Dragon Quest III: Into the Legend... (SNES, 1996)
Graphics-8 Sound-8 Control-7.5 Challenge-7 Story-6.5
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-7.5 Fun-6*/7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
*w/o fast forward and exploits to level up quicker and/or using the best personalities and class progressions at grind walls
+
Faster movement and menus
Somewhat improved interface (can equip inventory items directly, general use interaction button (don't have to go into the menu to search), in-game msg speed option, buy more than one of an item at once (only consumables though), bag - 24 (?) extra slots plus you can sort the items and consumables stack which lowers the difficulty, NPCs move out of the way faster, somewhat improved in-game map (you also get it sooner))
Day/night cycle (more gradual than in for example CV2, face tougher monsters during night time, different activities will occur in towns depending on what time of day it is - can skip ahead with a late game mage spell but only rest until morning at inns)
Manually build your own party (see Ultima III; four members in total and you can tweak their starting stats in this version, can change classes more than once at Dhama/Dharma (changing resets your lvl to 1+halves stats+lets you keep learned spells, the hero/main char can't change), eight classes here including the Sage (a promotional "ultimate" class which is well rounded but takes longer to level up)
Adds the Thief class (can steal (automatic) in battle and use recon spells) and the ability to change into the Jester class at Dhama/Dharma (can change into a Sage without a zen book/book of satori+has high luck+can whistle to make enemies come to you but sucks during battle)
Improved visuals (intro cutscene looks better and fleshes out the characters more with in-game graphics based scenes, monster battle animations! (and they're generally good), full screen battle backgrounds) and audio overall
Adds a personality system (pre-game sequence in which the player answers moral dilemmas (similar to Ultima IV or Der Langrisser) which determines the hero's personality - comically harsh description of your personality after you've made your choices. You'll probably want to look into what these do exactly so as to not end up with one of the worst
The personality of other party members is determined by the stat-raising seeds given by the player during character generation and personalities determine which stats increase when a character levels up - their personalities may be changed later by use of special items and books which there are many of throughout the game
New mini-games (Pachisi/Sugoroku (board game where you go alone and can encounter enemies/treasure/inns - kinda similar to the Talisman board game) - pretty fun even if overly luck-based and single player only, monster fight betting game - replaces the lottery from DQ2)
Adds a version of the Mini Medal system (collect hidden medals to gain new items - first seen in DQIV; mostly trial & error without the seek out spell)
Improved Return/teleport to previous town spell (select between any visited towns from a list of names in the menu)
Two bonus dungeons (available after the main quest is over and resetting the game - you'll want to save right before facing the final boss to keep your levels; didn't try them but they feature tougher, color swapped enemies and bosses)
Some nice effects (battle spells, lighting, chimney smoke, small animation whenever you find an item in a container, some of the in-game cutscenes) and ambient sfx
Basic formation system (top character in the list is most likely to be attacked)
Large world which again features a replica of the first game's overworld (more detailed this time) - this game is actually a prequel story-wise
At one point early in the game you'll save a kingdom from peril and the king offers to give up his throne to you (if you accept you get to walk around the castle and hear your subjects grovel at your feet - you can leave whenever you want)
Travel by ship and giant bird/phoenix (Ramia - teleports with you if you use that spell)
More dialogue choices that make a difference (albeit very minor; there are still several fake choices as well as questions that can only be answered with yes or no when something else would make more sense)
Some interesting dungeon/level design (pyramid switches, minor stealth segment (invisibility herb to get into a castle), have to do one dungeon with a single char, using the staff of change to be able to change form and trade with the elves, fall down to lower floors - DQ2?, tiles that change your direction - Lolo?, enemies that summon other enemies)
Some interesting spells (invisibility (avoid enemies and NPCs), bounce (reflect), BeDragon (turns a wizard into a dragon that auto attacks), Transform - a wizard gains another member's abilities during battle, Ironize - like the statue in SMB3 except for the whole party, Expel - removes enemies without rewarding you with exp or loot, RobMagic - steal MP, Chance (random effects including 100% crits, neutralizing all magic, order change, monsters flee, etc), seek out - hidden items on the same screen glimmer for a second)
You can help establish a town that grows over time while you do other things (eventually you'll get one of the orbs from it)
