If you're asking if this is effectively a port of the SNES "Final Fantasy III," then no, not really. The game has been remade, the graphics have been redone in several areas, the music has been completely rearranged (though there is an option to switch to the original SNES soundtrack instead), the translation has been completely redone compared to the original SNES translation, (And makes a lot more sense because of it) and the bugs and glitches found in the original SNES release are no longer here (So no Sketch glitch or Vanish+Doom or Darkness bugs, for instance).

But, other than that, it is still the same story, the same characters, the same world, the same items and gear and bosses and game design in almost every way. Some additional options and QoL features have been added, like the ability to toggle random encounters on and off, being able to increase or decrease EXP/gil/AP gains per battle, or Cyan's Bushido (SwrdTch in the original) being made far more viable than it was in most of the older versions of the game.

If you are looking for exactly the same experience as the original North American SNES release, this isn't going to be it, but it's about as close as you can get without just playing the actual SNES version.

Originally posted by Skoops:

If you're asking if this is effectively a port of the SNES "Final Fantasy III," then no, not really. The game has been remade, the graphics have been redone in several areas, the music has been completely rearranged (though there is an option to switch to the original SNES soundtrack instead), the translation has been completely redone compared to the original SNES translation, (And makes a lot more sense because of it) and the bugs and glitches found in the original SNES release are no longer here (So no Sketch glitch or Vanish+Doom or Darkness bugs, for instance).

But, other than that, it is still the same story, the same characters, the same world, the same items and gear and bosses and game design in almost every way. Some additional options and QoL features have been added, like the ability to toggle random encounters on and off, being able to increase or decrease EXP/gil/AP gains per battle, or Cyan's Bushido (SwrdTch in the original) being made far more viable than it was in most of the older versions of the game.

If you are looking for exactly the same experience as the original North American SNES release, this isn't going to be it, but it's about as close as you can get without just playing the actual SNES version.

To be fair, with a few mods, you can get about 90% of the way back to the NA SNES version (I think the only "rollback" mod to not exist is one to rename monsters, spells, and items and revert spell visuals since those would take a LOT of Unity fiddling) with a number of mods.

But, honestly, as much as the Woolsey translation will always be remembered, the name corrections and retranslation are a vast improvement. A sprite mod, font mod, backdrop mod, decensors for a few scenes, Synthetic Origins decompressed soundtrack, and removal of the awful Opera overdub, and I'd argue this version is the best version (considering that I do not like the GBA additions and have replayed the NA SNES version biannually since it released in '94).

The game is not the same as the SNES version, but does a decent job of evoking the SNES version. It plays very much like the game you remember, rather then the game that actually was in 1994.

There are some exceptions. I like the new Opera dub, but that entire scene will rip you out of your nostalgia. If you're a stickler for the original Woolsey text, the parts that differ will also break the spell (for the most part, the retranslation is improved, but in some parts I feel it over corrects and spells out too explicitly what was subtly implied in the SNES copy).

Otherwise, I believe it'll evoke the same magic for you OP.