DRAGON QUEST III HD-2D Remake Review Summary

Stunning HD-2D graphics and sound: The remake boasts stunning HD-2D graphics, blending retro pixel art with modern 3D environments, lighting, and animations. This visual overhaul enhances exploration, battles, and cutscenes, creating a vibrant and immersive world. The re-orchestrated music and voice acting further contribute to the game's impressive presentation.

Many quality-of-life improvements: The remake incorporates numerous quality-of-life improvements, making it more accessible and enjoyable for both newcomers and veterans of the Dragon Quest series. These enhancements streamline gameplay, reduce tedium, and add depth to the overall experience. Many reviewers express that the remake is the definitive edition of Dragon Quest 3.

Classic JRPG with freedom: The game offers a classic JRPG experience with a semi-open world, a flexible class system, and strategic turn-based combat. Players have the freedom to explore the map, customize their party, and tackle objectives in their preferred order. The game strikes a balance between complexity and simplicity, making it enjoyable for both casual and hardcore RPG fans.

Fun, addictive, and balanced difficulty: The game offers a balanced and adjustable difficulty, making it accessible to a wide range of players. It provides a fun and addictive experience with a charming art style and engaging gameplay. The game's design allows for both casual relaxation and strategic challenges, catering to different playstyles.

Evokes strong sense of nostalgia: The remake successfully evokes nostalgia for the original game, reminding players of their childhood experiences and the classic era of RPGs. The game retains the charm and feel of the original while modernizing the graphics and gameplay. This blend of nostalgia and innovation provides a satisfying experience for long-time fans.

Tedious exploration, high encounter rate: The game features a high random encounter rate, which, combined with slow movement speed and large, confusing maps, makes exploration tedious and frustrating. The lack of camera control and clear visual cues further exacerbates these issues, hindering item discovery and overall enjoyment of exploration. This is compounded by the fact that the maps are fully revealed from the start, removing any sense of discovery.

Poor combat, enemy scaling issues: The game suffers from poor combat balance, with physical attacks becoming ineffective in the mid-to-late game due to inflated enemy defense stats. This forces players to rely on magic or specific classes like the Monster Tamer, leading to repetitive gameplay and diminishing the value of other classes and strategies. Additionally, enemies frequently use multiple actions, status ailments, and instant death spells, resulting in frustrating and tedious battles.

Poorly designed post-game content: The post-game content is poorly designed, featuring excessive grinding, weapon restrictions, and enemies that rely on cheap tactics like status ailments and instant death attacks. This leads to a frustrating and unenjoyable experience that doesn't respect the player's time or investment, with some reviewers suggesting it's better to stop playing after defeating the final boss.

Slow vehicle, travel speed: The movement speed of vehicles, particularly Ramia (the flying mount) and the ship, is too slow, making exploration tedious and time-consuming. This issue is compounded by the large map size and frequent enemy encounters that interrupt travel, leading to frustration and a diminished sense of freedom.

Monster Tamer class overpowered: The Monster Tamer class is overpowered, unbalancing the game and making other classes feel irrelevant. Its abilities, such as 'monster call' and 'beast mode,' deal excessive damage and trivialize combat, leading to repetitive gameplay and diminishing the value of strategic party composition.

Classic JRPG with modern touches: The game retains classic JRPG elements such as turn-based combat, random encounters, and world exploration. It balances nostalgia with modern quality-of-life improvements, appealing to both veterans and newcomers. The core gameplay loop remains faithful to the original Dragon Quest experience.

Inconsistent difficulty, late-game grind: The game's difficulty balance is inconsistent, with some reviewers noting a spike in difficulty in the later stages. Enemies may have high defense or rely on cheap tactics, leading to a grind-heavy experience and potentially diminishing the effectiveness of certain classes.

Monster arena and collecting added: The game introduces a monster arena and monster collecting mechanics, drawing comparisons to Pokemon. However, some reviewers found the monster collecting tedious and the Battle Road mode unenjoyable, with a lack of depth in monster development.

Deep character customization via jobs: The game features a flexible job system that allows players to customize their party members. Players can choose vocations, influence stat growth, and change classes, adding depth to character progression and encouraging experimentation with different party builds.