Can use a "tactic" command outside of battle to automatically heal up completely (restore - provided you have the MP however the healing spell usage isn't evenly distributed among the party) and to put all unequipped items in the bag (tidy up)
Rudimentary quest log/journal feature (press Y when talking to someone, then use the remember spells later on (you don't get to see who said what or when - instead it shows what you've memorized from the first to the last message))
In-game epilogue
Some decent bosses (the last few bosses and the final boss)
Spell acquisition bug fix (on NES you would get ice spears after snowstorm)
+/-
Can generally only save at kings' castles (Dhama is one exception; three slots)
Uncensored except for the puff puff massage parlor
Typical "wake up at home" prologue
Characters still have separate inventories (12 slots)
More zoomed in overworld view compared to DQ 1-2 SNES
Choose between male or female chars (no differences except females can wear some exclusive equipment - nothing important)
The vault was turned into a bank (costs some money to withdraw an item but you do have the bag as well which has a lot of room; you can also temporarily leave a party member behind and have a new one pick up the item(s), then rehire the previous member and leave the new one to wait at the tavern with the item in store for you)
Can now examine spells but only in battle (can't examine items without a merchant in your party - can only check their worth with a dealer outside battles)
The overworld map layout heavily resembles earth this time and has several real world references besides the usual medieval europe setting
Only two zen books/books of enlightenment (for promoting non-Jester characters to Sages) besides as rare finds in the board game mini-game, and you get the second one near the end of the game
More linear beginning of the game than in earlier games
No revival spell or item early on
Chest contents don't respawn in the board game houses (there are several different boards though)
Can't buy back what you sell from the shop you sold it at and non-purchasable items can't be bought back at all (boomerang for example, you do get a warning for such items)
Similar structure to the prequel (you'll encounter plenty of doors that you won't be able to open until much later, sunken shrine, etc.)
Can't use invisibility herbs in battle
Lose half your carried gold and respawn at the last save after death
Learn spells automatically by leveling up (certain classes gain certain spells at different levels)
Can replace party members but you'll have to start from lvl 1 with the new ones - the old one can be left in the first town and re-recruited later
Keeps some 8-bit sfx from the NES version
No tent item or camp option (can teleport to visited towns so not that big a deal but can't teleport back to dungeons and shrines)
One dungeon's gimmick is that noone can use spells (including enemies) - ends up not that interesting but it's pretty small
One item (silver harp) immediately causes an encounter when used, based on what monsters are in that area (good for grinding I suppose but the encounter rate is high anyway)
-
The first version of revive (vivify) has only a 50% success rate (can fail 3+ times in a row)+overly rare revival items (just 1 here, 2 on NES although it is possible to find more in the pachisi mini-game)
Some control/interface issues (no proper quest log and you can't simply speak with the party to catch up on the story/current quest if you've not been playing for a while, spells are wasted if the target is killed before casting? (healing spells are unused if the battle ends), no cursor memory in battle, can't cycle between characters with l/r in the menu, can't see max HP & MP in the menu (only current) - only in the menu where you're using a healing spell, slow auto command select when holding down the button, unskippable jingles, can't ask the guy in the first town informing about the day/night cycle to move out of the way (need to wait until night), can't skip ahead in time without either an inn (day) or the darkness lamp (night)(the cycle is pretty quick but you can't simply stand still and wait for it to happen either), somewhat slow ship movement on the world map, pretty slow flight on the world map, sometimes lacking item descriptions (holy water for example), consumables stack in the bag but not in a character's item inventory)
Still mostly non-interactive backgrounds (can't examine/search most things either)
Very frequent random encounters (can be turned off at will with a code though and there's also the repel spell+holy water item+the thief's tiptoe spell although the spells only lessen the rate a bit)
Sometimes uneven difficulty (Orochi in the southeast is really tough despite the enemies in the area being pretty weak, game gets harder a bit suddenly around Romaly and later on around Baramos's castle - Baramos does tell you that you're too weak to win if you're underleveled before killing you at least but there's a pretty big difficulty spike at this fight as well)
