Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake Review - All That Glitters Are Pixels

To the average gamer, 1988’s Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation may seem like just another Dragon Quest game that was released for the NES. In fact, the original "Dragon Warrior III," as it was known in the West, didn’t really take off outside of Japan, but the game’s impact on the future of gaming is significant. It was the first mainstream game to have such a versatile job system, feature a day and night cycle, and let you swap your party members in and out.

As a newcomer that’s been a fan of the franchise since Dragon Quest XI, the NES trilogy has been one that I’ve never been able to get into. While grinding for hours to level up and clear a dungeon was the norm back in those days, it’s an absolute slog to do so today. And so, I moved onto trying out the more recent titles and remasters.

I was elated beyond measure when Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake was announced. The Octopath Traveler series is one I hold close to my heart, so Dragon Quest III getting the HD-2D treatment felt perfect. Not to mention, Dragon Quest fans have been getting crumbs in the form of low-budget spinoffs. A remake was definitely in order. Needless to say, I went into Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake with a lot of excitement and expectations, but what was to follow was pretty…underwhelming. 

There’s no doubt about the fact that graphically, this game is gorgeous. The HD-2D look is a wonderful visual facelift from Dragon Quest III’s 16-bit pixel art. From the very moment you’re plopped into the game as the main character, you’re surrounded by lush greenery and flowing waterfalls. 

A mysterious voice asks you some very thorough questions to determine your character, and by thorough, I mean questions like, “Do you believe the world to be filled with more sadness than with joy?” I was not expecting to be asked that on a Tuesday morning, that’s for sure. Depending on your characters, you get assigned a personality type, something that’s significant to the way your character’s abilities grow, but more on that later.

You later awake on your 16th birthday, and have an audience with the King of Aliahan. Your father is the legendary warrior, Ortega, but after he perishes in his quest to destroy the evil Baramos, it’s time that you assume his mantle. And so, you go and find some party members to recruit, or in my case, create.

The original Dragon Quest III was praised for letting you choose which class of characters you could hire. Later, once they reach level 20, you can change their class again and go back to level 1 while still retaining your spells and abilities. Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake takes this a step further and gives you 5 additional seeds with which you can increase their default stats. Additionally, the remake gives you the option of the new monster wrangler class. I had a monster wrangler in my party throughout the game, and they definitely became my most useful character.

Back to the personality type system, it felt like more of a hindrance than anything, as it added nothing to the game apart from changing how your character’s stats evolved. You’ll be able to randomly find books in chests and bookshelves throughout the game, and having a character read them will alter their personality, but you don’t get to know how that affects their stats. I ended up just giving my characters books to read according to what personalities I had imagined them to have. Yes, you can even change the protagonist’s personality, so the quiz in the beginning feels a bit redundant.

I don't want to sugarcoat it, this game is an absolute snoozefest when it comes to combat. I mentioned earlier that the NES games were simply too boring for me to get into. Well, Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake follows the same framework of the original’s combat. Turn-based combat and random encounters are really no problem for me when it’s well-executed, but Dragon Quest III’s combat feels ancient. I was really hoping that the remake would bring some intuitiveness into the game, such as Dragon Quest XI’s pep powers, but it’s barebones traditional JRPG combat.

While that wouldn’t be so bad, there’s a bunch of quality-of-life improvements that are definitely missing. For starters, the lack of a turn indicator is a huge inconvenience, especially when a single enemy can end up attacking three turns in a row and kill your healer. Any strategies that you might want to execute just end up being thrown to the winds.

Also, the fact that you need to assign items to your party members is a completely unnecessary chore. The item bag exists for a reason! It makes complete sense to be able to use it in combat, but I guess I’ll die just because I didn’t have any medicine on me at the time. Sure, there are other quality-of-life features, such as being able to adjust the battle speed and three different difficulty settings, but the game definitely needs a lot more to make the combat palatable for the modern day. 

There are also monster arenas where you can make the monsters you’ve rescued take place in tournaments against other monsters, but even that ended up being a bit of a disappointment. You can only advise your monsters as to how they should fight, so one might have to ‘Fight wisely’ while the other needs to ‘Focus on healing.’ These weren’t particularly fun as I would much rather be able to give them commands à la Pokemon, so I only went to the arenas a couple of times when I needed the money to buy some new equipment.

There’s not really a whole lot of changes going on in the story department either. Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake follows the same story as the original with a few additional scenes featuring the Hero and their father. For how long this game is, I was really hoping it wasn’t just tidbits of story every 10 hours or so. I can see how narratively all the twists and turns in the game would have made this game a real masterpiece in 1988. Even for today’s standards, it’s a decent story, but nothing to write home about. 

The atmosphere of the game sort of makes up for that though, as it’s a beautiful world to be in. I had a blast exploring each town and taking in the details. The little birds that fly away as you walk near them, the glowing plants at night in the Faerie Village, and even the damp caves that lurk below. The addition of voice acting is welcome, and whether big character or NPC, the performances are superb. While all of the music is reused from the original, the symphonic arrangements are soothing, although the battle theme did get on my nerves around the 20-hour mark.

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake Review | Final Thoughts

There's a lot to love in Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. The spritework is fantastic, the music is soothing, and it's a world that you want to live in and explore. That being said, there's just as much to loathe. Given the number of random encounters you'll have to face, the combat holds back the game a lot. It also feels like a missed opportunity to expand upon the original's story. By today's standards, the game feels dated, much unlike the game from 1988 that lit a fire under gamers and developers alike.

Everyone’s expectations for remakes are, of course, different, but I was hoping for more than just a fresh coat of paint from the Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. For fans of the original, I’m sure the game will meet their wishes, but it’s not a game I’d recommend to newer fans or to today’s JRPG aficionados looking to get into the franchise. 

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake was reviewed on PC with a copy provided by the publisher over the course of 40 hours of gameplay - all screenshots were taken during the process of review.