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Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake sold better than expectations, according to the latest Square Enix Financial Results Briefing Session Nine-Month Period Ended December 31, 2024 sales reports shared on February 7, 2025. However, overall sales are down from the previous financial year.

The latest Square Enix financial results show that the company is still struggling to meet sales expectations. It has seen a fall in net sales from 257 billion yen in FY 2024 to 248.5 billion in FY 2025, and operating income has fallen from 34.9 billion to 33.3 billion. However, their HD Games segment saw a noticeable rise in profit, which Square Enix attributes to higher sales of Dragon Quest III HD-2D than expected. As such, while this segment has fallen in net sales, profit increased from 2.7 billion to 4.6 billion.

Aside from Dragon Quest III sales, Square Enix also saw positive results in the MMO sector thanks to the release of Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail. Net sales here went from 34.8 billion yen to 44 billion, while profit increased from 14.4 billion to 17.3 billion. The amusement and merchandise sectors also saw some gains. However, the mobile games sector has proven less successful for Square Enix. Net sales are down from 78 billion to 56.3 billion, while profit has fallen from 13.5 billion to 5.6 billion.

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake was a remake of Dragon Quest III in the style of games like Octopath Traveler, which utilize 3D environments with 2D sprites. Similar remakes of the first two Dragon Quest games are also on their way.

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is out now for Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.

The post Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake Sales Were Higher Than Expected appeared first on Siliconera.

Microsoft has made significant strides in recent years, bringing more of the games that we cover here at Siliconera to its platform. That shows in our Xbox Game of the Year 2024 nominees! Check out this year’s honored titles.

These awards represent the consensus of the Siliconera staff. Multiplatform games are considered on the platform for which they received the most staff . For more of the year’s award selections, check out our Game of the Year 2024 archive.

Persona 3 Reload 4xf3j

While it’s famously missing some stuff, Persona 3 Reload still manages to be the best version of the much-beloved game. The signature Persona style shines with the added visual fidelity, and new features help you to see more story choices and keep more party caught up. (Read our review for more!)

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake 707040

Dragon Quest III is a beloved entry in the franchise and the centerpiece of the Erdrick saga, but its original presentation left it inaccessible to a lot of today’s players. The slick HD-2D aesthetic, combined with a host of quality-of-life improvements and updates? They make this iteration of the game the perfect way to play it. (Shaun's review delves deeper into these things!)

Winner: Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth 182j29

Kiryu and Kasuga’s Hawaiian adventure has all the fun, drama and just plain game inside this game to make it a can’t-miss regardless of whether you’re a long-time Yakuza fan or just showing up now. You can get emotionally invested in its narrative if you’d like, but hey, if not, there’s basically whole Pokemon and Animal Crossing games in here to play too. In many ways, it’s a culmination of the franchise to date! We’re curious to see where Like a Dragon goes from here.

What is your Xbox Game of the Year 2024? Let us know in the comments!

The post Siliconera’s Xbox Game of the Year 2024 appeared first on Siliconera.

Kadokawa announced that Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake has become the most trending game in Japan in 2024. The company based the announcement on the results of a poll taken from 181 people throughout the Japanese gaming industry, which was held by its Weekly Famitsu magazine.

In the same ranking, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Team Asobi's PlayStation 5 exclusive title Astro Bot—which won Game of the Year at The Game Awards 2024—placed second. Atlus' multiplatform RPG Metaphor: ReFantazio rounded up the ranking's top three at third place. The top three titles in the 2023 edition were The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Final Fantasy XVI, and Super Mario Bros Wonder.

In the same press release, the Weekly Famitsu editor-in-chief Hiroko Saga noted that the HD-2D remake of Dragon Quest 3 managed to gain new younger fans in addition to the long-time fans that have been ing the title since its original release on the Family Computer (NES) in 1988. Dragon Quest 3 has been arguably noted as the series' most popular entry in Japan, as it had often ranked the highest in Japanese public polls.

The most trending game poll will be part of the annual end-year coverage for the last Weekly Famitsu issue set to be published in Japan in 2024. The coverage will also include comments from Japanese game creators about their aspirations in 2025. Kadokawa will publish the "January 9-16, 2025" t edition of the magazine on Thursday, December 26, 2024.

Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake, the winner of the most trending game poll by Japanese game creators, is available worldwide on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

The post Dragon Quest 3 Remake Voted the Most Trending Game in Japan appeared first on Siliconera.