Some grinding (see above (5 levels (about 25-30) is just barely enough for Baramos if you get lucky with certain debuff spells (defense, stop spell) or maybe if you class changed to Sage in just the right way (I used a thief and didn't optimize stats or gear much, reached about lvl 23 with it while the others reached about 30), need to have an average party lvl of at least 36 for the final boss and the boss gauntlet before him (if some are lagging behind several levels and you haven't optimized your builds with guides then you're better off grinding as otherwise it's more down to luck since he can attack 3 times in a row+revive can fail as many times or more (and some chars might not get enough HP when revived to survive the next attack) - unless you get all medals and increase your stats via the board game but then you might as well grind a bit instead (sage's stone and multiple wizard's rings also helps)), to be able to buy the best gear - there's a code that lets you not lose money when buying things though and you'll have more money with a merchant in your party, to level class changed members back to their previous levels - sages especially as they tend to require about 1.5x more exp per level)
Dead space and empty rooms/dead ends (some empty locked rooms)
Some trial & error (getting the king's sword (need to sell the material+save and reset the game+enter Kol again - no clue!), many medal locations and some seed locations have no clues - can use the seek out spell however, figuring out where to go after killing Baramos - cave east of his castle, hidden regen buff on later bosses, "there's no time for games right now..." - if you replay the board game too many times early on? happened on a -50 gold tile for me, chest mimic enemies - can use the X-Ray spell if you have a wizard at lvl 18, sometimes hard to tell where a town area ends, unlike other items the wizard ring is used immediately by the char who has it in their inventory when use is picked - you don't get to pick who to use it on)
Can't teleport back to some visited towns (Return)
Some story oddities (can't give back the thirsty pitcher to the native americans, a lot of clue giving NPCs in odd places and often talking like they were just there to give directions (or sometimes not even that such as when getting the rain staff), can't free the real king in Samanosa without getting the change staff first, Garin doesn't react to you finding his harp, can't interfere in ortega's battle against a hydra)
No group heal (heal all=heal all HP for 1 char) until near the end of the game
Kinda tedious to go back to travel by foot/ship in Alefgard before the finale
No party banter (the player chars have no pre-made dialogue and dialogue isn't interactive so there's no player expression)
GBC ver.: Different art style, additional subquests to find regular medals, Monster Medals system (medals are tradeable via link cable),
Notes:
-Beat it w/ an average party level of 36 however my one Sage (changed into it from Thief) was at 31; valiant hero, bully warrior, ordinary sage, kindly cleric)
-Suggested beginner party (YT): Hero, Warrior/Fighter/Thief, Priest (Cleric), Mage
-Personalities guide (didn't use in my playthrough): https://dragon-quest.org/wiki/List_of_personality_types_in_Dragon_Quest_III
Level Design-6.5 Frustration-7.5 Fun-6*/7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7
*w/o fast forward and exploits to level up quicker and/or using the best personalities and class progressions at grind walls
+
Faster movement and menus
Somewhat improved interface (can equip inventory items directly, general use interaction button (don't have to go into the menu to search), in-game msg speed option, buy more than one of an item at once (only consumables though), bag - 24 (?) extra slots plus you can sort the items and consumables stack which lowers the difficulty, NPCs move out of the way faster, somewhat improved in-game map (you also get it sooner))
Day/night cycle (more gradual than in for example CV2, face tougher monsters during night time, different activities will occur in towns depending on what time of day it is - can skip ahead with a late game mage spell but only rest until morning at inns)
Manually build your own party (see Ultima III; four members in total and you can tweak their starting stats in this version, can change classes more than once at Dhama/Dharma (changing resets your lvl to 1+halves stats+lets you keep learned spells, the hero/main char can't change), eight classes here including the Sage (a promotional "ultimate" class which is well rounded but takes longer to level up)
Adds the Thief class (can steal (automatic) in battle and use recon spells) and the ability to change into the Jester class at Dhama/Dharma (can change into a Sage without a zen book/book of satori+has high luck+can whistle to make enemies come to you but sucks during battle)
Improved visuals (intro cutscene looks better and fleshes out the characters more with in-game graphics based scenes, monster battle animations! (and they're generally good), full screen battle backgrounds) and audio overall
Adds a personality system (pre-game sequence in which the player answers moral dilemmas (similar to Ultima IV or Der Langrisser) which determines the hero's personality - comically harsh description of your personality after you've made your choices. You'll probably want to look into what these do exactly so as to not end up with one of the worst
