The best time to get into the Dragon Quest series was 40 years ago. The second best time is now. This loosely adapted world-famous Chinese proverb may even have to be rewritten in 2024, because there has arguably never been a better time to experience the Dragon Quest series.
Chronologically speaking, the Dragon Quest Universe namely with the third part of the series, Dragon Quest 3, the beginning of the Erdrick trilogy. There, players can experience the beginnings of the story, which has now spread over numerous games and Spin-offs Anyone who was prevented from playing Dragon Quest 3 36 years ago due to non-existence now has a brand new chance to discover the franchise in its early days.
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On November 14th of this year, an HD-2D remake of Dragon Quest 3 will be released. For completely new players, the third part of the series is the perfect starting point to get into Dragon Quest. At the same time, veterans can also look forward to some new features. We have already taken a look at the remake in advance and can tell you whether now is really the best time to experience Dragon Quest.
Beautiful pixel look
As the name already lovingly suggests, the revised graphics immediately catch the eye in Dragon Quest 3 Remake. The mixture of pixel art and 3D environments also proves its charm in Dragon Quest. We were particularly impressed by the cities and dungeons thanks to the clever use of lighting and a great atmosphere.
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Source: Square Enix
In some places, however, it is noticeable that games like Octopath Traveler had a more skillful hand in making their graphics stand out. Dragon Quest 3 certainly doesn't look bad and is definitely one of the prettier retro pixel games.JRPGbut especially in the overworld, more could have been done with the visuals. But that may change later in the game, as we weren't allowed to go too far in our event.
Quality of Life again and again
The remake really scored points with its quality-of-life adjustments, which are intended to make it more accessible to a modern audience. The turn-based battles can be played at normal, fast or very fast speed.
For most people, this will probably happen like this: you watch the first fight at normal speed, notice how incredibly slow games used to seem to be, and then you switch straight to the very fast speed, from which you don't deviate.
This helps the overall feel of the game immensely, because the peculiarity of older Dragon Quest games, of not letting the player walk five meters without engaging them in a fight, has been faithfully recreated in the remake. This is of course not a point of criticism, but as a player you simply have to know what you are letting yourself in for.
Source: Square Enix
In addition, fights in the remake can also be played completely automatically using the right settings. The grind that Dragon Quest is known to require in some places can therefore be completed comfortably on the side and no longer requires your full attention.
The fights are also pretty nice thanks to the revised pixel models, even if they are a little static. During the individual rounds, your group of heroes is not shown and animations are only rudimentary. This makes the fight sequences a little static, but they go by quickly enough that you never feel disturbed by it.
Always this performance
However, the performance was a little disturbed. We were only allowed to see the Switch version and you can definitely tell that the console is very old. The game didn't run all that smoothly, but luckily that's not so noticeable in handheld mode.
This is what Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake looks like
In our opinion, this is the best way to play Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake on the Switch anyway, because the pixelated look really comes into its own on smaller screens. Perhaps Square Enix will manage to fix the performance problems before release, as it's still a long way off.
Apart from the somewhat disappointing performance on the Switch, we have nothing to complain about with the remake. It's pretty, it plays well and, according to the developers, there are a few new features in the game, such as a revised narrative, which fans of the series can really look forward to.
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Overall, Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake seems like a successful remake of the Role-playing classicwhich is perfect for newcomers but also has enough fresh food to delight connoisseurs.
So if you've always wanted to get into the Dragon Quest series or just want to indulge in nostalgia, you shouldn't miss the release of the remake on November 14th this year for PC, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Transparency note: Square Enix paid the travel expenses for the hands-on event.