Unless you've never seen me before in your life, you know that Final Fantasy III is far and away my favorite game on any console. I make it a habit to play through a campaign as often as I can. Here, you'll get a first-hand look at one of my games in progress.

My goal: To complete Final Fantasy III, from start to finish, on Christmas Eve, playing it a few hours a day every day in December. While I'm playing, I'll report each day with how far I am in the game, who's in my party, how much playing time I've logged thus far, and so on.

The most promising sign that I can pull this off is my last campaign, which clocked in at under 30 hours of playing time. That averages out to a little more than one hour a day. Of course, that doesn't count all the time spent resetting the game when things turn sour. Also, I'm likely going to have to contend with a strenuous work schedule, chores, trips out of town, an In the Groove Tournament and LAN Party, and all the other real-life things that get in the way of one's playing session.

Here are the rules I've set forth for this little adventure:

1. I must play at least half an hour each day. I can play as long as I want beyond the half hour, but I must log at least half an hour of playing time.

2. No cheats, no codes, no sketch bug.

3. Sometime during the day, I must issue a daily report on how far I am in the game, who's in my party, how much time I've spent, etc. If I play another session after I've filed the day's report, my playing time will count for the next day, but I still have to play at least half an hour on the appropriate day.

4. When in the World of Ruin, I must reunite with every character in the game; no leaving anyone out.

5. All party members must still be developed somewhat evenly as far as level-building. Learning spells is another matter, though. (I'm not going to waste time teaching Gau and Shadow all of the spells if they're never going to use them.)

6. On Day 16, if I haven't reached that point yet, I must take on the Floating Continent, no matter how ill-prepared I may be.

7. And finally, I must storm Kefka's Tower on Day 24. Not only does this mean that I must be ready to take Kefka on by this time, it also means that I can't go after him before this day.

LOCATION: Mog's "choose a scenario" screen, with only Sabin's scenario remaining.

PARTY MEMBERS: Sabin only, once I choose that scenario.

ELAPSED TIME: 2:08

STEPS TAKEN: 6426

NOTES: At about 9:15 this morning, my quest to play through FF3 in 24 days began. I played for about half an hour before going to work, then another hour and a half in between my split shift. When I finished up for the day, I was surprised to find out that I had actually gone through roughly 10% of the game's storyline already. Of course, I do remember a lot of time I spent playing the game that went outside just advancing the storyline, so I don't expect to finish this by Day 10.

Things started out pretty smoothly. Despite a couple of gaffes against Whelk (choosing an action against him just as he was retreating into his shell, which caused a nice zap in retaliation), he went down pretty easily. Next came the multi-party scuffle with Locke and the Moogles, and I managed to take care of all six of the brigades before Mog and his crew went up against the Commander. As a pleasant little surprise, Mog used his Dusk Requiem dance to insta-kill the boss on the first move! The two Lobos quickly followed him to his grisly doom.

On to Figaro, where the cutscene between Edgar and Kefka played out. Terra uses magic in front of the others for the first time, prompting another cute little scene. We plowed through the cave to South Figaro - bypassing all the treasure chests along the way - and headed to town. Well, actually, it was first a trip to Duncan's house for a free nap, then we were headed to town.

Mt. Kolts was next on the itinerary. Maybe it's because I spent more time grabbing treasure than I normally did or something, but I actually had to make three trips through the mountains to get through them all. The fight against Vargas was pretty easy... at least until Sabin showed up. I actually came within one hit of getting annihilated while trying to remember if Sabin's Pummel was Left-Right-Left or Right-Left-Right. (Of course, I tried them both a few times, but they didn't seem to work. I wish you could use AuraBolt in situation.) Luckily, he finally pulled off the Blitz with only 15 HP remaining, and Vargas was toast.

The next major step in the game was getting through the Lete River. It went pretty smoothly; although both Edgar and Sabin got blinded along the way, I use their special moves exclusively anyway so it didn't make any difference. Ultros was a pushover - I finally realized that Terra's not supposed to cast Fire in this battle, since that ticks the octopus off. He escapes, Sabin jumps into the river, and we split into three groups.

