Put Your Party Together

So far we’ve gone through two of the Dragon Quest games and we saw a subtle evolution. From Dragon Quest, where it was clear Enix was feeling out the requirements for an RPG on the NES and finding their own way to build things, to Dragon Quest II, where the world was opened up further, more party members were added, and the quest was expanded. These first two games pointed towards a traditional RPG, one that would be familiar to players who came to the titles from any system, be it older PC games or RPGs on the SG-1000 and other Japanese consoles of the era.

But it was Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation that actually showed something that players might not have realized about this series: it was actually fairly experimental. With the third game, Enix opened up the series even more, changing how parties were made and what the expectations of the quest would be. Yes, it still nicely fit the mold of standard Dragon Quest gameplay – go out, kill monsters, find dungeons, explore – but the meat of the game was changed enough that it didn’t feel like just another retread of previous adventures.

Enix was feeling out just what they could do with the series, and this third title helped usher in what could be considered a Golden Age for this series of game, each getting more interesting, and more experimental, for a time. You never knew the kind of quest you were coming in for, or how your party would be pulled together, and all of that is thanks to the fact that Enix was willing to toss out many of the basic rules of the Dragon Quest series and create something bold and different and very, very fun.

This third game for the series concerns itself with the area around the town of Aliahan. The evil Lord Baramos has threatened the world, vowing to destroy it, and the king has asked for a hero to rise up and save everyone. You (and you can choose to be either male or female in this game) are the offspring of the great hero Ortega, who bravely gave their life trying to defeat Baramos. On your 16th birthday you are summoned by the king and given the quest to take on Baramos. This is your birthright, your destiny. It is your quest to complete.

But you won’t be handling it alone. Instead, in town, you are able to hire other warriors to join you in your quest. You can pick just about any party composition you want, building a party capable of taking on the challenges ahead. This means going out and venturing to find two lost keys that can open the magical doors of the world. Once you’ve accomplished this you then have to find and light six magical orbs, which, together, will unlock the way to Castle Baramos. Only then can you defeat the fiend and save the day… except there’s still more to the quest, an unexpected twist that will redefine your whole adventure…

As this game is nearly 40 years old (at the time of this writing) I don’t feel bad spoiling the details of the plot. One of the key selling points of this title (which was spoiled by the likes of Nintendo Power in the lead up to the game’s release) was the fact that while you started off on a world different from Alfegard. But after defeating Baramos, a pit opens down to the Dark World and when you venture around you’ll find you’re actually in Alfegard once more. Except, this is before the time of Erdrick (Loto, Roto, Arusu, whatever you call him), making Dragon Quest III, in fact, a prequel. You are the legendary hero who would go on to become Erdrick and this is your adventure that actually started the whole series.

That twist alone was enough to get many players hyped for this third entry in the series, but there was far more to Dragon Quest III that made it interesting. For starters, there’s the class system. The previous title, Dragon Quest II, gave the player three party members – hero, cleric, and mage – and kept them throughout the whole game. This third game, though, allows you to pick from more classes – Warrior, Fighter, Cleric, Mage, Dealer, Jester, Sage, and (in later editions) Thief – and all of these classes had their own abilities, spell pools, and other factors that made them better or worse for the adventure ahead. Their stats were randomized when you chose them, so you could try rolling, again and again, for just the right build before taking a recruit into your party.

The world of Dragon Quest III was also bigger. Not only did you have two worlds to explore, between the upper world and the Dark World, but each is greatly expanded over previous games. The upper world is massive, with a layout designed to look like Earth, with all kinds of places to explore. The game also included a day/night cycle, with certain locations only explorable at certain times, or with triggers that would only occur if the player arrived at the right time of day. This meant there was a lot more to do and see, with a fair amount of experimentation required as well.

Of course at its core it was still a Dragon Quest title, and that meant this third game carried over many of the basic mechanics that were now standard for the series. Your party explores the top down world, finding dungeons scattered around, as well as monsters to randomly fight. They show up in packs ready to fight against your party, which you will do in the traditional forward facing battle style. Spells are earned at level ups, gear can be found scattered around, some of which have special abilities. Really, if you played the first two games you will feel right at home in this third title, which makes a certain amount of sense. As this was a prequel the creators could experiment some but it still needed to feel connected, in some way, to the adventures that were part of the trilogy.

But that doesn’t make it less fun. I would actually say, of the original trilogy of games, this was the best of the bunch. It greatly improved and expanded on the systems already in place from the previous two adventures, creating a connected series while still making sure to evolve and expand. It also toned and tweaked the balance, making something far more accessible (while still not too easy) in comparison to Dragon Quest II. Its basic item collecting quest feels rooted in the style of the first Dragon Quest without just being a retread (even when, late in the game, it does purposefully retread the original plot, amusingly). This was just a solid, well made game that worked so very well on the NES. Easily the best of the trilogy, no question.

It has lived on since release as one of the most popular titles of the whole series, receiving a number of ports and remakes (the Super Famicom, the Game Boy Color, mobile devices, Wii, Nintendo DS, and even an HD-2D remake that just came out). It was foundational for the series, just showing what could be done with the Dragon Quest formula and the NES hardware. It did everything right, and it set the gold standard for what the series should be. It was just, in short, a truly amazing game.

And somehow, with the next title, Enix actually made the series even better. On the NES, no less, although sadly in a game very few (at least here in the West) actually played. But we’ll get to that next time.