Dragging this quest to the modern era.
I barely slept last night. I was up until the sky slowly turned from darkness to a tinge of grey and blue, just before the sun poked its nose through my window. Yet here I am slipping out of bed before noon to run downtown to grab an iced latte only so I can rush back home to play more Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. This is my mid-thirties version of rolling out of bed in my pajamas to plunk down in front of the television on a Saturday and turn on my Super Nintendo– just swap the espresso for a bowl of cereal. That’s an overwhelming percentage of my emotions while I played Dragon Quest III, and while I wasn’t. A sense of familiarity, faux nostalgia for a game I never played before and for a series I have not spent nearly enough time with.
Third in the series but a prequel to those before it, Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is the beginning of the legendary Erdrick Trilogy. While the protagonist is still rocking in a cradle, their father Ortega fails on his mission to defeat the Archfiend Baramos. As the years go by, the offspring of the once great hero Ortega turns sixteen and is summoned by the king of Aliahan to take up the quest and restore peace to the world.
As your journey begins, you’ll recruit party members that you can customize in appearance, name, and vocation but whom otherwise just serve as tools not as narrative expansions. Instead, the missed relationship between the protagonist and Ortega, the secrets of this expansive world, and the villain looming in the distance were the major ingredients that fed me throughout. I found myself talking to just about everyone I stumbled across as I traversed by land and sea. Whispers of secrets waiting to be found or rumors of the quests to be completed, these little morsels kept the adventure lively and the world lush on most stops along the way. Where the story ends up going led to some moments I genuinely wasn’t expecting and although not something I’ll be pondering too deeply– except for maybe one part– I did come away from it in an overall positive place. My time with Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is my base experience, but fans of the original can expect new narrative moments that enhance this Famicom reimagining.
Although, the story wasn’t the main thrust for me but the cocktail comprised of equal parts story, gameplay, and the vibes of the Dragon Quest world are the glass I’ll unabashedly sit down at the bar to have filled for me any day of the week. Gameplay in Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is deliciously challenging turn-based combat blended throughout trekking across an open-world with some modernizations in the remake to acclimate yourself to. Some of these additions in the remake include the option to add map waypoints for objectives and adjusting battle speed. The map waypoints are commonplace in modern video games, but Dragon Quest III can be extra challenging if you choose to play without them as it requires you to investigate the world more closely to find the path forward. So this optional quality of life update can prove beneficial for those would prefer that type of experience. If you’ve played any turn-based RPG, chances are you’ve played things inspired by certain aspect of the combat system in Dragon Quest. Taking turns against foes choosing commands to keep your party from falling in battle and leveling up in-between are pretty standard for the genre, but what elevated my enjoyment in Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake was the gameplay and mechanics built around the vocation system.
Out of the nine vocation options, I started my adventure with a Thief, Mage, and the new job addition to this remake, Monster Wrangler. Each of these roles brought specific advantages to my party– like my thief Navi being able to occasionally steal items post-battle or more expected structure like my mage Jenny being able to buff our party in fights. Where things get interesting though is when you reach level twenty and progress to a certain location of the world, you are able to change a party members vocation. This allows you to keep abilities and spells learned from the previous vocation but allows them to learn additional skills from a new line of work. The downside is it resets their level to one and cuts their stats down in tandem requiring you to spend some extra time leveling up your heroes again. Though, this didn’t deter me one bit as I found myself rounding certain party members skillsets out with multiple job changes and sped that process up by taking advantage of the tactics feature in combat. This allowed me to level those new classes quickly without having to worry too much about my heroes in these revolving rounds of combat. Even with some party members going through multiple role changes, I still only felt myself hovering over the possibilities. It brought a level of depth that I wasn’t expecting out of the combat and character building in Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, a system surely worth experimenting with and building around your playstyle. These systems kept what was already a challenging adventure more engaging and enjoyable throughout the couple dozen hours I punched in to Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake.
The real star ingredient though is just the aura of Dragon Quest. From the character and enemy designs, to the music and visual delights it’s truly a unique and alluring world that captivates at a glance and drowns you once you get your feet in. A drip that just isn’t matched by most, part of the reason why the series is lauded I’m sure and a big reason why Dragon Quest III benefits from the HD-2D treatment. The world and inhabitants shine due to the sharp blend of 3D and pixels. While the added visual flair to casting a spell in combat or the way the lighting effects allow flames on a lantern to dance in a dungeon and cast shadows on the wall bring an intensity and liveliness to environments that builds upon the bones of the past. Stepping out of Aliahan for the first time and the sweeping orchestrated score punches your eardrum, the way a pixelated slime smiles and slowly bounces up and down while you select battle commands are a bountiful marriage of old and new, resulting in something special to experience.
Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is proof that there’s never been a better time to be a Dragon Quest fan. A perfect entry point for someone who is looking to give the series a shot and with a bevy of quality of life additions it’s an accessible way for someone to engage with RPG history that they may not have had the chance to in 1988. Although the source material may highlight how far the medium has come in storytelling and gameplay it’s clear why they chose to remake this game and it’s certainly a new benchmark for how to lovingly reimagine a game from the 80s. A whimsical RPG that carries a true sense of adventure within its heart somehow managed to evoke nostalgia for a game an alternate reality version of me played growing up. Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is a gem of a bygone era that’s been polished to dazzle for the modern day.
We reviewed Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake on Xbox Series X with a code provided by the developer.
Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake releases November 14th, 2024 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X & S, Windows, and Steam.
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