a Kashuan. Josef helps the party enter some snow caves with a snowcraft, and the party retrieves the bell located within. On the way out, Borghen attacks the party, and although he is defeated, he sends a boulder after them. Josef holds back the boulder to allow the party to escape, but is crushed.

With heavy hearts but renewed determination to avenge Josef, the party heads for the abandoned kingdom of Kashuan to retrieve the Sunfire. The party uses the Goddess Bell to infiltrate the Keep, where they meet with Gordon who helps them to locate Egil's Torch, the only vessel they can use to carry the Sunfire. The party defeats a Red Soul for the torch and retrieve the Sunfire. As they leave, they witness Cid's airship being abducted by the Dreadnought, which then parks to replenish fuel supplies in the far south. The party heads there, frees Cid (and Hilda, who was on board Cid's airship), and throws the Sunfire into the Dreadnought's engine as directed by Cid thus destroying it once and for all.

The party returns triumphantly to Altair, only to learn the King is almost ready to die. With his last breaths, he forms a three-pronged attack on the empire in an attempt to take back Fynn. In his plan, Minwu heads to Mysidia to retrieve Ultima, the ultimate magic tome; Gordon takes command of the rebel army to attack Fynn directly; and Firion's party heads to the island nation of Deist to enlist the aid of the Dragoons. With the help of Leila, the pirate captain, the party reaches Deist, but finds that only a single Wyvern remains alive. The beast is dying, poisoned by the empire, and it gives the party the last Wyvern Egg, which the party drops in the healing spring at the bottom of Deist Cavern in order to incubate it and hasten its growth process.

The party returns to Altair empty-handed and to their surprise the Hilda they rescued on the Dreadnought is not really Hilda at all; it is a Lamia Queen impersonating the real Hilda. They soon learn she is being held as a prize in the tournament at the Palamecian Coliseum. The party, with Gordon in tow, make haste to reach Hilda, defeating a Behemoth at the Coliseum to earn Hilda as a prize. However, The Emperor, who is overseeing the match personally, dispatches the party and has them thrown in the dungeons. They are saved by Paul the traveling thief, who unlocks their cell. Hilda and Gordon escape on their own while the rest of the party draws the guards' attention.

An attack is planned on Castle Fynn and the rebel army sets up just outside of town. Firion, Maria, Guy and Leila lead the attack and the castle's incumbent, Gottos, is defeated, earning the rebels an important victory. However, Minwu and the Ultima Tome are nowhere to be found so Gordon instructs the party to look for Minwu and retrieve the Tome from the Mysidian Tower. After obtaining the Crystal Rod, the party heads for the Tower, only to be swallowed by the Leviathan. Shipwrecked and without Leila, the party works its way from Leviathan's innards to the mouth, where, with the help of Ricard Highwind the Dragoon, they are able to retake the ship by defeating a Roundworm. They head for the Tower, best the Fire Gigas, Ice Gigas and the Thunder Gigas and find Minwu at the Chamber of the Seal, desperately trying to break it to open the way to Ultima. In one last ditch effort, Minwu succeeds, but at a hefty price: he too succumbs to death to help the party in their battle against The Emperor.

The party takes Ultima and returns to Fynn but something is amiss. The towns of Altair, Gatrea, Paloom and Poft have been destroyed by a mysterious force known as the Cyclone. It threatens to tear the world asunder if the party cannot figure out how to stop it. Gordon's idea of "sprouting wings" paves the way for the hatching of the last Wyvern, who comes to the castle to help the party reach the Cyclone.

Eventually, the party defeats The Emperor in the Cyclone. After The Emperor's death, Leon, whom the party knew as the Emperor's Dark Knight and his right-hand man, decides to crown himself as the new emperor. Firion and his party go to Palamecia to stop him, but when the party faces Leon, The Emperor comes back from Hell, more powerful than ever, with the intention of reclaiming his empire. Ricard Highwind stays in the castle of Palamecia to fight The Emperor, so that the party and Leon can escape from the castle on the Wyvern, but The Emperor kills the Dragoon with ease. After the Ricard's death, the Dark Emperor raises Castle Pandaemonium, the fortress of the Lord of Hell, to start a new empire. After returning to Deist to earn the Excalibur, the treasured sword of the Dragoons, the party fights its way through the Jade Passage, entering Pandaemonium from underneath as all other forms of approach are impossible. Inside the castle, the party fights its way through several of The Emperor's most powerful minions, including the reincarnation of General Borghen himself, en route to The Emperor's throne at the top of the castle.

