Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation, known as Dragon Warrior III when first released in North America, is a role-playing video game created by Chunsoft and published by Enix in 1988. It is the third game in the Dragon Quest series and was first released for the Family Computer (Famicom) in Japan. Later, it was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in North America. The game was later improved and released again for the Super Famicom (the Japanese version of the Super NES) in 1996 and for the Game Boy Color in 2001. It was also made available for mobile phones and the Wii in 2009 and 2011. A version for Android and iOS devices was released in Japan on September 25, 2014, and globally as Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation on December 4, 2014. This was the first time the game had an official English subtitle. In 2021, a new version called Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, inspired by the HD-2D style used in Octopath Traveler (2018), was announced during a special livestream celebrating the franchise’s 35th anniversary. This remake was released on November 14, 2024, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series consoles.
The first three Dragon Quest games are connected by the same story. Dragon Quest III is the first game in the series’ timeline but the third to feature the hero Erdrick (known as Loto in Japanese versions and the Game Boy Color release). The story follows "the Hero," who must save the world from the powerful enemy Baramos. The Hero gathers a group of companions and travels to different towns and locations to reach Baramos’ hidden lair.
Gameplay
Dragon Quest III is known for adding more features to the gameplay of the original Dragon Quest and Dragon Quest II. The game uses simple role-playing game rules, such as gaining experience points to level up and using items to improve characters. Battles are turn-based, like other games in the series, but remakes added changes to the game's interface. These changes include easier ways to open doors, a bag to store items instead of using a bank, commands to quickly sort items ("Tidy Item" and "Tidy Bag"), and a "Full HP" command to automatically cast healing and status-boosting spells. While earlier Dragon Quest games had non-linear structures, Dragon Quest III offered a more open-world experience. It also allowed players to freely switch characters in and out of their party and introduced a day/night cycle, where certain items, characters, and quests are only available at specific times.
Dragon Quest III includes a class system, where each character has a specific role. The game starts with one hero, who can be male or female, and players can recruit other characters at a local tavern. The Hero always remains a Hero, but other characters can choose from classes such as Soldier (Warrior in the GBC version), Fighter, Pilgrim (Cleric), Wizard (Mage), Merchant (Dealer), Goof-Off (Jester), Sage, Thief, and Monster Wrangler (available in later versions). The class a character chooses affects their abilities and spells. At experience Level 20, players can change a character’s class at the temple of Dhama, halfway through the game. Changing classes resets the character’s stats to half their current level and starts them at Level 1, but they keep their spells and, in remakes, their personality. This allows players to create characters with mixed abilities, such as a character who knows Wizard spells but has the defense of a Soldier. Unlike earlier games, the party includes characters not directly involved in the main story. While only four characters can be in the party at once, extra members can be kept at the tavern for future recruitment. A new feature is an arena where players can bet gold on monster battles to earn more money.
In remakes, after choosing a character, players can use five magical seeds from the tavern to adjust the character’s starting abilities. Each character also has a personality trait that influences how quickly their abilities grow. The Hero’s personality is based on the player’s choices during a dream sequence at the start of the game, while other characters’ personalities are determined at the end of character creation. Most personality traits are available to both male and female characters, but a few are only for one gender. A character’s personality can be temporarily changed by wearing certain accessories or permanently changed by using specific books.
Story
The game begins in the castle town of Aliahan. Like other Dragon Quest worlds, this castle is set in a time similar to the medieval period, with knights and magicians. During the adventure, the party explores caves, ruins, and castles. The geography of Dragon Quest III closely matches real-world geography, and many towns are named after real places. For example, "Romaly" represents Rome, "Portoga" represents Portugal, "Assaram" is near present-day Iraq (named from "as-salamu alaykum"), "Jipang" represents Japan (where the hero fights Yamata no Orochi), and "New Town" in eastern North America reflects the American Revolution against the United Kingdom in 1776.
Dragon Quest III takes place many years before the original Dragon Quest in a world separate from the first two games. A powerful enemy named Baramos threatens to destroy the world. The story follows the Hero, who is the child of the legendary warrior Ortega. The player can choose the Hero's gender, with few changes in gameplay. On their sixteenth birthday, the Hero is called to the castle by the King of Aliahan and given a challenge: to defeat Baramos, a task that Ortega once tried but failed. The Hero can recruit up to three companions to help with the quest.
The Hero leaves Aliahan to travel the world and complete their father's mission to defeat Baramos. A major part of the journey involves finding the last two keys needed to open doors throughout the game. After saving people in the town of Baharata from a rogue named Kandar and recovering the King of Romaly's crown, the Hero receives Black Pepper, which is traded for a sailing ship in Portoga. Using the ship, the Hero finds the Final Key and six mystical orbs used to revive the legendary bird Ramia. Ramia helps the Hero and their party reach Baramos' mountain-surrounded castle.
