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Dragon Quest III
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Dragon Quest III (Video Game)

Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation (originally named Dragon Warrior III in its initial North American release on the NES), developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix, rounds out the original Dragon Quest trilogy by casting the player as the child of the hero Ortega, who... didn't quite finish his grand journey to slay the evil Baramos. So, now that you're sixteen, everyone expects you to pick up where your dad left off and get to slaying the villain! Thankfully, you're not expected to do this alone: The local tavern serves as an excellent adventurers' hub, where you can recruit a number of loyal party members, ranging from Warriors to Mages and even Gadabouts.

Dragon Quest III is something of a landmark title in the Eastern RPG genre. It was the first game to feature a Job System, allowing you to pick and choose your party composition and alter it throughout the game instead of enforcing static roles. You can also set everyone's gender, meaning that if you wanted to compose a team of amazons, nothing was stopping you, and female characters even got to enjoy a few benefits denied to their male counterparts. This level of customization was novel enough to make the game a major hit in Japan, which in turn would lead to other RPGs building upon Dragon Quest III's style and including job systems of their own.

The game has had a substantial release history. First released for the Famicom in 1988, it was ported to the North American NES in early 1992 (read: after the SNES), which is part of the reason why it wasn't as influential in the west. It received a substantial remake in '96 for the Super Famicom which never got exported due to Enix USA's closure. It was then ported to the Game Boy Color in late 2000, with North America getting a release some months later. Finally, the Super Famicom version got ported to Japanese feature phones in 2009, which wasn't released elsewhere due to differences in phone capacity at the time; however, this version was ported again to iOS and Android smartphones in 2014, and the Nintendo Switch in 2019, with an English option to boot, to much acclaim. On May 26, 2021, to celebrate the franchise's 35th Anniversary, it was announced that this game would get a remake that's part of the "HD-2D" series (the same series including Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy, and Live A Live remake). This remake was released worldwide on November 14, 2024 for the PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Switch. A free Switch 2 upgrade was released on July 31, 2025.

Dragon Quest III contains examples of:

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  • Acronym and Abbreviation Overload: The Game Boy Color version uses this a lot thanks to Character Name Limits and the small screen size.
  • Acquired Situational Narcissism: While helping the growing pioneer town, the Merchant you left there ends up letting the important role they're playing in its growth go to their head and turns it into Egopolis, resulting in a riot and them getting thrown in jail. They get better after thinking things over, and even rejoin your team in the remakes. Though you'll likely not need them by that point.
  • Adaptational Consistency: The Evac spell now costs 0 MP to cast in the HD-2D Remake and acts the same as in Dragon Quest XI, while Patty has her modern design first introduced from Dragon Quest IX onwards and the game can be saved in churches, rather than having to visit the King of a kingdom to do so.
  • Adaptational Early Appearance:
    • The SNES remake added the Mini Medal sidequest that started in Dragon Quest IV, the Thief vocation from Dragon Quest VI, and various skills from the aforementioned game like Eye for Distance, Nose for Treasure, Puff-Puff, Service Call, and Whistle. The following GBC remake also introduced the Pandora's Box from Dragon Quest VII.
    • The HD-2D Remake adds further spells and vocations that wouldn't be introduced until later in the franchise, such as Moreheal from Dragon Quest IX, the Monster Master vocation from Dragon Quest VI (now known as the Monster Wrangler) and skills, such as Double-Edged Slash, Pressure Pointer, and Mercurial Thrust.
  • Adaptational Explanation: Ortega's Helm, added in the SNES and subsequent remakes, is heavily implied to be the same as Erdrick's Helm from the first two games but doesn't especially look like it. The HD-2D Remake adds commentary about how beat up it's becoming from Ortega's adventures and a late sidequest to upgrade it to the Auroral Helm, which does match.
  • Adaptational Late Appearance: The Blue and Dread Dragons from the first Dragon Quest I appear in the GBC remake, as well as the HD-2D Remake, despite not being present in the original game nor the SNES remake.
  • Adaptational Modesty: The HD-2D Remake alters some class designs to cover them up a little more; most noticeably the female Warrior has Nude-Colored Clothes undergarments and the male Monster Wrangler is now wearing a black shirt instead of going bare-chested as he did in Dragon Quest X.
  • Addressing the Player: At the beginning of the SFC remake, the game asks you for your real name (using Japanese only). It doesn't do anything with it until the credits, where it prints the player's name in Latin letters.
  • Aerith and Bob: For the post-GBC remakes, there are only three spells that aren't Onomatopoeias, or that at least have more than one word in their names: Holy Protection, Drain Magic, and Hocus Pocus. "Heal" is also a standard name for a spell, but its upgraded forms are fake words made by adding prefixes or other words to the front of it.
  • All in a Row: Your party is always going in a row behind the Hero.
  • Ambiguous Situation: When you acquire the Green Orb from Theddon, you seemingly get it from a ghost unaware of their passing. However, after getting the Orb, their last words scrawled on the prison wall change to acknowledge this...
  • American Kirby Is Hardcore: For the Game Boy Color remake, the Japanese cover is Erdrick and his party riding on top of the phoenix, with the clown/gadabout holding on for dear life in an amusing scene. For the American release, the cover was simply Erdrick hitting a bad-ass pose, holding his sword out, with a more serious looking party behind him. The party is mostly the same, with a mage and monk, but with the gadabout replaced with an extra warrior.
  • Ancestral Weapon:
    • Inverted: your weapon becomes the ancestral sword of the first two games.
    • Averted for a while: there actually was an ancestral weapon, but Zoma stole and destroyed it! Yours is a fresh copy made from the same stuff, and arguably better, because it's loaded with Good Hurts Evil fresh off the anvil. The HD-2D Remake instead makes it the Sword of Kings the Luminary made long ago from Dragon Quest XI and it's repaired with the Forging Hammer (the same one used by both him and Erdwin) obtained in Jipang and brought to the blacksmith in Kol.
    • The Mountaincleaver (or Sword of Gaia), which you spend most of the game trying to track down and recover from a man named Simão, who's had it in his family for some time. However, the weapon itself is terrible for when you finally get it, outclassed by other weapons, and really more of a key than a weapon, as you throw it into Mt. Necrogond where Ortega seemingly died fighting to gain access to the Maw of the Necrogond and the Silver Orb.
  • Antidote Effect: Paralysis and Poisoning are fairly rare status effects, and the items that cure them (the Moonwort Bulb and the Antidotal Herb) are far more common. You might not get paralyzed even once before your Priest learns "Tingle" for curing it, just as you might never get poisoned before they learn "Squelch". The Bulbs were made more relevant in the Playstation 4 and Switch versions, however, as Paralysis was made a permanent status effect like Poison. Regardless, the major lack of MP-restoring items makes having at least one of each of these a good idea.
  • Anti-Frustration Features:
    • Though each region has its own dialect to reflect the country of origin it is aping from the real world, a majority of characters who directly offer services to the player, such as shopkeepers and priests, speak without any dialects to make it clear what they are offering to the player.
