Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake - Review After 100%

[@GreedFeed]

Hey Mort! I actually wrote the mini medal guide on steam, thanks for the shout out to all the guide makers in the beginning of the video, love your reviews!

[@StewNWT]

Well done good to know it’s available

[@MortismalGaming]

and thank you as well, it was very helpful!

[@brandonmarchese1]

This so cool lol

[@gergcas]

The "weird phrasing" "localization issue" you mention appears intentional: the characters from different regions have regional "accents" (some people speak like they have a spainish-english or russian-english accent, etc.). I think the strange sentence order you sometimes see are also trying to evoke these regional differences.

[@chrisdiokno5600]

Yeah like, dialects and accents can at times be hard to like, pull off well

[@liquidaria4454]

Right, that's exactly what I think they're going for. The world is VERY roughly shaped as our world is and the game tries to dole out regional accents the best they can while still being voiced in English. I would think the Indian (as in India) cities would have made that idea clear if it wasn't picked up prior.

[@Allthenameable]

still sucks

[@chrisdiokno5600]

@@liquidaria4454 for instace, kansai dialect is often turned to a souther. Dialect in Engliah

[@kingcrimson3039]

I was wondering if you will review Suikoden 1 &2 remaster?

[@mhjmstultiens]

Wait, release in march?! Yessir!

[@MortismalGaming]

Possibly, not sure yet

[@Duckman8213]

Good game. I recommend playing Fantasian Neo Dimension. It has the difficulty you like. It’s also by Hironobi Sakaguchi (creator of Final Fantasy) and Nobuo Uematsu (composer, everyone knows who he is). The game feels a lot like the FF7-FF9 era of FF and I absolutely love that about the game. Also btw Dragon Quest 1/2 HD-2D Remake releases this year in 2025. One last thing. The team that is remaking this Dragon Quest HD-2D Remake trilogy said that they were very interested in remaking FF6 in the same one if SE will let them.

[@jordanlane8699]

Fantasian Neo Dimension is a fantastic game. Highly recommend as well.

[@xvct2661]

I second this

[@couran]

It’s great but it’s got some minor performance issues which can be irritating.

[@Duckman8213]

@ works perfectly fine on my Switch and the PS5

[@TheJayman760]

@@jordanlane8699 I like this too and have a save at the final boss. But due to the occasional game breaking freezes I cannot recommend.

[@chocopuddingcup83]

Absolutely loved this game. I had previously played DQ1, 8, and 11, and this one inspired me to finally finish the whole series.

[@StewNWT]

8 for me is the best in the series

[@rawaali8451]

Play V and thank me later

[@chocopuddingcup83]

@@rawaali8451 Already did and it was awesome. My favorites are still 11, 8, and 3, but 5 had the best story (but I hated the combat, monster characters, and characters constantly joining and leaving).

[@fattiger6957]

I'll wait for a sale. I was always sure it would be a good game, but I have a hard time paying a AAA price when I know the game did not have anywhere close to a AAA budget. I felt the same way about the Mario RPG remake. Great game, but did not justify the pricing.

[@mhjmstultiens]

It's as much worth as you want to pay for it.

[@battlericky17]

Huge agree

[@g0dgary]

games made by nintendo will never drop in price but yea I agree

[@johnreeves5152]

Dragon Warrior 1 (US Dragon Quest) was my introduction to RPGs. It’s wild seeing remasters decades later, but I most certainly will hold off until a sale

[@TechnoLawyer]

I love the art style on this. Really excellent update job by them.

[@HubertTheMad]

Happy you reviewed this! Once it gets at a respectable price, I will definitely grab it

[@jonsible]

"I had some pain points" former business acumen confirmed!

[@tein357]

I loved DQ8 and 11 and the price is why I haven't bought this yet. I will probably get it when it goes on sale later this year.

[@Eagledelta3]

A couple comments: 1. I work as a software engineer. Doesn't matter that the original game is over 30 years old, the game was remade from the ground up and developers are not cheap. Simply put, $60 not too high. It'd be different if it was a remaster of one of the other versions, but it wasn't. It took just as much effort and time to make this as it did to make something like Octopath Traveler or Triangle Strategy. 2. The broken English at times is intentional. Dragon Quest translations since Dragon Quest 8 have gone the route that each region/town kind of has it's own theme/culture/etc. As such, the english spoken by some of those people is supposed to seem as though it isn't their native language and sound a bit off, but still enough to understand. Moreso in Dragon Quest 3 where the initial world map is based on Earth anyway.