After defeating Baramos in a fierce battle and returning to Aliahan, the Hero's celebration is interrupted when Zoma, Baramos's master and the game's true villain, appears. Zoma opens a pit to the Dark World, which is actually Alefgard (from earlier games in the series). In Alefgard, the Hero must collect important items from the original Dragon Quest, such as the Sun Stone and the Rain Staff. The Hero rescues Rubiss, a sage turned to stone, and receives the Sacred Amulet in return. These items create the Rainbow Bridge, leading to Zoma's castle for the final battle. Along the way, the Hero briefly reunites with Ortega, who is killed by Zoma's monsters. The Hero then defeats Baramos, now transformed into Baramos Bomus and later Baramos Gonus. With the Ball of Light from the Dragon Queen, the Hero defeats Zoma and frees Alefgard. However, Zoma claims evil will return, and the Hero will not live long enough to stop it. For their bravery, the Hero is given the title "Erdrick" ("Loto" in the Japanese version). The Hero disappears from Alefgard, leaving their sword and armor for future generations to protect the world from evil.
In a post-credit scene of the HD-2D Remake, the Dragon Queen's High Priest promises to protect her child, revealing himself to be Hargon.
Development
Dragon Quest III was created by Yuji Horii, who designed the story, and Akira Toriyama, who created the artwork. Koichi Sugiyama composed all the music for the game. Chunsoft president Koichi Nakamura, who helped create Dragon Quest, said he contributed about 10% of the game’s programming. The game was released one year after its predecessor, which was completed five months after the first game in the series. This showed that the time needed to develop the games in the series was increasing, according to Yuji Horii. In a 1989 interview, Horii said that the structure of the game was perfected in Dragon Quest III, which was shown by the change from a single character’s quest to a group of heroes. The password system used in the first two Dragon Quest games was replaced with a save slot, partly because Horii disliked the long codes players had to remember. Horii had a rule of removing features already used in other games, but this caused problems when another game used the world map concept first. Horii preferred a silent main character to make players feel like they were the hero, but in one part of the story, the hero had to shout, “Leave him to us! Run! Quick!”
The Super Famicom version of the game was released in late 1996, near the end of the Super NES in North America. It was never released in North America because Enix America Corporation closed in 1995. By the time Enix returned, the SNES had already been discontinued in North America. However, a remake for the Game Boy Color was released in both Japan and the United States.
The Game Boy Color version is based on the Super Famicom version. For the North American release, Enix added an anime-style look to the packaging because fans requested it on Enix’s message boards. Both remakes include new features and changes. The game received a new translation that added adult content removed from the original American release, making it the first Game Boy Color RPG with a “Teen” rating. It was also one of the largest Game Boy Color games released in North America, with 32 Mb ROM and 256Kb of save-state SRAM on one cartridge. A new class, the Thief, was added to both remakes. Some class names were changed in the English version, such as Soldier to Warrior. Players could now change into the Jester class at Dhama, which was not allowed in the original. New mini-games, like Pachisi (called Suguroku in Japan), were added. This game is based on Horii’s series Itadaki Street. The Mini Medal system, which lets players collect hidden medals for new items, was added. Another system, Monster Medals, lets players collect medals from defeated enemies and trade them with another player using a Game Link Cable. Two bonus dungeons became available after completing the main story. The remakes have updated graphics, a new introduction with Ortega’s battle against the Dragon Queen, and battle animations. A personality system was added, where players answer moral questions before the game to determine the hero’s personality. The personalities of other party members depend on how players raise their stats. Personality traits affect which stats increase as characters level up. Special items and books can change a character’s personality.
Square Enix released the Famicom and Super Famicom versions of Dragon Quest III in Japan on September 15, 2011, as part of the Dragon Quest 25th Anniversary Collection. These versions include a quick save feature, allowing players to pause at any time, but the save file is deleted when the game resumes.
At the Dragon Quest 35th Anniversary Livestream, a remake of Dragon Quest III was announced in the “HD-2D” style, similar to games like Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy. The remake was released on November 14, 2024. A new class, the Monster Wrangler, was added to this version.
Koichi Sugiyama composed and directed the music for the game. Dragon Quest III’s music appears on several compilation albums, including Dragon Quest Game Music Super Collection Vol. 1, 2, and 3, which feature music from the first six games. The music has also been included in other albums, such as Dragon Quest on Piano Vol. II and Dragon Quest Best Songs Selection ~Loula~. A special compilation of Dragon Quest III’s music, Dragon Quest III ~And into the Legend…~ Remix Symphonic Suite, was released by Sony Records in 1996. In 2011, Sugiyama performed a concert focused on Dragon Quest III as part of his “Family Classic Concert” series. All tracks were written by Koichi Sugiyama.
Reception
Dragon Quest III sold more than one million copies on the first day. About 300 students were arrested for skipping school to buy the game. It set sales records by selling 1.1 million game cartridges in Japan in one day and 3 million in one week. It earned ¥20 billion (about $143 million at the time or $389 million when considering inflation) in one month. The game topped the Japanese sales charts from February through May 1988. It became the best-selling game of 1988 in Japan, with 3.8 million copies sold. It was also the best-selling game in Japan between 1986 and 1989, earning $230 million at the time. Worldwide, the original game sold 3,895,000 copies, including 3.8 million in Japan and 95,000 in the United States. By 1993, the game had earned several hundred million dollars (about $820 million when considering inflation).
