Dragon Quest III

In the picture, the player is reselecting one class for a character in Dhama Temple. The class system became a staple feature of many future Dragon Quest games

Dragon Quest III features a class system, in which each character has a certain class. At the start of the game, the player begins as a single male or female hero but is able to recruit members at the local tavern.[7] While the Hero always keeps the Hero class, the other characters can choose to be any of the following of either gender: Soldier (Warrior in the GBC version), Fighter, Pilgrim (Cleric), Wizard (Mage), Merchant (Dealer), Goof-Off (Jester), Sage, and Thief which was available only in the later versions. The choice of class greatly affects the character's stats and spells he or she can learn.[3][4][8] Furthermore, upon reaching experience Level 20, a character has the option of changing classes at the temple of Dhama, found halfway through the game.[9] A character who changes classes has their stats halved and restarts at experience Level 1, retaining their spells and, in the remakes, their personality. This allows a player to create a character that knows Wizard spells but has the defense of a Soldier.[7] Unlike most Dragon Quest parties, aside from the Hero, the party is not made up of characters involved in the story. Although only four characters can be in the party at a time, extra members of the party can be kept at the tavern, allowing room for new recruits.[10] Another innovation is an arena where the player can place bets on the outcome of monster battles in order to win more gold.[11]

In the remakes, after selecting a character, the player can change the character's starting abilities with five magical seeds, given at the tavern.[12] Also, each character has a personality trait which affects the growth rate of their abilities. The Hero's personality is determined by the player's choices and actions during a dream sequence at the start of the game, while other characters' personalities are determined by their status at the end of the character generation process. Most personalities are available to both male and female characters, while a few are exclusive to male or female characters. A character's personality can be temporarily changed by equipping certain accessories, or permanently changed by using certain consumable books.

The game starts in the castle town of Aliahan. Like the rest of the Dragon Quest worlds, this castle is set in a medieval time period, complete with knights and magicians. The party explores several caves, ruins, and castles during the adventure. The geography of Dragon Quest III largely corresponds to the actual geography of Earth,[7] and many towns correspond to their real-world cultures, including "Romaly" for Rome, "Portoga" for Portugal, "Assaram" near present-day Iraq (derived from "as-salamu alaykum"), "Jipang" for Japan (where the hero fights Yamata no Orochi) and even a "New Town" in eastern North America that experiences a revolution against an overbearing ruler.

Dragon Quest III is set many years before the original Dragon Warrior in a world separate from the first two games.[13] A wicked fiend named Baramos threatens to destroy the world.[14] The story revolves around the Hero,[3] son or daughter (the player can choose to be either male or female, with few gameplay changes) of the legendary warrior Ortega.[15] On their sixteenth birthday, the Hero is summoned to the castle and is given by the King of Aliahan the challenge to rid the world of the evil archfiend Baramos, which Ortega attempted in the past but seemingly perished in a volcano.[16] The Hero then is able to recruit up to three traveling companions to help fight Baramos.

The Hero leaves their home country of Aliahan to travel the world and complete their father's quest to defeat Baramos. A major portion of the adventure is the quest to acquire the last two of the three keys needed to open doors throughout the game. After saving two people of the town of Baharata from the rogue Kandar and stealing back the King of Romaly's crown, the Hero receives Black Pepper, which they then trade for a sailing ship at Portoga.[17][18] With the ship, the Hero acquires the Final Key and the six mystical orbs which are used to revive the legendary bird Ramia.[19] Ramia allows the Hero and their party to travel to Baramos' castle, which is surrounded by mountains.[20]

After defeating Baramos in a ferocious battle and returning to Aliahan, the Hero's celebration is cut off as Zoma, Baramos's master and the game's true villain, reveals his existence. He attacks and opens a pit to the Dark World, which the Hero jumps into.[21] The Dark World is, in fact, Alefgard (of the previous installments of the series), where the Hero must acquire several of the artifacts that were collected in the original Dragon Quest, including the Sun Stone and the Rain Staff.[18] Rubiss, a legendary sage, has been turned to stone and is rescued by the Hero, and the Hero receives the Sacred Amulet in return.[22] These items, as in the original game, create the Rainbow Bridge which leads the Hero to Zoma's castle for the final confrontation. Along the way, the Hero briefly reunites with Ortega as he is slain by Zoma's monsters, then continues on to defeat the revived Baramos, now turned into the powerful Baramos Bomus and later into the skeletal Baramos Gonus. With the Ball of Light given by the Dragon Queen, the Hero defeats Zoma and frees Alefgard, but Zoma boasts that evil will eventually return to the land and the Hero will not live long enough to stop it.[23] For their bravery, the Hero receives the title of "Erdrick" ("Loto" in the Japanese version). The Hero later vanishes from Alefgard, leaving their sword and armor to be passed down throughout the ages so that their descendants can continue to protect the world from evil.

