In a yr already chock-full of fantastic remakes like Persona 3 Reload and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Yr Door, it’s spectacular that I can nonetheless name Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake probably the greatest I’ve ever performed. That’s not as a result of it units out to redefine the 1988 NES unique like Sq. Enix did with Remaining Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth, however due to the way it strikes an almost good steadiness between faithfully sticking to the bones of Dragon Quest III whereas including fashionable quality-of-life enhancements and a ravishing new coat of paint that make it extra enjoyable than ever to discover and battle throughout its surprisingly dense overworld. Dragon Quest III is a real godfather of the RPG style, and this immensely satisfying retelling so clearly spells out why it’s one in every of gaming’s important works.
HD-2D Remake is basically the identical journey Dragon Quest III has all the time been, and it’s laborious to not marvel at how effectively its unique blueprint nonetheless holds up in 2024. That is as traditional as JRPGs get – the style boiled right down to its absolute necessities of rock-solid turn-based fight, atmospheric caves and dungeons crammed with monsters and treasure, and a simple story about good versus evil that asks you to fill in quite a lot of the gaps along with your creativeness. It evokes nostalgia for a bygone period of video video games in the very best methods whereas proving it nonetheless has the stuff to hold with the flowery, fashionable RPGs.
Regardless of the unabashedly old-school design, it does handle to really feel new because of its overhauled graphics, and Dragon Quest and the HD-2D model pioneered by Octopath Traveler are an absolute good mixture. The enemy design is superb, with highly-detailed sprites and animations which are a pleasure to take a look at. The late Akira Toriyama’s signature model is splendidly realized right here, and battles really feel extra dynamic with every enemy’s full of life animations for attacking and defending. Cities are pleasant to discover, with gorgeous castles, homes, and retailers which are breathtaking to take a look at from the skin and lovely to poke round on the within because of sharp consideration to element. The dungeons all look nice, too, particularly with the moody lighting emitting out of your hero’s lantern. Lastly, the overworld feels grand to march throughout, and it’s all backed up with an orchestral soundtrack that matches Dragon Quest’s lighthearted, adventurous temper to a tee.
HD-2D Remake doesn’t simply look beautiful, because it has nice battle and sophistication methods to match. Aside from the Hero, whose class and spot in your get together is locked in from the beginning, the composition of the opposite three spots is totally as much as you, together with their lessons, names, and appearances. I outfitted my get together with a Thief, a Priest, and my private favourite: the all-new Monster Wrangler, who grew to become stronger as I discovered and recruited pleasant monsters internationally, which additional incentivized exploration. It’s a ton of enjoyable setting up your band of heroes, and I’m actually contemplating a full replay the place I attempt one thing solely totally different given what number of lessons I didn’t benefit from. There are additionally alternatives to reclass later within the story whereas retaining all the skills your characters have discovered to this point, including much more vital selections to think about.
It’s only a disgrace that the personalities of your get together members are all silent, clean slates on account of that mechanical flexibility. That’s the identical because it was within the unique, however it makes for an RPG journey that’s far more about character builds, fight, and exploration somewhat than relationships, camaraderie, and story. It’s fully comprehensible that Sq. Enix would persist with the outdated model on this occasion, because it did with virtually all the things else, however it’s laborious to not miss the great personalities of my get together in Dragon Quest XI or the Get together Chat function seen in most fashionable entries of the collection by comparability. However as somebody who vastly prefers a barebones story in comparison with an overbearing one, I nonetheless totally loved Dragon Quest III’s deal with participating immediately with its RPG methods.
To that finish, the battles themselves are fast-paced, enjoyable, and infrequently fairly tough. Make no mistake – that is nonetheless very a lot a hardcore NES-era RPG, and you’ll want to use a balanced mixture of robust assaults, therapeutic spells, and buffing/debuffing skills to beat a few of Dragon Quest III’s hardest bosses. There are some actual nail-biting moments, particularly afterward within the marketing campaign, and I liked utilizing unorthodox methods to barely squeak by fights I most likely wasn’t prepared for but. Random encounters in each the overworld and dungeons are a continuing issue, however they’re all the time fulfilling and drop important expertise factors and gold, which you’ll want as a lot of as you will get to achieve the tip credit.
But when nervewracking turn-based battles aren’t your factor, there’s no want to fret. I’m extremely impressed by how versatile HD-2D Remake is as a complete. Aside from three issue choices you possibly can change between at any time (Together with the Dracky Quest choice, the place your characters primarily can’t die), there are a ton of how to tailor the journey to your particular playstyle. In fight, you possibly can velocity up battle animations to get via encounters sooner or watch them at regular velocity to essentially benefit from the detailed enemy animations. You’re additionally given full management over how your get together behaves: In traditional Dragon Quest style, you may give particular person orders to all 4 get together members, or select methods for them to execute on their very own, like specializing in therapeutic, conserving magic, or going all-out in opposition to a troublesome foe. It’s actually stress-free to set the entire get together to autobattle when grinding for expertise factors earlier than taking management again for your self forward of an vital boss struggle. Choices like these guarantee the good fight stays recent throughout the roughly 30-hour journey, even with a number of classes of grinding.
That’s partially as a result of the Dragon Quest collection is fairly good at making grinding for expertise factors entertaining, and this remake isn’t any exception. When you’re a fan of the collection, you already know that Steel Slimes are the important thing to leveling up quick: Enemies with low spawn charges that drop far more expertise factors than the common dangerous man. Discovering areas of the map the place Steel Slimes usually tend to seem is thrilling, and the push of adrenaline that kicks in whenever you see one present up in a random encounter by no means will get outdated – like pulling a uncommon card from a Pokémon booster pack.
Plus, other than the occasional degree grind session, Dragon Quest III’s pacing is impeccable. You’re all the time being ushered from one new location to the subsequent, continuously exploring new cities and dungeons whereas encountering recent foes from the massive set of over 150 enemy varieties. It hardly ever retraces any of its steps – aside from one particular recurring boss I received’t spoil that admittedly rears its ugly head a couple of too many instances.
This remake additionally goes to nice lengths to make sure you’ll by no means get misplaced or caught. The Zoom spell permits you to escape a troublesome scenario to relaxation at an inn just about everytime you need, whereas goal markers clearly label what you’ll want to do subsequent to progress via the sometimes unclear and outdated predominant quests. Nonetheless, if you’d like the traditional Dragon Quest III expertise, you possibly can flip these quest markers off and uncover all the things for your self by exploring and speaking to townsfolk. It’s a terrific system that makes this aged RPG extra approachable and playable than ever, whereas additionally preserving that unique model for many who need it. It’s a perfect method to revisit a beloved journey, and I like the tempo at which this huge world slowly reveals its secrets and techniques to you piece by piece.
Whereas I used to be usually a giant fan of Dragon Quest III’s old-school nature combined with the HD-2D Remake’s fashionable enhancements, there are a few locations it might have gone a couple of additional steps. Stock administration is clunky, as every of your 4 get together members solely has entry to their particular person merchandise luggage in fight, which means I spent a ton of time in menus transferring gadgets from the get together’s total stock to their particular person pockets. Managing tools comes with related annoyances, the place it’s only a bit more durable than it ought to be to see how equipping one thing will impression every character’s stats. I ultimately acquired right into a rhythm of the way to fiddle with these outdated menus, however it’s one place I want had gotten extra updating. (There are additionally just some enemy designs that haven’t aged particularly effectively, and possibly would have been higher left up to now.)