I played the Locke scenario first. Getting to Celes was no problem at all; it was once I had Celes that things got a little difficult. Fighting through the house basement took a little bit of time, since those Vector Pups are hard to run away from and kinda pointless to fight (since one always escapes when you kill the other). Into the cave we went, and this time I did open the treasure boxes.

TunnelArmr. If you ask me, this is probably one of the five hardest bosses in the game. You only have two party members, and if one of them dies, the other is sure to follow suit in a matter of moments. Celes has to use her Runic ability on every turn; if she drops, Locke gets fried. If Locke dies, then there's nobody to fight the thing, so Celes has to use a Fenix Down to revive him, and meanwhile TunnelArmr's getting ready to cast Poison. I got a game over after Locke fell victim to a Drill attack just as I was about to use a Potion on him. Second time around was fairly long-winded, but both of them got through with more than half their HP left.

I played the Terra, Edgar & Banon scenario after that, and wow - the whole thing took only five minutes. I realize it's a short campaign, but not that short! I left the treasure chest in the Moogle room unclaimed - the Rune Edge held within saps MP when I use it, and besides - when I come back to it in the World of Ruin, it'll be a Ribbon.

Obviously, this was a very eventful first day. I think I might be able to ease up a bit tomorrow and play the minimum half-hour, which should at least get me past the Phantom Train.

LOCATION: The Veldt

PARTY MEMBERS: Sabin (L12) and Cyan (L12)

ELAPSED TIME: 2:57

STEPS TAKEN: 7732

NOTES: After the fairly long session I had yesterday, I decided to take it easy this time around, although I did get some stuff accomplished in the 45 minutes I played.

I quickly recruited Shadow into my party and bought a handful of Shurikens for his use, and high-tailed it to the Imperial Base. That's when we acquainted ourselves with Cyan and his Dispatch move. It was a cruise through the rest of the base, and on to the Phantom Forest and Phantom Train.

I ran kinda low on Tonics while on the train, and was looking for one of the Ghosts that sells items on the train. Unfortunately, every Ghost I ran into wanted to pick a fight, so that didn't really get me anywhere. I also found out that Ghosts get awfully testy if one of my party members gets wounded - when Shadow took a powder in one fight, the Ghost followed it up with a Fire Wall move that I don't remember him using before, and soon only Cyan was left standing. (Luckily, I won the fight before his HP could get threatened.)

The fight against the train engine was actually one of the most decisive battles I'd had against the boss - ironic, since this was one of the bosses that gave me the most trouble when I first played through the game (although that had a lot to do with me trying to get the hang of Blitzes). What made it even more ironic was the fact that the train's opening move was Evil Toot - which gives a random status ailment to each party member and tends to derail (pun pun) the battle. But in this case, it Berzerked Cyan, which gave his standard attacks just about the same power as his Dispatch. Shadow got Slowed, but it didn't slow his dog, who got in a retaliatory attack in on the next move; and Sabin turned into an Imp which was quickly cured. All told, I managed to win the battle without taking any damage.

Just before I got to Baren Falls, I wisely de-equipped Shadow, who I knew would not be jumping down the waterfall with the others, and gave his Ninja Gear to Sabin. One less thing to buy after the Decisive Battle, I guess.

LOCATION: Zozo

PARTY MEMBERS: Sabin (L13), Edgar (L12), Cyan (L13), and Locke (L11).

ELAPSED TIME: 4:14

STEPS TAKEN: 10,719

NOTES: Now it was time to bring Sabin's scenario to a close. We got Gau to join the party, and grazed the countryside for a little while looking for a Stray Cat for Gau to Leap into. After about 15 minutes, though, I decided that I don't use Gau much so the Rages he had already were fine and dandy. We took the Serpent Trench up to Nikeah without too much trouble (although Cyan went down once on account of a retaliatory Giga Volt attack). I did some last-minute shopping for weapons and armor, and then it was off to Narshe.