In a recent interview with Famitsu, Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake Producer Masaaki Hayasaka talked about the new hint system present in the game and his interactions with Yuji Horii. Hayasaka is part of Team Asano and also worked as assistant producer on the first Octopath Traveler. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

Regarding the new hint system in Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake, Hayasaka said that, while the intention with the remake was to preserve the experience of the original game, the developers also wanted to thoroughly change the parts of the game that could be considered difficult. When they asked Dragon Quest series creator Yuji Horii if he wanted to include features that are commonplace in modern games, such as the hint system, the developer immediately agreed.

Hayasaka was also asked about any other anecdotes when interacting with Horii, and the developer recalled an instance when the team was making a prototype of the Dreamer's Tower. At the time, the team was experimenting with different ways of lay out the map, and the directions were starting to become confusing. After Horii played the test version, he gave the following advice:

Why don't you put a sign somewhere that says, ‘For old people, this way’.

Hayasaka said that the sign wasn't included in the final version of the game, but the team was thoroughly shocked to hear such a simple solution. This anecdote made Hayasaka realize that Horii “creates games from the player’s point of view, and he values things that are easy to understand” in games.

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is readily available on the Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC.

The post Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake Hint System Explained appeared first on Siliconera.

Dragon Quest is at a challenging turning point as Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake debuts, and it one that few gaming franchises will ever have to weather. It is exceptionally rare for a series this old to have retained so much of the same core creative staff from its inception to the present day. From Dragon Quest to Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, three individuals have driven the mainline entries. Yuji Horii, the designer and scenario writer. Akira Toriyama, the character and monster designer. Koichi Sugiyama, the music composer. In an industry where change seems to be a constant, it's unusual to have a creative team stick with a series for their entire lives.

That trio of talents was stable core that led to perhaps one of the most consistent franchises around. Sadly, the march of time has broken up that band, and Dragon Quest will now have to get by without the direct contributions of Toriyama and and Sugiyama. A series long steeped in its traditions now has no choice but to turn to a new page. While we wait to see what that new direction looks like, it's as good a time as any to celebrate the games that made Dragon Quest so special to begin with. The original Dragon Quest trilogy of games has rarely out of circulation for long. With remakes for a wide array of platforms over the years, these three games have almost constantly been available.

Unfortunately, the quality of those remakes hasn't always been ideal. The most recent versions have their roots in feature phone releases, and it shows. Much of the combat animation found in previous releases was cut, perhaps to reduce the size of the for data-conscious customers. For Dragon Quest III, some content was also removed. The end result was a version that took a step back in many ways from its predecessors. That would be fine had it not ended up so ubiquitous, but that was the version that ended up serving as the basis for the most recent console releases on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.

Dragon Quest III deserves better. Luckily, "better" has arrived. Putting that fancy HD-2D tech to spectacular use, Square Enix has done a complete remake of Dragon Quest III with Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. It just rolls off the tongue. This fresh take on the 36-year-old game aims to put a lot more meat on these old bones, and not only in of its presentation. But, you know, also in of its presentation.

This isn't the first time Square Enix performed this trick, with the HD-2D reissue of Live-a-Live showing already how a classic game can be juiced up via these means. This one feels a little different, though. Where that game was a late-era 16-bit release hailing from 1994, Dragon Quest III sits squarely in the middle of the 8-bit era. Its original February 1988 release puts it scant months after the debut of Final Fantasy, when JRPG developers were very much still figuring things out. Is a new coat of paint enough to entice modern audiences?

Time will ultimately have its say on that one, but whatever the outcome no one can accuse Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake of putting in a half-effort. Beyond the candy for your eyes and ears, there are a lot of new things to explore here. Every area is bigger, there are new things to discover in just about every location, and the story has been expanded upon. There are some new enemies to fight, a new character class to play with, and a significantly expanded Monster Arena that provides further incentive to poke around every nook and cranny of the world.

As a result of all of these changes, Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is a much longer game than its previous incarnations. A person could easily spend twice as many hours making their way through this version, perhaps even more if they seek to do and see everything. There is a slight cost to all of this, with the brisk pacing of the original game taking a modest hit. Some of the dungeons in particular can feel a little too big, since most of them haven't become any more complex in the process. The distances between locations of interest are much bigger, too. It's not a huge issue, but those familiar with previous versions are probably going to notice.

