During our time at Summer Games Fest, we were invited to try out an upcoming 2D-HD remake. When we got there, it was revealed to be Dragon Quest 3 2D-HD. I was super excited to give this a shot! The first little bit of the time was a presentation about the release date and some of the key features of the game. Then, we got to have some quality hands-on time at an extremely early stage of the game.
The Presentation
Dragon Quest 3 was stated to be the game that Square wanted to remake, as it is a perfect point in the Dragon Quest series to begin. It is the chronological beginning of the Erdrick trilogy. In my opinion, they also did this as a way to tie into the final ending of Dragon Quest XI.
Square Enix created the HD-2D remake art style in Octopath Traveler, which they will recreate in Dragon Quest 3. This style is perfect for the game, honestly, as it translates well to the art designs of Akira Toriyama.
DRAGON QUEST III HD-2D Remake is a stunning reimagining of the beloved masterpiece and narrative beginning to The Erdrick Trilogy–the first three games of the mainline DRAGON QUEST series. Featuring vibrant HD-2D graphics, new and modernized features, and a refined narrative, players are invited to set out on an epic fantasy adventure to save the world from a dark evil.
Years ago, the great hero Ortega bid farewell to his wife and child as he set off on a quest to defeat the villainous Archfiend, Baramos. Ortega failed his quest, and Baramos still threatens the world. Now, on their sixteenth birthday, Ortega’s only child is summoned by the king of Aliahan and entrusted with a mission of the highest import: to take on Ortega’s quest, vanquish Baramos, and save the world. Accompanied by a band of traveling companions chosen at the beginning of the game, players are immersed in a vast HD-2D world full of towns, dungeons, and caves, meet fascinating characters, and fight ferocious monsters in enhanced turn-based battles.
Hands-On Gameplay
When it was finally time to get my hands on the game, there were two console versions of the game available. The PS5 and Nintendo Switch versions of the game. I decided to try out the PS5 version of the game. Immediately, I was enamored with the soundtrack. The music filled me with the early-era Dragon Quest. The soundtrack was different from the original Dragon Quest 3, but it still oozed Dragon Quest in its vibes and sound. No longer using the small SNES chip of sound. Dragon Quest has not sounded better than it was in that experience I had with the demo.
We were placed in a town in the part of the game we got access to and were told to find a way to get to the top of the tower if we could. I immediately went to the shop and saw if there was any equipment that would be better for my main party. I eventually got a small bit of armor for two of my characters, the cleric and the warrior. I also had a mage in my party. The hero, as the warrior, made up the last of the four party members in my squad. I immediately took my party onto the world map and just traveled around fighting a few monsters here and there to get all my characters to at least level 2.
One of the big changes in the game was having access to a map that you could bring up on the overlay. The original required you to go into a menu to check out the map and figure out where to go. Some indicators directed you to your current objective. That already makes it easier to figure out some of the intricacies that came with the older game, having to remember everything every NPC has ever said. There are still secrets to be had from looking in every nook and cranny. Make sure you check out every floor and room you can find, it may have an item that will make the areas easier or just more prepared for the more difficult fights. I found a secret room on the tower’s second floor that got me a boomerang. I instantly gave it to my hero and it was the most useful thing in my playthrough.
Dragon Quest games are games that require a good chunk of grinding in dungeons to get stronger to be ready for the next area or dungeon. That has not changed, but they have added a feature to help out with that. Auto-battle. Auto-battle has a few differences in this game as opposed to other games. You can have your entire party run auto battle with a variety of modes. Or you can have only specific party members on auto-battle. For my run, I had my party aside from the hero on auto-battle just to see if it made things harder or easier. It made resource management more difficult since the cleric and mage constantly used spells almost constantly. They were always on the verge of losing all their MP using spells that would cost a lot of MP they didn’t need to. Logically because I like a challenge, I left them on auto. Yeah, mage, use that Frizz on the 2HP enemy!
The combat hasn’t been changed as much as you would think for a game that is as old as Dragon Quest 3. You still have HP and MP bars. You have a series of spells that you can learn as the hero or the spells a mage or cleric learn as they level up. Enemies will attack you in groups. You have a group of slimes you can target. When one of your characters attacks, it will generally be a random enemy in the group that gets hit. When you get a spell or a weapon that targets multiple enemies, you can attack a whole group at the same time. The Boomerang is a unique weapon that can target all enemies in the instance. The damage it deals is lessened as it strikes through all the enemies, however.
Overall Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake is turning out to be a masterpiece of a remake. Recreating the Dragon Quest games in this HD-2D engine was a genius move for satisfying fans of the series as development times increase as well as work as a great way to introduce new audiences to the series. I finished up the tower pretty easily after leveling up with the Boomerang in my position, and I was able to even start on the next dungeon before the time was up for this build of the game.
Dragon Quest 3: HD-2D Remake will launch November 14th, 2024 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X, and PC.