Story is light, gameplay focused: The game features a light story, allowing players to focus on gameplay. Additional story content is present, but not particularly significant.

Good performance across platforms: The game generally runs well across various platforms, including PC and Steam Deck, with smooth performance and acceptable loading times. Some reviewers noted that a high-end PC may be overkill, while others confirmed it runs well even on low-spec laptops. The Steam Deck is frequently mentioned as a well-supported platform.

Frame rate and visual issues: Some players have reported issues such as screen tearing, frame drops in specific areas, and a locked 60 FPS. Additionally, some found the 30FPS mode visually unappealing. Turning off bloom reveals cut corners in shading.

Appealing HD-2D graphics: The game's visuals are generally well-received, with reviewers praising the HD-2D style and clean, polished graphics. The game successfully blends modern graphics with an old-school JRPG feel, visually resembling Octopath Traveler.

Unreal Engine 4 crashes: Several reviewers have encountered crashes due to Unreal Engine 4 errors, sometimes leading to save data corruption. This issue appears to be more prevalent during post-game content, and has even rendered the game unlaunchable for some users.

Inconsistent loading time feedback: Some reviewers find the loading times before battles, in towns, and in dungeons unacceptable for a modern game, despite the game's small data size. However, other reviewers found the load times almost unnoticeable.

SFC version may be better: Some reviewers suggest that the remake doesn't significantly improve upon or even match the quality of previous versions, particularly the SFC (Super Famicom) version. They feel that the additional elements don't justify the price and that a simple enhancement of the SFC version would have been preferable. Some reviewers even recommend playing the SFC version instead.

Great for JRPG/DQ fans: The game is highly recommended for fans of the Dragon Quest series and classic JRPGs, especially those seeking a nostalgic experience. Many suggest it's a must-play for enthusiasts of the genre, while newcomers might find it a good entry point, though some recommend starting with Dragon Quest XI instead. Reviewers also express excitement for future installments and remakes in the series.

Wait for a sale: Many reviewers suggest waiting for a sale before purchasing due to concerns about the full price not matching the game's overall quality and content. Some suggest specific price points (around $30-$40 or half price) that would make the game a worthwhile purchase. Waiting for a sale is a common recommendation, especially for those unsure about the game or new to the series.

Overpriced for the content: A significant number of reviewers feel the game is overpriced for what it offers, with many suggesting it's not worth the full price (around $60-$80). They propose more reasonable price points, often around $30-$50, reflecting the game's age, content, and perceived lack of significant improvements over previous versions. Some reviewers even describe the full price as a "scam" or "robbery."

Inconsistent game balance: Some reviewers note balance issues, with the game being too easy initially and then becoming too difficult later on. They suggest playing on hard mode for a more balanced experience or recommend specific classes to mitigate difficulty spikes. Some also mention that the game feels like a "chore" or "slog" due to these issues.

Faithful remake for original fans: Many reviewers emphasize that the game is a remake aimed at fans of the original NES/FC version, preserving its core gameplay and difficulty while updating the graphics. Some find the game's age to be both a positive and negative aspect, appreciating its historical significance but acknowledging its dated elements. Some reviewers specifically state that this version is not intended to revolutionize the series.

Minor controversy over character appearance: Several reviewers address the controversy surrounding character appearance selection (Looks A/B instead of Male/Female), with many finding the changes inconsequential to gameplay. Some find the implementation humorous due to immediate correction to "hero and heroine". Some reviewers also mention minor censorship, such as changes to character outfits, but consider it superficial and easily overlooked.

HD-2D remake questioned by some: Some reviewers feel the game should have been a full 3D remake instead of HD-2D, questioning the use of Unreal Engine for the graphical outcome. Some believe the HD-2D remake primarily targets players who have experienced the original game, appealing to a niche audience rather than the general public.

Playtime varies; completionists invest more: Reviewers report varying playtime durations, ranging from around 50 hours for a leisurely playthrough to over 100 hours for completing all trophies and defeating hidden bosses. Some reviewers also mention obtaining various know-hows and playing through the game a second time.

First chronologically in Erdrick Trilogy: The game is the first chronologically in the 'Erdrick Trilogy', with the first and second games to be released in HD-2D remakes. Dragon Quest XI shares the same universe.