Initially, might get angry at its difficulty. Then you realize the game just has more strategy than most FF games.
The only part of this game that is mediocre is its storyline, but final fantasy games help write the book of what a standard rpg story was. And seeing this is a remake of the original, I dont think thats a strike against the game. Its great that we get the original story intact. It makes it a solid piece of video game history.
For the DS, this games graphics push its limit. The graphics are amazing, aside from a tad bit of slow-down and jagged edges when you zoom in.
This game is old-school in a great way. Its everything i loved about the american versions of final fantasy II and III, along with a new job system which adds alot of replayability. It has a world map that you can wander around at your own pace leveling up and playing with different job/equipment configurations.
I know that i am in the minority when i say this, but ever since final fantasy 7, i can't stand all the cutscenes in final fantasy games. I just want to play the game! This game doesn't have so many cutscenes that it takes away from the gameplay. The newer Final Fantasy games feel more and more linear, and more like i am watching a movie than playing a game. FF III feels alot more open ended than say Final fantasy X.
As for people saying it doesn't use DS functionality. It does! You can use the touch screen for the entire game if you want to. The game uses both screens in the overworld. One for the map and one for the gameplay. In the dungeons it doesn't, unless you go to the item screen, then you can see the item screen and your characters standing around in the dungeon. I'd rather have just one screen for the dungeons anyway. Part of the fun of dungeons is getting lost and finding your way out.
The music and sound is great as in all final fantasy games.
In an era where remakes usually make something worse because the producer wants to put his own spin on the product, this game is amazing. So I wrote this review to give this game some credit it deserves. The only thing this game would have to do for me to give it a 10 would be make the price tag $35 and fix a few graphic glitches.