Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake

Genre: Turn-Based JRPG

Players: 1

The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

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Review:

It’s rare that I get to review two different remakes of the same game on the same platform, but that’s exactly what has happened here with Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, since the Nintendo Switch received a completely different remake of this exact same game in 2019 in the form of Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation. However, in 2024 Square Enix decided to take another bite at the same apple both on Nintendo Switch and on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, this time redoing the game in the “HD-2D” art style made famous by games like the Octopath Traveler series and Triangle Strategy. However, the closest comparison here is surely Live A Live, since that game also took an older classic and reimagined it for a modern day in this new art style.

By this point, I think much of the wow factor is gone when it comes to HD-2D. Oh, don’t get me wrong, this game still looks fantastic, but it looks fantastic in much the same way as those other HD-2D games above I mentioned were. A great mix of 2D pixel art characters with 3D environments and gorgeous lighting and atmospheric effects… although I can’t help but feel like Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy, and Live A Live all did more with this graphical style than Dragon Quest III does. Regardless, it’s still a massive upgrade for a game originally released on Nintendo Entertainment System all the way back in 1988.

That said, Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake seems to be straining under this engine somewhat, at least on Nintendo Switch. There are definitely some framerate issues here and there, and while it doesn’t affect the gameplay at all, it’s still jarring to see a polished-up game from 1988 having performance issues.

It’s not just the graphics that have gotten polish though, as Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake includes a remastered orchestral soundtrack. I’ve honestly never been a fan of the Dragon Quest series’ soundtracks, but it’s hard to deny that the quality of this redone soundtrack is top-notch, though it clashes with the deliberately old-school sound effects you encounter frequently, like the digital chunk-chunk-chunk noise when walking up or down stairs, or the high-pitched tone signaling the successful end of a battle (I always hated that… some traditions really deserve to die). In addition, all main story dialogue is now voiced, with some good quality too… or at least, the best that you could hope for given this game’s archaic and simple plot.

This release also adds a slew of quality-of-life improvements too. There’s a new difficulty selection that should make the game less grindy (though still far too grindy for my tastes). Items and spells that teleport can now be used indoors. There’s now a temporary auto-save to supplement the original game’s save system. You can set the speed of battles and even have your team auto-battle according to a pre-selected behavior (there are roughly a half-dozen such behaviors to choose from). And there are undoubtedly numerous smaller improvements I’ve neglected to mention as well.

The problem is, under all that polish and added features, this is still a game from 1988, and it shows. Your adventuring party has exactly zero personality, the quest is a painfully generic “save the world from the bad guy” narrative, the battle system is so archaic you can’t even select the enemy you’re attacking (though thankfully you can at least select which species of enemy to attack). And the frequent random battles and high amount of grinding get really tiresome when you’re just telling your team to attack attack attack over and over again.

This makes Dragon Quest III HD-2D’s $60 price tag seem absurdly out-of-place. Yes, I understand that this game is remembered fondly by series fans, but it has aged pretty terribly for a remake that’s this faithful to the original. And when I can get the Octopath Traveler games for the same price and they look better, have a better soundtrack, have a much better combat system, and an infinitely better story (or stories), I can’t help but feel like the nostalgia and name recognition of the Dragon Quest franchise is the only real selling point this game has over those games.

Having said all of that, if you do have nostalgia for Dragon Quest III, or if you’re curious to try an old-school Turn-Based JRPG, you won’t find a better version of Dragon Quest III. This is still a solid old JRPG, and the improvements made to this version are massive. But when Square Enix looked at their massive back-catalog of classics and decided to remake one in the HD-2D style, I can’t help but be frustrated that they chose this game over Chrono Trigger or Quintet-developed games like Terranigma and Illusion of Gaia. You know, games that aren’t already on Nintendo Switch and have arguably aged much better. But I suppose Dragon Quest is a bigger name, so instead we’re getting a beautiful new version of a game we already have on the same platform. So… hooray.

tl;dr – Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is a new version of the classic 1988 Turn-Based JRPG that updates the game with a new HD-2D presentation, along with numerous quality-of-life improvements. The result is a gorgeous and much-improved version of a JRPG with dated gameplay, a dated story, and playable characters with zero personality. If you’re looking to play a polished-up version of a classic JRPG from nearly 40 years ago, this is absolutely the best way to play this fan-favorite entry of one of the genre’s biggest franchises. But just be aware that under the shining polish is a game that has not aged very well.

Grade: B-

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The Nintendo Switch 2 Difference

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake

Genre: Turn-Based JRPG

Players: 1

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Review:

I suppose, if we count the original 1988 release of Dragon Quest III, this is as of now technically the oldest game I’ve looked at in one of these Nintendo Switch 2 Difference articles, taking the place of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. It feels a bit silly, since surely such an old game released on hardware as powerful as Nintendo Switch, even when polished up with a new “HD-2D” presentation… surely it couldn’t be improved much further, could it?

Well, clearly Square Enix seems to think otherwise, because they released a free Nintendo Switch 2 update for the game, which improves a few things, but most notably adds performance and quality graphics modes that you can select in the options menu.

Loading up the game on Nintendo Switch 2, I can say that testing loading times produced some of the least-impressive results I’ve seen so far moving from Nintendo Switch to Nintendo Switch 2 – Loading up the game to the opening logos went from 31 seconds to 26 seconds, and loading up a save file went from 17 seconds to 14 seconds. Still an improvement, mind you, but not much of an improvement.

No, thanks to the new performance mode, the big improvement here is to just that, the performance. The Nintendo Switch version of the game suffered from framerate issues that, while not so terrible they affected the gameplay, were nevertheless disappointing. These issues are now completely gone on Nintendo Switch 2, leaving us with a much smoother experience overall, and boosting the standard framerate from 30FPS to 60FPS.

Graphics mode, on the other hand, drops things back to 30FPS, but with clearer resolution making for a more detailed image. This is noticeable, but honestly I did not feel like this was worth the trade-off – this game looks so much better at 60FPS that I highly recommend playing the game that way.

Is this Nintendo Switch 2 update enough to make a difference in my overall assessment of the game? Well, no. But this is absolutely a better experience than playing the game on Nintendo Switch. If you’re a Dragon Quest fan curious about this remake of an old-school classic, the Nintendo Switch 2 is absolutely a great place to play the game.

tl;dr – Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is a new version of the classic 1988 Turn-Based JRPG that updates the game with a new HD-2D presentation, along with numerous quality-of-life improvements. The result is a gorgeous and much-improved version of a JRPG with dated gameplay, a dated story, and playable characters with zero personality. If you’re looking to play a polished-up version of a classic JRPG from nearly 40 years ago, this is absolutely the best way to play this fan-favorite entry of one of the genre’s biggest franchises (even better on Nintendo Switch 2). But just be aware that under the shining polish is a game that has not aged very well.

Grade: B-

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