A fierce battle ensues as The Emperor attempts to destroy the last hope of the resistance. Despite his powerful spells and his ability to call down meteors, the Emperor eventually is at last defeated and dissipates into nothing, damned to the very Hell he directed against the party for so long. Firion and the party breathe a sigh of relief, and then return to Castle Fynn where Hilda, Gordon, Nelly, Leila and Paul all wait to congratulate the party on the victory. In the battle's aftermath life begins anew for everyone. However, Leon is skeptical of his future since so much has gone on between the party members and him. Despite Maria's protests, Firion lets Leon go, but reminds him there is always a place for him in Fynn, where he belongs.

SOUL OF REBIRTH:
In the Game Boy Advance and PlayStation Portable versions, a new story, titled Soul of Rebirth, tells the tales of the four party members who died defending Firion and his party in an attempt to see The Emperor defeated.
Minwu wakes up to find himself in a mysterious cave and tries to figure out where he is. He later finds Scott, the prince of Kashuan, who had died earlier on in the game. After defeating a few soldiers, the two find Josef, who is confronted by a hideous zombie-version of Borghen. The three of them defeat Borghen, and start searching for answers about where they are. They find Ricard, who is fighting the Roundworm, and aid him in battle. He then joins Minwu's party. The party finds their way out of the passage, where they find that they are, in fact, in the afterlife. The town of Machanon was built as a safe house for all the souls trapped in this unknown dimension. Here, they find Cid, Tobul and other rebels, who helped build the place, and who encourage the party to explore the other two mysterious portals that appeared in Machanon not long ago.

After adjusting themselves to the difficult battles of the afterlife, Minwu and the party enter one of the portals, and find themselves in the Chamber of the Seal, Minwu's resting place. Again, Minwu must break the seal; however, this time, he is powerful enough to break the seal without sustaining any fatal injuries. The party enters the chamber and attempts to claim Ultima, but are met with the guardian of the spell in the afterlife: the Ultima Weapon. After a fierce duel, the party is able to defeat the monster, and claim Ultima as their own.

This leaves one final portal, which leads to the Unknown Palace. Like Pandaemonium before it, the Palace is guarded by fierce creatures, and contains some of the most powerful equipment in the game. Specifically, Minwu's party finds four exclusive pieces of equipment: the Stardust Rod (for Minwu), the Wild Rose (for Scott), the Bracers (for Josef), and the Wyvern Lance (for Ricard).

After all the battles, the party meets the Light Emperor, who asks for forgiveness for his dark side's actions. The Light Emperor tells them he split into two entities when he was originally defeated, and that Firion and the party defeated the dark half in Pandaemonium. He also explains they are actually in Arubboth, the passage to Heaven, and that they can finally rest in peace. The four are led to believe his words; however, the subconscious souls of their still-living friends and family appear and tell them they must not be fooled by the Light Emperor, because in reality, he is just as evil as the Dark Emperor. The party recover their lost will to fight and defeat the Light Emperor. After his defeat, the four heroes return (at least in spirit) to Castle Fynn, where they witness the events that played out at the end of the regular game. These events are told from their perspective this time, and the player is given an explanation as to why Firion saw the ghosts of the four dead heroes at the regular game's conclusion. The story ends with Minwu, Scott, Josef and Ricard finally fading away, presumably going to Heaven for real this time...

Ports and Remakes:

Wonderswan Color

The first remake of Final Fantasy II was released on May 3, 2001. The most notable change to the game was the graphical updating, which included more detailed sprites, a total revamping of battlefield and dungeon backgrounds, and higher resolution overall.

PlayStation

North America's first access to Final Fantasy II was through the Final Fantasy Origins collection, which also included the original Final Fantasy. The graphics and gameplay remained nearly identical to that of the Wonderswan, though resolution increased by a marginal amount. Due to the PlayStation's higher processing power, several new features were added, such as a full motion video scene, a Bestiary, art gallery by Yoshitaka Amano, and an item collection gallery. The game also features Easy and Normal modes of play.