The Decisive Battle went off quite well. Instead of moving slowly to dispatch all of the roving armies like I did in the Moogle multi-party scene, this time I planted two sets of characters (Edgar and Locke in one group, Cyan and Celes in the other - heehee) at the two choke points near the top of the map, and used the threesome of Sabin, Terra and Gau to make my way down to Kefka with minimal confrontations from the soldiers. I think we only fought four battles besides Kefka.

Speaking of whom, the fight against him is likely to go down in the books as one of the most interesting fights I've had. As you've already seen, I never really held Gau in high esteem when it comes to his value as a party member. But against Kefka, he came through big time. Nearing the end of his HP, Kefka unleashed an Ice 2 spell that I wasn't prepared for. Both Sabin and Terra got knocked out since they were at about half their HP reserves when they got hit, and Gau was down around 30. But since Gau was in Rage mode, there was no way for him to either heal himself or revive his comrades, so it was all or nothing at this point. Fortunately, he landed the triumphant blow with the very next move, and suddenly I gained a new respect for the kid. (I still don't think he's that great of a character, though.)

We know what happens next, of course - Terra interacts with the frozen Esper again, morphs into her Esper-ized form, goes batty, and flies off. Since I consider this as being roughly 1/6 of the way through the plotline, this is where I normally toggle my window colors from red text on green to green text on red. (Festive, ain't we?)

We travel back to Figaro Castle. Since both of the royal brothers are in the party, it takes us to a cutscene about how Sabin left the castle while Edgar took the throne following their father's suspicious death. One of the best cutscenes in the game, IMO. After a quick nap, it's a trip via the Castle Metro to Kohlingen. And since Locke is also in the party, I also get to see the two cutscenes involving him and his lost love, Rachel. These cutscenes I can take or leave, honestly. From there, we travel south to Jidoor, I begin wondering if I should've brought Celes instead of Locke for her magic skills, and we arrive at Jidoor, where more shopping takes place.

I decided to take the quick way to Zozo by taking a Chocobo there instead of trudging back north again. I took one more save on the doorstep of the rain-soaked town; I'll make my way through it tomorrow.

LOCATION: Albrook

PARTY MEMBERS: Edgar (L16), Sabin (L16), Locke (L16), and Celes (L13).

ELAPSED TIME: 5:51

STEPS TAKEN: 13,902

NOTES: I never really intended this 24-day campaign to be much of a time trial. In fact, if you look at the rules I made for this thing, I tried to avoid blazing through this game so that it would end on the proper day. But as I'm playing through this, I'm getting pretty astounded at how quickly things are going in this game now. Less than six hours in, and I'm close to a third of the way through the plot. I remember the first time I played the game; I must've logged at least twice as many hours getting to the point I'm at now.

As I mentioned yesterday, I headed into Zozo to begin today's session. I headed into the Cafe and swiftly took care of the clock puzzle to obtain the Chain Saw, but soon after I was promptly chased out by a few HadesGigases who were using their sore loser attack of Magnitude8 to severely injure the whole party enough to deplete my potion supply. So while I was trying to avoid having to walk from Jidoor to Zozo in the first place, it appeared that I'd have to walk back instead. But rather than restock my potions and return, I decided instead to devote some time to the first real level-raising exercise I'd had in the game. I knew that both Sabin and Cyan would learn some new techniques at Level 15, so I hung around Jidoor until I got their Experience levels up, and in the meantime built up a pretty good bankroll as well - enough to make my Potion inventory a non-issue.