[@FrenziedManbeast]

What in the copium am I reading? $60 for this game is outrageously out of the ballpark for any but the most diehard classic JRPG fans. The market determines the worth of goods and services - what your R&D spend is doesn't matter one iota to the person buying the thing. Look around online in any given week, and you'll see *dozens* of competitive options for far less money.

[@Eagledelta3]

@FrenziedManbeast yes, it does. If it costs more to make than it will return, then it's not worth the investment and the market isn't just determined by customers, but also by the value of those working on it..... And Software Engineers in gaming, while cheaper than Software Engineers in tech (which makes no sense, but that's another topic), are still expensive.... Usually near the 6-figure mark per engineer And to your point, it has sold more than enough to justify the price. Moreso than the copy/paste Call of Duty or sports games that also cost $60.

[@00Mk000]

​@@FrenziedManbeast No.

[@brandonsclips7741]

I've seen a large sentiment of people upset about the price. Yes, you're right it does provide more worth than yearly sports titles, but that market of people are gonna buy that sludge no matter what. What matters is the price of this game for its market corner and people aren't happy with it. If it were 40-50 dollars I'd say it was fine, but I can get the mobile remake of this game for 10 dollars on switch and experience about 92% of the same content. They should have added more content to the remake or lowered the price. Simple.

[@gergcas]

Thank you, these were the two points I also had right away. Concerning the price-point, we also have to consider how badly inflation has hit every industry (if only through wages alone), so what was a $60 game in 2010 would be $87 in today's dollars.

[@serbenton]

Mort, thanks for all the excellent reviews and consistent effort you put in. The 7 AM EST videos are part of my morning ritual now and it's such a chill way wake up. I appreciate it and I appreciate you getting me into CRPGs. Thanks.

[@nauticoom]

I JUST bought this game yesterday lol excited to play it

[@asham868]

I agree about the pricing. These types of remasters are great, but as they are much older games the high price point is ridiculous to me. I always wait till they are at least $20 or maybe $30 if I have some sort of nostalgia for the title.

[@fattiger6957]

Agreed 100% I can at least understand why AAA games are priced the way they are, despite my problems with ballooning AAA budgets. Games that obviously didn't cost that much to develop should have a price that reflects the dev costs. IMO, games like this or the Mario RPG remake should launch at $40.

[@SoftCactusFilms]

This is not a remaster. It's a remake. A remaster reuses already made assets. I really wish "gamers" would learn the difference. These sprites and environments were made from scratch. It's a brand new game.

[@asham868]

@SoftCactusFilms point still stands. Not worth a $60+ price tag

[@r.graves5531]

Older games? It came out in November it's a new game

[@SoftCactusFilms]

@@asham868 Not really a "point." More like, uh, your opinion, man.

[@bakuiel1901]

Interesting to see the updates since I played the NES version, but that price I'm waiting for a good sale

[@lefro77]

Price is what gets me these days. This and the Indiana Jones game are things I'll pick up down the road closer to half off.

[@frostysean9999]

Happy to see you review dq3, dragon quest got me into rpgs a long time ago and is my favorite series. Keep up the great work.

[@ThatReplyGuy]

Oh man, I loved this game on my GBA back in the day. Picked it up for I think $8 at Game Crazy. This remake looks amazing, but that price tag...oof.

[@mumblingmute7749]

Crazy how rapidly you pump these out. I remember playing the original (in japanese) as a much younger person and have fond memories but I find JRPGS hard to get into these days.

[@Genethagenius]

I definitely recommend “Metaphor: ReFantazio” if you are considering a new JRPG to get into. Awesome art style, great gameplay & job system, and I really like the story & characters so far

[@FatalKitsune]

As someone who's played most of the DQ games out there, your complaint about how the enemies get in the end game is both on point and more or less how the end game is for every DQ game. This is the way DQ handles difficulty; enemies get a bunch of turns and spam whole party attacks on you or throw instant death your way.

[@TheJayman760]

Having never played this series back in the day, I found this title thoroughly enjoyable. I loved the exploration and combat. I never got a monster wrangler, as the whole monster arena thing did not appeal to me. Had I known they were OP I would have jumped on it. I managed to defeat the post credit boss in like 230 turns, but when he said I didn't do it fast enough I was done. Fortunately I never experienced the trial dungeon and now I'm glad I didn't go there.

[@orionschutt]

I'm playing through this right now and just got the sailing ship, I'm having a really good time. Great info on the late game, that sounds about right, dragon quest has always had some interesting difficulty spikes.