Game Boy Advance

Final Fantasy II was once again paired with Final Fantasy for the Game Boy Advance, under the compilation Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls. In this edition, several tweaks to the stat leveling system were made, including the removal of the "action-cancel" cheat, which allowed players to gain statistics for moves that were canceled at will, and the removal of stat decreases. As in Final Fantasy, the player was afforded three save files, and the game was able to be saved in any location barring battles. Also, Yoshitaka Amano's character portraits are used whenever a major character is speaking in a dialogue box.

The Dawn of Souls version of Final Fantasy II introduced the new Soul of Rebirth dungeon, which is available after the Final Boss's defeat. The dungeon consists of multiple areas and a town, and the playable characters include those that died during the main storyline's events. An extra save file is needed for this bonus dungeon.

PlayStation Portable

Final Fantasy II was also ported to the PlayStation Portable as part of the Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary compilation. Its music is the same as in Final Fantasy Origins. The graphics have been updated to higher resolution. Its script is the same as the Game Boy Advance port aside from the dungeons exclusive to this version, but the FMV and Art Galleries from Final Fantasy Origins have returned, and the Arcane Labyrinth dungeons have been introduced, a new series of three dungeons, that after being completed, lead to the Arcane Sanctuary, where the party may challenge new bosses. Also, this version introduced a Defend command to the battle menu, whereas before party members would occasionally block with a shield if one was equipped.

iOS Version

Square Enix has released both Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II for iOS. Both games have graphics similar to the Anniversary Edition and their special dungeons. With a single purchase, both the English and Japanese language versions of the games are made available (through the phone's system language). The gameplay of the original Final Fantasy remains the same of the PSP port while Final Fantasy II adds new elements to the gameplay. These versions were confirmed on iOS soon before they were released on February 25, 2010.
Final Fantasy II for iOS, v1.0.5, is available from the Apple App Store, is $8.99 USD or 6,99€ and 148 MB.

In their current form, as of the March 10th, 2011 update, the games have original feel graphics updated for the iPhone screens, touch enabled menus, and overlay screen controls for the d-pad. Saving can be performed at any time, and the game automatically does a quick-save if the app is interrupted (by a phone call, for instance). They are currently not multitasking aware for iOS4, nor do they have custom controls or graphics for the iPad to make them easier to play on the bigger screen.

Many years ago, on a Floating Continent hovering high above the surface of an unnamed planet, a technologically advanced civilization sought to harness the power of the four elemental crystals of light. They did not realize they could not hope to control such fundamental forces of nature. This power of light would have consumed the world itself had the light crystals not had their natural counterparts: the four dark elemental crystals. Disturbed by the interruption of the careful balance of the light and the dark, four warriors were granted the power of the dark crystals in order to re-contain the light crystals' power.
These so-called Dark Warriors succeeded in their quest, and restored harmony to the world. But their victory came too late to save the doomed civilization that had foolishly tried to harness the crystals' power. Their once-proud culture was reduced to ruin, though their floating continent remained, a reminder of what had come before. And on that very continent, the circle of Gulgans, a race of blind soothsayers and fortune-tellers, predicted things to eventually come full circle. Just as the power of light can be abused, so, too, can the power of darkness. And when that would occur, the crystals of the light would call forth their own champions to restore balance to the world.

One day, an earthquake opens up a previously hidden cavern in Altar Cave near the village of Ur on the floating continent. Four orphaned youths under the care of Topapa, the village elder, go exploring and come across a crystal of light: the Crystal of Wind. The crystal grants them a portion of its power and their first several Jobs, and instructs them to go forth and restore balance to the world. Not knowing what to make of the crystal's pronouncements, but nonetheless recognizing the importance of its words, the four inform their adoptive family of their mission and set out to explore.

In the DS version, only Luneth falls down and discovers the Crystal of Wind, and is not initially granted its power. After receiving his task, he goes to find his friend Arc, who is being picked on by the other kids of the village. Together they journey to Kazus, the village cursed by the Djinn. They seek out Refia, and all three journey to Castle Sasune to see the King and retrieve the Mythril Ring. They are granted access by the royal guard Ingus, who becomes their fourth companion.

The four journey back to Kazus and enter the Sealed Cave. There they find Princess Sara, who has the ring, and with her help, they are able to defeat the Djinn. She returns to the castle while they are transported to the Altar Cave, where lies the Wind Crystal. It bestows upon them its light and several Jobs, and officially makes them the Warriors of Light. They are instructed to restore the other crystals and bring equilibrium back to the world.
Back at Castle Sasune, Princess Sara uses the Mythril Ring to break the curse and free the people. The warriors say farewell, Ingus promising to return to visit Sara, and then go and find Cid in Kazus. He uses his airship to aid them in ramming the boulder that blocks their way. Unfortunately it comes at the cost of the airship, rendering the party land bound. In order to fulfill their destiny they must find King Argus, however, they must first find a ship.