    • The Super Famicom remake forward added in VI's Recall system so the player could choose to remember any important conversation. The HD-2D Remake further improves on this, allowing the player to choose any recorded conversation on demand instead of forcing them to go through them one at a time, most recent first.
    • The HD-2D Remake implements XI's changes to how Zoom and Chimeara Wings work, cheekily pointing out that magic allows these implements to let the player pass through any ceilings above them, simultaneously allowing the player to escape from peril nearly anywhere, save on wasted MP and items, and simply get around faster.
    • The HD-2D Remake not only adds a guide to remind players of mechanics, but also marks objectives.
    • The remakes also added whip and boomerang class weapons which strike multiple enemies, helping to cut down on the tedium of all the random encounters.
    • If you're the sort of player to keep a rotating party (that is, have multiple characters such that it goes over the cap of four members per party), then the Zoom feature to Aliahan is incredibly convenient for you. Not only do you appear at the nearest possible entrance to Patty's Party Planning Place, you're also right next to the hero's house for free healing, and a priestess stands right outside Patty's Party Planning Place to make saving more convenient. This saves having to trek through Aliahan to get basic services beyond crossing the city to get to the Mini Medal Manor.
    • The Blasto/Bazoom spell originally knocked characters out of the party entirely, forcing the player to return to Aliahan to retrieve them. In the HD-2D Remake, the effect is temporary and characters will return at the end of the battle.
    • The HD remake added flags to the tightropes in places like the Tower of Transcendence, which are there to mark where players should jump off to reach difficult-to-enter areas, such as the Tower's hidden treasure.
  • The Archmage: Sages can use both Mage and Priest spells, ultimately learning every spell from both classes. They're also better fighters than either class, giving them something of a Red Mage feel.
  • The Artifact: The HD-2D Remake produces several of these, by changing certain game mechanics. Notably, around half of the Utility Magic spells have lost most of their initial purpose.
    • "Tick-tock" is more of a convenience than anything else now; formerly, time only passed in the overworld when you moved, but now it's merely slowed while you're doing nothing.
    • You can now use items directly from the bag, which sorta defeats the point of "Click"; unless you'd rather train a Mage to Level 34 than engage in the somewhat-perplexing quest for the Ultimate Key, anyway. "Click" also had this problem in the prior remakes, which gave your party a shared bag to exchange items between, and this also slightly damaged the purpose of "Tick-tock" and "Fade".
    • Changes to Zoom render the following redundant, albeit only once it's unlocked:
      • Zoom can now do the exact same thing as "Evac". On the other hand, Evac now comes 7 levels earlier than Zoom for the Hero, and it's now more aesthetically-different from Zoom.
      • Zoom no longer resets time to the early morning, so the Night Light has lost much of its initial purpose and is mainly a time-saver now.
      • Zoom no longer costs MP, so staying at an inn is now a complete waste of money when you can fully refresh at Mum's house for free. (Doing so also makes it day.) At least until Baramos is defeated. However, if money to afford an inn is an honest issue at that point in the game, the player has bigger problems.
  • Artifact of Doom:
    • The Golden Claws. In the original game, it causes an enemy fight almost every step by vastly increasing the rate of random encounters. In subsequent versions of the game, this only happens while you are in the pyramid; exiting the pyramid breaks the curse. Also in the original, this was the only additional claw the martial artist could use other than the standard.
    • Anything that curses you when equipped. Unlike most Dragon Quest games, they don't have any uses as items either.
    • Bonus points, however, go to the Sword of Ruin, a cursed weapon that is second only to the Sword of Kings in terms of sheer damage, and has a much higher critical hit rate than comparable weapons, but carries the downside of preventing you from attacking about every 1 in 3 rounds. In the original NES version, this weapon is actually sold in a weapon shop in Rimuldar(!), despite the curse.
  • Artificial Brilliance: The AI in the HD-2D Remake is relatively competent. They have a penchant for exploiting enemies' elemental weaknesses and will often cast a lower-level spell when it's enough to win the fight. They will also use healing spells and skills to react to events that happened in the same turn, which the player is unable to do.
  • Artificial Stupidity:
    • If you get ambushed in an encounter (granting the enemies a free round of attacks), monsters will sometimes waste their free turn with a Defend Command, despite that there is no way for you to attack them (yet).
    • In remakes, enemies who were going to target a character that died earlier in the turn still do, wasting the attack.
    • Enemies will waste turns trying to cast spells when they don't have the MP to cast them.
    • In the HD-2D Remake, enemies with spells don't recognize when all spells have been sealed by the Fog of War skill. That's a minor relief in the Maw of the Necrogond, as Armfuls can cause Silhouettes to waste turns failing to cast Whack or Thwack.
    • Monsters that cast Bounce on themselves will still happily target themselves with buffs, bouncing them onto your characters.
  • Attack Reflector: The Bounce spell makes its debut in this game, reflecting spells back at enemies. Also, the Spiked Armor, which deals damage whenever an enemy attacks whoever wears it.
  • Awesome Moment of Crowning: Provides a sort of temporary Non-Standard Game Over at one point in Romaria. The reigning monarch isn't exactly in any shape to go take on Baramos, after all...though the HD-2D Remake gives the player a trophy for doing so.
  • Bare-Fisted Monk: Martial Artists. This makes them a very good pick, because you don't have to get them weapons for the most part. In fact, most weapons actually decrease their attack power.
  • Battle Bikini: Female characters can equip these, drastically raising their evasion and making the enemy react erratically. Also, the female warriors wear this all the time (oddly changing into a one-piece when they equip the actual bikini "armor"). Two kinds of bikinis were in the original game: a standard bikini that was the weakest armor, and a very rare magical version that's pretty good if you can get it. The remakes add a third one: a "sacred" version that blows away the best armor and is second only to a dress made of concentrated holy light! Game-Favored Gender? Yes, and we all love it.
  • Bears Are Bad News: The Ursa monster line makes its debut, with the Ursa Minor being the weakest, while the Ursa Mega is the strongest. The Game Boy Color remake would introduce the Ursa Argentum, a new relative encountered in the Ice Cave. (In the HD-2D Remake, they're instead encountered in the Temple of Trials alongside Grand Dragon and the other monsters encountered in the Ice Cave, such as Blue Dragons, Hardy Hands, and Golden Glooms.)
  • Betting Mini-Game: In the monster arenas, you can bet your money for one of the fighting monsters, though the HD-2D Remake instead makes them genuine monster arenas by pitting your team of monsters against others.
  • Big Bad: Zoma turns out to be the one that's behind all of this, with Baramos serving as The Dragon.
  • Bittersweet Ending: The Hero defeats Zoma, saving the world, but the portal to their home realm is sealed off in the process and Zoma declares a prophecy that long after the Hero is dead, evil will rise once more. The King of Tantegel bestows upon the Hero the title of Erdrick—or Loto in Japanese and certain English translations—the highest honor of the land. The Hero spends the rest of their days in this new world, giving their gear to various families for protection, and eventually having a child (or children), thus starting the bloodline of descendants who become the heroes of Dragon Quest I and Dragon Quest II.