[@MattStandley589]

I have the platinum trophy on this game which requires 100% completion. I wholeheartedly agree with your review. This game is not for everybody, if you can’t tolerate the BS of old-school JRPG with status conditions, instant death, and random encounters probably skip this game. If you grew up on these kind of games, then wait for a sale and you will not be disappointed, I would say $30-$35 feels like a fair price to pay.

[@83DragonWolf]

Your tips and tricks in this video is outstanding. Thank you. I’m just waiting for it to go down on sale for $40 or less before I play it.

[@R3GARnator]

Wizardry and Ultima were the ultimate inspirations for JRPGs.

[@fattiger6957]

Yeah, but Dragon Quest is the root of what we now recognize as the "traditional" Japanese RPG. It wasn't even the first RPG made in Japan, but it was the one that set the trends that formed the JRPG.

[@coconutologist]

Thanks for the video. I'm surprised by the depth that you discussed. Some of the mechanics you mention worry me a bit though. Onward to 400k. All glory to the algorithm.

[@sword_of_dusk]

Great video, Mort! Just want to point out that using a Words of Wisdom isn't the only way to get a Sage until the late game. Any Gadabout can go into Sage for free. You didn't mention it while talking about them, so I wanted to make that clear.

[@TheGoukaruma]

I would recommend to play DQ11 fist. It's cheaper and the newer and better game. DQ3 is a classic but it will still be a classic in a year when it's cheap.

[@josephpurdy8390]

Dragon Quest 3 Seeds of Salvation is much less expensive and is on modern platforms.

[@shawnsindulfoabellana3912]

DQIII is the JRPG that shaped the genre in Japan and the game/series that gives the multi class system that many JRPGs used/copied like Final Fantasy. You mentioned the monster arena is like Pokemon, well SMT and DQ(DQV) did it first before Pokemon. Edit: also you mentioned the word “heaven” for the Citadel. Well if you have played all of the DQ games instead of ignoring them back in the day, that part of DQ lore would become one of the settings in the Zenithia Trilogy(DQIV-VI) and its a setting that will return in DQX(JP exclusive MMO).

[@Darth_Harvey]

This isn't typically my vibe, but I appreciate the review. You are the best!

[@RockoEstalon]

This how it starts Mort. First you are fine, reviewing Dragon Quest all innocent and then in a couple of years we will find you covering Sengoku Rance.

[@Thibafox]

Mortismal always playing wonderful games. You are lovely.

[@sydhamelin1265]

"The group of enemies are defeated"... I kept seeing this after the mention of localization. In this case 'group' is a singular noun, as in "this is a group", not "this are a group". So, yeah, I'm definitely seeing it.

[@Wudanmaster116]

Love your reviewss!

[@ProfDrLaeradr]

I hate it when higher difficulties result in you getting less ressources that you can then grind infinitely anyway. It's just more tedious in that aspect. Anyway, great review - as always!

[@MortismalGaming]

Especially since you can change it whenever, you can just grind on low then change it to high for the boss fights

[@demoneyesrakka]

Excellent review, was really curious what all they changed end game. I know going from the game boy color version to the mobile version, I still didnt understand why they cut a bunch of content, but this seems to be a decent balance. Still surprised by the price tag too. $60USD is a bit excessive.

[@calvinmatthews1527]

Yeah, I guess the pricing is too much for a game that you can technically still play for less. But like the Star Ocean 2 & Romancing SaGa 2 Remakes, its content is still pretty beefy & the quality is great. So really, it can only "somewhat" justify its price. Especially if you're curious. Great review all the same Mortismal, looking forward to more of your content this year.

[@Duckman8213]

I’m curious what’s your words per minutes that you read. You always breeze through dialogue in games even when it’s voiced dialogue so I’ve always just been curious if you even read it fully. Do you just skip voice dialogue and read it instead (in regard to games in general)?

[@MortismalGaming]

Most of the time I just read what's on screen and then skip ahead unless the game has something unique going on or if like the expressions of the person talking are especially important (which isnt usually the case with games like this where its all text mostly) In terms of WPM I have no idea, never specifically checked.

[@Terron29]

Loved this remake. Absolutely loved it. Exactly what I wanted out of a full on remake. The overworld exploration was so damn good. Music was lovely too unlike FF11 which imo dropped the ball in the music department. The combat speed up is an absolute godsend and if you play on hard mode the game has a decent amount of bite to it! I love that you can turn off the help features. I hated the big glowing yellow circles showing you where to go next but you can thankfully turn that off. One of my fave games of 2024.