In the mean time, they journey to the town of Canaan and meet Cid's wife and a strange girl named Salina. She mourns the disappearance of her love, Desch. The four, hearing that he bought the last Mini spell they were searching for, journey to Dragon's Peak where he was last seen. After scaling the peak, they encounter and are kidnapped by Bahamut, who drops them off at its nest where they encounter the mysterious Desch. They learn he has lost his memory, and so he decides to join them in hopes of regaining it.

Using Desch's Mini spell, the group heads for Tozus, the hidden village of the gnomes. The main purpose in traveling there is to pass through Tozus Tunnel, beneath the Myranos Mountains, and reach Vikings' Cove, where they may acquire a ship. They find the Vikings in an uproar as their feared water deity, the Nepto Dragon, has become wild and angry. The Viking Chief requests the warriors' aid.

They journey to the Nepto Temple where they find an idol of the Nepto Dragon is missing an eye jewel. They shrink down in order to work their way through the tunnels inside the Temple walls, and fight enemies along the way. Eventually they find the missing eye in the horde of a rat, and after defeating it, the four take the eye. They return the eye to the socket and appease the angry Nepto Dragon. In gratitude, the Vikings bestow upon the heroes the good ship Enterprise.

Sailing upon the Enterprise, the heroes explore the continent. They travel to the Village of the Ancients, and learn the continent they are on is actually floating above the old world. They eventually find the Tower of Owen, and battle through the tower hearing taunts from a mysterious person every now and again. When they reach the main room, they find Medusa, servant of Xande, waiting for them. After defeating her, Desch's memory returns. He recalls he is one of the ancients who was the Guardian of the Tower. He also tells the warriors the tower is the force keeping the floating continent floating. As it threatens to fall, Desch leaps into the central furnace and the tower soon stops shaking and the four leave.

They head for Dwarven Hollows in search of the Fire Crystal. The dwarves are preoccupied because one of their precious ice horns was stolen by Gutsco the Rogue. They follow him into the subterranean lake, making use of the Toad spell. After "defeating" him, they make their way back up to Dwarven Hallows, followed by a mysterious shadow. When they reach the main altar, Gutsco reveals himself and grabs both horns.

The four pursue him again, this time into the Molten Cave. Gutsco leads them straight to the Crystal of Fire, whose power he absorbs. He turns into a dragon and the battle ensues. After defeating Gutsco a second time, they receive the light of the Fire Crystal and several additional Jobs, and return the Horns of Ice.

With their new Jobs and abilities, the Warriors of Light sail to Tokkul, a village left in shambles, where they learn the evil Hein, adviser to King Argus, has captured the King, enslaved the people, and uprooted the Elder Tree from the Living Woods. They are attacked and kidnapped by Hein's men, and taken to Castle Hein, which is actually the floating Elder Tree.

The Warriors of Light defeat the evil sorcerer and restore the Elder Tree. Upon reaching Castle Argus, King Argus welcomes them and thanks them for their deeds. They receive the Wheel of Time from the King, and finally take it back to Cid who changes their ship into an airship and tells them the truth. The four of them are not from the floating continent, but from the world below. They were traveling with Cid when they were very young, and ran into a mysterious cloud. The ship crashed and Cid never saw them again. Made even more curious by the news, the four travel back to the world below and find that their "continent" is nothing but a small island on the face of a huge world.
The overworld is a swirling mess of darkness with a few large landmasses visible here and there. They fly the Enterprise to a wrecked ship and find an old man tending to a young girl inside. They aid her with a Potion and immediately she recovers. She recognizes them as the Warriors of Light and asks if the world is no longer frozen. Hearing it is not restored, Aria, the girl, journeys with the warriors to the Temple of Water and recovers the shard of the Water Crystal. Using the shard, she opens the way to the Cave of Tides.

She reveals she is one of the last Priestesses of Water. They make their way to the crystal, and Aria returns the shard. As she steps from the altar, she instructs the Warriors to return the light to the crystal. As they approach, Aria suddenly pushes Luneth out of the way of a blast of magic. She falls, and Kraken reveals himself. The four battle him, and once he falls, light is restored to the crystal and the world is returned to normal, as Aria slowly dies.

