My lifelong love of role-playing games began with a free copy of Dragon Warrior—part of a promotion by Nintendo Power. The game was primitive, as Western ports of Japanese RPGs lagged years behind. Dragon Quest III came out in early 1988, just three months after Final Fantasy, but we didn't get Dragon Warrior III until four years later. (The name had to be altered because someone had trademarked "Dragon Quest" in the U.S.) By then the Super Nintendo was already out; Dragon Warrior III made almost no impact. Enix declined to localize V and VI. (Fortunately, Squaresoft and Enix merged in 2003, and the new company ported both to the DS for international release!)
Dragon Warrior III and IV are easily the best RPGs on the NES. DW3 does everything Final Fantasy does and more. Instead of choosing your party of four only at the beginning, you control a central hero or heroine (you choose the gender, although they are called Ortega's "son" either way), who can recruit whatever adventurers you want at any time by visiting the Adventurer's Hall [Patty's Party Planning Place]. There is no limit to how many characters you can create, from among seven classes: fighter [martial artist], soldier [warrior], merchant, pilgrim [priest], wizard [mage], and goof-off [gadabout]. The default party suggested by a non-player character is soldier, pilgrim, and wizard. Pilgrims cast defensive and healing magic, such as Heal, Healmore [Midheal], Revive [Kazing], Sap, and SpeedUp [Acceleratle]. Wizards cast offensive and support spells, such as Invisible [Fade], Icebolt [Crack], Infernos [Whoosh], Firebal [Sizz], and Upper [Buff]. The goof-off is a silly character, who often wastes their turn telling jokes or falling down. However, if you raise them to level 20, they can become a sage without using the one and only Book of Satori [Words of Wisdom]. The sage is the strongest class because they learn both the wizard and pilgrim spells. The ability to change the party's makeup at any time and even classes after level 20 makes Dragon Warrior 3 highly replayable.
The story of Dragon Warrior III is your usual swords-and-sorcery fare. On the hero's 16th birthday, they are tasked by the king of Aliahan with following in the footsteps of their lost father, Ortega, who, having set out to destroy the Archfiend Baramos, was never seen again. A cool opening "cinematic" depicts Ortega fighting a dragon and falling into a volcano! The first leg of the hero's journey is about retrieving the Thief's Key from a tower on an island next to Aliahan. With this key, the hero will be able to enter a portal to the mainland and begin searching for Baramos. They become entangled in sundry quests, structured around finding two more keys: the Magic Key and the Final Key [Ultimate Key]. There is a side quest (treated as main quest) about capturing the thief Kandar [Robbin' 'Ood], who reappears a couple times. Inexplicably, the hero keeps letting him go, which is more foolish than compassionate or heroic! Once the boat is obtained from the king of Portoga, you learn about the existence of six orbs, which are said to bestow great power. These can be found in any order, serving the same purpose the five crests did in Dragon Warrior II. You have to speak to NPCs and explore everywhere to discover the orbs. I appreciate the non-linearity of these old JRPGs.
The plot twist comes after you defeat Baramos. While everyone is celebrating in Aliahan, the mysterious voice of Baramos's master, Zoma, lord of the underworld, is heard declaring he will take over the surface world. The king falls into despair, but an investigation of a mysterious crack that has appeared near Baramos's lair leads to a world of darkness underground. It quickly becomes apparent that this world is Alefgard, the setting of the original Dragon Warrior! The hero must gather the Sunstone, Staff of Rain, and Sacred Amulet (previously known as Erdrick's Mark) to create a rainbow bridge to Zoma's castle opposite Tantegel Castle. Anyone who has played the original Dragon Warrior will see that our hero is destined to become the great Erdrick himself, spoken of in reverend tones in Dragon Warrior! Dragon Warrior III was secretly a prequel all along! It may not be a work of staggering literary craft, but by the standards of 80's video games this is S-tier storytelling.
As for gameplay, DW3 is a formative JRPG: you explore an overworld with towns, cities, and castles; delve into labyrinthine dungeons; find treasure; collect gold dropped by foes; buy weapons, armor, and items; kill wandering monsters and bosses in menu-driven, turn-based combat; and level up by gaining experience points (XP), thus increasing your hit points (HP) and magic points (MP) and learning spells. The innovation was the class system. The plot to defeat Baramos was already on par with Dragon Warrior II, so getting another world and boss was lavish.
