What a joy this game was. Truly a masterpiece of its era, and a living manual of what a good JRPG should be in its execution.
DQIII goes way beyond the mere label of “influential”. It really is THAT good.
It has it all: A beautiful, living, huge and open world to explore, marked by its many distinct locations and residents, all of which are going through their respective struggles; A charming, memorable narrative that will keep you going on to see what comes next; An intricate, super addictive character customisation system, which includes different jobs, class changes (and combinations), an organic personality system that changes stat distribution upon levelling up (not included in the original NES game), all of which working together in an extremely fun risk-and-reward thing; A simple, yet super catchy and effective soundtrack; A beautiful art design, ranging from its characters to every monster in the game.
All of this tied together in a single package from 1988.
Whilst DQII did a lot better than its predecessor, DQIII goes way beyond what both of them could possibly imagine to achieve. When playing it, you can really feel how this wasn’t simply the perfection of the franchise’s formula, but what a turn-based JRPG should really aim to be. Amongst its many memorable setpieces and its addictive, strategic gameplay, the game just kept on clicking to me, and I only grew fonder and fonder of this world I was discovering for the first time. I even got attached to my silent, backgroundless party members, and imagination played an important role in this regard. I just love how much a good game can convey through its simpler aspects.
I played the game through its mobile port on my iPad, and I decided upon this version mainly for its localisation, which has a more pleasant flavour to me than the fan translation for the original Super Famicom version (which was good in its own right, just a matter of preference here), with item and spell names more in line with the other recent English localisations for the franchise and, of course, funkier monster names, which I adore. It also has a new, orchestrated soundtrack.
However, if the updated localisation is not a big deal to you, I think you should probably go with the Super Famicom version. It has a beautiful opening sequence, super detailed attack animations for every monster, an extra mini game, certain environmental effects that were lost in the mobile port and arguably better menus.
But rest assured: the Android/iOS port still is a very decent way of playing the original game. Well, if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be giving it 4.5 stars out of five! You can still fully experience the game here.
Yes, we’re talking about an old game, still adorned by the many simplicities of its era (be it its overall plot, characters, level design, etcetera), yet I truly believe, after beating it for the first time, that DQIII was, and is, a perfect game. Its tight, lovely gameplay, along with its charming world, makes it a game very much worth of playing even till this day. It really still holds up extremely well, a thing that may not be said about its predecessors.
Not my favourite game of all time, but certainly amongst the best games I’ve ever got to know and play. Just cannot wait for the upcoming 2D-HD remake!
DQIII goes way beyond the mere label of “influential”. It really is THAT good.
It has it all: A beautiful, living, huge and open world to explore, marked by its many distinct locations and residents, all of which are going through their respective struggles; A charming, memorable narrative that will keep you going on to see what comes next; An intricate, super addictive character customisation system, which includes different jobs, class changes (and combinations), an organic personality system that changes stat distribution upon levelling up (not included in the original NES game), all of which working together in an extremely fun risk-and-reward thing; A simple, yet super catchy and effective soundtrack; A beautiful art design, ranging from its characters to every monster in the game.
All of this tied together in a single package from 1988.
Whilst DQII did a lot better than its predecessor, DQIII goes way beyond what both of them could possibly imagine to achieve. When playing it, you can really feel how this wasn’t simply the perfection of the franchise’s formula, but what a turn-based JRPG should really aim to be. Amongst its many memorable setpieces and its addictive, strategic gameplay, the game just kept on clicking to me, and I only grew fonder and fonder of this world I was discovering for the first time. I even got attached to my silent, backgroundless party members, and imagination played an important role in this regard. I just love how much a good game can convey through its simpler aspects.
I played the game through its mobile port on my iPad, and I decided upon this version mainly for its localisation, which has a more pleasant flavour to me than the fan translation for the original Super Famicom version (which was good in its own right, just a matter of preference here), with item and spell names more in line with the other recent English localisations for the franchise and, of course, funkier monster names, which I adore. It also has a new, orchestrated soundtrack.
However, if the updated localisation is not a big deal to you, I think you should probably go with the Super Famicom version. It has a beautiful opening sequence, super detailed attack animations for every monster, an extra mini game, certain environmental effects that were lost in the mobile port and arguably better menus.
But rest assured: the Android/iOS port still is a very decent way of playing the original game. Well, if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t be giving it 4.5 stars out of five! You can still fully experience the game here.
Yes, we’re talking about an old game, still adorned by the many simplicities of its era (be it its overall plot, characters, level design, etcetera), yet I truly believe, after beating it for the first time, that DQIII was, and is, a perfect game. Its tight, lovely gameplay, along with its charming world, makes it a game very much worth of playing even till this day. It really still holds up extremely well, a thing that may not be said about its predecessors.
Not my favourite game of all time, but certainly amongst the best games I’ve ever got to know and play. Just cannot wait for the upcoming 2D-HD remake!