[@SpeedrunHype]

I just got to the Baramos fight and definitely need to change my character classes 😭

[@wither4851]

whats the song in your outro?

[@MortismalGaming]

Idk, royalty free track I pulled off of youtubes creator audio library forever ago

[@rawaali8451]

Two spoilers if you did the post game on draconian level: 1- did you manage to kill the treasure box bosses in the last optional dungeon “legitimately” without using the move that blows them away? 2- did you manage **** spoiler*** to beat the Golden Dragon on Draconian level within the required turns? If so Could you or anyone share how?

[@terrycorkum]

I've played all of the north American releases of these games. I'm not buying this until it's atleast on sale for 30 dollars Cad. Its 70 now. Edit. So the original went from hero sage x3 to hero monster hunter x3? Sweet! Lol.

[@That1DogGuy]

This game looks great, i cant wait to buy it at a reasonable price.

[@Lothor001]

Did you like this more then chained echos (or sea or stars)? Maybe a top jrpg list for upcoming video?

[@MortismalGaming]

This is a bit bigger than those imo, but it'd probably be from low to high, sea of stars, this, chained echoes

[@clifcorcoran9917]

Dragon Quest Remake KZbin Jazz 🎶

[@pockystyx4087]

Monster Wrangler is definitely overpowered by the end, which is funny. In DQ3 SNES/GBA they added Thieves, which were arguably just ok. What a difference in balance.

[@gergcas]

They're really only OP if you go out of your way to track down a large number of the monsters (since monster pile-on scales with that)

[@pockystyx4087]

@ yeah; but it’s not too hard really. Especially since the majority of friendly monsters are where you would think they’d be, or can just deduce where they are thanks to the Monster Wrangler getting the ability to tell you there is a monster that you can wrangle in the immediate area. Still; in terms of power, they are pretty fub to break the game with. Especially with their double action economy skill alone.

[@gregpeterson5857]

As far as the hero being able to change classes in 6 and 7 the main character can change classes through the game then get access to the "hero" class easier than other characters. 9 is similar but I don't remember how it handles the hero abilities. I also feel the post game dungeons are better balanced or at least I wasn't as annoyed as when playing 3. A criticism of the series though is that they copy things for nostalgia's sake and so even in the latest game they still have a "beat the super boss in x turns" quest.

[@lupercalrising2208]

I just can’t get into the battle system of old Dragon Quest games where you don’t see your party, just the effects of your actions like it’s supposed to be first person view. I prefer the classic turn based system where you see your party and their animations play out for their attacks and spells.

[@LainWest]

I fully agree with the price being too high, despite the game being amazing. Here in Australia it's $90 and hasn't been on sale since release x.x Way too expensive imo

[@palamedes4740]

I only played DQ 9 but it's nice to see they had the formula on lock from very early on. A lot of what's mention here is the same except you can customize your main character. That why I could not play 11

[@aaronbourque5494]

*THE* JRPG back in the day. Probably 80% or more of cliches attributed to console RPGs from Japan pretty much started with the original version of this game. If you include the previous two, that number would likely increase to 90%. And if it didn't come from one of the first three Dragon Quests, it came from a game responding to one of the first three Dragon Quests (usually, something Final Fantasy). For one example? The game Chrono Trigger, one of the best RPGs for the SNES (and still great) memorably begins on the protagonist's 16th birthday. They got that from Dragon Quest III, which did it first 7 years prior. This isn't to say that every JRPG is a rip-off of a Dragon Quest game, just an acknowledgement of how big an influence (especially the first three) Dragon Quest games were, are, and continue to be.

[@Tanuvein]

I do want this game but the price is a bit too much.

[@erikskoog8415]

Good show sir

[@Orinmaxden]

I'll pay whatever the price is for the super Omega deluxe edition is for DQ12 whenever it comes out, but I'm not paying $60 for this remake/graphics update.

[@randy8324]

Putting the camera so close to the ground and with that angle does not make sense for 3rd person game. Thats why they need the silly minimap circle showing you where you are. Just put the camera overhead pointing down like the original game that was great.

[@MagiaErebea028]

Wait this is out?

[@MortismalGaming]

Indeed

[@theMisfit81]

I played older versions of it and i love the idea of remakes, but japanese companys and pricing is always strange. They would make much more profit in the end if they release them for 20€ and sell a decent amout.

