Among the first games to launch the popular Dragon Quest Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) series, the 1988 title Dragon Quest 3 is chronologically the first in the series -- a prequel that sets the stage for all the games to come. Square Enix has remade the classic game for modern audiences, refreshing its graphics and streamlining gameplay, whichÂ
Much of the original Dragon Quest 3 has been preserved, including its plot: the hero Ortega leaves his family to defeat the game's villain, Baramos, but fails -- and his only child, the player character, must take up the quest. Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake walks a fine line updating the game and keeping the experience aligned with the original.Â
Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake will be available on November 14 for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch. The game's standard edition is priced at $60, while the impressive Collector's Edition can be bought from Square Enix's online store for $200 and includes a decorated storage box to hold the game case, a physical set of character and monster acrylic blocks, several in-game accessories and a pair of PC desktop wallpapers. Preordering now will also get players a set of in-game character upgrades and items.
At Summer Game Fest, I got a chance to preview the Dragon Quest 3 Remake and play it for a bit under an hour. I have no experience playing Dragon Quest games, but I enjoyed the remake, especially for its visual style, which places lush, vibrant 2D sprites in rich, painterly landscapes.
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The graphics have been given a restrained update that pairs the sprites with subtle 3D effects, from brushstroke-like leaves dappled with sunlight effects to the shadows of clouds. It makes overworld navigation feel more dynamic and expansive as you roam rolling hills. It's an interesting blend of depth that makes the pixel sprites pop but doesn't make them stand out too much against the rounded world features.
And the music -- even weeks after my preview, the soundtrack rings in my memory. The iconic compositions by legendary composer Koichi Sugiyama have been preserved and performed by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, giving a bombastic air to classic game tracks. I wandered the aforementioned 3D hills with my party of 2D sprite characters, and the swelling horns and light wood winds paired with drums and cymbals made the humble visuals ripple with import and purpose. You may not be able to play Dragon Quest 3 exactly the way you did as a kid, but the professionally elevated music on top of the nostalgic sprites might just bring you back to that earnest thrill of full-throated adventure you felt when you heard those tracks for the first time.
The game is full of these selectively applied modernizations. The battle system still only allows you to target groups of enemies rather than individuals, but other quality-of-life improvements smooth out poorly aged pain points in the original -- for instance, now you can save your game by talking to any priest in any town, rather than only when talking to the king. And while the soundtrack has been richly performed, the sound effects are still charmingly low-fidelity, with scratchy MIDI-like clomping when you exit a room. But they're carefully localized, so you may only hear a fire when you get close to it.
I previewed Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake on the Nintendo Switch, and while the game ran fine, I did notice graphical differences when compared to the PS5 versions my fellow reporters also in the preview were playing. I deduced that some of it was due to the Switch's display -- the monitors hooked up to the PS5s were showing more vibrant colors, so presumably players could dock their Switch and use a conventional display to sidestep this limitation. But there also seemed to be lower quality in some of the more dynamic 3D textures -- for instance, in the PS5 version, when fighting in the forest I noticed more sparkling light filtering through the trees in the background, an effect which is more muted in the Switch version.
That said, all versions of the game have identical content, so players nostalgic for the early days of the popular Dragon Quest series will be delighted by the deliberate care Square Enix has taken in refreshing Dragon Quest 3 for modern audiences.Â