Those new to Dragon Quest III are going to have to keep the original game's age in mind as they play. While it has been expanded upon, the narrative of this game is fairly lean. You're the child of the brave knight Ortega, who disappeared while on a quest to put a stop to the villainous Baramos. Upon reaching your 16th birthday, you set out on your own quest to finish what Ortega started and perhaps find some clues as to what happened to him. You'll have to travel the entire world on this journey, and we can see the eventual Dragon Quest custom of each stop having its own problem forming here in a prototypical fashion.

I think Square Enix did its best to flesh out the story of Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake as much as it could. We get some cinematic angles, fully voice-acted cutscenes, and additional dialog to make the NPCs feel less like props. There are some new story beats in here as well. The original game didn't give the main character much more than a basic quest and an ending, so having some additional narrative reinforcement along the way is nice. Nevertheless, this remains mostly true to the source material when it comes to the main plot and your party's place in it.

Your companions on this journey are characters you roll up yourself, more or less. You choose their vocation and appearance, and can then distribute a few stat boosters to customize them. Each comes with a pre-assigned personality that will affect their stat growth, but that's all it affects. They will almost never speak any dialog, and mostly serve as extra bodies in combat. You can choose whether you want to directly command them when the time comes or have the AI handle things via one of a few different routines. Basically, you shouldn't expect any narrative development for your team . It isn't that kind of game.

One thing going for this remake is that for an 8-bit JRPG, Dragon Quest III's world has always felt lively and connected. The remake builds on that nicely. There are lot of NPCs milling about in every town or city, and the layout of the world makes a fair amount of sense for a game of this vintage. There's a reason for that, of course, and those who have played a version of this game before will know what I'm talking about. I'll leave that as something fun for the new players to pick up on, though. The presence of a day and night cycle adds further to this sense of place, and the ability to rest at any inn until the time of day of your choosing helps avoid some of the irritations that system originally caused.

Dragon Quest III HD-2D has a lot of new features like that to make the play experience more comfortable. You can choose between three different difficulty settings. Veterans will probably want to go with the Draconian Quest option, which more closely mirrors the original game, while those who simply want to enjoy the story can pick Dracky Quest, where you literally cannot die. There's a new system that will point you towards your next goal should you want to make use of it, but you don't have to use that if you don't want to. Another pleasant change is that you don't need to talk to royalty to make a hard save anymore, as any person of the cloth will be able to handle that. With both a frequent auto-save and a quick-save option on top of that, you can pretty much stop and resume your quest whenever needed.

A lot of the additions to the game take the form of more information at your fingertips. Full area maps, quick references to how many Mini Medals you've collected, and so on. You have more traversal options, too. You can Zoom to another location even if you're indoors now, and Zoom points extend to almost every location you've visited instead of just the towns. If you Zoom from a location and then use Zoom again, it will take you right back to the original point. This helps cut down on a lot of trekking around, and I think it's a good way to offset the larger size of the areas you're exploring.

There are other incentives to keep you exploring those spaces. First of all, you'll find a lot more random loot laying around in just about every space via jars and barrels. For the most part you'll find basic consumable items, but they can be welcome relief if an outing goes longer than planned. The overworld map offers even more thrills. As you journey, you'll see sparkling spots strewn about. Searching them will give you caches of items and gear, and you can sometimes find really nice things this way. They appear to be random, and new spots will appear as you play.

Less random are the new Secret Spots. These places tend to stand out on the map. Maybe it's a bigger tree of a different color in a forest, or an oasis in the desert. Whatever the case, visiting them will take you to a separate screen. You'll sometimes find NPCs with helpful advice, some goodies in jars or barrels, treasure chests, or even stray monsters. Don't worry, they won't attack. Instead, they tie in with the new Monster Wrangler vocation and the reimagined Monster Arenas. The time of day you visit is important, as certain things will only appear if you come at the right time. You'll come across stray monsters in other locations as well, such as towns, and again it's all about that timing.

The Monster Wrangler vocation is an interesting new element. In their basic form, they're strong fighters who can make use of a decent array of gear. They aren't quite as good at this as the other combat-focused classes, but they make up for it with their abilities. As you find stray monsters and take them in, your Monster Wranglers will get access to some seriously powerful moves. We're talking group heals in the early game, strong multi-hit attacks, and more. How well they keep up with the other classes depends on how much work you put into finding those stray monsters, though. They're helpful to that end, at least. Some monsters are skittish but if you approach them with a Monster Wrangler in your party, they'll easily come with you.

