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FINAL FANTASY IX vs Final Fantasy Legend III

FINAL FANTASY IX is a JRPG open-world game from Square Enix (2016) while Final Fantasy Legend III is an RPG game from Square (1991).

Quick answer: FINAL FANTASY IX has the higher Metacritic, 84 to 70.

FINAL FANTASY IX

2016 · Square Enix

8.1GamingPickz Score

$20.99

Steam: Overwhelmingly Positive

Final Fantasy Legend III

1991 · Square

70Metacritic

What each one is

FINAL FANTASY IX is filed under JRPG and Open-World. In contrast, Final Fantasy Legend III under RPG.

FINAL FANTASY IX

Selling over five million copies since its release in 2000, FINAL FANTASY IX proudly returns on Steam! Now you can relive the adventures of Zidane and his crew on PC !

Description from its Steam store page

Final Fantasy Legend III

Final Fantasy Legend III, known in Japan as SaGa 3: Jikuu no Hasha, is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Game Boy. The third entry in the SaGa series, it was released in Japan in 1991 and in North America in 1993. A remake for the Nintendo DS was released in 2011 by Square Enix, remaining exclusive to Japan. The Game Boy version was later ported to the Nintendo Switch and released worldwide by Square Enix in 2020, with later ports to Android, iOS and Microsoft Windows in 2021.

Description from Wikipedia

Story, characters and reception

FINAL FANTASY IX

No Wikipedia detail on file.

Final Fantasy Legend III
Plot

In the world of SaGa 3 , a non-sentient being called the Water Entity is engulfing the world in a great flood. The Water Entity also summons monsters onto the land and low lying cities are abandoned. As a party of four warriors sets out to confront the entity, several youths from the future arrive to help, and it is realized that the Entity's destruction is occurring across all time periods. (Wikipedia)

Reception

Reception Sales In Japan, SaGa 3 topped the Famitsu sales charts from December 1991 to January 1992 . As of 2002, the game had sold 650,000 units, making it the third best-selling title of the Game Boy SaGa releases, and the lowest-selling original SaGa title as of that time. The DS remake debuted in eighth place in Japanese sales charts, with opening sales of over 27,300 units. (Wikipedia)

At a glance

FINAL FANTASY IXFinal Fantasy Legend III
GamingPickz Score8.1/10—
Steam ratingOverwhelmingly Positive (95%, 14,266)—
Critic aggregate84/10070/100
Price$20.99Unknown
Install size7 GB—
Steam DeckplayableUntested
Released20161991
DeveloperSquare EnixSquare

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

FINAL FANTASY IX vs Final Fantasy Legend III, point by point

Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.

  1. Genre and premise

    FINAL FANTASY IXJRPG open-world game
    Final Fantasy Legend IIIRPG game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    FINAL FANTASY IXJRPG, Story Rich, Fantasy
    Final Fantasy Legend IIINo descriptive tags

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Reception

    FINAL FANTASY IX ✓Metacritic 84
    Final Fantasy Legend IIIMetacritic 70

    Metacritic's critic aggregate, from the game's Wikipedia reception where it was never on Steam.

  4. Content and scale

    FINAL FANTASY IX14,266 reviews · 3 add-ons · 7 GB
    Final Fantasy Legend III—

    Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.

  5. Price

    FINAL FANTASY IX$20.99
    Final Fantasy Legend IIIUnknown

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

FINAL FANTASY IX takes 1 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.

Which to pick, by what you want

  • The better reviewed of the two: FINAL FANTASY IX (Metacritic 84)

Where they differ

FINAL FANTASY IX is also

JRPGStory RichGreat SoundtrackFantasyRPGClassic

Final Fantasy Legend III is also

Tags players apply to one game and not the other.

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, FINAL FANTASY IX is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Final Fantasy Legend III is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.

Accessibility features

Steam store pages declare 3 accessibility features for FINAL FANTASY IX and 0 for Final Fantasy Legend III. A declaration is a floor, not a review.

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Common questions

How different are FINAL FANTASY IX and Final Fantasy Legend III in scope?

FINAL FANTASY IX has drawn 14,266 Steam reviews, ships 3 add-ons and installs in 7 GB. Final Fantasy Legend III lists little scope data.

Is FINAL FANTASY IX or Final Fantasy Legend III better?

Neither carries enough reviews for us to score it reliably, so we do not call a winner. The table above shows what each does have.

Which is cheaper, FINAL FANTASY IX or Final Fantasy Legend III?

One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.

Should I get FINAL FANTASY IX or Final Fantasy Legend III?

FINAL FANTASY IX has the higher Metacritic, 84 to 70. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.

Do you rank one above the other for a fee?

No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.

All comparisons

How we compare, and what we will not do

The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.

More on each