Test – Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake: an overhaul in the spirit of the original

After offering several productions in this unique graphic style that is “HD-2D”, Square Enix continues with a remake of one of its cult games. Dragon Quest III is now available with a brand new visual presentation and some new features.

If the subject is a little less popular here, Dragon Quest remains a major license in the Japanese RPG genre. The great historical competitor of Final Fantasy has made history with titles that have influenced the entire genre, this is notably the case of Dragon Quest III. Published on the Japanese NES in 1988, this episode has truly become cult in the land of the rising sun. If it has been re-released on several occasions since, Square Enix is ​​this time offering a total overhaul of the title in the “HD-2D” visual style already used on games like Octopath Traveler or Triangle Strategy. This new version brings some new features, but still remains in the spirit of the original game.

In this episode, we play a young 16-year-old protagonist who is going on an adventure. The king of Aliahan asks our character to resume the quest for Ortéga, his late father considered by all to be a true hero, who perished during a fight against a monster near a volcano. The adventure will lead him to visit the four corners of the world to find and defeat the Archdemon Baramos, a formidable enemy who threatens the entire planet. No very complex scenario here, even if a lot of details about the universe can be unearthed by talking to the characters present in the cities. The main plot remains the same as then and will simply take us from objective to objective, before becoming much more open and letting us search for several key objects.

This remake of Dragon Quest III offers more or less the same adventure as at the time, with a rather classic progression, but which still reserves several surprises. We travel on a rather large world map where there are towns, dungeons and even small hidden places. The start of the adventure will allow us to assemble a team quite freely, with the possibility of choosing from several preconceived characters or of even creating them ourselves, by choosing their name, appearance and class. It is possible to change them during the adventure, but new characters start at level 1 and will therefore require a little catching up. Despite this overhaul, the title remains old-school on many points such as its very simplistic interface, the presence of random combat or even the management of life and magic points. Saves are also limited to places of worship in cities, which is not always very practical.

Even if it is rather conventional today, the game’s combat system remains effective. We control a team of four characters who fight turn-based. It is possible to give orders directly to our characters or to let them act by choosing from several conditions. The different classes obviously offer different abilities and statistics allowing us to personalize our way of playing by composing our team. The evolution of our characters also offers freedom since, if it remains rather simplistic at first, the system becomes more complex after having progressed well in the adventure.

The title knows how to be difficult, but still offers several difficulty modes, including an easy mode which makes us completely invincible in combat. This is one of the new features of this remake which offers several new practical options such as the possibility of accelerating the speed of combat or even displaying the location of our objectives on the map.

The biggest change of course comes from the visuals of the game completely redone in the “HD-2D” style. This practice, both modern and retro, mixes pixel art as well as 3D and visual effects for a result that is truly very pleasing to the eye. The result is still as convincing, and even more so than with previous representatives of this style. The game is colorful, the characters are very detailed and well animated, and the settings are truly memorable. It’s a shame, however, that the staging often remains very flat, particularly during the fights which are far from spectacular. Koichi Sugiyama’s music is still pleasant to listen to, and the title also offers dubbing (Japanese and English) for important scenes in the plot.

This new version also has new content such as a new class (the Monstrologer) as well as new story content centered on Ortéga, the father of the main character. These new features are added to an already rather rich game which offers a long and larger adventure than it seems, with a few extras. If it was a very ambitious title and ahead of its time at the time of its release, Dragon Quest III is today an adventure which remains very pleasant to go through, but which is undoubtedly a little conventional in many aspects . The title inspired the entire genre after its release, which makes you feel a bit like you’ve already played it. It nonetheless remains a very interesting experience offered in this successful new version and which necessarily makes it less rough than at the time.

Conclusion

A truly cult episode in Japan, Dragon Quest III is back in a brand new remake made with the “HD-2D” style dear to Square Enix. We play a 16-year-old protagonist who must take up his late father’s mission, that of defeating the Archdemon Baramos. This JRPG offers a classic formula with some modern improvements even if it remains old-school in many aspects. The turn-based combat system is standard, but is accompanied by progression that gives us freedom to build our team of heroes. In addition to a very successful graphic overhaul in this HD-2D style, this new version also includes new content to expand the adventure. Obviously, time has passed since 1988 and Dragon Quest III is no longer as impressive as before. It still remains a rich, surprising and enjoyable adventure to explore, even more so thanks to this remake which makes it more accessible than ever.

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