Some people incorrectly believe that the Japanese government banned Dragon Quest games from being released on school days in 1988. In reality, the company Enix chose to delay future releases until weekends. The North American version of Dragon Quest III did not sell as well as the Japanese version. This was partly because it was released after 16-bit gaming systems became popular, making it seem outdated to some players.
The Super Famicom remake sold 1.4 million copies in Japan, with nearly 720,000 sold in 1996 alone. The Game Boy Color version sold 604,000 copies in Japan by the end of 2001. It became the fifth best-selling Game Boy Color game in Japan, with 638,551 copies sold. Combined with the sales of these remakes, Dragon Quest III is the most successful title in the series and one of the best-selling role-playing games in Japan. By November 2010, the mobile phone version of the game had been downloaded more than 1,000,000 times. The Wii version of the Dragon Quest Collection sold 403,953 copies in 2011. In December 2024, Square Enix announced that the HD-2D Remake of Dragon Quest III had sold more than 2 million copies worldwide.
When it was first released, four reviewers from Famicom Tsūshin gave the game scores of 9/10, 10/10, 10/10, and 9/10. This was the highest average score for any game reviewed by the magazine in 1988. A review in Famicom Hisshoubon said the game had an excellent story, setting, and events, with some parts more detailed than the previous Dragon Quest game. In 1988, Dragon Quest III won awards for Game of the Year, Best RPG, and Best Character Design at the Famitsu Best Hit Game Awards. In 1989, Famitsu named it the best game released since 1983. A writer for Famicom Hisshoubon, Satoshi Tajiri, called it the most interesting game they played in 1988, praising its smooth controls, clear rules, and ease of use for new players. A survey by Famitsu magazine in early 2006 ranked Dragon Quest III as the third most favorite game of all time, after Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy VII.
In North America, critics said Dragon Quest III was an improvement over the first two games. They praised the new day/night system and the in-game bank but criticized its old-fashioned graphics and interface. Over time, its reputation in America improved because of its gameplay innovations. Nintendo Power listed it as number 176 on their Top 200 Games list. IGN later ranked it as the 96th best Nintendo Entertainment System game. GamesRadar placed it as the 12th best NES game ever made. The staff preferred it over other Dragon Warrior titles because of its job system, which they said was deep and influenced video games. In 2023, Time Extension included the game on their "Best JRPGs of All Time" list.
The Game Boy Color remake received positive reviews. GameSpot gave it a "good" score of 7.6/10, saying it was a worthy version of the original NES game but only suitable for dedicated fans. The publication nominated it for its annual "Best Game Boy Color Game" award, which went to Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages. Nintendo Power gave the remake a 4/5 rating, while IGN gave it a perfect 10/10.
Legacy
The male Hero from this version appears in the mobile game Dragon Quest Rivals, which is only available in Japan. He also appears as a guest character in the 2018 fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate through downloadable content. This is the first time he has a voice actor, Nobuyuki Hiyama. The game's creator, Masahiro Sakurai, said that including the Hero was originally planned to feature the main characters from Dragon Quest III and Dragon Quest XI. However, the number was increased to four, adding the main characters from Dragon Quest IV and Dragon Quest VIII.
Manga
The manga series Dragon Quest Retsuden: Roto no Monshō was written by Chiaki Kawamata and Junji Koyanagi. The artwork was created by Kamui Fujiwara. It was published in Monthly Shōnen Gangan from 1991 to 1997. The series was later collected into 21 volumes by Enix. In 1994, it was released on CD. In 2009, it was made available on the PlayStation Portable as part of a manga library. In 1996, an anime movie based on the manga was released on video cassette.
A sequel series, Dragon Quest Retsuden: Roto no Monshō ~Monshō o Tsugumono-tachi e~, was published by Square Enix. It began in 2005 and is still ongoing. As of December 2012, 15 volumes had been released. The first four volumes were written by Jun Eishima, and the rest were written by Takashi Umemura. Yuji Horii oversaw the work, and Kamui Fujiwara provided the artwork. The series takes place between Dragon Quest III and Dragon Quest.
After monsters controlled the king of Carmen for seven years, the kingdom fell to groups of evil creatures. The only survivors were Prince Arus and the daughter of an army general, Lunafrea. In the Kingdom of Loran, a child named Jagan was born as ordered by the Demon Lord Imagine. Arus, as Loto’s descendant, and Lunafrea worked together to defeat the monsters and restore peace.
The sequel series, Dragon Quest Retsuden: Roto no Monshō ~Monshō o Tsugumono-tachi e~, takes place 25 years after the events of the original series. The world is again in chaos, and a young boy named Arosu begins gathering companions to save the world from evil.
The original series was popular in Japan, with 18 million copies sold. Its sequel also sold well. In August 2008, volume 7 sold 59,540 copies and was ranked 9th in Japan. In February 2009, volume 8 sold 76,801 copies and was ranked 19th. In October 2009, volume 9 sold 40,492 copies and was ranked 16th, with a total of 60,467 copies sold for that volume.