  • Black and White Magic: Mages for 'black' magic, Priests for 'white' magic. Sages get both.
  • "Blind Idiot" Translation: The Polish description for the game on the Google Play store has the blurb "Dostosuj swoją drużynę i wyrusz na wyprawę, by zabić arcyprzyjaciela", which translates to "Set up your team and embark on a quest to kill the archfriend". That's the complete opposite of the intended translation for "archfiend", which is "arcywróg".
  • Boring, but Practical: With a variety of character classes that can lead to dozens, if not hundreds, of party compositions most players (especially beginners) will typically go with the combination of a Warrior, a Priest, and a Mage and stick with them, likely switching one to a Sage when they find a Words of Wisdom. This is such a common team that it became a Mythology Gag in future entries in the series such as Dragon Quest XI.
  • Boring Return Journey: The game does not conclude with the defeat of Zoma. You complete the game by returning to visit the King of Tantegel and can go anywhere you like before doing this, including visiting towns to receive thanks from all the people you've saved. While getting to the Big Bad involves thousands of random battles, after his defeat, there are none to be found, even in the dungeons, since apparently defeating the boss results in the elimination of all his mooks.
  • Bowdlerise:
    • The girl that gives you the Puff-Puff massage simply tells your fortune in the NES. Somewhat odd because she later asks if your shoulder feels any better, which only makes sense in the original context. The Game Boy Color version calls it a "powderpuff massage". This one is not a Bowdlerization, as the context is still there.
    • Priests were renamed Pilgrims in the NES localisation, and the tavern where you recruit party members became an "eatery".
    • The HD-2D Remake changes the name of Isis to Ibis, as a way of distancing from ISIS.
    • In the HD-2D Remake the female Gadabout antic where she tries to make a monster submit to her was changed from "putting on heels and taking out a whip" to "putting on a crown and taking out a sceptre".
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: In the remakes of III, the game addresses you, the player, for your personal information at the start of a new game. This disembodied voice actually belongs to an NPC you meet late in the game.
  • But Thou Must!:
    • You have to let the Recurring Boss Robbin' 'Ood go (twice) after beating him, because you can't actually decline his plead for mercy with "No". Can't kill him off when he's still got problems to cause, right?
    • When the King of Romaria offers his throne to you. He simply will not take no for an answer. In the remakes, he does give up if you tell him no five times, since you have an adventure to do and a Archfiend to slay, as well as his master.
    • Double-subverted with having to meet the King of Aliahan at the very beginning. In the Famicom/NES version your mother simply blocks the bridge, but in all subsequent versions she will instead repeatedly ask you if you don't want to see the king. Do this enough times and she will give up and leave, leaving you free to walk around and even leave town to start your journey. However, this changes your personality to Mule (Stubborn in the GBC localization) which gives you severe penalties to most of your stat growths, though you can overwrite this with books or accessories. What's worse is you won't be allowed to recruit party members at the tavern until you get the king's blessing, meaning that you'll have to make the journey solo. And you'll inevitably hit a wall when a required questline asks you to bring a merchant from your party, meaning that eventually you will have to go back to the king in order to complete your quest. He'll be cold at first about being snubbed, but he'll give his blessing all the same.
  • Call-Forward:
    • A citizen of Cantlin mentions his desire to build a Golem to protect the town from Zoma's army, much like it will try to protect Cantlin from the Dragonlord years later, only for it to have difficulty discerning friend from foe.
    • The HD-2D Remake's intro upon the game starting up shows a mural of two girls wielding wands that resemble the Godbird Sceptre from Dragon Quest VIII, as well as Ramia/Empyrea's design from that game. Said Sceptre can also be obtained as a reward for clearing Rank 10 of the Monster Arena in Jipang.
    • The image of Ortega before the future Erdrick slays Garboyle after a harrowing battle against the monster responsible for the Hero's father's hardships would later be similar to the Hero slaying Kyronos via a vision of Padre.
  • Canon Character All Along: The HD-2D Remake reveals that the Dragon Queen's High Priest is Hargon, who would turn to villainy by Dragon Quest II. It also implies that he raised the Dragonlord from the first game to become evil and steal the sphere of light.
  • Can't Argue with Elves: The faerie queen is so pissed that her daughter eloped with a human that she curses everyone in his hometown of Norvik to sleep eternally, never aging. She later regrets her harshness when she learns that she had actually driven her daughter to more drastic measures than she realized. She agrees to free the village because she says that is what her daughter would've wanted, not because of any sympathy for the inhabitants.
  • Can't Drop the Hero: Not until you beat the game, that is. After that, you can drop him / her off at the tavern at any time.
  • The Capital of Brazil Is Buenos Aires: Inverted. The city of Manoza (Samanao in older translations) is the largest settlement on the continent corresponding to South America, and is located in the west of the continent in an area with many mountains, much like Peru. It was also home to a warrior named Simon, who was exiled for standing up to the corrupt king. The newer translations give characters there Portuguese names, including changing "Simon" to "Simão," despite the fact that both Peru and Bolivar's native Venezuela speak Spanish.
  • Cardboard Prison: At one point, a king has the party thrown in jail... along with all of their weapons, items, teleportation spells, and a key that can unlock any door. Though this is averted in a sense, since the guard who threw you in there hints that he is aware of the king's treachery, and is actually trying to help you.
  • Cast from Hit Points: The double-edged sword is a weapon version of this before it became a skill to be used from Dragon Quest VI onwards. Amusingly, the Double-Edged Slash skill itself is present in the HD-2D Remake, learned by Warriors at level 16 and is also used by Lethal Armours, Skelegons, and Grievous Bodily Arms in battle.
  • Cats Are Mean: Vampire Cats and Catulas make their debut to the series, the former being notorious for fighting alongside Crabber Dabber Doos, since they can Fizzle enemy spells while the crabs cast Kabuff to increase their DEF.
  • Cat Scare: In Jipang, checking the pots in one basement causes you to discover a human head. …Which turns out to be attached to the still very much alive body of a young girl hiding out in there to avoid being sacrificed.
  • Character Customization: The game has you build your own party and choose their names, genders, and vocations (which can be changed later on, except for the player character who is permanently locked to being a Hero), which is actually pretty impressive for the 8-bit era. The SNES remake introduces personality as well (though as Heroic Mimes, this only affects stats and not story). More notably, the HD-2D Remake adds four different face/hair/headgear sets for each gender/vocation combo, about a dozen hair colors to choose from, and a choice of voices (though none of these apply to the Hero); the first time a "2D" Dragon Quest has allowed this level of customization.
  • Chekhov's Gun: One paid off from two games before, in fact. In Tantegel during Dragon Quest I, an NPC will offhandedly mention that, legend has it, the hero Erdrick was from another world. Two games later, and sure enough...
  • Chokepoint Geography: Chokepoints are constantly used. For example, the only way to reach the lake where the Shrine of Shackles is located — which you need to do in order to progress — is to sail up two very narrow rivers. Though, your ship will always be pushed backwards by the Shrine's guardian's song until you gain the Lover's Locket.
