The longer you play Dragon Quest III, the more you really come to appreciate just how far the game took the burgeoning JRPG genre. The class system is great with long-term payoff. Having stats be halved when changing classes is especially genius, giving real weight to that decision. There are much more unique and interesting scenarios in each town, and the main story overall feels more involved with some awesome, even emotional plot twists. And of course, the graphics and music are really nice.
It's still an 8-bit RPG, which means it's still grindy (but not nearly as bad as DQ2 by the end) and lacking QoL features that became common sense in the 16-bit era. Remakes address this, but the fundamental game design still has some cryptic moments later on, even with all the NPC hints in mind. I couldn't fully relax and fall in love with DQ3, but it's still quite an inspired game. The endgame was especially great, and further elevated this game as something special. Maybe the Super Famicom version of Dragon Quest III is where it's really at.
It's still an 8-bit RPG, which means it's still grindy (but not nearly as bad as DQ2 by the end) and lacking QoL features that became common sense in the 16-bit era. Remakes address this, but the fundamental game design still has some cryptic moments later on, even with all the NPC hints in mind. I couldn't fully relax and fall in love with DQ3, but it's still quite an inspired game. The endgame was especially great, and further elevated this game as something special. Maybe the Super Famicom version of Dragon Quest III is where it's really at.