The personality of other party members is determined by the stat-raising seeds given by the player during character generation and personalities determine which stats increase when a character levels up - their personalities may be changed later by use of special items and books which there are many of throughout the game
New mini-games (Pachisi/Sugoroku (board game where you go alone and can encounter enemies/treasure/inns - kinda similar to the Talisman board game) - pretty fun even if overly luck-based and single player only, monster fight betting game - replaces the lottery from DQ2)
Adds a version of the Mini Medal system (collect hidden medals to gain new items - first seen in DQIV; mostly trial & error without the seek out spell)
Improved Return/teleport to previous town spell (select between any visited towns from a list of names in the menu)
Two bonus dungeons (available after the main quest is over and resetting the game - you'll want to save right before facing the final boss to keep your levels; didn't try them but they feature tougher, color swapped enemies and bosses)
Some nice effects (battle spells, lighting, chimney smoke, small animation whenever you find an item in a container, some of the in-game cutscenes) and ambient sfx
Basic formation system (top character in the list is most likely to be attacked)
Large world which again features a replica of the first game's overworld (more detailed this time) - this game is actually a prequel story-wise
At one point early in the game you'll save a kingdom from peril and the king offers to give up his throne to you (if you accept you get to walk around the castle and hear your subjects grovel at your feet - you can leave whenever you want)
Travel by ship and giant bird/phoenix (Ramia - teleports with you if you use that spell)
More dialogue choices that make a difference (albeit very minor; there are still several fake choices as well as questions that can only be answered with yes or no when something else would make more sense)
Some interesting dungeon/level design (pyramid switches, minor stealth segment (invisibility herb to get into a castle), have to do one dungeon with a single char, using the staff of change to be able to change form and trade with the elves, fall down to lower floors - DQ2?, tiles that change your direction - Lolo?, enemies that summon other enemies)
Some interesting spells (invisibility (avoid enemies and NPCs), bounce (reflect), BeDragon (turns a wizard into a dragon that auto attacks), Transform - a wizard gains another member's abilities during battle, Ironize - like the statue in SMB3 except for the whole party, Expel - removes enemies without rewarding you with exp or loot, RobMagic - steal MP, Chance (random effects including 100% crits, neutralizing all magic, order change, monsters flee, etc), seek out - hidden items on the same screen glimmer for a second)
You can help establish a town that grows over time while you do other things (eventually you'll get one of the orbs from it)
Can use a "tactic" command outside of battle to automatically heal up completely (restore - provided you have the MP however the healing spell usage isn't evenly distributed among the party) and to put all unequipped items in the bag (tidy up)
Rudimentary quest log/journal feature (press Y when talking to someone, then use the remember spells later on (you don't get to see who said what or when - instead it shows what you've memorized from the first to the last message))
In-game epilogue
Some decent bosses (the last few bosses and the final boss)
Spell acquisition bug fix (on NES you would get ice spears after snowstorm)
+/-
Can generally only save at kings' castles (Dhama is one exception; three slots)
Uncensored except for the puff puff massage parlor
Typical "wake up at home" prologue
Characters still have separate inventories (12 slots)
More zoomed in overworld view compared to DQ 1-2 SNES
Choose between male or female chars (no differences except females can wear some exclusive equipment - nothing important)
The vault was turned into a bank (costs some money to withdraw an item but you do have the bag as well which has a lot of room; you can also temporarily leave a party member behind and have a new one pick up the item(s), then rehire the previous member and leave the new one to wait at the tavern with the item in store for you)
Can now examine spells but only in battle (can't examine items without a merchant in your party - can only check their worth with a dealer outside battles)
The overworld map layout heavily resembles earth this time and has several real world references besides the usual medieval europe setting
Only two zen books/books of enlightenment (for promoting non-Jester characters to Sages) besides as rare finds in the board game mini-game, and you get the second one near the end of the game
More linear beginning of the game than in earlier games
No revival spell or item early on
Chest contents don't respawn in the board game houses (there are several different boards though)
Can't buy back what you sell from the shop you sold it at and non-purchasable items can't be bought back at all (boomerang for example, you do get a warning for such items)
Similar structure to the prequel (you'll encounter plenty of doors that you won't be able to open until much later, sunken shrine, etc.)
