"A 2006 Look at Dragon Warrior 3"

Nintendo has a made a habit of taking their older games, refurbishing them (sometimes), and re-releasing them. Dragon Quest (Warrior) 3 for Game boy color is exactly that. DW3 was developed by Enix and as released for the NES originally. This was a great game to begin with and the remake only brought more to the video game table for all to enjoy in this game. In fact more work may have been done to the refurbishing of this game than there actually work in originally creating the game.

Plot - 6/10. The plot overall is stellar. The execution of the plot is lacking. There is also a “Deus ex Machina” at one point in the game, which left me rather angry, but I will not spoil that plot “twist”. The general plot is that you are a young boy who is going to take up the sword to stop the evil that has enshrouded the world, just like your father who disappeared long ago trying to stop it. You have to venture from area to area collecting stuff, as you do in almost every RPG, but the thing that still bothers me about older RPGs is you have no idea where to go. Very rarely is it even hinted where you have to go next. Many times you complete what you have to do in a city or area and really have no idea where to go. In fact there are also several points where items you need are just hidden on the ground and you have no idea where to start looking or that they even exist. There is a large collecting quest that goes throughout the game, collecting orbs, and you never know where any of these orbs are. They updated and added a few things nice things with regards to the plot, but it seems like they should have done something about this. Overall, the plot is still pretty solid, but not a main selling point of the game that they become in the later Dragon Warriors.

Graphics - 9/10. This is obviously not by 2006 standards, rather Game boy Color standards. The graphics for this game received an entire over-haul from the NES version. Everything does look nicer and there are far more battle animations too. Overall, this game basically pushes the limit of what the game boy color can handle graphically. My only problem is that some monster images are recycled later in the game, but this is not that big of a concern at all. Generally, if you are considering this game in 2006 then graphics are more than likely not your main concern.

Sound - 8/10. A bit repetitive, and in some cases lacking sound, but that is generally expected from an NES port when played out of game boy speakers. Nothing is that amazing, but I still think that there is a good amount of quality in this game. Let's face it, just like the graphics if you are reading this then you are probably not going to avoid this game because the sound is not amazing.

Game play - 10/10. Awesome! This is what separates this game from most others and this is where the most work was done with regards to upgrades from the original. It is a very typical RPG in the fact that you kill monster, gain experience, level up to learn new skills, etc. etc. What is very well done in this game is the class system. Every character belongs to a specific class, such as Clerics (who use heal magic), warriors, mages (who use damage magic), thieves (they steal stuff), and many more. As you level you gain spells specific to the class, not to mention stats go up depending on class. After you hit a certain point you cannot learn any new spells (though you can still gain stats with that character), but you can switch classes! When you switch you keep all your spells, all your stats get cut in half, and you go back to level one. This sounds a lot worse than it really is. Actually, this makes you a lot stronger and you can have almost any type of character. Having all your spells is clearly a good thing and cutting your stats is bad, but what sounds the worst is actually the best. Being level one again is great. If all your other character are high levels then you are getting a lot of experience by killing strong monsters. You can gain maybe three or four levels in one battle when you are at such a low level. You will quickly get your new two class person up to fighting level in no time. My personal favorite was a cleric/warrior, who could kick ass and heal.
The other aspects of the game play are just as cool. There is a personality aspect to the game, which gives your character… well a personality. This can affect certain text, prices, and the stats you get. You get your personality by doing a little activity in the beginning of the game, but you can always change it with books. There is also a lot of collecting to do which is fun. Tiny medals are all across the vast world in random places and depending on how many you have you can get some pretty cool stuff, but it is hard to find these things so the items you get in return are worth it. You also collect monster medals, which are far more annoying to get than there tiny medal counter-part. These things come randomly after a battle and if you can get enough a bonus dungeon awaits you at the end.

Playtime and Re-playability – 10/10 – For its time this game was super long. For a game of 2006, this came is super long. The plot itself is a massive endeavor and if you want to get all the monster medals, then this game may be one of the longest I have ever heard of. The re-playability is great too. There are always new classes to try and new class combinations. I am not sure if anyone has ever re-played this game though since it may be impossible for someone to find enough spare time to beat this game twice.

Overall – 9 /10 – Basically, all I can say here is buy this game. It is probably cheap enough on eBay to be worth it and if you see it in the used section of a game store pick this up without hesitation. This is a great RPG and at a used game price (which I got it for) it is totally worth it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/06/06, Updated 06/21/06