Dragon Quest 3's new Monster Wrangler vocation is yet another welcome addition to the HD-2D remake
Plus series creator Yuji Horii on why remakes are important.
Square Enix is really piling on the options for its Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D remake, though the inclusion of the new Monster Wrangler vocation is the biggest addition yet.
I previously went hands-on with the game for its initial reveal, describing it as the perfect excuse to properly play such an iconic series. It comes not just with beautifully revamped graphics and sound, but modern features like autosave, varying battle speeds, and - as newly announced (see the video below) - the option to customise the look and voice of each character according to their vocation.
Vocations are the Dragon Quest equivalent to Final Fantasy's jobs, or a typical class system. And the Monster Wrangler is a new addition to Dragon Quest 3, but not to the series as a whole - it's appeared in the likes of Dragon Quest 10 and is inspired by spin-off Dragon Quest Monsters.
There are a couple of reasons to include the vocation in this remake, producer Masaaki Hayasaka told me at Gamescom.
"The world map of all the field areas is much larger in this version than in the original," he said. "Since they are that much larger, we wanted some kind of new gameplay element that players could enjoy using that space.
"The second reason was that in the original we did have a kind of monster arena, but it was where the player would bet on the outcome of fights and, due to rating restrictions, that's not something that was achievable for us to include in this version, but we wanted to have something similar that carried on the spirit and meant that this remake wasn't losing anything."
He continued: "We had these two new elements and we thought wouldn't it be nice if we could find some way of linking the gameplay out on the world map and the monster arena. And that's when we thought of course, the Dragon Quest series has this Monster Wrangler vocation that has appeared in other instalments."
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Indeed, while the vocation can be utilised in battle like any other, it has further significance in linking with the revised monster arena. Instead of betting on the outcome, players instead capture monsters in the field and then battle with them in tournaments. I'd say the idea of capturing and battling monsters is in a similar vein to Pokémon, but really it's taken from gameplay in the Dragon Quest Monsters spin-offs - itself inspired by Dragon Quest 5.
In the arena, monsters aren't controlled directly but are given tactics by the player before auto-battling. This can be altered between each round of attacks and, considering these battles come as a series, managing MP and other resources will be key. What's more, the monster arena offers another chance to appreciate the iconic Dragon Quest monster designs. Yes, I had a slime called Splatrick on my team who must be protected at all costs.
Autobattle is also an option for standard battle with party members. For the sake of this demo, I stuck with this option and turned battles to Ultra Fast. With barely any input, battles lasted around five seconds: not something I'd recommend in general, but certainly useful for grinding or players simply looking to experience the story in haste. At the least, a higher battle speed hurries through the old school text descriptions quicker.
In addition to time with the demo, I was able to ask series creator Yuji Horii about his thoughts on remakes and how important it is for his work to still be playable today.
"Games are completely reliant on hardware," he said. "If the hardware changes, then you can't play those games. I think that's something really quite sad. I feel a sense of loss about that. With a film, no matter how much time passes, you can watch the film. But that's not how it works for games.
"So with this remake, I'm really delighted that we can bring this game to people so that they can play it, even though 36 years have passed since the original. I think that remakes are really important tools in making sure that we preserve games and make them accessible and available for people of all generations."
He added: "I'm sure there must be people out there who are like 'I want to play that game again, I played it decades ago but I want to play it again', but they can't because they don't have the hardware, it's not available. I'm sure there are going to be people out there who are going to be happy to get their hands on remakes and have that chance again."
It's clear with this HD-2D remake Square Enix is taking the utmost care over its longest-running series, adding quality of life features from later games merged with the original experience. The hope, I'm sure, is to mark a new resurgence of love for Dragon Quest.