A few years ago, Square Enix announced it would be doing a remake of Dragon Quest III in its popular HD-2D engine, but this was then followed by a lengthy period of radio silence where its development status seemed uncertain. While they were at it, the developers decided to go ahead and remake the first and second Dragon Quests, too. Now that Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is finally here, we’re happy to report that the wait has been well worth it. Though it isn’t without drawbacks, this is easily the most feature-rich and enjoyable version of Dragon Quest III available.
Released in Japan in 1988, Dragon Quest III hails from a much simpler era, so the narrative is considerably less detailed than one you may find in a title from subsequent decades. You begin as a nameless warrior, the child of a once-legendary hero, now called upon to take up your father’s mantle and save the world from the threat of an evil dark lord. There’s not much character development to speak of, nor narrative depth—your character is essentially a blank slate and your party members are basically animated cardboard cutouts with some stats and gear attached. Though there are ultimately some clever tie-ins to other releases in the series and some new cutscenes to flesh out your father’s role, the plot amounts to little more than ‘there’s a bad dude out there; go get him!’
Those of you looking for in-depth RPG storytelling may be left wanting, then, but that’s not to say that the narrative in Dragon Quest III is entirely without merit. What this story lacks in depth, it comfortably makes up for with charm, which is mostly found in how the game presents itself to you. When you’re faced with a crab enemy in a random encounter, it’s not called something generic like ‘Giant Enemy Crab’, but instead something goofy like “Crabber dabber doo.” And even if you step foot in a town on the other side of the continent, most of the NPCs will greet and interact with you as if you’re a neighbour who’s been living among them for years. Despite the lack of depth in this story, there’s something incredibly inviting about how it pitches itself that lures you deeper into its world and tempts you to tease out its secrets.
Now, Dragon Quest is arguably the franchise that created the core blueprint that JRPGs have been following for decades, so that basic structure is still present here in its full form. You assemble a party to explore a vast overworld, check into a town where you can stock up on gear and rest, jump into a dungeon for a lengthy sortie that usually ends in a boss fight, then do it all over again elsewhere.
If you’re at all familiar with RPGs, you won’t be much surprised by the structure here, but there’s a very good reason why that structure has been repeated so often. As you battle foes, gear up, and conquer increasingly tougher dungeons, there’s a tremendous sense of empowerment gained from watching the team grow under your command and overcome such long odds. You always feel like you’re either just at or slightly below the power level that you should be for wherever the narrative throws at you next, but taking the occasional backtracking trip to an earlier area often stands as a stark reminder of just how far you’ve come as you carve a path through foes with practised ease.
Character growth is handled by a typical leveling system, but there’s also a simple class system that gives you just enough leeway to shape a team to your liking without distracting from the main loop of exploring and battling. You can ‘hire’ characters from about a dozen different classes (though you can only have four in your party at once), and you later gain the ability to reclass a given character, which allows them the potential to learn a slew of new combat abilities in exchange for a sharp level and stat reset. With such options at your disposal (and perhaps with the help of grinding some Metal Slimes), there are a lot of ways you can grow your party, adding replayability if you want to try fresh runs after defeating the final boss.
Combat occurs via frequent random encounters with a straight, no-frills, turn-based battle system. Here, you can choose whether you want to manually direct each character’s actions or put them on one of a few pre-set auto instruction sets such as “focus on healing” or “show no mercy.” The AI does a pretty good job of doing what you expect, making it great for grinding trash mobs to get your levels up, while taking over manual control for the tougher foes and boss fights is always a simple button press away. The only drawback we found to combat is admittedly a nitpick, but you can’t avoid the camera forcing you into a first-person view when the action actually starts during a turn, despite there being fully animated battle sprites that you can see when you’re selecting your next actions.
Though this release remains quite faithful to the original game, Square makes various additions and quality-of-life changes to bring it more in line with current series standards. Elements that appeared in later games, such as an expanded Monster Arena or the Monster Wrangler class, have been added to flesh out the offering, while changes such as a speed-up option in battles and map markers that clearly highlight your next objective help streamline the experience. Purists may baulk, but for our money, this is the best version of Dragon Quest III available to date—it’s been smartly updated for new audiences without sacrificing what made the original special.
Yet despite the various updates, there’s still no avoiding the fact that this remake is being built on the bones of a Famicom game from the late ’80s. It’s a refreshingly ‘pure’ JRPG, but it can feel rather simplistic when compared with other modern RPGs or its modern descendants, such as Dragon Quest XI. This is not to say that it’s a bad experience, but if you’re the kind of RPG fan who enjoys interacting with things like skill trees, optional minigames, and crafting systems, Dragon Quest III is about as limited as it gets in terms of its gameplay loop.
While the myriad gameplay improvements are rather modest, the most obvious upgrade being made here is the shift to beautiful HD-2D graphics, making this feel like an entirely new game in many ways. Character and enemy sprites are all rendered in a nicely detailed, hi-bit style, while the environments and backgrounds are all in full 3D and feature modern touches like dynamic lighting. The world thus comes alive and feels much more ‘lived in’ than in any of its previous interpretations, showcasing yet again the simple brilliance of Square’s HD-2D engine. It’s the kind of thing that you have to see in motion on an actual Switch to really ‘get it’—the fusion of retro and modern elements in this art style makes for something special.
The only drawback to all these gorgeous visuals is that the Switch notably struggles to display them at many points. We noticed sizable frame rate drops in nearly every town or village we visited, and though an RPG naturally isn’t as affected by these drops given that reflexes don’t factor into its turn-based gameplay, it’s still disappointing to see such performance issues in a game that doesn’t seem to justify them. Square Enix has been developing its HD-2D technology for at least six years now and, considering that previous HD-2D titles didn’t appear to have the same problems, we can’t help but wonder what went wrong here. Though the frame dips are far from game-breaking, they are an obvious blemish on an otherwise well-executed remake.
Though the frame drops are disappointing, the soundtrack does a fantastic job of setting the cosy atmosphere through various symphonic pieces. Whether it’s the bluesy vibes of a local Monster Arena or the lullaby-esque tones of a village theme at night, there’s tremendous range in the music here and it all feels perfectly executed. Even when investigating the depths of a dangerous dungeon, elements of that ‘friendly’ aesthetic that all Dragon Quest games are utterly drenched in still feature in the music, giving the soundtrack a grand cohesion no matter where you find yourself.
Conclusion
It’s been a long time coming, and we’re happy to report that Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake largely lives up to expectations. Disappointing performance issues aside, this is a faithful adaptation of a treasured RPG classic that elevates its strongest aspects while doing its best to make up for any shortcomings. Some may be put off by its relative simplicity but, refreshingly, it neither overstays its welcome nor spreads itself thin with too many half-baked ideas. It goes without saying that fans of the original will want to snap this up, but if you’re looking for a good ‘entry-level’ RPG or you just want to know what the long-running franchise is all about, Dragon Quest III is the game for you.