There's another benefit to finding these critters. Square Enix adjusted how it handles the Monster Arena in Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. Once a place where you could scare up some cash by betting on monster battles, these are now places where you take a more direct hand in the action. All the stray monsters you've collected find their way here, and you can pick a team of three to go into the arena. Each rank offers a nice reward for winning while also giving you access to the next rank up. The battles themselves are fully operated by the AI, but you can give them the same guidance each turn that you would give your normal companions. It's typically good enough to get them to do essentially what you want them to.

You can only have one of each monster type in your party, but finding more monsters of the same type will strengthen that first one you picked up. This is the only way to power them up, so make sure to look around every corner. You can find monsters in Secret Spots, in towns and dungeons, and even in castles. Since some of them only appear at certain times of the day, you'll want to scour every spot at every time of the day if you want to fully fill out your collection. It's not necessary to complete the game, instead serving as a treat for those who want to get as much out of the game as possible.

The main quest is essentially as it always was, when you dig down to the core. It starts off relatively linear, but once it's confident the player has their sea legs, it opens up dramatically in more ways than one. You can choose the order in which you get things done to a great degree, but it all needs to be done. You'll also eventually get access to the Alltrades Abbey, allowing you to change your companions' vocations for some sweet multiclassing power. This has always been one of my favorite elements in Dragon Quest III, because you can absolutely create some broken characters that will tear through your enemies.

With that core intact, it means that newcomers are going to have to brace for what is in many ways still that 1988 game. You're going to be fighting a ton of random battles, and even the hyper-fast-forward option can't help that fiftieth fight with an assorted bunch of monsters feel fresh. Sure, they're gorgeously animated, but even that shine can fade when you're deep in a dungeon. The inventory management's UI has seen some improvements to cut down on the busy work, but characters still have their own inventories with limited space. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, but it's something some might not be used to.

The sense of adventure that drove the original Dragon Quest III is as powerful as ever, even with the wrinkles from its age. You've never staying too long in one place, and there's a surprising amount of variety in the tasks you're given in each. There's a good balance between guiding the player and letting them find the way forward themselves. The vocation system gives you a lot of customizability in setting up your party , and this remake gives you plenty of options in of how they look and sound. I think the case could be made that Dragon Quest III is where the series finally got all of its pieces in place, which makes it perfect for a modern reimagining.

Beyond all of the nuts-and-bolts gameplay adjustments, the impressive new visuals and excellent new orchestral recordings of the soundtrack bring this quest alive in a whole new way. Seeing your next destination peek up over the horizon as the water glistens in the morning sunlight and the triumphant score swells up is truly something else. The cities are beautiful, the caves are extra-creepy, and every structure feels carefully hand-built. Even the battle backgrounds look great. The lighting effects in all of these scenes help everything pop just that little bit more.

While there is no denying that the heart of Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake comes from another era, the level of quality across every aspect of this redo cannot be denied. If you love the original game, taking a trip through this version of its world is simply a must. If you've never played it, I can't imagine a better way to experience one of the genre's all-time classics. Its intentional adherence to the source might make some aspects of it hard for newcomers to swallow, but everything that could be done to make it palatable without changing it too much has been. It's a true celebration, both of the game and the series.

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake will come to the Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on November 14, 2024.

The post Review: Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake Does a Classic JRPG Justice appeared first on Siliconera.

Square Enix detailed the streaming and sharing guidelines for the Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake. Sharing images and videos of the game on social media and personal blogs is permitted as long as it is for non-commercial use, as well as playing on streaming platforms such as YouTube, Twitch, or others.

The sharing and streaming guidelines detail that that people sharing images or video of Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake must include a spoiler warning for any major plot elements. In addition, Square Enix asked players to not images, videos, or stream any content including the game’s ending and post-ending until after December 13, 2024. The ending part refers to the end of the final boss battle and until the end title card appears.

Furthermore, people aren't allowed to create videos or playlist of Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake with the intent of showing exclusively the cinematics and story elements of the game, as opposed to gameplay, or only listning to the music of the game.

Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake will come out for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC on November 14, 2024. The Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake will appear in 2025.

The post Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Streaming and Sharing Guidelines Shared appeared first on Siliconera.

