Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake Announced for Consoles - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 27 May 2021 / 2,855 Views
Publisher Square Enix and developers AMATA K.K. & Team Asano have announced Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake for consoles. While exact platforms and a release date were not revealed, it will release simultaneously worldwide.
View the announcement trailer below:
"Up to now, I’ve worked on various games such as Octopath Traveler and Various Daylife," said producer Masaaki Hayasaki. "The HD-2D style we’re using combines pixel art with 3D effects to produce a sense of depth and atmosphere like nothing else.
"Our hope is that by recreating Dragon Quest III in this HD-2D style, everyone will have the change to experience the game through fresh eyes, from adults who played the original back when it was first released, to little kids picking it up for the first time.
"We’re aiming for a simultaneous worldwide release on home consoles. The release date hasn’t been decided yet, but when it is, you’ll be the first to know!"
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
More Articles
That team needs to tackle a proper FFVI remake next!!! That one should have gone into production the day after Octopath came out!!!
I would much prefer if they went for a great looking 2D style that fits and is reminiscent of the original visual style over a cheap looking 3D style. If not for that style, they should invest some R&D money into making an engine or tweaking one so they can give their classic FF remakes (the pre-Nomura ones) the look of Yoshitaka Amano’s artwork.
With Chrono Trigger, they should go for a style that do justice to Akira Toriyama’s artwork. Taking a page from Arc System Works‘ book and apply it to their games.
Trial of Mana looked good enough, but I wouldn’t be fine with both of those games looking just good enough.
There is no such thing as the “Octo-Engine”
Octopath Traveler used Unreal Engine 4.
I can say it is charming, but not sure if I`ll enjoy yet.
Not sure if i will enjoy this either but will be a day 1 purchase for me.
Cmon, bring to consokes a port of DQ 7 and 8 for 3DS, give people what they want.
I appreciate that some people got into the series at DQ7 and/or 8, but neither has aged well. But I completely disagree. DQ7 and DQ8 were really products of their time, and the 3DS versions really showed how badly they’ve aged even compared to iOS versions or 1-5.
Dragon Quest 8’s biggest appeal was its cosmetic value on PS2; but it’s best left to memory, as playing the 3DS version really showed how its lustre is completely lost with advancements in RPGs. Also, for whatever reason these slow and bloated style RPGs were acceptable in that time period, like a glaring flaw that everyone just decided to ignore. Dragon Quest 3 is a huge game, especially for its time, but it doesn’t draw things out nearly as badly as Dragon Quest 7 and 8 (and 6, for that matter) do. Part of the issue with 7 and 8 as well is the lack of a compelling concept... well, 7 had the resurrect the world thing which is compelling, but already done numerous times, and done way better even by Enix’s own Terranigma.
Dragon Quest 1 was the first RPG ever made with all the basic elements, it’s short, but it shows the roots of the genre in a very clean fashion. Dragon Quest 2 is the first one with party members, Dragon Quest 3 is the one with the original mega-twist. Dragon Quest 4 is the one with chapters featuring different starring characters with different mechanics (and has several spin-offs as a result). Dragon Quest 5 is the one where you follow the life of a kid to parenthood, three generations of heroes whose stories intertwine. Dragon Quest 6 is the parallel worlds one. 7 is the resurrecting the world one. Dragon Quest 9 is the one with the local multiplayer that begins as a typical RPG, but has a colossal epilogue is that transforms the game into an Open-World RPG. Dragon Quest 10 is the MMO RPG. Not sure about 11, I haven’t played it. But what was 8? The one that tries to make you care about the super villainy of a cartoony sorcerer called Doulmagus.
In my opinion, the golden age of the Dragon Quest franchise was 3-5. So this is exactly the game they should be remaking. DQ3 also has a much better world and story than 7 or 8, despite being told through the highly limited by the NES medium. There was always the potential for it to go far with a revisit and modernization. Something the 3DS modernizations of 7 and 8 failed to do. They just didn’t work, as they’re still bogged down with most of the overarching problems of the originals, despite finishing the baking job of some of the half-baked mechanics of the originals (seriously, stuff like the crafting in the original DQ8 are unusable today).
While polls aren’t everything, there’s a good reason why Dragon Quest 3 placed 2nd place on Famitsu’s most recent greatest RPG of all time. The game that got 1st was Persona 5, but the poll was done when Persona 5 was a brand new game, so really, Dragon Quest 3 was the real winner of that poll since it’ll still be there in the next one, while Persona 5 will be long gone.
https://www.rpgsite.net/news/5825-read-what-japanese-gamers-wrote-on-the-top-20-of-famitsu-s-best-rpg-poll
Anyway, my post begs the question... why did I write a 5 paragraph response in a comment section? =P
Answer: procrastination.
Thanks for the reading, very interesting. You should create a thread about DQ discussion.
I Always wanted to play a DQ game but my first one was DQ 9. During the NES era I had a master system so never tried the first NES games released at that time. During the SNES era the games were simply not released in Japan, so impossible to play. During the PS1 era I wanted to play DQ7 but reading all the reviews I just gave up due to how huge and slow the game was. Also the fact that it looked VERY outdated compared to the final fantasies (which I played all) at that time made things worse.
So the first one I was able to play was during the PS2 era with DQ 8 and for some reason I started playing it and never came back to it. Don't know why. But it was so beautiful, such an amazing voiceacting , graphics and soundtrack. I still have the original version for PS2. I guess I was just burnt out of RPG's at that time.
Which brings me to dragon quest 9. I finally played one DQ until the very end, using an emulator on android. And what a blast it was. Suddenly everything came into place, and probably the fact that you could see for the first time your party in the fight helped a lot, also not having random encounters. I had a blast with the game, such a simple and childish plot, but everything was so charming.
My next one was then DQ XI and again, wow... what a game, it's probably perfect 10/10.
So when I look back at the series I cannot play today those 2D games, even the remakes for android. Its just too old for me. Which leads me to the remakes of 7 and 8 for 3DS. There are so many improvements that I believe I will love them. 7 is a full remake in a 3D environment, cutscenes and everything. Looks really good even if the plot is not that good as everybody says. But again the game is about the small stories and not the full plot. Also no random encounters and you can see your characters in battle, full 3D etc. The same for DQ8.
So those are the game sin my opinion and the best to be played today. As I believe they will never be release don consoles the best option will be to play them on Citra when I update my cell phone.
Also I would love t play 10 but this is impossible unlesss omeday someone releases some kind of patch with the game translated and a kind of offline mode to play the plot. Never going to happen.
This is day 1 for me, easily. Dragon Quest 3-5 marks the golden age of the franchise. I think DQ3 might be the oldest RPG that aged really well. Also, probably the one they picked (rather than the whole original trilogy - the only three games in the mainline series with related stories) based on the fact that Famitsu readers for all intents and purposes named this game the greatest RPG of all time in the most recent poll from three years ago - yes it got second to Persona 5, but Persona 5 was newly released when the poll was conducted.
https://www.rpgsite.net/news/5825-read-what-japanese-gamers-wrote-on-the-top-20-of-famitsu-s-best-rpg-poll
Day 1
Give me DQ 3-7 in this exact format and I will buy it on switch and PC on day one. Go ahead I will double dip all day if you just make what I want
Still not a fan of the "2D-HD" stuff from Square, the lighting and effects turn me off.
feels good owning both, doesn't it?
Essay Pro