Probably the most epic game I have ever played. It never gets old and there is almost nothing wrong with it.
The story is probably one of the best video game stories in existence. It can get a little confusing at times and may seem slightly cliche at the start (an evil empire wants to take over the world, whoopie), but it quickly evolves into something much more. Without spoiling anything, let's just say that what starts off as being your typical rebel group trying to win the fight against the evil empire turns into an epic battle to save the planet from the most unlikely of villains. The key is in the experience so I won't ruin the amazing twists and turns in this game.
The characters are totally likable, extremely well-designed, and there's around 20 of them! Those are just the PLAYABLE ones! Every single one has his or her own theme and they are all some of the best game music in existence. Their personalities never repeat as they are all completely unique characters with recognizable and oftentimes hilarious dialogue. Characters like Locke, Kefka, Mog, Shadow, Edgar... I could go on but they are all amazing and are basically icons in the world of video games. It's obvious that a lot of heart and soul was put into this.
The soundtrack is easily the second best in gaming history (next to FF7's). Every track is memorable, adds incredibly to the experience whether in combat or in exploring the world, and is basically just perfect. (only a couple songs are a bit dated or otherwise not THAT interesting throughout. This is the Super Nintendo after all). On a whole, however, if you don't like this soundtrack then there is something seriously wrong there. Kefka's Theme, Devil's Lab, Wild West, the Overworld Theme, the Dark World Theme... these are tracks that popular bands TODAY couldn't top even if they wanted to.
The graphics are just as remarkable. They are CLEAN, they are INTERESTING, they have a wide color palette and, most importantly, the dungeons NEVER get boring or feel repetitious. EVERYTHING is absolutely original (unlike newer FF games like FF12 which had many cut-and-paste dungeons). Even the monster designs don't repeat (occasionally they do with different color schemes, but overall they're all hand drawn and are vastly different from one another). Every character has certain animations and expressions that really add a lot to their personalities as well as the humor in the game. For example, Kefka jumping up and down and waving his fingers at the heroes are just some of the subtle touches that really add a lot of character to the game. This kind of attention to detail just shows you the amount of skill and passion that went into creating this game.
Finally, the gameplay never gets tiresome. It's your typical turn-based RPG system with 4 characters on at one time, and you can attack, cast magic or even cast summons. You learn magic through equipping certain magic shards that have a specific selection of spells associated with them (like FF7's materia system in a way), and although it's a slight grind to get all of the spells it never feels that way. There are a ton of secrets in this game including new optional characters that you can add to your party if you do certain tasks or go to certain places. These characters aren't necessary to beat the game, but just having the option to acquire them is amazing. The last dungeon is also unique in that it makes you split up your party into 3 different groups in order to make it to the last boss (who you also fight in 3 different groups). This isn't a huge thing but it's a very cool and original idea. The only letdown in terms of gameplay is the inability to skip the intro movie, which, obviously, is so minor a quibble that who even cares.
In conclusion, to not ever play FF3 is like not ever seeing Star Wars. There is no way you won't like this game unless you just absolutely hate RPG's. It is easily on par with the quality of FF7 and it has my vote for being the second best RPG of all time.