The game was localized in North America as Dragon Warrior III in 1991 (though not officially released until 1992). Several changes were made in this version. Among them were the addition of a new title sequence (in the original, it was on a simple black screen with the title of the game in the center), and a new prologue which depicted Ortega, who also was given a brand new sprite in this version, fighting a Dragon, and being dragged into the volcano (in the original, the player was unaware of Ortega's fate, until talking to the King for the first time). There were also brand new music cues, including one for the title sequence, and one that played after Ortega died for real near the end. To accompany the localization credits, the ending theme was extended to include a reprise of the Alefgard theme. It is unclear whether Sugiyama was brought back to score these new tracks, or someone else was brought in. The menu when starting a new or old save file also added the menu music from Dragon Quest IV (in the original, the menu was silent). Finally, most of the monsters were given a tremendous boost in experience points.

A comparison of graphics from the Famicom, Super Famicom, and Game Boy Color versions, showing the hero outside of Aliahan.

The Super Famicom version, released in late 1996, during the last days of the Super NES in North America, was never brought to North America, due to Enix America Corporation's closure in 1995. By the time Enix of America returned, the SNES had been discontinued in North America. However, the next remake, for the Game Boy Color, was released in both Japan and the US.

The Game Boy Color version is based on the Super Famicom version. For the North American release of the Dragon Quest III Game Boy Color remake, Enix decided to give the packaging an anime feel, due to fan demand on Enix's message boards.[31] Both remake versions of Dragon Quest III offer many new features and changes. The game received a new translation, incorporating many adult elements that were cut from its original American release, and becoming the first Game Boy Color RPG with a "Teen" rating.[31] It was also the largest Game Boy Color game released in North America , with 32 Mb ROM and 256Kb of save-state SRAM on one cartridge.[32] A new class, the Thief, was added to the roster in each of the remakes. Many of the names of the classes were changed in the English localization of the Game Boy Color version, such as Soldier to Warrior. Also, in the new versions was the ability to change into the Jester class at Dhama, which was not allowed in the original.[3][4][8] New mini-games were added to the remakes, including Pachisi (called Suguroku in Japan / Treasures and Trapdoors as of the Dragon Quest V Remake), which is a giant board game style adventure from which the player can win items.[11] This game is based on Horii's series Itadaki Street.[33] The Mini Medal system, which lets players collect hidden medals to gain new items, seen in later Dragon Quest games (it originated in Dragon Quest IV), was added.[11] Another medal system, Monster Medals, lets players collect medals from fallen enemies, was added in Game Boy Color remake, and two players could trade Monster Medals via a Game Link Cable.[34] Two bonus dungeons become available after the main quest is over. The remakes feature updated graphics.[33] An overhauled introduction for the game was made, similar to the one in the original Dragon Quest III, which included Ortega's battle with the Dragon Queen. Monster and attack animation in battles were added,[13] a feature first introduced in Dragon Quest VI.[35] A personality system was added to the remakes of Dragon Quest III. A pre-game sequence in which the player answers moral dilemmas similar to that in Ultima IV determines the Hero's personality. The personality of the other members of the party is determined by the stat-raising seeds that the player gives them during the character generation process. Personalities determine which stats increase when a character levels up.[36] The personalities may be changed by use of special items and books.