  • Class Change Level Reset: This applies when you have your characters change their class. Since you can’t change the Hero's class, this does not apply to them.
  • Combat Medic: Priests have a far better selection of weapons than Mages, while Sages outdo them both, even able to wield some of the strongest weapons available.
  • Continuity Nod: At the beginning of the HD-2D Remake, the Hero's mom is seen reading a book and putting it back on the shelf before going upstairs to wake him/her up. This exactly matches the final scene of Dragon Quest XI. Even the voice lines are almost exact matches. In addition, the game confirms that Zoma broke the Sword of Kings that was made by the Luminary long ago by festering on the emotions of Alfegard's people.
  • Contractual Boss Immunity: Bosses tend to have 100% resistance to a few spell types.
  • Convection, Schmonvection: Your party can walk next to lava pools without getting harmed while navigating Orochi's Cave.
  • Cool Sword: The Erdrick's Sword◊, also known as the Sword of Light or Sword of Kings: an ancient one-handed broadsword with a curved hilt resembling a Phoenix bird. It is forged from Orichalcum, sends a whirlwind towards enemies, and can only be wielded by the lineage of the legendary hero. It has cut down lords of chaos, dragons, demon lords and gods of destruction.
  • Cosmetic Award: Defeating the Grand Dragon in the HD-2D Remake in less than 20 turns grants you the Grand Medal, an item that's just for show.
  • Crutch Character: In a way, merchants. While they don't get much passive power at character creation, their equipment selection is excellent early on, including several exclusive items that are more powerful than comparable items available for everyone else at the time. And, most importantly… Their EXP track is the fastest in the game. By far. Even faster than warriors. It's very common for merchants to be two full levels ahead of everyone, very quickly, and for a while the extra stats from this keep them competitive. They begin to run into high-end equipment issues beginning in Isis, though, and by then an extra few levels isn't quite so much of a swing. Once you get to Baramos, even in the later versions, a Merchant will be struggling to keep up.
  • Cursed Item:
    • Following the previous two games, cursed equipment could be found in this one; they typically come with extreme tradeoffs for whatever benefit they had, and forbid the changing of equipment without a Church's Benediction or the "Sheen" spell.
    • A special cursed weapon is found in this game that is only cursed until you leave the dungeon you find it in. The weapon, a special Golden Claw, could be found in an extra path of the pyramid. The claw is an Artifact of Doom and while it is in your inventory just about every step you take will lead to an encounter.
  • Cutscene Incompetence: The Hero comes across their long-lost father Ortega in the depths of Zoma's Castle. Ortega is fighting a battle against King Hydra, and seems to be holding his own, but finally runs out of MP for healing and dies. Neither the Hero nor their party considers joining the battle, providing the needed healing, or using one of their spells or items to bring him back to life after he dies. In the remakes, you can wish to bring him back to life, courtesy of the superboss Xenlon. The HD-2D Remake justifies this by having the Hero and the party held off by a Dragon Zombie, Hydra, and 2 Franticores and Soaring Scourgers.
  • Dangerous 16th Birthday: On your sixteenth birthday, the king officially sends you off on your father's quest. Nice present, eh?
  • Dead Person Conversation: Reaching Theddon from where it's first mentioned takes twelve in-game hours, resulting in it being nighttime by the time you first arrive. A nun along the way mentions that he used to serve the community in a dour tone, but Theddon is fine when you get there; the buildings are decayed like in Novrik, the church has certainly seen better days, and the people speak in an antiquated fashion, but everyone seems fine. Then, after you stay at the inn and wake up in the morning, everyone disappears; a short search will reveal that everyone's dead, and that you were speaking and bargaining with ghosts.
  • Developer's Foresight:
    • In the event Ortega defeats King Hydra due to cheating, he still dies from wounds suffered before the battle, and the hero fights a resurrected King Hydra.
    • If the Hero is dead after the Zoma battle, the game automatically resurrects them once the party leaves Charlock Castle.
  • Difficulty by Region: The North American NES version gives you better starting gear and boosted gold and experience gains compared to the Japanese version.
  • Disappeared Dad: The Hero's father, Ortega, is fighting Garboyle, a gargoyle-like monster note  on the rim of Mt. Necrogond during the game's prologue. They both fall in and Ortega is never seen again, while Garboyle survives and is rewarded by Baramos for this deed. Until you get to near the end of the game, where King Hydra kills him, and then you finish it off for him.
  • Disc-One Final Dungeon: Baramos's Castle/Lair. Likely one of the first examples of this in role-playing games, and one of the most effective since you've already explored most of the known world up to that point.
  • Disc-One Nuke: It was possible in the original NES version to get a modest pile of money at the beginning of the game by registering warrior class characters, taking their expensive weapons / armor, selling it, then returning the character to the eatery and deleting their registration. This would let you easily amass enough gold to buy the best equipment at the first two towns for all your characters, which made the beginning of the game a bit easiernote . Re-releases fixed this by having every registered character join the party with no equipment, but the King 'gives' you four full sets of equipment…
  • Disproportionate Retribution: When you enter Manoza, there will be a funeral in the town for someone that was executed for bad-mouthing the king. Or, to be more precise, the king's replacement.
  • Distaff Counterpart: The only differences between men / women of each class are… physical appearance, female-exclusive armor, and a few personalities in the SNES and GBC remakes.note  (Only male recruits get access to an amusing Easter Egg involving the series' Fanservice Running Gag, though.)
  • The Dragon: In addition to Baramos, the Big Bad Zoma has three of them. King Hydra, Soul of Baramos, and Bones of Baramos.
  • Dub Name Change: Most towns, but only very few people. The most significant being the title of Erdrick (though the GBC version briefly reverted to the Japanese title of Loto, as the shorter name fit the small screen better).
  • Dungeon Bypass: Mages and Sages can learn plenty of out-of-battle spells that cut down on a bunch of item-searching, if you have infinitely more patience for Level Grinding than for treasure hunting:
    • In case you simply cannot find the Ultimate Key, Mages and Sages learn the "Click" spell at around Level 35; this is intended to free up three inventory slots on your party, since it also has the function of the Thief's Key and the Magic Key.
    • If you can't find a Fading Jenny (or just don't want to buy one) for slipping into Edina, but you still want to get the Ultimate Key, Mages and Sages learn the "Fade" spell at around Level 33. Aside from that instance, talking to people while invisible can be very funny.
    • If you just can't locate the Night Light, Mages and Sages can learn the "Tick-Tock" spell at around Level 25; not that this is necessary, since you can progress time by taking 120 steps, but the spell and item both limit your exposure to monsters.
  • Eagleland: The new town that you create corresponds to various New England colonies in Real Life, such as Plymouth. It quickly becomes a merchant hub and overthrows its greedy ruler, and in the HD-2D Remake, mention is made of the names "Nevada" and "Trayven".