In the new world, the four awaken in the Town of Amur. They find their ship tied with a chain, and so journey to Goldor's Mansion to retrieve the key and the fourth crystal. Goldor shatters the crystal, but drops the key. They return to Amur and free the Enterprise.

They fly around, visiting several towns, but are shot down over the Megalopolis of Saronia. They find the kingdom in uproar over the decrees of the seemingly mad king. The army has been divided against itself and shops everywhere have been closed. They find the King's son, Prince Alus, in south-west Saronia, who has been banished from the castle by his own father. Arc convinces the rest to aid him. Strangely, they are permitted to enter the castle upon their return, but later that night, Alus wakes up to find his father standing over his bed with a knife. His father plunges the knife into his own stomach and is free from the spell placed upon him by Garuda. They fight and kill Garuda, and Prince Alus becomes the new king.

Shortly afterward, scholars inform the party the airship Nautilus. has been unearthed. Using it, the party journeys the perilous skies to the Dalg Continent where they meet Doga and his moogle bodyguards in Doga's Mansion. He joins their party and uses Mini on them to enter The Cave of the Circle. When they reach the end of the cave, Doga uses a spell to make the Nautilus capable of safe underwater travel, making it a submarine in addition to an airship. He tells The Warriors of Light to go to the Temple of Time and recover Noah's Lute, which would awaken Unei, the guardian of the dream realm, from her eternal slumber. He then leaves the warriors, asking them to give Unei his regards.

Doing as Doga had asked of them, the Light Warriors use Noah's Lute to awaken Unei. She happily joins the party and together they go to the Ancient Ruins and manage to take control of a large airship called the Invincible. After telling the Warriors of Light of its many uses, she bids them farewell.

When the party travels to the Cave of Shadows, they find the Fang of Earth, and they head back to Doga's Manor to visit Doga and Unei. Upon entering Doga's manor, they are teleported to a cave, in which Doga and Unei are waiting. They tell the Warriors of Light to defeat them in battle. Reluctantly, they do as they are told, and are explained why they were needed to be killed. As it turns out, Doga and Unei's souls were needed to power the keys needed to open the forbidden land of Eureka and Crystal Tower.
Before entering the Crystal Tower, they go through the Maze of the Ancients, which is where the final crystal is held. After receiving said crystal, the warriors travel through the Crystal Tower and attempt to cross over to the Dark World. Before crossing, they find themselves under the curse of the Five Wyrms, which holds the party locked in place. Doga remedies this by finding five past allies of the warriors to break the curse. The five allies are Princess Sara, Cid, Desch (who did not die upon hurling himself into the tower), King Alus, and one of the four old men from Amur. After breaking the curse the allies wish the Light Warriors the best of luck, the heroes reach the portal to the World of Darkness.

In front of the black vortex, the warriors confront Xande and defeat him. After he dies, they face the Cloud of Darkness, who was manipulating Xande without his knowledge to reduce the world to nothingness. They fail to defeat their enemy and are killed by her particle beam. Fortunately, with the light of the five allies who had helped them before, they are revived and continue into the World of Darkness. Within, they defeat four malevolent beings, who are guarding the crystals' dark counterparts. The crystals reveal the four Warriors of the Dark, who stopped the light from engulfing their world many years ago.

When they all face the Cloud of Darkness again, the four Warriors of the Dark sacrifice themselves so that the Warriors of Light are able to defeat their adversary. With one last battle, the Cloud of Darkness is defeated, and the heroes and their allies return to their homes. The old man returns to Amur, Alus returns to his kingdom, and Cid and Desch return home to their lovers. Sara, on the other hand, does not want to leave Ingus, and stays with him a while longer. Each of the heroes end up going their own ways, with Ingus and Sara returning to Castle Sasune, Refia taking up blacksmithing in Kazus, and Luneth and Arc returning to Ur. This conflicts slightly with the Famicom version, in which all of the main characters returned to Ur together.