When it comes to the Dragon Quest series, Square Enix is no stranger to Dragon Quest III remakes. The NES game ended up being remade for the Super Famicom. That version inspired a Game Boy Color release. Then there was the mobile adaptation, which showed up worldwide. With Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, we’re getting yet another take with a whole new graphical approach and even more original content than in past games. To learn more about its development and additions, Siliconera spoke with Producer Masaaki Hayasaka about the project. 

Jenni Lada: What was it like to work on Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake after working on Octopath Traveler? How did your experience on it shape your approach to Dragon Quest?

Masaaki Hayasaka: I observed how HD-2D games are created and refined through Octopath Traveler up-close, so I didn’t have trouble regarding the sensibility of what we needed to accomplish to create an HD-2D game as it was ingrained in my body. On the other hand, the previous HD-2D games tended to have chic color palettes and atmospheres that were more reminiscent of the old Square games, but this time we had to craft a vivid, colorful atmosphere that felt true to Dragon Quest. 

[Tomoya] Asano-san also gave us an incredibly ambitious marching order to sur our past HD-2D titles, so we deliberately decided to avoid competing with those titles, and instead aimed to tackle HD-2D games from a different direction altogether. The fact that the final game doesn’t utilize any pixel art in the background (apart from the monsters and characters) is a perfect example of this. 

I also drew on my experience as the sound director for Octopath Traveler and put considerable effort behind the sound-related aspects of this game. I was very particular about every single ambient noise, battle sounds, and even the monsters' cries.

When work on the project started, how did more recent HD-2D technologies from games like Octopath Traveler II affect Dragon Quest III HD-2D development?

Hayasaka: People often misunderstand this, but there’s no such a thing as “HD-2D technology” or an “HD-2D engine”. HD-2D games are quite simple when you actually break them down: all you do is place pixel-based characters onto 3D backgrounds and apply effects that make them look good. 

From there, the development teams for each respective title build the rest of the game through their own unique lens, and that's where you start to see the distinct characteristics of each title emerge. In the case of our Dragon Quest III remake, we deliberately wanted to differentiate the game from our previous HD-2D titles, so we tried not to reference them too much (including the most recent Octopath Traveler II) aside from the quintessential HD-2D elements that we felt were necessary to include at minimum. It’s my belief that being influenced by something means gradually moving towards it. 

We’ve seen a resurgence in reviving classic Dragon Quest storylines with new approaches such as with Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince and Dragon Quest Builders. How did work on those open up possibilities for the new Ortega storyline in Dragon Quest III HD-2D?

Hayasaka: To be honest, we didn't really reference those titles. The following is solely an example to give you an idea of what I mean, but those two titles were created to develop a new story as an extension of the original one. 

On the other hand, we aimed to remake the original story without disrupting its flow as much as possible. The additional Ortega episode also fits within this scope of adding a little extra content to the original game. In that sense, our approach towards creating these games was vastly different, and we explored and defined our best approach using the original story as our biggest reference.

How did the team use the original Dragon Quest III and its development resources to create the Ortega storyline?

Hayasaka: I didn't really do anything special for this, either. If I had to say, all I did was receive its text data, play the original game, and do some research. The decision to add the Ortega episode came from my hunch that adding this content would make our players the happiest. I believe the most correct thing to do is to simply play the game and try to think about things from the player’s perspective, and I suppose that’s not something that you can do by tinkering around with resources from the original game.

Square Enix released a video directly comparing the original game to Dragon Quest III HD-2D and how closely one resembles to the other. What sorts of resources did the team have access to when working on the remake and how influential were on the design?

Hayasaka: Our intention was to recreate the feeling and playability of the original game as much as possible, so we used any program resources and data tables that we could. The damage values of the monsters would be an example that’s easy to understand. If there’s a discrepancy with what you that drives you to ask yourself, “Did this monster really deal this much damage?” That would feel odd, right? We used the values from the original as a general baseline to try to avoid that feeling. Even then, we adjusted the balance accordingly because there are various new elements added to this game, so not everything is exactly the same as the original.

How did past Dragon Quest games and Dragon Quest Monsters spin-offs influence the new Monster Wrangler job and monster arena in Dragon Quest III HD-2D? 

Hayasaka: If you're familiar with the Dragon Quest series, you've probably noticed that the Monster Wrangler vocation has been pulled directly from Dragon Quest VI and Dragon Quest X, and that the Monster Arena is pulled directly from Dragon Quest VIII. If you're looking to add new elements without disrupting the world of Dragon Quest, I think it's best to reference existing Dragon Quest titles. 