  • Easter Egg:
    • In the remakes, the Hero has the ability to "memorize" NPC speeches and dialogues, which the player can play back again by using the Hero's Recall spell. As the Hero levels up, it gets upgraded versions of this spell, Remember and Recollect. If you use these upgraded spells without having memorized too many pieces of dialogue throughout the game up until that point, the Hero will be able to remember a conversation they overheard between their parents when they were just a small child. (This does not apply to the HD-2D Remake, due to changes to how Recall works.)
    • The swimsuits will give female characters a new sprite; in earlier versions of the game there's a unique swimsuit for every class. (The HD-2D Remake gives each class the same swimsuit but in different colors.)
  • Egopolis: The Immigrant Town that the Merchant founds is named after them in the format <Name>burg. Fittingly enough, said Merchant lets it get to their head.
  • Encounter Bait:
    • In the remakes, Gadabouts can learn the Whistle ability, which instantly triggers a random encounter.
    • In the HD-2D Remake, the Musk item increases the random encounter rate in addition to masking the party's scent so they can approach friendly monsters that flee from it without a Monster Wrangler.
  • Encounter Repellant:
    • Thieves can learn the Padfoot skill, which lowers the chance of triggering a random encounter. Unfortunately, it also raises the chance of being surprise-attacked when an encounter does trigger.
    • The Holy Protection spell for the Hero and the Holy Water item cut encounters with enemies of a lower level than the Hero.
  • Evolving Title Screen: In the HD-2D Remake, the title screen updates after specific points in the storyline
  • The Fair Folk: Believing a human man has kidnapped her daughter and stolen her village's treasure, the Queen of Faeries places an eternal slumber curse upon the village of Norvik, despite them having nothing to do with her daughter's disappearance.
  • Fake King: The king of Manoza and Queen Pimiko of Jipang were kidnapped/killed and replaced by a Boss Troll and Orochi respectively, with the former using the stolen Mod Rod to take his form.
  • Fanservice: As of the SNES and GBC remakes, equipping a female character with any kind of bikini armor will replace her overworld sprite with a swimsuit-clad version of her original self. In the fully-2D versions, every class gets a different kind of bathing suit, ranging from bikinis, one pieces, school bathing suits (floater ring included) except for the female Gadabout, whose default overworld sprite is already wearing a one-piece. Instead, she gets a dominatrix costume, with leather whip and mask included.
  • Fantasy Counterpart Culture: The world map is loosely based on that of the real world, with many cities corresponding to actual nations:
    • Jipang (Zipangu in the NES version) is an analogue of feudal Japan, being a small island nation, with villagers dressed in traditional clothing. Characters like Himiko and Orochi also corresponds to Japanese legends.
    • Ibis (Isis in the NES version) is a desert kingdom, complete with a pyramid, and is pretty clearly based on Ancient Egypt.
    • Romaria (Romaly in the NES version) is based on Ancient Rome, located in the north-center of the equivalent of the Mediterranean Sea, and has forts across its region. It's also the first place you find a monster arena.
    • Khoryv (Kanave in the NES version) is a frontier kingdom in land of snow, and is based on medieval Russia.
    • Mur (Muor in the NES version) is a city located to the north of Jipang, and from the mobile versions onward, it is also given a Russian spin, thus corresponds to the far east Russian city of Vladivostok.
    • Norvik (Noaniels in the NES version) is a snowy kingdom in a northern peninsula, based on medieval Scandinavia.
    • Skyfell Tower (Tower of Shanpane in the NES version) is located in the area corresponding to France.
    • Portoga is based on medieval Portugal, being a seafaring trading kingdom located in a western peninsula.
    • Asham (Ashalam in the NES version) is a desert kingdom of trade based on medieval Baghdad, with a "Arabian Nights" Days spin.
    • Baharata is based on medieval India, located in a southern subcontinent, complete with spice traders and a holy river.
    • Alltrades Abbey (Shrine of Dhama in the NES version) and the Tower of Transcendence (Tower of Garuna in the NES version) have a distinct Buddhist spin, and are based medieval Tibet, a Buddhist kingdom.
    • The northern continent of Grimland (Greenlad in the NES version) is based on Greenland in real life, a desolate land of snow.
    • The southern continent of Rimland (Liamland in the NES version) corresponds to Antarctica.
    • Edina (Eginbear in the NES version) is an island kingdom off the Western coast of Skyfell Tower, and named after Edinburgh but based on medieval England.
    • Lanson (Lancel in the NES version) is a large desert continent to the south of the equivalent of the Pacific Ocean, and corresponds to Australia.
    • Manoza (Samanao in the NES version) corresponds to Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire, although it has an European flavor.
    • Fifer's Spire (Tower of Arp in the NES version) is located to the south of Persistence and corresponds to Mexico, and is given a Mayincatec makeover in later versions.
    • Persistence (Soo in the NES version) is a city consisting of nomads based on various native tribes of North America.
    • The player-built town to the east of Persistence corresponds to New England, and its process of colonists immigrating before engaging in a revolution also corresponds to American history.
    • Theddon (Tedanki in the NES version) is based on southern African kingdoms such as Great Zimbabwe.
    • Mount Necrogond, a large volcano in the east of the Africa equivalent, roughly corresponds to Mount Kilimanjaro.
    • The continent that the hero grows up on is the only entirely fictional landmass in the game world; it looks sort of like Antarctica if it was shrunk a bit and moved between Australia and South America. It can also correspond to the mythical continent of Mu, supposedly located in the Pacific Ocean.
  • Fast-Forward Mechanic: The Night Light item instantly turns day to night, as well as the Tick-Tock spell.
  • Fauxshadowing: The fact that the pirates are in a hard-to-reach location, are built up as fearsome, and their lair is very ominous suggests you'll have a tough boss battle on your hands. Not only do you not have to talk to them at all to get the Red Orb, if you do, they're friendly pirates to you because they know you're trying to save the world and let you have the Orb for free.
  • Fire, Ice, Lightning: The series has the Sizz and Frizz (Fire), Crack (Ice) and Zap (Lightning) families of spells. The latter is exclusive to the Hero. Fire Spells were already available in the original DQI, and DQIII was the game which introduced Ice and Lightning magic.
  • Fix Fic: The remakes feature Xenlon (Divinegon in the North American GBC release), a wish-granting magic dragon. Both Ortega and Pimiko can be brought back to life through wishes, either directly or indirectly.
  • Foreshadowing: The High Priest in the Castle of the Dragon Queen in the HD-2D Remake has a scepter with a red crystal on top, which is the same kind that Hargon uses. That's no coincidence; the High Priest is Hargon.
  • Fragile Speedster: Martial Artists and Thieves have great speed, but low defensive stats.
