Square Enix’s 2D-HD system was a godsend for traditional-style Japanese RPGs. After years of questionable visual updates and filter smoothing, we finally have a visual style that feels respectful to the genre’s pioneers, yet looks stunningly beautiful on modern machines. I did. It all started with Octopath Traveler, which was a great sequel, and since then many games, new and old, have adopted this style.
The latest HD-2D compatible series also became a big blind spot in my personal gaming experience. Dragon Quest 3 2D-HD Remake, aside from being a completely understated title, is a great example of how a nearly 40-year-old game can be brought to life in the modern era. This 2D-HD remake respectfully lets the original source material shine, with a gorgeous visual overhaul, a moving orchestral soundtrack, and thoughtful quality-of-life features.
The story begins with the protagonist waking up in a single-parent home. It turns out that their father went on an adventure to save the world some time ago and never returned. Nevertheless, it feels like our characters are having a moment of growth and setting out on similar adventures. Their poor mother has to barely survive the day because of her worries.
You learn about the big bad you must defeat and head to the local tavern to form an adventuring party to save the world. This is the first moment you realize that you are free to build your party however you like. You can recruit up to 3 party members at once. You decide their name, appearance and, most importantly, their profession. You have great freedom to build your party, from warriors and monks to exotic options like gadabouts and monster wranglers.
This is one of the things that impressed me most about Dragon Quest 3. Its job system is incredibly flexible, and with a little thought, you can easily build a highly versatile team to take on the world. At certain points in the game, you will have the option to change the class of your party mates. Doing this returns you to level 1, but retains all spells and abilities you’ve learned so far, as well as half of your currently built stats. It’s very easy to bring them back to the rest of the party’s level, and once they get there they have higher stats than they would have gotten at the same level without reclassing. As you grow, you also gain all new abilities for new classes.
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Usually multiple classification systems disappoint me a bit. I’m worried that I’ll definitely goose and end up being a completely useless party member. The method here means that no matter what you do, you’ll end up with better stats than you started with. Thanks to that, I started to want to use this system more actively. In doing so, I went from a fairly standard mage-priest-warrior combo to a party with very useful thieves and monster-slaying skills. Buffs and recovery for each party member were also substantial, and even if one of the party members fainted, it was almost never a game over. Dragon Quest 3’s job system is a lot of fun.
The combat system is very simple and will be familiar to anyone who has played turn-based RPGs. You take turns using weapons, items, magic spells, and special abilities to fight, attacking, defending, and manipulating the stats of your party and enemies to your advantage. As you strengthen your party’s abilities, it can be quite difficult at first, but with a little more exploration and judicious use of buffs and debuffs, you’ll usually find that you can beat the early strong bosses without too much trouble. got it. .
We mentioned the 2D-HD overhaul earlier, but it’s worth going into a little more detail. It’ll probably become outdated at some point, and I might end up overusing it, but for now, I still love its visual style and how it brings NES/SNES-era RPGs to life. completely fascinated by. Characters and monsters maintain a flat pixel art look, while the surrounding environment is rendered in lovely 3D detail. The shallow depth of field further emphasizes the look. It’s like looking into a little miniature diorama that’s going on an adventure.
Similarly, the audio has been respectfully revamped to take advantage of modern hardware while maintaining a classic sensibility. The entire soundtrack is lavishly orchestrated and feels like something that could have been composed back in the NES/SNES era without the constraints of the sound hardware of the time. I liked this soundtrack so much that I listened to the original and compared it, but you can hear the unique flavor of the original in the new orchestral recording. Some sound effects have been retained from the original, creating a tasteful blend of old and new.
Although great efforts have been made to keep it traditional, some new quality of life additions have made it more palatable to a wider audience. Objective markers can be used to indicate the location of the next major story so you don’t wander around aimlessly, but it’s worth wandering around to find small events and items that add flavor to your adventure .
There are three difficulty levels available that allow you to tailor the experience to your preference. Dracchie prevents anyone in the party from falling below 1HP, and Draconian increases the difficulty while reducing the experience points you gain with each battle. The auto-combat option isn’t entirely new to the series, but it’s a very useful tool when leveling up or dealing with easy battles that don’t require any specific strategy. All of these features are completely optional, and I didn’t feel they got in the way of playing the game “as intended.” Most of the time I just ended up not being able to look up the guide when I couldn’t remember where to go next.
conclusion
Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake is a delicious home-cooked meal of JRPGs. There’s enough depth to keep you trying new party settings, enough challenging situations to really test it out, and an overall story that keeps things interesting from start to finish with a beautiful visual style and music to match. .
positive
HD-2D is still amazing
Flexible and easy-to-understand employment system
A gorgeously orchestrated soundtrack
Familiar and comfortable atmosphere
negative
You may be surprised at the initial difficulty