Once everyone's levels were advanced, it was time for another trip into Zozo. I forgot to get the Thief Glove, but I can do without that relic for a while. I tend to train Locke for some curative magic use after this locale anyway, so no big loss. I was quickly reminded of the fact that SlamDancers, when left to fight alone, like to resort to magic attacks. I think Sabin learned that lesson quite well, seeing as he was the target of those spells and was put out of commission in both cases. Luckily, I had more than enough Fenix Downs in the inventory to get him back on his feet when the fight ended. (On the plus side, it did help even out the experience a bit, seeing as how Sabin was running ahead of the group in that department.)

The fight against Dadaluma was fairly straightforward. I had forgotten that Dadaluma retaliates to Steal attempts by stealing back from us, but I just looked at that as a wasted turn - it's not as if this boss is going to escape with our GP. I got a chuckle out of the fact that he called a couple of Iron Fists into battle just in time for a Chain Saw attack to end the fight anyway. Thanks for the extra GP and Experience, Dada!

And now for our first encounter with Espers. Right away, I equipped the Espers on the party based on the bonuses they gave out. Celes - who replaced Cyan in the lineup by obligation - got Stray (which adds 1 to her Magic Power with every level-up), Sabin got Siren (10% bonus in HP increase each advancement), Edgar got Ramuh (+1 Stamina, although pumping up this stat is reportedly useless), and Locke got Kirin (no bonuses, but like I said I want him to start learning curative magic ASAP). Since Celes was struggling along at Level 10, I decided to spend a little more time level-raising to get her to Level 13 before I took part in what UsaSatsui calls the best moment in the Final Fantasy series: The Opera House.

I always thought the lyrics to the songs were kinda dorky, but the music works quite well. (Come to think of it, the words might be fine and dandy in Japanese.) When the time came for Ultros to try and disrupt the play, I got to him in short order - it only took a minute and a half for me to stop him, and only had to fight one batch of Sewer Rats on the way there. While the octopus focused most of his attacks on Sabin, he never was in much danger (probably thanks to his larger HP reserves). Ultros scooted away, Setzer dove into the scene and took Celes with him, and it was onto the Empire. (BTW, does anyone know how Celes decides whether or not to marry Setzer when Edgar doesn't have his trusty two-headed coin to hustle him?)

Tomorrow means the Magitek Factory, a bunch more Espers to rescue, and the one cutscene I wish I could fast-forward through.

LOCATION: Zozo

PARTY MEMBERS: Locke (L18), Setzer (L16), Edgar (L19), and Sabin (L19).

ELAPSED TIME: 6:54

STEPS TAKEN: 15,841

NOTES: Well, today was the first day where real life became an obstacle to my little "half an hour a day" rule. I had to work a full shift today, meaning I didn't get home until 8, and it wasn't really until close to 10:30 that I got into a playing mood.

I didn't really plan on getting much further, anyway - just through the Magitek Facility and all of the stuff that entailed. I bumped up Celes' levels a bit before I got started, and then it was off to Vector for one of the longer quests in the game. With plenty of Potions in stock, I was able to explore the place in detail and grab all the treasure chests littered around without getting too far off-track, shuffling Espers in each party members' repertoire as necessary.

The one boss battle that gave me the most difficulty was the first one, between Ifrit and Shiva. Sabin really loses a lot of usefulness in this part, since both Espers are immune to the AuraBolt I use for practically every attack. Meanwhile, I have to keep close tabs on the weapon Celes uses so I don't accidentally restore some HP to either of them. Edgar went down from an Ice spell shortly after an Ice2 casting crippled him, but he got back on his feet soon enough to take care of business.

The other three boss battles were a cinch. Number 024 never even got a chance to use his signature WallChange maneuver before the constant barrage of AuraBolts and Chain Saws did him in. (He did manage to get a Muddling attack against Sabin, but the battle ended on the next turn, effectively making that condition irrelevant. I then took the opportunity to strip Celes bare (so to speak), knowing that she would be leaving us before long.