  • Franchise Codifier: The game was not only the Trope Codifier for the Eastern RPG genre, but also solidified the direction combat in the series would take. Dragon Quest I was a simple game where you controlled one Magic Knight fighting against one monster at the time while Dragon Quest II experimented with the idea of multiple combatants, with the party leader being a Magically Inept Fighter with the other party members being a Magic Knight and a Squishy Wizard, who are both capable of offensive and support magic. Dragon Quest III solidified the combat roles of characters by introducing a Job System, having classes (or rather Vocations) with the main character being the Magic Knight "Hero" class along with providing iconic vocations such as the strong but slow Warrior, support magic focused Priest, attack magic specialist Mage and fast but fragile Martial Artist. Even entries of Dragon Quest without the Job System have characters fulfill roles based on the established vocations.
  • Franchise Three-Invention: Dragon Quest III sets itself as disconnected from the first two Dragon Quest games by taking place in a different world, with Alefgard nowhere to be found and the proceeding hero being the protagonist's father Ortega rather than Erdrick. Until you get to the World of Darkness anyways, as that place is revealed to be Alefgard some time before Dragon Quest I, with the protagonist eventually revealed to be Erdrick, obtaining the title after defeating Zoma.
  • Fun with Acronyms: In the HD-2D Remake, the system to create a new party member is the Premiere Adventurer Listing Services (PALS). And as part of it, you fine-tune their stats with Supplementary Educational Enhancement Dispensations (SEEDs)
  • Game-Favored Gender: Males and females have no statistical based differences, but female characters have more exclusive armors, accessories, and personalities to pick from, and they tend to be much stronger than male-exclusive ones. A prime example is the "Vamp" personality ("Sexy" in the GBC translation), which is easily the best one in the game as it's the only one where the growth bonus for every stat is above 100%.note  To drive the point home, the male equivalent is the "Lothario" personality ("Lewd" in the GBC translation), which is obtained in the same ways, but offers nowhere near as good stat growth bonuses. The HD-2D Remake removes the gender restrictions on personalities including "Vamp", but male characters can only start with it and can't use items or equipment to change to it while a male Hero can't even start with it and can only gain it through a somewhat hidden side event that occurs more than halfway through the game (though at least "Lothario"—now called "Charmer"—has been improved, though it's still not as good as "Vamp"), and equipment is still unaffected.
  • Ghost Leg Lottery: The fifth floor of the Fifer's Tower dungeon features one of these puzzles. It gets a call-back as the boss arena of the Gate of Wisdom in Dragon Quest Monsters.
  • Ghost Town: Theddon is one such example, both figuratively and literally, as it was destroyed in a demon-led assault on the town due to its unfortunately close proximity to Baramos's Castle/Lair. No one is left alive by the time of the start of the story-line, but you can interact and do business with the ghosts of the former residents at nighttime. Likewise, one very significant item, the Green Orb, can only be acquired at night, though the Dying Fires and their Phantasm lackeys have to be fought first in the HD-2D Remake before obtaining it.
  • Glass Cannon: Martial Artists are impressively strong even without a big weapon set, and boast a naturally high Critical rate. However, while they have decent HP, and high agility (which increases their defense), their armor choices are… rather lacking. The HD-2D Remake adds the Monster Wrangler which is about as fragile, but their skills really let them wreck enemies.
  • God Save Us from the Queen!:
    • One personality defining scenario involves a selfish queen misleading the king for her own profit. The faerie queen is a vengeful witch fond of Disproportionate Retribution.
    • Jipang's leader, Pimiko demands regular Human Sacrifice of young girls in her nation. However, she is actually Orochi, a five-headed dragon.
  • Good Morning, Crono: At the very beginning, the Hero's Mother wakes up the Hero on their sixteenth birthday to go meet the king and take up Ortega's quest.
  • Gotta Catch Them All:
    • In the GBC remake, every monster randomly drops a medal; first Bronze, then Silver, then Gold. Getting enough of them gives you access to the second Bonus Dungeon. Getting all of them makes the Grand Dragon superboss fall asleep. Wait, what? This has an explanation, although it took a significant amount of work to discover it. They had intended to do a similar Dragon Quest IV remake with the same Monster Coin system. These coins are even hidden in Dragon Quest III's data files. You would have, in theory, been able to transfer your coins to the other game in order to complete the full set — which they replaced at the last second with Grandragon falling asleep, when they decided to port IV to the PSX instead.
    • The HD-2D Remake makes this very literal with the Monster Arena where the player has to track down different monsters to expand their monster team. And if you have a Monster Wrangler on your team, they'll learn new moves (and some of their moves will scale up) as you collect more monsters.
  • Grimy Water: Charlock Castle, where Zoma waits for the Hero and his Party, is surrounded by purple, poisonous swampy water just like in the Dragonlord's time. The access to the Great Pit of Giaga — and the Dark World — is also encircled by a toxic purple swamp.
  • Guide Dang It!:
    • External boosts to Resilience and Wisdom have no effect on their derived stats; HP and MP, respectively. Many accessories are thus of esoteric benefit, though most provide personality changes that lead to increases in the matching stats through level-ups. Averted in the HD-2D Remake, where Wisdom also effects spell damage giving boosts from equipment actual use, and the stat that effects HP growth has been relocalised to "Stamina" and has no equipment that boosts it.
    • Versions of the game prior to the HD-2D Remake derive Defense from Agility, but Agility-modifying spells don't modify Defense.
    • Nowhere in-game are you warned that, unlike in most JRPGs, you can walk right off the open-air edges of the towers. This is especially egregious in the Playstation 4 and Switch versions, where the game takes after the NES version by having a completely empty background for upper floors. The HD-2D Remake marks these holes with white outlines while invisible walls have black outlines.
    • Do you know "Evac"? Do you think you can just teleport out of the Kidnapper's Cave after letting out Tanaya and Gopal Gupta? Well, you can, but they won't be at Baharata when you make it back there. The HD-2D Remake averts this by having Tanaya scream after she and Gopal run off screen to let you know you're not done yet.
    • The map that comes with the game had a chart which shows when a character will learn a spell. However, this is only the earliest opportunity for them to learn the spell. When a character learns a spell is based on their intelligence, and not their level; unfortunately the manual neglects to mention this!
    • In the original NES/Famicom version, you are prompted to bring a merchant to the coast east of Soo (Persistence) to build a town. You are warned a couple of times that this means the merchant will leave, but if you push forward, that merchant is gone: once the events of the new town are complete, the merchant will stay in jail to ponder their actions for the rest of the game. Later remakes will eventually allow you to recruit the merchant back to your party, but the original game had no such leniency, though it was nice enough to give you any equipment that the merchant had before removing them from your party.
  • Handicap Mission: The Temple of Trials in the HD-2D Remake contains two chambers that limit your selection of weapons. One forces you to use only staves and axes and another forces you to only use claws and boomerangs. Equipping any other kind of weapon in those chambers heavily debuffs the wielder so that they take tremendous damage while dealing very little.
  • Harder Than Hard: The HD-2D Remake includes three difficulty levels: Dracky Quest, Dragon Quest, and Draconic Quest. Dracky Quest is almost insultingly easynote , but Draconic Quest is extremely difficult. While you can get through most of the game on Dragon Quest difficulty without a problem, Draconic Quest expects that you'll be grinding, as the gear you get won't be sufficient to withstand the assaults from regular enemies, much less bosses. You'll need to either do some hardcore leveling or have a very clear idea of exploitable weaknesses for enemies to succeed, and bad luck will still crush you.
