Dragon Quest 3 Review

Previously, I took a look at Dragon Quest 1 and 2 together. I like both of them but I recognize that they will mostly appeal to retro gamers. Dragon Quest 3 is quite a bit different. Here is my review of Dragon Quest 3 on the Nintendo Switch!

While Dragon Quest 3’s story is not as great, for instance, as Dragon Quest 11 on the Switch, it is a major improvement over Dragon Quest 1 and 2. In DQ3, the main character has a backstory and there are interesting mysteries set up and unraveled as you play the game. Best of all though, Dragon Quest 3 has better gameplay than the first two.

Dragon Quest 3 on the Nintendo Switch is a great game. While the first two Dragon Quest games were directed toward retro jrpg fans only, Dragon Quest 3 is a game that any rpg will enjoy.

In Dragon Quest 3 you are given more direction on where to go and you get traveling companions right away! Like Dragon Quest 9 (my favorite entry in the Dragon Quest series), you create your team by going to Patty’s. You can pick up the people Patty has available or you can go upstairs and create your own group. Each team member has a job and different ablities that will help out the group. The party members and jobs help make the battle system even better than the first two.

Speaking of the battle system, its still first person but the enemy artwork and backgrounds are much better. Exploration in Dragon Quest 3 is actually fun too. Sure you still have random battles but there is much more see in this game’s world DQ1 or 2. This game even has mini-games! Dragon Quest 3 feels more like the Dragon Quest that fans know and love.

Meanwhile, its graphics are alot better than one and two. The characters are smaller in this game and fit into the enviorments more. And each area you visit, whether it be dungeons or towns, look very detailed! The graphics are still not as good as Dragon Quest 11’s 2D mode, but fans of that game should still enjoy this one.

Dragon Quest 3 also has the same controls as the first two, which is a good thing. None of these games control badly.

If you’ve never played Dragon Quest 3 before, you can’t go wrong with this version. And if you have played it before, I think you’ll be happy with the Switch release.

When you finish Dragon Quest 11 S and you want to play another Dragon Quest game, go directly to Dragon Quest 3. Its the best of the retro ports to the Switch!

Dragon Quest 3 gets an 8.0 out of 10.

Thank you to Square Enix for providing a digital code for this review! Dragon Quest 3 is now available on the Nintendo Switch eshop.