Can't use invisibility herbs in battle
Lose half your carried gold and respawn at the last save after death
Learn spells automatically by leveling up (certain classes gain certain spells at different levels)
Can replace party members but you'll have to start from lvl 1 with the new ones - the old one can be left in the first town and re-recruited later
Keeps some 8-bit sfx from the NES version
No tent item or camp option (can teleport to visited towns so not that big a deal but can't teleport back to dungeons and shrines)
One dungeon's gimmick is that noone can use spells (including enemies) - ends up not that interesting but it's pretty small
One item (silver harp) immediately causes an encounter when used, based on what monsters are in that area (good for grinding I suppose but the encounter rate is high anyway)
-
The first version of revive (vivify) has only a 50% success rate (can fail 3+ times in a row)+overly rare revival items (just 1 here, 2 on NES although it is possible to find more in the pachisi mini-game)
Some control/interface issues (no proper quest log and you can't simply speak with the party to catch up on the story/current quest if you've not been playing for a while, spells are wasted if the target is killed before casting? (healing spells are unused if the battle ends), no cursor memory in battle, can't cycle between characters with l/r in the menu, can't see max HP & MP in the menu (only current) - only in the menu where you're using a healing spell, slow auto command select when holding down the button, unskippable jingles, can't ask the guy in the first town informing about the day/night cycle to move out of the way (need to wait until night), can't skip ahead in time without either an inn (day) or the darkness lamp (night)(the cycle is pretty quick but you can't simply stand still and wait for it to happen either), somewhat slow ship movement on the world map, pretty slow flight on the world map, sometimes lacking item descriptions (holy water for example), consumables stack in the bag but not in a character's item inventory)
Still mostly non-interactive backgrounds (can't examine/search most things either)
Very frequent random encounters (can be turned off at will with a code though and there's also the repel spell+holy water item+the thief's tiptoe spell although the spells only lessen the rate a bit)
Sometimes uneven difficulty (Orochi in the southeast is really tough despite the enemies in the area being pretty weak, game gets harder a bit suddenly around Romaly and later on around Baramos's castle - Baramos does tell you that you're too weak to win if you're underleveled before killing you at least but there's a pretty big difficulty spike at this fight as well)
Some grinding (see above (5 levels (about 25-30) is just barely enough for Baramos if you get lucky with certain debuff spells (defense, stop spell) or maybe if you class changed to Sage in just the right way (I used a thief and didn't optimize stats or gear much, reached about lvl 23 with it while the others reached about 30), need to have an average party lvl of at least 36 for the final boss and the boss gauntlet before him (if some are lagging behind several levels and you haven't optimized your builds with guides then you're better off grinding as otherwise it's more down to luck since he can attack 3 times in a row+revive can fail as many times or more (and some chars might not get enough HP when revived to survive the next attack) - unless you get all medals and increase your stats via the board game but then you might as well grind a bit instead (sage's stone and multiple wizard's rings also helps)), to be able to buy the best gear - there's a code that lets you not lose money when buying things though and you'll have more money with a merchant in your party, to level class changed members back to their previous levels - sages especially as they tend to require about 1.5x more exp per level)
Dead space and empty rooms/dead ends (some empty locked rooms)
Some trial & error (getting the king's sword (need to sell the material+save and reset the game+enter Kol again - no clue!), many medal locations and some seed locations have no clues - can use the seek out spell however, figuring out where to go after killing Baramos - cave east of his castle, hidden regen buff on later bosses, "there's no time for games right now..." - if you replay the board game too many times early on? happened on a -50 gold tile for me, chest mimic enemies - can use the X-Ray spell if you have a wizard at lvl 18, sometimes hard to tell where a town area ends, unlike other items the wizard ring is used immediately by the char who has it in their inventory when use is picked - you don't get to pick who to use it on)
Can't teleport back to some visited towns (Return)
Some story oddities (can't give back the thirsty pitcher to the native americans, a lot of clue giving NPCs in odd places and often talking like they were just there to give directions (or sometimes not even that such as when getting the rain staff), can't free the real king in Samanosa without getting the change staff first, Garin doesn't react to you finding his harp, can't interfere in ortega's battle against a hydra)
No group heal (heal all=heal all HP for 1 char) until near the end of the game
Kinda tedious to go back to travel by foot/ship in Alefgard before the finale
No party banter (the player chars have no pre-made dialogue and dialogue isn't interactive so there's no player expression)
GBC ver.: Different art style, additional subquests to find regular medals, Monster Medals system (medals are tradeable via link cable),
Notes:
-Beat it w/ an average party level of 36 however my one Sage (changed into it from Thief) was at 31; valiant hero, bully warrior, ordinary sage, kindly cleric)
-Suggested beginner party (YT): Hero, Warrior/Fighter/Thief, Priest (Cleric), Mage
-Personalities guide (didn't use in my playthrough): https://dragon-quest.org/wiki/List_of_personality_types_in_Dragon_Quest_III