  • Have a Gay Old Time: This game has a country named Isis as Fantasy Counterpart Culture to Egypt, prior to the HD-2D Remake renaming it Ibis. The name refers to the Egyptian goddess, not the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
  • Healing Hands: The main reason for bringing Priests along, though The Hero also gains considerable talent in this area, with the expensive Omniheal spell as one of the final spells the Hero learns.
  • Hello, [Insert Name Here]: Not just The Hero, but everyone you create / recruit as well. Though the Hero does have a canon name; it's Erdrick in the flesh, the fabled legendary hero from the first and second installments of the series, though the finale reveals it is a title, instead of a name.
  • Heroic BSoD: The King of Aliahan falls into a massive one after Zoma reveals himself, falling into despair over how meaningless the war against Baramos was now that an even greater threat is encroaching on the world, and resigns himself to awaiting the world's destruction at Zoma's hands.
  • Heroic Mime:
    • As usual for the games, our hero doesn't speak anything outside of [1].
    • Averted in the original Japanese Famicom version and its English NES translation, where he yells for a kidnapped couple to run away from Robbin' 'Ood (Kandata in Japanese).
    • Your party members get few words in but for the most part don't speak, with one clear aversion: after returning from Gaia's Navel, the party member in the second position will have a comment/question about your experience, dependent on their class/gender. If you sent a party member to the dungeon and put the Hero in the second position, he/she will have Visible Silence instead.
    • Averted in the HD-2D Remake with the Puff-Puff scene. Even the Hero will speak during it and the second member will have dialogue before and after.
  • Hidden Elf Village: The queen of the faerie village was offended after her daughter ran off, and put a nearby village to sleep. Even after she discovers that her daughter committed suicide, she makes you do the gruntwork for removing the curse and still doesn't like humans.
  • Holding Out for a Hero: After Ortega's death, it feels like the whole world basically just waited for his heir to come of age. Certainly everyone in your hometown did. But hey—no pressure, right?
  • Honest Axe: There's a pond you can visit that your character will drop their weapon into. A water spirit then appears and offers you a really powerful weapon, which if you accept, you don't get, because it isn't yours. However if you say it isn't yours and then say that the original weapon you dropped is yours… You get your original weapon back, and that's it. This was removed in the HD-2D Remake, instead examining the spot in the middle of the pond gives an Iron Axe and a friendly axe wielding Hoodlum can be found nearby, both referencing the original parody.
  • Hope Spot: After defeating Baramos and returning to Aliahan, the king and his men celebrate how you saved the world, only for Zoma — the game's true Big Bad — to reveal himself and announce he will soon crush the world. This, right on the heels of Baramos's defeat, even causes the king to have a rare heroic This Cannot Be! reaction.
  • Human Sacrifice: Jipang is terrorized by Orochi, who demands a regular sacrifice of young maidens. Upon confronting the beast, you learn that Jipang's leader, Pimiko, is actually Orochi, explaining her attitude.
  • I Am Who?: Erdrick, that's who!
  • Iconic Outfit: All of the classes, but particularly the hero's. If they aren't exact in games, they'll at least resemble them. They're mentioned in Dragon Quest IX, as equipment used by an ancient [class] of old. Played with as Rule of Funny in Dragon Quest VII onward, as the Pip and Conk families of monsters are tiny critters who dress like the default set of heroes in III, but are so tiny that they use leaves and hollowed nuts as armor, and use rocks and sticks as weapons.
  • Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: In the HD-2D Remake, there are three difficulty levels, which the player can switch between at any time:
    • Dracky Quest (easy): "For those who want to breeze through battles and savour the story. Switch to this difficulty if you find the going's got too tough!"note 
    • Dragon Quest (normal): "For those who want a fair challenge. If you're not sure which difficulty's for you, give this one a try!" note 
    • Draconian Quest (hard): "For those who want a real challenge. You'll face stronger foes, and earn less experience points and gold coins to boot."note 
  • Improbable Weapon User: Merchants can equip abacuses, in versions after NES. In the remix, the best abacus is one of the best weapons in the game!
  • Inconsistent Dub: Some of the English names have changed with various rereleases. The mobile release, in addition to adopting modern names of spells, vocations, and Alltrades Abbey; renamed all of the personalities from what they were in the GBC version. The HD-2D Remake generally keeps the personality names from the mobile version, but switches a few of the formerly gender-specific ones to make them gender-neutral ("Amazon" became "Bodybuilder", "Lothario" became "Charmer", "Princess" became "Aristocrat", and "Tomboy" became "Tear-Away"; the last two "Lucky Devil" and "Vamp" stayed the same).
  • Inconsistent Spelling: Dub Name Change aside, there's still some disjointment between proper spellings of a few towns: The biggest being Sioux / Soo, Jipang / Zipangu, and Assaram / Ashalam / Asham. The last of which gets a few raised eyebrows.
  • In-Universe Game Clock: The game introduced a day / night cycle, with day and night lasting 120 overworld steps each. Sleeping at an inn would always take you to morning, as would teleporting via the Chimaera Wing or the "Zoom" spell. An item now called the "Night Light" would take you straight to night, found in a town of ghosts who aren't around during the day, while the "Tick-tock" spell could flip between morning and night.
  • Infinity -1 Sword: There are a number of weapons in the game that are extremely powerful, but not as good as the legendary Sword of Kings.
    • The Headsman's Axenote , found in Baramos's castle, is a powerful weapon only equipable by Warriors. It hits hard and has an increased chance to do critical hits, which benefits the Warrior's relatively low luck stat. The HD-2D Remake nerfed it slightly by making it miss more frequently, essentially turning it into a non-cursed version of the Sword of Ruin.
    • The Sword of Ruinnote  has just 5 less Attacknote  than the Sword of Kings and has greatly increased critical hit chance. However, it's cursed, and causes the wielder to skip one-third of their attacks. Whether the curse is worth it is up to the player.
    • The Dragon Killer swordnote  in the original NES/Famicom game is one of the best weapons in the game available for purchase, and can be acquired in Samanao (Manoza in remakes) for 15,000 gold. It's only outclassed by the Demon Axe and the Thunder Sword for Soldiers and the Hero, respectively, and acquired much earlier. All the remakes made it more powerful and in the HD-2D Remake made it equipable by Martial Artists, but made it unavailable until much later in the game.
    • The Thunder Swordnote  is the most powerful sword for the Hero before fighting Baramos in the NES version. It's outclassed later, but it will serve as a very powerful weapon for that boss fight.
  • Infinity +1 Sword:
    • The Sword of Kings, in both gameplay and story in the NES version. The original note  was actually stolen and destroyed by Zoma, but it took him three years to do it. Even if he slept, that's a lot of effort for one of the series' strongest villains, especially when the sword wasn't even new like the copy you eventually get.
    • The remakes have the Destructiballnote : it's stronger than the plot related Sword of Kings and hits the entire enemy party to boot, but is only obtainable in the post-game.