[@RobVespa]

Thanks for this review. This looks like a fun game. I don't think I've played it. I really like the art style - which, while probably not the first example, came onto my radar via Octopath Traveler. If the price comes WAY down (lower than even the prices you mention), I might check it out. Pricing has kept me from a lot of games, including older titles that still retain a high price.

[@DogiTheWallcrusher]

octopath was actually the first "H2D" game. Really it's a game style frequenlty seen on the ps1 (2d sprites, 3d backgrounds) just wasn't seen much for a few generations

[@javiernovoa8756]

Looks cool and looks fun, but hard pass until they lower the price and patch the late dungeons

[@corey2232]

I really wanted to get this game, but the Mixed Steam reviews turned me away. I don't mind random encounters, but seeing just how frequent they were really made me hesitant. On top of that, combat looks really slow, even set to the highest speed. And if that didn't seem frustrating enough, the fact you can't see your characters & don't see them attack enemies made combat look dull & a bit too repetitive. I'm not judging too hard on this though, as I know it's a product of its time. But after your review, I'm definitely reconsidering. The fact you say Monster Wrangler is super powerful when so many other reviews I saw said it was pointless (and apparently replaced another class?) makes me think they're just not that informed.

[@MPYT-yy9hr]

Thanks for the review Mort. I will not buy it since it is so poorly balanced. Very sad to find out, but thankful you informed me in time. I'm having the same issue with FF7Remake. Wish somebody warned me in advance.

[@battlericky17]

$60 is a goofy price and if youre willing to pay $60 for this, good for you. I side with everyone either not buying or waiting for a sale.

[@DanielFalca0]

Just no. It's insane that a 36 years old game, no matter how much "remake" be more expensive than Elden Ring.

[@dicezart9667]

If $60 is too much money, it's time to quit playing games and focus on a career

[@Dawnseeker_Ch]

​@dicezart9667 ive been focusing my career. 60 is too much for a game nearly as old as me. And this is coming from someone who had enjoyed the original, the gbc version, and had the switch re-release.

[@Talezi1]

@@dicezart9667 Even If i were oil Prince i would feel scammed for that Price go ego somewhere else Ricky ret...

[@DanielFalca0]

@@dicezart9667 Since you have so much disposable income, you should invest in some text interpretation skills

[@twincherries6698]

Sorry about the poverty

[@onatgz]

free comment.

[@riyuphoenix4533]

Most should leave it a couple of months, itll drop dramatically in price.

[@Noct_Snow]

Late game sounds miserable, I’ll probably wait for sale and just do the story. DQ11 is amazing by the way.

[@damcrac]

I couldn't get through the last two trials fast enough. Absolutely terrible balance as you mention. Loved every minute except for those two individual fights.

[@TheGronkus]

Gronk!

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

Considering how some of the native English speakers in my life mistreat the English language, I will not begrudge a translation being a little wonky.

[@finnmarr-heenan2397]

U wot m8

[@OnePolishMoFo]

I was enthusiastic to play this game when it came out but my mistake was buying it on Switch. My intention on playing it on my lunch breaks at work. But the game is pretty ugly on switch. It's kinda blurry like the screen is smeared with Vaseline and the framerate is very choppy very consistently. Should have got it on PS5.

[@martinantelo7086]

I didn't like it much. Very pretty and the soundtrack is glorious, but it has way too many random battles.

[@RollingBallofFury]

Square left a bad tase in my mouth after they re-released DQ11 shortly after the first game with some new features, leaving those who purchased the original version of the game out in the wind. Kinda sucked and their games are always $$$.

[@ChoppedCheeese]

A remake should be $30 max, they can't act like it took the same resources that a AAA modern title took to make.

[@jimruch5196]

I’m super early!!!

[@FSVR54]

The only good JRPGS are Shin Megami Tensei. Most have boring and easy combat and way too much boring story

[@loganharvey8086]

Price is the only reason I didn't pick this one up

[@MarcelVincent]

i hope someone gifts me this for my birthday comming up on steam:D

[@giacomomallia953]

Square enix really lost their mind. Dragon Quest was doing really good, so they released this 15 bucks game for 60, to make fans mad and try to ruin everything. I'm still waiting for someone to buy the company to finally take some right decisions.

[@rawaali8451]

Lol Has already sold 2m plus what are you on about?

[@finnmarr-heenan2397]

I hate the art style

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

Well, different strokes for different folks and all that.

[@cgray8267]

Don’t play ❤

[@OtakuHD1991]

I absolutely love the art style of this game but I hate that it throws you into first person for combat and the $60 price tag is deal breaker for me. I'll wait for a deep sale unfortunately.