Square Enix released both the Famicom and Super Famicom versions of Dragon Quest III in Japan on September 15, 2011, as part of Dragon Quest 25th Anniversary Collection Famicom & Super Famicom Dragon Quest I & II & III, a compilation of emulated Dragon Quest games for the Wii to celebrate the series' 25th anniversary.[37] A quick save feature was added to these versions, allowing for pauses at any time, but the save file is deleted upon resuming.[38] At the Dragon Quest 35th Anniversary Livestream, a remake of Dragon Quest III was announced in the "HD-2D" style of games like Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy.[39]

Koichi Sugiyama composed and directed the music for the game. Dragon Quest III's music is featured on Dragon Quest Game Music Super Collection Vol. 1, Dragon Quest Game Music Super Collection Vol. 2, and Dragon Quest Game Music Super Collection Vol. 3, each album a compilation of music from the first six Dragon Quest games.[40][41][42] This game's music has also been featured on other Dragon Quest compilation albums, such as Dragon Quest on Piano Vol. II, which was released in 1990,[43] and Dragon Quest Best Songs Selection ~Loula~, released in 1993.[44] A compilation album of Dragon Quest III's music was put on Dragon Quest III ~And into the Legend...~ Remix Symphonic Suite and was published by Sony Records in 1996.[45] In 2011 Sugiyama played a concert focused on Dragon Quest III in his "Family Classic Concert" series he has done for many years, playing fifteen of the games songs.[46]

Dragon Quest III sold over one million copies on the first day, with almost 300 arrests for truancy among students absent from school to purchase the game.[54] It set sales records by selling 1.1 million game cartridges in Japan within a day[55] and 3 million in a week,[56] and grossing ¥20 billion ($143 million at the time, or $328 million adjusted for inflation) within a month.[57] It topped the Japanese sales charts from February, through March and April,[58][59][60] to May 1988.[61] It became the best-selling game of 1988 in Japan,[62] with 3.8 million units sold,[63] and the best-selling game in Japan between 1986 and 1989,[64] grossing $230 million at the time.[65] The original game sold a worldwide total of 3.895 million copies, including 3.8 million in Japan and 95,000 in the United States,[66] grossing several hundred million dollars by 1993[67] ($690 million adjusted for inflation).

It is often mistakenly thought that in 1988 the game's success caused the Japanese government to outlaw further releases of Dragon Quest games on school days. In truth, Enix themselves decided to hold off the release of future Dragon Quest games until weekends.[68] The North American release of Dragon Quest III did not meet nearly as much success.[7] The North American release's poor sales are partly due to the fact that the game was released after the release of 16-bit gaming systems, making it seem archaic to gamers.[7]

The Super Famicom remake sold 1.4 million units in Japan, with nearly 720,000 units sold in 1996 alone.[69][70] The Game Boy Color version sold a lower 604,000 copies in Japan by the end of 2001,[71] and eventually became the fifth best selling Game Boy Color game in Japan, with 638,551 copies sold.[72] Together with the sales of the remakes, Dragon Quest III is the most successful title in the series and one of the best-selling role-playing games in Japan.[73] As of November 2010, Japan mobile phone version was downloaded more than 1,000,000 times.[74] Wii Dragon Quest Collection sold 403,953 copies in 2011.[75]

Upon release, Famicom Tsūshin (Famitsu) magazine reviewed Dragon Quest III and scored it 38 out of 40, making it the magazine's all-time highest-rated game up until then.[51] In the 1988 Famitsu Best Hit Game Awards, Dragon Quest III won the awards for Game of the Year, Best RPG and Best Character Design.[76] In 1989, Famitsu gave Dragon Quest III the award for the best game released since 1983.[77] A survey conducted by Famitsu magazine in early 2006 among its readers placed Dragon Quest III as the third most favorite game of all time, being preceded by only Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy VII.[78]

In North America, Dragon Quest III was considered an improvement over the first two games, with critics finding the new day/night system and the addition of an in-game bank praiseworthy, but the game was criticized for keeping "the same ugly graphical style and clumsy interface" according to Kurt Kalata of Gamasutra.[7] Its reputation has risen in America since its release, primarily due to its gameplay innovations, leading Nintendo Power to list it as number 176 on their Top 200 Games list.[79] IGN later listed it as the 96th best Nintendo Entertainment System game.[80] GamesRadar ranked it the 12th best NES game ever made. The staff chose it over the other Dragon Warrior titles due to its job system which they felt had depth and was influential to video games.[81]

The Game Boy Color remake received very good reviews from critics. GameSpot gave the Game Boy Color version a "good" 7.6/10, saying that "DWIII is a worthy port of its old NES ancestor, but its firm grounding in the RPG old-school means that only the hard-core need apply."[13] The publication nominated the game for its annual "Best Game Boy Color Game" award, which went to Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages.[82] Nintendo Power gave the remake a 4/5, while IGN gave the game a perfect 10/10.[52]