Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation

Genre: Turn-Based JRPG

Players: 1

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Review:

Dragon Quest III is a Turn-Based JRPG, originally released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988, that marks the final entry in the series’ “Erdrick trilogy”, with a prequel story telling the story of the legendary hero referred to in the first two games. While the Dragon Quest series in general is extremely beloved in Japan, Dragon Quest III is held in particularly high regard, and if this release of the game is anything to go by, it’s easy to see why – this game touts a number of noteworthy improvements and unique features that really set it apart from its predecessors, and this jump is noticeable even with the improvements all of these games have gotten on the Switch.

One of the most noteworthy improvements here is to the presentation, with the Nintendo Switch version of this game being based on the 2014 remake made for smartphones. The game’s visuals, text, and music have all been upgraded to be… well, not nearly in line with today’s standards, but at least somewhat less archaic. However, while the upgrades to the previous game were mostly a mixed bag, this time around it’s mostly positives. The graphics look noticeably better than the previous two remakes, with more detailed sprite-based backgrounds that fit together more with the more-detailed character sprites. The redone soundtrack is also pretty good, though I’d argue I still prefer the first game’s. And while the first two games suffered from odd graphical issues with “shuddering” screen scrolling, this issue is far more minimal in this release, to the point where I likely wouldn’t even notice it if I wasn’t looking for it.

The story this time around feels a bit more disposable, honestly. You’re just some random hero (generally assumed to be the legendary hero Erdrick) apparently arbitrarily given a quest to banish evil from the land as a rite of passage on your sixteenth birthday, a quest your father undertook, leading to his demise. It’s not exactly inspiring stuff, but this release makes it a bit easier to go along with thanks to a decent localization that does away with the cringe-worthy “thou”s and “thy”s of the two prior games. It’s still nothing noteworthy by today’s standards, but it’s not horrible, either.

And the gameplay, this game expands on the prior two games with a slew of new features, from a day-night system, the ability to recruit whatever combination of classes you want to form your party, the ability to choose your hero’s gender, and an intriguing “personality test” that helps to determine your starting stats. On top of this, the game does a good job early on giving players some fun secrets to look into, and there generally feels like a good deal more options.

Having said that, this game’s battle system is still pretty archaic by today’s standards. There’s little strategy or thought to the game’s battles – it’s mostly just grind until you can afford new equipment and/or level up a sufficient amount, then venture into a new area, raid the local dungeon, and then repeat the process. And once again, grinding takes forever in this game, with enemies being extraordinarily stingy about handing out gold and experience. There are other elements here that are frustrating as well, such as save points being too far and few between (players can create a quicksave in this version, but are only allowed one quicksave for all of their save files).

Ultimately, out of all of the NES-era Dragon Quest games on the Switch, Dragon Quest III is the best of the lot by far, with better graphics, better localization, and multiple unique game features. Having said that, this is still pretty archaic by today’s standards, with a lot of grinding and some other frustrating design issues. It’s still worth playing for fans of JRPGs looking to try something old-school, but gamers used to more modern games in the genre might find it to be a bit too old-school.

tl;dr – Dragon Quest III is a JRPG originally released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988, and it is a marked improvement over its two predecessors, with better presentation and multiple added features that set it apart. Having said that, it’s still dated by today’s standards, with a lot of grinding and frustrating design choices. RPG fans looking to play something old-school may find this worthwhile, but others are best off leaving it in the past.

Grade: C+

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