Ports and Remakes:

Nintendo DS version

The first battle of Final Fantasy III in the Nintendo DS remake.
The Final Fantasy III Nintendo DS remake was first revealed to be in development on October 7, 2004, but detailed information did not emerge until a year later. Hiromichi Tanaka, one of the original game's main designers, was the head of the project as both the executive producer and director. His guidance and supervision was needed because the game was not meant to be a mere graphics update like the updates for Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls, but a total overhaul using the Nintendo DS's 3D capabilities, even though the layout of most dungeons and towns would remain identical to the original. Ryosuke Aiba, the art director of Final Fantasy XI, was hired as the new art director.

An early official screenshot of Luneth in the English version of the remake.
Akihiko Yoshida was hired to revamp the original character designs. The main characters were given backstories, personalities and default names: Luneth (Runesu), Arc (Arukuu), Refia (Refia), and Ingus (Inguzu). Even though the characters were given background and development, it does not change the main storyline.
Overhauls were made to the Job system, including the re-balancing of the classes, the addition of new abilities, the removal of Capacity Points, and a new "Bare" ("Freelancer" in the US version) class as the new default Job class with the Onion Knight becoming a separate class. Unlike the original Famicom version, most of the Jobs remain useful for the entire game; the ultimate Jobs, the Ninja and the Sage, are rebalanced to stay on the same level as the others.

Finally, the game makes use of the DS's WiFi capabilities through an e-mail system known as "MogNet", in a nod to Final Fantasy IX's similar system, for players to exchange messages to each other through WiFi communications. Besides being a way to share thoughts, using Mognet can also be used to unlock and complete sidequests, as well as just send mail to the NPCs met on the way.

The DS remake of Final Fantasy III was released in the United States on November 14, 2006. The game was released in Europe on May 4, 2007. One of the biggest criticisms of the game was that the battles are remarkably different - the size of a DS game at the time imposed restrictions, and there are less enemies on the screen at any given fight. In addition to the overhauls in the job system, the enemies are made stronger to compensate for their decreased numbers. As such, quite a bit more Level Grinding is necessary even for boss monsters, which attack more frequently. By the release of the subsequent remake, Final Fantasy IV, the increased ROM size allowed the developers to retain the original number of enemies in a group.

Special Edition DS

On the same day Final Fantasy III was released, Square Enix began selling the bundle package with the game and a special Crystal White DS Lite. The DS has Akihiko Yoshida's artwork on the top of the system. The DS Lite was released in Japan only, and is shown with the Final Fantasy III logo and a few of the main characters emblazoned on the front.

iOS

Final Fantasy III was released for iOS 3.0+ devices on March 24, 2011, and is available for purchase exclusively via the Apple App Store. It is an enhanced port of the DS release, with the same characters and general design, but higher quality graphics and sound.
The original DS version runs at 256x192 on each display. The resolution for iOS release runs at either 480x320 or "Retina" display 960x640 native resolutions. The latter resolution is supported only on devices with the 960x640 "Retina" displays (iPhone 4 and iPod Touch 4th Generation). On the iPad, it is natively run at 1024x768. Graphical enhancements for the iPad had came out one month after with the release of an update on April 21, 2011.

The release on iOS includes minor dialogue changes, such as the NPC explaining features and controls unique to iOS devices. The player controls the character actions via touch input since there are no physical buttons to use. For example, the ability to zoom in the camera with the L button in the Nintendo DS version is done by using a two finger pinch gesture. The character movement is done by using an on-screen analog stick. The subtitle/dialogues font was changed for some arial-like, more big and separated, easing the lecture.

Since the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch do not have two physical screens, iOS release forgoes what is displayed on the screen seen in the DS version, but allows access to various functions through menus the player can access by touching buttons overlaid on the screen.

There is no internet-enabled functionality like its Nintendo DS counterpart, which uses the Nintendo WiFi Connection for Mognet to unlock a secret Job class. It is unknown if the iOS version will gain internet functionality through Apple's Game Center (equivalent to Nintendo WiFi Connection) in a future update. Instead, the quest to acquire the Onion Knight can be completed after the events of the Fire Crystal.

In the iOS version, it is possible to skip monsters by pressing the Home button during the battle. When the person enters the app again, it will show the character as was right before the encounter if the player selects the Quicksave option. This happens because the game quicksaves before a battle and after a battle. However, this can cause a player to be severely underleveled, and bosses will be much harder.

Easter Eggs:
In the Famicom release, a little girl, hidden in an east room in the town of Gysahl, encourages the player to write inquiries to Square, listing out the mailing address.
In Ur and Amur, there are pianos Luneth and friends can play.