Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake

Earlier this summer, Square Enix took me to a secret preview session where they let us try out, even before its official announcement, Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. A demo that was more of a brief technical showcase than an in-depth test of the concept and raison d'être of this reimagining of the 1988 classic. I got a glimpse of some of the (mostly obvious) new features of the game then, but I knew that if the publisher wanted to write a new chapter of Dragon Quest for a new generation of gamers, it was going to need more than just a good old-fashioned story facelift. And having immersed myself in its fantasy world for many hours over the past few days, I think I can embrace the decision with joy and some satisfaction, without losing sight of the fact that this is one of the foundational games of what we all know today as JRPG.

Dragon Quest is, within the Japanese RPG catalogue, an unchanging thing. Its iconography, themes, monsters and aesthetics have varied very little in its 38-year history. In the current Square Enix, innovations and progressive experiments can happily take Final Fantasy (a franchise that was born, precisely, as an alternative to Dragon Quest), because it would be unthinkable (at least, in the eleven titular releases to date) to touch this series that is already an intrinsic part of Japanese pop-culture without causing a social earthquake in the country. But at the same time, younger audiences are finding it harder and harder to connect with the series after so long and, of course, there is the issue of international exposure - how to revamp the series and keep long-time fans happy? Fortunately, the studio and publisher found the perfect solution a few years ago: HD-2D. A proprietary technology with which to reconstruct those two-dimensional scenarios of the older JRPGs and rebuild them with up-to-date graphics, more accurate animations and cutscenes, a three-dimensional view and greater depth.

The international projection was not just an editor's flourish. Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is, above all if you live in Europe, a debt of almost 30 years repaid. Except for an almost unnoticed mobile version in 2014, Square Enix never released the first Dragon Quest instalments in our region, even though they did in North America. So, if you choose to embark on this journey and haven't got your hands on NTSC copies, like me, this will be your first trip through the Kingdom of Aliahan and the world beyond its borders. And what a journey it was.

Our adventure begins on our 16th birthday, our hero (or heroine, as we can choose between boy or girl) is the son of a brave warrior missing in action called Ortega. We are tasked by the king of Aliahan to continue our father's mission and defeat the evil that threatens the world in the form of the arch-enemy Baramos. So, with the king's blessing and a motley crew of fighters recruited from the local tavern, we set off in search of our destiny. The story in Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake remains largely unchanged from the original, although the spatial and narrative distances between the various milestones have changed somewhat.

For starters, the prologue where the hero meets the goddess in his dreams has changed in its development, although the trial and her words are similar. More backstory about Ortega has also been added, and the dialogue scenes now have voice acting, with Japanese or English dubbing. This is just one of the small additions to the quality of life of the title, but not the only one. There's also the blessed option to speed up combat by up to two extra levels of speed, which will make your play sessions a little more enjoyable.

The map, although similarly laid out, has also been stretched, so that what was a couple of minutes in 1988 (or 1991 on Super Famicom) becomes twice as long or more. By far, this is the best addition in Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. The depth of the art style is, as I mentioned in my first impressions, a treat for the senses. All of the locations feel so full of life and detail through the use of light sources, reflections in the water, shadows, the list goes on... There will be times when you put aside your real task and explore, looking for points of interest or hidden treasures simply for the pleasure of watching the cycle of day and night lengthen the shadows over your characters, or watching the evening sun slowly fall over the still waters of a river. If you appreciated the technical leap between the first Octopath Traveler and its sequel, here you'll notice another leap forward in what HD-2D can bring to a game. But let's not forget that this Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is a classic JRPG, so between story missions we're going to spend a long, long time fighting.

In combat we have another of the main novelties of this Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. Beyond the fact that the battles go by more or less quickly, all the enemies now have on-screen animations, attacking or falling when defeated. All attacks and magic also have their own colourful visual identity, adding dynamism and immersion. The interface in and out of combat has also been redone, to make navigating the item and equipment menus more intuitive, and something they call evoking memories has been added, so you can keep track of the story and what you've achieved so far in the menu tab. All in all, these are small improvements here and there that stack on top of each other to elevate the whole.

And you're going to appreciate all the help you can get, because Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is a tough and demanding game. You'll quickly learn not to waste a single healing item, and you'll want to take risks to get to that far-off chest in search of a better weapon or armour, if you're lucky. Every step away from the safety of a village is a challenge because of the toughness of the battles and the saving of magic points (MP), which become the most precious treasure. An obvious tip is to try to get weapons or damage spells to groups of enemies to avoid giving them more turns in battle. Even with all possible precautions, the party may end up defeated, and you will have to spend your precious gold to go to a church of the Goddess to resurrect your companions, or to recruit and level up new ones. But if you find that this difficulty spike is too much, you now have an option to set the game to easy, and the main change is that no matter how hard you get hit, your characters will always stay at one health. And if you're crazy enough to want to push yourself to the limit, there's also a hard mode that, in the opinion of yours truly, is impossible.

Hardly any of this will come as a surprise to veterans of the Dragon Quest franchise. So what's in this HD-2D Remake for them? If you're a completionist, you'll definitely want to get all the friendly monsters for the Romaly Arena, and all the mini medals. But what you'll enjoy most is the music. Koichi Sugiyama's re-orchestrated soundtrack, a timeless masterpiece in video game history, is at its best here with a beautifully performed orchestral arrangement. Its translation from 1988 makes it one of the best video game soundtracks you'll hear this year, and perhaps you've heard in years past.

I don't have much to complain about in this Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. I've completed the game on version 1.0.0 on Nintendo Switch and I haven't experienced any lag or bugs. The only downside is that it's Dragon Quest III. If you're not used to this kind of game, where you need to spend a lot of your time fighting to level up in an ever-increasing loop of hours, this might not be for you. But if you want to get to grips with the mythos and get swept up in a classic story with unparalleled visuals, then Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is your gateway to the series. Welcome to the adventure.