One new feature is the night-and-day cycle, which adds to the immersive role-playing. As the party ambles across the land, it gradually changes from day to night, indicated by darkening color palettes and the menu turning blue. More challenging monsters come out at night. When the party enters a town or castle at night, the situations of NPCs change. Some, for example, may be sleeping, or the castle-gate may be locked. In the Egyptian-themed town of Isis [Ibis], as an example, a certain room cannot be entered during the day.
With the third entry, the series also leveled up the quality of its sprites. Everything looks better, even though still limited by the 8-bit hardware. The enemy caricatures by Akira Toriyama are fantastic as always, with a few classics returning in Alefgard. The music composed by Koichi Sugiyama is exceptional.
 |
| The Game Boy Color version has great little sprites. |
Dragon Warrior 3 enjoys an outstanding reputation and has been remade several times. Sadly, the U.S. never got the 1996 Super Famicom version, but we did get a fantastic Game Boy Color version in 2001. Even with the small screen, it's a major upgrade to the NES original, with many additions:
- Dozens of new weapons, armor, and accessories. Originally there were just four accessories, the best of which is the Meteorite Armband [Meteorite Bracer], which doubles agility. New whips hit whole groups of enemies, and boomerangs hit every enemy, though each receives less damage than the prior.
- A new class: the thief, who can steal items from enemies after battle and learns five spell-like abilities. Smell [Nose for Treasure], for example, says how many items are left to find on your current floor, while Tiptoe [Padfoot] halves the random-encounter rate for the next 128 steps.
- Tiny Medals [Mini Medals], which had been planned for the NES but couldn't be implemented due to memory limitations. More than 100 medals are hidden all over, on the ground and in pots and drawers and such. A collector, who lives in the well in Aliahan, rewards you with a rare item for every 5 or 10 you bring him.
- Personalities: each character has a personality that affects their stat growth-rates at level-up. For example, the female-only tomboy [tear-away] personality ups strength and agility gains by 10% but decreases all other stat gains. Reading books found by searching bookshelves, as well as equipping some accessories (such as the garter), change a character's personality. Your hero's starting personality is determined by how you answer a series of personal questions at the beginning of the game.
- Five pachisi (aka "Parcheesi") courses. Tickets to play are found or dropped by monsters. You roll the die and move along the track, doing whatever the space directs. Completing the course bestows an item. Some tracks also contain shops that sell powerful equipment.
- Enemy sprites are animated!
- A second Book of Satori (renamed Zen Book)
- A post-game dungeon based on Zenithia Castle from Dragon Warrior IV. The villain at the top, a Chinese dragon named Xenlon, must be defeated in a certain number of turns, and he will grant you a wish, one of which is to resurrect Ortega. Each time you beat him, you have to beat him quicker the next time to get another wish.
The recent HD-2D remake is indubitably the definitive edition of the game. Everything is remastered in the gorgeous art style popularized by Octopath Traveler, and the orchestral music is a delight. Very many weapons and armor taken from later Dragon Quest games have been added. Every class now learns MP-using skills (a la Dragon Quest XI). A powerful new class, the monster wrangler, can recruit monsters (a la Dragon Quest V and VI) lurking in towns, dungeons, and "secret spots" (another addition from DQ11). Once recruited, monsters fight other monsters in arenas. The financial rewards for winning are substantial, and that's on top of the rare items you win. I waited three years after its first announcement for this version of Dragon Quest III, and it did not disappoint. Now that I've completed it (except for the absurdly hard second post-game dungeon, based on the Ice Cave unique to the Game Boy Color version), I want to replay either the NES or GBC version, just to remember what it was like. I haven't played either in about two decades.
For old-school RPG fans, both the NES and GBC versions still hold up (grindiness notwithstanding). However, for anyone else, the HD-2D version is the winner by a mile. Whatever way you play, Dragon Warrior/Quest III is among the greatest JRPGs ever.
 |
| Grade: A+ |
Linked Reviews
"RPG parties with role characters, like healers and fighters, were brought to the forefront of Dragon Warrior III, and just about every J-RPG made ever since."
— IGN, #96 of Top 100
"Dragon Warrior III was one of the most influential and beloved RPGs in its homeland, but even today is virtually unknown outside of it. If you are a fan of Japanese-style RPGs, you owe it to yourself to play this classic title."
— Joey DeSena, Ultimate Nintendo: Guide to the NES Library, 4.5/5
Comments
Post a Comment