I think the Monster Arena—which was added by renewing the monster arena from the original game—is the easiest to understand. It's similar to the monster arena from the original game, and when I was thinking about whether there was any other fun gameplay from other games within the DQ series, the first thing that came to mind was the Monster Arena.

How did you determine which monsters would be picked for the arena?

Hayasaka: The first consideration would be based on balance, and the second on fit. Gameplay based on rescuing and befriending monsters has appeared in various forms throughout the Dragon Quest series, and many monsters have become famous because of them. So, we selected which monsters would appear in a way that didn’t undermine the sensibility of a DQ fan. The names of the rescued monsters are a great example of this.

Which Dragon Quest III HD-2D party composition do you personally use, and why?

Hayasaka: I'm sorry because I realize this isn’t very interesting, but when choosing anything, I always prefer whatever is recommended, standard, and default. Because of this, my party composition is the hero, warrior, priest, and mage, haha. In fact, I played through the game with this party composition every time I had to check the most standard game balance during our test plays. Now, I'm completely attached to it.

With Dragon Quest III HD-2D getting this renewed release and the past two Dragon Quest Builders games being tied to the original two titles, how would you feel about a Dragon Quest Builders 3 that ties into this entry for its lore?

Hayasaka: The Dragon Quest Builders series has a strong fan base and is still popular, but unfortunately, we have no information we can share at this time.

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake will be released on PCs via Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Microsoft Xbox Series X/S on November 14th, 2024.

The post Interview: Preparing a HD and 2D Dragon Quest III Remake appeared first on Siliconera.

Trying to update a decades-old game is never an easy task, and it's an even bigger challenge when the game in question is a cherished classic. While Dragon Quest was already a popular series in Japan, it's the third game that really kicked it into the cultural icon status it still enjoys in its home country to this day. As a result of that, Dragon Quest III is no stranger to remakes. That itself presents a further hurdle for Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. How do you stay faithful to the spirit of the original while also making enough changes to ensure this isn't just another remake? Based on my time with the first several hours of the PC version of the game, Square Enix might have managed to gracefully thread that needle.

The most obvious change here comes from the presentation. Just as the title says, Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake uses the HD-2D style that debuted in Octopath Traveler and has shown up in a few other titles since then. For a series that tends to root itself firmly in its own traditions, I can't think of a better way to update the look of the sprite-based entries. Even the simplest of areas look fantastic, and the game takes advantage of this refresh to add significantly more complexity and detail to most locations. Castles truly feel large and ornate, towns more lively and vibrant, and caves more claustrophobic and mysterious. It's an incredible transformation.

Battles don't benefit from this facelift to quite the same extent, but the more complex backdrops and impressive lighting effects are a welcome update. Monsters are more animated than ever, and I particularly enjoyed the new death animations. Adhering to tradition, most of the action in the battles is viewed from a first-person point of view. Your own party are only visible between rounds. With the sprites as detailed as they are, even going so far as to show what kind of weapon they have equipped, it's a bit of shame we don't get to see them in action during fights.

Having been around the Dragon Quest III block more than a few times in my life, I was eager to see what might be new in this remake. As you might expect, the newly-expanded areas have a lot of space to fill. Inside of towns and dungeons, that generally translates to more fully-realized spaces visually, with a few more pots and barrels to check for loot strewn about. Overall layouts have remained similar to the originals thus far, and I would be surprised if that changed later in the game. You can now run by holding down a button, which helps you traverse these larger areas at a good pace.

The overworld map, on the other hand, has a lot more to see. With everything being a lot bigger, incentives to explore off the beaten path are more important than ever. So far, those come in two forms. Sparkling spots are hard to miss, and they can be searched to find caches of items and gear. They're virtually impossible to miss, especially at night, but trying to reach them will sometimes require a little hike. Slightly harder to spot are Secret Spots. Certain features of the landscape might look out of place, and if your hunch is right you might find a small location with some valuable treasures, informative NPCs, and more.

Another new element comes in form of the new vocation, the Monster Wrangler. I benched my usual Fighter in favor of bringing one of these along with me. It's an interesting character type. A fairly strong attacker, and suitable for backing up your Hero in that regard. The Monster Wrangler has its own set of abilities derived from monsters, and it gains new ones as you get to know more monsters. Befriending monsters is a big part of increasing the power of this class, but it doesn't work in the same way it did in previous games. Instead of recruiting them via battles, you'll find friendly monsters in specific locations around the world. Sometimes you need only approach them, but at other times you'll need to lure them or sneak up on them.

