One thing I’ve always liked about the early Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior in North America) series is that developer Enix divided the games into sub-series. The first three tell the story of a legendary hero named Loto (Erdrick in the North American versions) and that’s what we’re going to focus on here today. I’ve always been a big fan of the first game, but part II disappointed me in numerous ways. I wasn’t sure which direction the next title would take because another direct sequel would probably be too similar to the last. I was also worried that Enix would repeat their past mistakes by not fixing unbalancing issues. Dragon Warrior III blew me away the first time I played it. It advances the series in more ways than almost every other installment in the franchise, and it does most of these better. Dragon Warrior III is my favorite 8-bit RPG, and in my opinion it’s the absolute high point in the entire franchise. For such a quality series that’s saying a lot.
Dragon Warrior III serves as a prequel to the original two games. It still retains the medieval fantasy setting, but takes place in a different world. You play as the son or daughter of a hero named Ortega who has recently perished in battle after falling in a volcano. The story begins on the main character’s sixteenth birthday as they are summoned to the castle in the kingdom of Aliahan. During the audience with the king the protagonist is tasked with following in Ortega’s footsteps and is sent out into the world to defeat an evil archfiend named Baramos. From here you must go into the local tavern and recruit three other warriors to join your cause. What’s interesting is the fact that it’s not apparent from the start that this game is even connected to the other two. Late in the quest you actually travel to the world of Alefgard which is shrouded in darkness, and defeat its oppressor who is a dark wizard named Zoma. If you haven’t made the connection yet the protagonist of this game is actually Erdrick the legendary hero referenced in the first two stories. It’s an amazing connection, and exploring Alefgard is an incredible twist.
Like the previous games Dragon Warrior III is an overhead two dimensional role playing game. You travel the world battling monsters, finding items, advancing the story, and more. What sets this apart from the earlier titles is the fact that you can create and recruit characters into your party. This is done at the tavern, and you can not only choose the gender of said people but you can also name them as well as select a class. These include the soldier who is powerful with direct attacks and can easily shrug off hits, the fighter who battles hand to hand as well as pilgrims and wizards who are defensive and offensive magic users. The game contains a few unorthodox classes to mix things up. These include merchants which are mostly useless, and goof-offs which are similarly weak. When your characters reach level twenty they can change jobs at a place called the Dharma Temple. Upon changing their current stats are halved and they’re returned to level one but rapidly grow in strength. The one job that’s not immediately available is the almighty sage which can use both types of magic, and it’s only obtainable by giving one of your characters a special item or by changing a goof-off’s class. Because stats and magic are retained this allows for huge customization over your party though the main hero cannot be altered like this.
The battle system hasn’t been altered in any big way since the last game outside of the fact that your party can consist of up to four characters at once. Enemy encounters occur at random, and take place on a separate screen that’s unfortunately once again has a simple black background. You input commands that include attack, spell, run in typical fashion, and after making your selections the actions are carried out via text and simple animations. The battle is over when one side has wiped out the hit points of the other, and success gives your party members experience points which in turn lead to gaining levels as well as money which is used to buy items and new equipment at shops. What’s really nice about this battle system is that you can change its speed. I always play these games on the fastest setting, and it makes standard encounters just fly by. This is very helpful because the encounter rate is a little high, and this alleviates the issue almost completely. What’s also really cool about this game is the fact that level grinding is not required at any point. The difficulty is always fair, and success comes naturally with changes in tactics and smart party planning just as long as you don’t run from every enemy encounter.
Dragon Warrior III introduces several firsts to the series. On top of the aforementioned party management and job system this game features two world maps. You can explore most of them on foot, but you’re also given a ship by which to travel the seas, and for the first time you can take to the sky as well by riding on the back of a giant bird named Ramia. Despite having a much bigger space to explore the game does a decent job in general of explaining where you need to go next which is unlike its predecessors and makes for a far less frustrating experience. As I mentioned earlier there are some very obvious references to the first games here, but my favorites were those that were more subtle. Enix did an absolutely amazing job of re-creating this first world at any earlier time period. Many of the towns don’t exist yet, and the village of Hauskness (which was destroyed in the first game) is up and running for the first time in the series. Zoma himself dwells atop what would later become the Dragonlord’s castle, and it’s significantly different here. These elements really hit home the world and its lore.
The graphics are decent by NES standards, but this isn’t a noticeable upgrade from part II. While exploring the world the graphics tend to be blocky and unattractive. The characters feature only a handful of different frames of animation, but these occur even while you are standing idle. The world itself is a little on the plain side with very little detail put into the scenery and architecture. One thing I really like is the fact that several locations in the first part of the game reflect real life places such as North America, Japan, Portugal, Rome, etc. and the art goes a long way to hitting this fact home. Battle scenes are also rather unimpressive as the black backgrounds make their return, and most of the monster designs are pretty much the same from the last title. They’re colorful and Akira Toriyama’s designs are cool and charming, but in general I didn’t find the graphics impressive. The developers behind these games obviously focused more on gameplay.
Dragon Warrior III has one of the best soundtracks in the series. The world map theme is oppressive and has a totally different feel from those of the first two titles. The battle theme is also significantly more interesting with a faster pace and it’s extremely catchy. You won’t mind hearing it over and over again as you progress through the game. Ramia’s theme is almost beyond the system’s audio capabilities and it’s shocking to hear just how far Enix was able to push the sound chip. The rest of the music is really well done, and I there’s nothing I didn’t enjoy here. Once you hit Alefgard most of the soundtrack consists of re-arranged compositions from the original game which is really cool, and these are carefully constructed and a real treat for fans.
While I really did enjoy the previous installments in this series it wasn’t until Dragon Warrior III that I became a lifelong fan of the series. This is the quintessential 8-bit RPG with no glaring flaws like Phantasy Star or the original Final Fantasy, and it’s still perfectly playable even today. This game features one of the most interesting takes on the classic job system that I’ve ever seen, and the world is a real treat to explore. In addition the references to the first two titles are very smart and integrated in subtle yet significant ways. If you plan to play just one game in the series, or a single RPG of this era, make sure that it’s Dragon Warrior III or you will be missing out.