After the scene where the party accumulates six more Espers, Cid enters the storyline, and Kefka and Celes fly off into the rafters, it was time for Indiana Jones Minecart Ride. The boss at the end of the line, Number 128, also met a quick end; once you take out its two arms, you can do a lot of damage to him without having to worry too much about retaliation. Finally was the Cranes; I just had everyone go after the one Sabin Blitzed first and they were reduced to scrap heap in a couple of minutes.

Next on the itinerary was a trip back to Zozo, and with it the cutscene that explains the origins of Terra's powers. This scene is a little overinvolved for my tastes; but then again, normally I'd a good 10-15 minutes on this scene, somehow thinking that there might be some treasures to find. But this time, I just wanted to get it done, so it didn't take nearly as long. As soon as the scene ended, I dismounted from the airship, did another color switch (now I have blue text against an orange backdrop), and called it a night.

This report is in with six minutes to spare. Whew.

LOCATION: Cave to the Sealed Gate

PARTY MEMBERS: Sabin (L22), Edgar (L22), Locke (L22), and Terra (L20).

ELAPSED TIME: 7:51

STEPS TAKEN: 18,378

NOTES: Before heading up to Narshe to continue with the plotline, I ran a few errands. First, I went to Jidoor, hoping to grab the two Espers that occasionally went up for bids, but quickly gave up the antique hunting after the auctioneer showed a fetish for Cherub Downs. Even if I wanted to buy one - which I don't - I could find them for 6350 GP in some town somewhere, not 10,000 like they charge there.

So instead, I flew over to Tzen and found the bandit hiding on the north end of town, buying Sraphim for 3000GP. The more Espers in my collection that teach Cure 2, the better. Then, it was back to Zozo to finally claim the Thief Glove and officially make Locke the party's jack-of-all-trades. Finally, I went back to the Veldt so I could teach Gau one of the stronger rages in the early game, Stray Cat. After all that, we finally headed up to Narshe.

I sat through the cutscene that prompted us to go back to the southern island and head into the Cave to the Sealed Gate - one of the better dungeon designs in the World of Balance, especially from the standpoint of the puzzles they have: the bridges suspended over the lava pit, the moving mountains and so on. Only problem is that I have to be careful with my attack strategy: I can't use Edgar's Chain Saw, because the Insta-kill move it occasionally makes will heal all of their HP. Likewise, Sabin's Fire Dance is out of the question, since most of the enemies absorb fire.

Still, I got through without too much trouble. (I still think the confrontation with Kefka ought to go longer than one turn. Something like 2 minutes - with Kefka being able to cast some moderately strong spells or use status ailments - would have fit the scene better.) I saved the game right after I exited the cave, just before we have to return to Vector.

LOCATION: Thamasa

PARTY MEMBERS: Locke (L22), Shadow (L19), and Terra (L21).

ELAPSED TIME: 8:30

STEPS TAKEN: 20,213

NOTES: Short day today, as evidenced by the fact that I played the least amount of time since I began this whole thing. Mainly I wanted to get the whole dinner party and trip to Thamasa out of the way.

The four-minute preface to the dinner party is another one of those things that makes FF3 one of my favorite games. Of course, after playing the game so many times now, I've got the whole thing down to a science. On many occasions, I have enough time left after talking to all 24 soldiers and collecting all the treasure chests to pay a visit to Kefka in his cell. As for the dinner conversation, I pretty much have the optimal responses memorized (although I did have a little trouble recollecting what we're supposed to make Gestahl promise us at the end of the discussion). I walk away from the dinner with all five favors, although the Tintinabar and the Charm Bangle probably aren't going to get much use.

We sailed to Thamasa soon after, got treated to another cute cutscene, and landed ashore a modest distance away from town. We got attacked by some Baskervors on the way to town, but that was fine with me - I stole a couple of Gaia Gears from them before I even got to the armor shop that sells them. This close to the Floating Continent, the less stuff I have to buy, the better.

I haven't talked to Strago and Relm yet; I want to wait until Terra has learned Ice 2 before triggering the housefire. It's fairly likely that by tomorrow, we'll have reached the halfway point of the game.