Once you find a friendly monster, it will automatically head to the Monster Arena. In previous versions of Dragon Quest III, the Monster Arena was a place where you could wager gold on monster battles. In Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, you have a more direct role. You compose a team from the friendly monsters you've found, then coach them in multi-round tournaments. If you win, you'll earn money and prizes. At the point in the game I've played so far, only a couple of tournaments are available. With monster collecting tied so strongly with empowering the Monster Wrangler, it seems likely the Monster Arenas will ultimately play a far larger role than they did in the past.

Just in the first several hours of the game alone, Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is impressive. It appears that veterans will have lots of new things to enjoy, while newcomers get to experience this classic with a fantastic new lick of paint and plenty of added quality of life features. If the rest of the game is as good as what I've played so far, JRPG fans are in for a real treat.

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake will be released on PCs via Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Microsoft Xbox Series X/S on November 14th, 2024.

The post Preview: Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake Seems Like a Brilliant Update appeared first on Siliconera.

Square Enix shared a new side-by-side video comparing the graphics in the original Dragon Quest 3 release on the Famicom and the Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake. The short video showcases the party entering into the Dreamer’s Tower early in the game.

First, you can check out the comparison video here:

In the new video comparing graphics and environments, both parties in the Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake version and the original Famicom version of the game include the Hero, a female Warrior, a male Priest, and a female Mage.

Despite the size and scale of the environments in the new remake being much bigger than in the original version of Dragon Quest 3, the time it takes for characters to traverse the entrance of the Dreamer’s Tower is roughly the same. To accommodate for the larger maps, the walking speed of characters in the new remake seems to have increased.

Ahead of the release of the game, Square Enix offered new details about the brand-new Monster Wrangler vocation and the Monster Arena, as well as released new screenshots of the game.

Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake will come out on November 14, 2024 for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC via Steam.

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Square Enix already confirmed that some of the new Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D additions would be a Monster Wrangler job that lets you catch creatures to fight in the Monster Arena. Now there are even more details about how the new job and feature work, as well as screenshots showing them off. 

In of the Monster Wrangler, it is tied to recruiting monsters of course. You can see if recruitable characters are in an area with Animal Instinct, then actually approach one if you have one in your party. It becomes more effective as a class as you recruit monsters, since that unlocks new skills. The Monster Pile-On attack damage is also tied to recruited monsters.

As for the Monster Arena in Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D, you can take characters rescued with a Monster Wrangler to fight. Each one can be befriended in different ways. You can also get buffs for making sure you do things like acquire all the Slimes, as any Slime you add to a team would be more powerful after. All fighters are 3v3, and there are multiple arenas to visit.

Here are all the latest  Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D screenshots:

Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D will come to the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC on November 14, 2024.

The post Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Monster Wrangler and Arena Detailed appeared first on Siliconera.

Near the end of the TGS 2024 Denfaminico stream with Yuji Horii and Kazuhiko Torishima about Dragon Quest 3 2D-HD, they discussed the design for the female warrior. To put a long story short, Square Enix needed to adjust the outfit to prevent agencies from giving the game a higher rating.

You can watch the part where they discuss the female warrior design in Dragon Quest 3 2D-HD here:

The costume in the new version of Dragon Quest 3 has some tan fabric underneath the armor. This is reduce how much skin is showing. Torishima, who is a former editor of Dragon Ball, comments that the West, especially America, lets religion influence how they educate children about sex. He states that the West has a very narrow-minded view of compliance and discusses the way that companies have to sell manga based on ages or risk a lawsuit. At the end, he comments that it’s frustrating to work with such a ridiculous country, and that it negatively influences Japan as well.

Horii, creator of the Dragon Quest franchise, follows up that point by stating that back in the day, players could choose between a male or a female avatar. Nowadays, they have to label them as Type 1 or Type 2. While the two of them likely couldn’t get into too many details, the comments about America implies that the changes were not from CERO, which is the Japanese rating system for video games. Rather, it was due to pressure from rating agencies in countries outside of Japan.

Dragon Quest 3 2D-HD will come out on November 14, 2024 for the PS5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC.

