Topic: Final Fantasy III DS

[WuTangTurtle]

I saw something strange happen when i first played Final Fantasy III on my DS.  I'm not sure if this is normal as I've never seen this ever happen on any other DS game.  The Game loaded up and a message came up "Initializing Back up Data" or something like that.  It happend before anything came up on the screen, including the "made by....screens".  So yeah plz tell me it's normal so i can stop worrying that i got a pirated game or something, i did purchase it brand new and sealed from ebay though.

[Khushrenada]

I personally do not have the game so I am unable to check a copy. However, from what I have found, it looks like you may have a pirated copy. I did some searching on youtube and found 3 videos that showed the opening of the game from when they turned on the DS to the start menu. In all 3, I never saw a screen saying initializing back-up data. Here are the links:

First Video, low quality.

Second Video.

Last video. Highest quality.

In all those videos, the game immediately loads after tapping the touch screen. However there was one video where this did not happen. In this video, the person is using a G6 flashcart with the game loaded on. Before the Square-Enix logo and CGI start, there is a brief message in Japanese that I can't read. It's possible that it is the initializing backup data message you are seeing. I've provided a link so that you can let me know if it is similar.

Opening using a G6 flashcard.

Finally, I only came across only one other forum on a quick search I did that mentioned this. I have provided a link of the discussion. You will see it is between some people using a ROM emulator for the game.

Forum discussion

Of course, as I mentioned, I don't actually own the game so this is all speculative research. I will however ask some people who do own the game and try to let you know tomorrow what they have to say.

[WuTangTurtle]

hmm it sounds like it could be pirated based on the forum discussion link u provided, but the videos don't really help me.  For one those videos could have been from the 1st or 105th time they played the game on their DS.  That "Opending using G6 flashcard" didn't help either as my message screen didn't look anything like it.  The opening i saw looked like an official message screen, it had a nice background that went with the game and it had a nice small pop up window like most game do when u are saving or something.

I also went and tested this on my old DS Phat and it didn't have any problems.  I analyzed the cartridge, box, all the instruction booklets and everything looks perfect.  The Health & Safety booklet was even perfectly folded the exact same way.

Either someone made a 100% beatiful pirate copy or the one time message on my screen was normal.

Thanks a lot for the help though Khushrenada (<--boy thats hard to spell, lol)

[Khushrenada]

At least you spelled it corectly. I see it misspelled all the time. Once you've had to log onto these forums 500 times, it becomes a lot easier to spell.

So, this message is a one time thing? And nothing is out of place or looks suspiciously copied?

It sounds then like it is just something the cart does the first time it is loaded. If that's the case, it may be because the memory for the cartridge is larger than other carts. From what you've said, it definitely seems like your cart is normal. Hope I didn't get you too worried from my first post but I wasn't sure what to look for. It's funny but there isn't a code to register for this game at Nintendo's homepage. I'd recommend doing that to check for sure but this game doesn't come with one. All the other handheld FF's do but not this one.

I took a look in the friend code thread for this game and asked a couple of the people there who have the game about your question but none have gotten back to me.

As regards the forum discussion, you'll notice the person trying to load the game is doing it for the first time. He can't access the game yet. So, this again suggests to me like it is a one time thing when you first play on the cartridge.


So, yeah. I'd say rest easy. If I do hear back from anyone, I'll let you know what they said.

[WuTangTurtle]

thanks, and yeah I did the same and checked out Nintendo's site.  It is very strange that it is the only FF game that isn't registerable.

I was gonna ask some of the guys on the friend code thread too, but i ended up asking only Bloodworth, unfortunately he apparently doesn't own or have played it.  I guess he just started the thread thats all.

Again thanks, its much appreciated.

[UltimatePartyBear]

I asked a friend of mine who bought the game new from a GameStop, with me as a witness (just so you know it's highly unlikely his copy is a fake), about this, and he says he doesn't remember anything like that message.  You should probably call Square Enix and ask.  If it's legitimate, they can put your fears to rest, and if it's pirated, they'll want to know so their brute squad can pay the seller a little visit.

He gave me the number from his manual, in case yours is tampered with: 310-846-0345.

[WuTangTurtle]

I'll try that tomorrow since they are probably closed now.

[D_MaN87]

Thanks to Khushrenada for directing me to this topic.

I have never seen a message like that in my game.  I don't have an answer however, as to why you do.  If it is not affecting the game, then maybe you could just let it slide?

Good luck

[Khushrenada]

Yeah, at this point, you may want to follow PartyBear's suggestion and call or send Square-Enix an e-mail.

You may even want to try e-mailing Nintendo. I know Unclebob usually seems to get some results when he follows that path and I know they try to respond right away by a day or two at the most. Maybe Nintendo could look into it for you also.

At this point, that's about all the advice I can offer. Let us know what you find out.

[WuTangTurtle]

well if this is a pirated game maybe my wifi won't work.  I've read things about DS emulation before, originally pirated DS games could not be ran on unmodified DS's.  They also couldn't save correctly, meaning u would basically only have a demo.  Up until recently I've heard about pirated games that work perfectly except that the game saves have a tendency to fail, kind of like 3rd party memor cards but most likely worse.

I don't want to miss out on the wifi stuff.  I'll report back when i get an answer, thanks for the help again.

[WuTangTurtle]

Hooray, Square told me it was normal.  Apparently he said the game does that to make a save file basically on your first time u play it.  Thanks again for the advice guys.

[UltimatePartyBear]

Glad to hear it.  I shall chastise my friend for not noticing it and contributing to your worry.