Of course, this game isn’t all rainbows and nostalgia. It has its share of problems, most of which are the simple result of this being an old 8-bit game. Many of the little things that JRPG fans have taken for granted over the years hadn’t been implemented when it came out. Such things as not knowing the stat boost of equipment before you buy it, being able to look through your party’s inventory when selling items, and using a single button-press to talk to an NPC or unlock a door instead of having to select a menu command are particularly vexing. Multi-targeting weapons wouldn’t make their series debut until the next game, and, if you happen to kill all the monsters in one enemy group, a party member set to attack that group won’t automatically re-target to a different one, resulting in wasted turns. And, during battle, while some status effects are shown, the game gives you no indication if any ally or monster has their spell blocked or is affected by any stat buffs.
One major flaw I encountered is the poor response time from the buttons. It’s obviously a hardware issue, so I can somewhat forgive the game for it. However, it is not this bad in other games for the NES. This is not something that drove me crazy just because I’m used to playing more modern games. I remember that, as a kid, I would be entering the wrong command, running from battle when I meant to cast a spell, or warping to the wrong town, because the cursor wouldn’t respond well when navigating the menu system.
The dialogue in the game could have used a second coat of proofreading, as well. There’s nothing too egregious, but there are some typos and the occasional grammatical error coming from an NPC. One woman, exclaims “How could such a thing happen? My husband would be mortified!” even though her husband was killed by a monster in a previous scene, and she is now crying at his grave. While the translators changed the “puff-puff” massage to fortune-telling, the would-be masseuse later asks you how your shoulder feels, which makes no sense unless you know what really happened. And everyone in the game refers to you as Ortega’s son, even if you made your hero female.
This is a great game for anyone who enjoys analyzing a game’s mechanics, as there are some real programming oddities to explore. For example, only certain enemies are aware of their MP levels, and will not cast a spell that costs more than what they have, while others will repeatedly waste turns casting spells that cost more than their max MP to begin with. Also, for the most part, using stat-boosting seeds will hinder a character’s long-term stat growth.
Older games like this are obviously not for everyone. The turn-based battle system will turn some people off, the menu-driven commands will turn off others and the 8-bit graphics even more. But for what it is, Dragon Warrior III is a great game. I found it to be one of the most balanced, well-paced RPGs of the retro era. It has an interesting and diverse world to explore, and amazing music to listen to while you do it. It may not be the best game of all-time, but it’s certainly one of my favorites.
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Overall |   |