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Square Enix announced that Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D will include a new Monster Wrangler vocation, and a character with this job can befriend monsters to use in new Monster Arenas. In addition to confirming the new role on the PlayStation Blog, the company also noted that created Adventurers can be ed and used in additional playthroughs once your game with them is done.

When someone goes to Patty’s Party Planning Place in Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D, the Monster Wrangler vocation will appear alongside other jobs like Gadabout, Mage, Martial Artist, Merchant, Priest, Thief, and Warrior. If chosen as a role for an ally, that character will be able to use the same sort of offensive and defensive attacks as monsters might. The announcement also suggested having one in the party will allow you to recruit monster NPCs you’ll find as you explore. These are creatures you will meet outside of battle. 

If you collect enough and go to a Monster Arena in Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D, you can have them fight against other monsters. You select your team and their tactics, then they automatically battle. As you go through the ranks, you earn things like money, items, and equipment for wins. 

There are also three Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D screenshots showing what it looks like when we happen upon a monster we can befriend with a Monster Wrangler in the wild, what happens when we go to a Monster Arena to fight, and the start of a 3v3 Monster Arena match.

Dragon Quest 3: HD-2D Remake will launch on the Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on November 14, 2024.

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Square Enix shared eight new Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D screenshots that show the returning locations Jipang and Portoga. Both are returning cities from the original game, and the images show major landmarks and some NPC dialogue.

The Portoga images appeared first. One screenshot shows a ship at the docks. Another shows a town square with a statue of two angels. In a third, an NPC is discussing chartering a boat to travel. This is in reference to the fact that by this point in the adventure, the party is trying to get a ship. The last screenshot shows the king’s palace.   

Here’s a closer look at the Portoga screenshots in Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D:

The batch looking at Jipang shows both notable locations and NPC dialogue. One shows an NPC at the gates revering Queen Pimiko, who runs the town. Another shows the ornate temple where she lives. A third offers an overview of the village’s homes. Finally, the last screenshot features an NPC talking about a legendary swordsmith who once lived in the town.

You can see the Jipang Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D screenshots below:

The last update we saw involved Ortega. This Dragon Quest 3 remake will feature additional episodes based on the hero’s father and his adventure.

Dragon Quest 3: HD-2D Remake will come to the Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on November 14, 2024.

The post New Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Screenshots Look at Jipang and Portoga appeared first on Siliconera.

Square Enix revealed that the Dragon Quest 3: HD-2D Remake will expand on the character of Ortega with new episodes and scenes detailing his background. Ortega is the hero of Aliahan and father of the Dragon Quest 3 main character. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

In Dragon Quest 3: HD-2D Remake, Ortega left his wife and child in order to search and defeat the Archfiend Baramos and eventually met an untimely end when he fell into a volcano during a fight. The story of Ortega had not been explored in the original Dragon Quest 3 and its subsequent Super Famicom remake.

Additionally, the Dragon Quest X (formerly Twitter) official shared the new design of Ortega. While the design seems similar to the art style of the late Akira Toriyama, it is unknown if the manga author made his design this time around.

Furthermore, Square Enix also shared new details about some of the locales in the game. Portog is a seafaring nation and one of the key trading spots in the world of Dragon Quest 3: HD-2D Remake. Jipang is a small island nation filled with cherry blossoms and rice paddies. Ibis is a nation situated in the middle of a large desert, originally founded by King Faro, it is now ruled by a queen well known for her beauty. Jipang and Ibis were previously shown in some recent screenshots.

Dragon Quest 3: HD-2D Remake will come to the Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on November 14, 2024.

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Throughout July 2024, Square Enix gradually shared Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake screenshots. The latest batch offered us a look at things like exploring locations, finding treasure, and talking to an NPC in town. 

First, here are the latest four screenshots from the game. In one, we get to see a full party of four characters walking in the overworld near what appears to be Alltrades Abbey and the Tower of Transcendence. The second features an NPC in a town sharing some lore about the world. The third shows the group about to obtain some treasure. Finally, the fourth new image features the group going from a desert into the pyramid not far from the town of Isis.

Another batch of Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake screenshots appeared online on July 12, 2024. Those two focused on combat. The first showed an AOE attack hitting a group of four enemies. The second showed an ally named Nelson’s abilities menu in a fight. It showed he had access to the skills Cop Out, Double-Edged Slash, Mercurial Thrust, Pressure Pointer, and Whipping Boy.

Dragon Quest 3: HD-2D Remake will come to the Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on November 14, 2024.

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