    • The HD-2D Remake adds several post-game weapons that are stronger than the previous version's strongest weapons the Sword of Kings and Destructiball, but Rubiss' Sword from the Game Boy Color remake is by far the strongest of them all, having a whopping 44 more Attack than the second strongest weapon. It's also equipable by all classes, and casts Kazap, the strongest attack spell in the game, for free when used as an item. To obtain it in GBC version you to beat the hardest Superboss GranDragnnote , making it something of a Bragging Rights Reward, though it still has a minor use in making repeat fights against GranDragn easier for those that want to obtain its Monster Medals. To obtain it in the HD-2D Remake you need to beat Xenlonnote , the second hardest superboss, in few enough turns to qualify for a wish, then request a powerful sword as said wish.
  • Interface Spoiler: In the remake versions of the game, defeating Baramos yields 65536 experience points for the party, indicating that he is not the final boss.
  • Intrepid Merchant: You can hire Merchants for your journey, and they can fight like other classes.
  • Irony: You buy the Zombiesbane from a ghost merchant who doesn't realize he's passed on (but only in the Famicom/NES version).
  • Jack of All Stats:
    • The Hero have decent stats, equip various weapons and armor, and learn both offensive and defensive spells.
    • While unable to learn spells, Merchants qualify for this early on, with well-balanced stats that can out-Jack the hero during the early game.
  • Job System: One of the earliest known examples to the RPG genre. Save for the hero, characters aren't locked to one class or archetype for the entirety of the game as once they reach level 20 they can switch to a new class. While it knocks them back to level one, they keep half their stats and any skills or spells learned beforehand which makes getting them up to speed not so tedious. With enough patience and foresight it's possible to create anything from a versatile Magic Knight to a Jack of All Trades support character to a Lightning Bruiser with no real weaknesses.
  • Joke Character: Gadabouts like to waste turns telling jokes and fooling around instead of doing whatever you actually told them to, and the chances of them goofing off rises along with their level. There are times when their antics actually result in something useful, though. But they're also the only class in the game that doesn't require any items to turn into a sage at Level 20.
  • Layered World: Once you are able to access the Great Pit of Giaga, you drop down to the World of Darkness below. However, conversations with characters in this world, and your journey into Talontear Tunnel to get the Hero's Shield, reveal that Zoma crawled out from somewhere BELOW that world. And this may have been doing occurring for several additional cycles ("This world, too, will be covered in darkness..").
  • Lethal Joke Character: If you have the patience to take them to level 20, the otherwise Joke Character Gadabouts can become Sages (one of the most powerful classes) for free. Everyone else needs a book (of which there are only two in the game, one of which is just before the Final Boss). The HD-2D Remake even gives them skills like Hustle Dance and Harvest Moon if you level them up past Level 20.
  • Lethal Lava Land: The heroes have to delve into the Orochi's Cave, a cavern filled with lava pools which works as a five-headed's dragon lair.
  • Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards:
    • Early on, warriors can deal heavy damage to enemies while Mages are hard pressed to beat Slimes without burning into their relatively small mana pool. Later on, though, Mages get multi-target spells and single target one-shots, while Warriors are stuck mashing A. This is especially poignant because of a distinct lack of bosses in the game. There are certainly boss fights, but not nearly as many as you'd expect in an RPG, meaning that the warrior classes, which can normally outdamage Mages against singular targets, don't get many opportunities to show this off. The HD-2D Remake helps alleviate this a bit by expanding their skill pools and adding a few more boss fights throughout the game.
    • It's worth pointing out that part of what makes the Hero so indispensible is that s/he starts as a warrior and gradually converts over to the magical side of things; in the original release Thordain (later Kazap) is the be all, end all in damage, and Healusall (later Omniheal) makes the Hero unquestionably the best healer in the cast. The Hero might still utilize the attack command against casual enemies, but it's more or less certain they'll overwhelm Zoma with lightning magic. Even in remakes that made physical might more broadly useful, the Hero maintains a vital role on the team as someone who can reset the battlefield with Kaclang or heal everyone back to full in one go, which is something no other vocation can do.
    • During the postgame stages of gameplay in the remakes, especially the HD-2D Remake, warriors come back around via Wild Side and Monster Pile-On (though whether or not these techniques constitute a warrior or a mage's repertoire is up to the player, as the Monster Wrangler can be played either way) and through tricks like Persecutter, but almost all their heavily damaging abilities rely on a mage to help them set up properly. Mages, through the Duplic Hat, Channel Anger, Spooky Aura, and their own usage of Wild Side, can also keep up relatively well. Overall, the postgame evens things out so that both sides need each other to get the most out of their abilities.
  • Locked Out of the Fight:
    • The Hero is the only one allowed to enter the Gaia's Navel (although technically, anyone can enter the dungeon: it's dependent on who's in the first position in the lineup).
    • Erdrick and their comrades are blocked from interfering with Ortega and King Hydra's fight in the final dungeon.
  • Lost in Translation: The Temple of Dharma and Book of Satori reference Buddhism, but this is not as apparent in games with the Dub Name Change of Alltrades Abbey and Words of Wisdom.
  • Magic Compass: The Boatman's Bone is used as one to locate the Ghost Ship.
  • Magic Knight:
    • The Sages almost hit this; they learn all the spells of mages and priests, and have much better choices for weapons and armor.
    • The Sage's weapon and armor selections map closely if not identically to the Gadabout's.
    • The Hero is a straight example of the type. Class changing a Mage or Priest into a fighting class can also yield a Magic Knight.
  • Magical Land: Turns out Alefgard, and by proxy Torland, is this of the Another Dimension sort. The Goddess Rubiss actually created said world herself, a Tantegel NPC making mention of people coming from Ailahan meaning that the Hero's world was one that had already existed before it, to boot. Then Zoma and demons happened.
  • Magikarp Power:
    • The Gadabout class seems useless at first, but they can eventually change straight to the powerful Sage class without using a rare item, unlike everyone else. Plus, in the later versions, they learn Whistle, which summons monsters—potentially shaving hours off your Level Grinding. They also have an absurdly high Luck stat, which has a few helpful effects, including helping them save against magic attacks.
    • For the HD-2D Remake, the Monster Wrangler starts off pretty weak, possessing the same stats as a Martial Artist but without their high critical hit rate. With levels, however, they get a wide spectrum of abilities as they that make them something of a red mage (but without the weakness to Fizzle). Wrangling monsters gives Monster Wranglers another path of progression, adding damaging and self-buffing skills that all Monster Wranglers can benefit from!
    • In the HD-2D Remake's monster wrangling, the recruitable Slime is the first monster you get and starts off weak, but gets stronger the more of them you recruit; with five of them recruited, the Slime is one of the strongest monsters in the game.
  • Mana Drain: There's the traditional version of this as a spell called Drain Magic, which makes its debut and can and only learned by Mages (and Sages), as well as a weapon version that powers up by draining the wielder's MP. The latter is surprisingly useful in areas that prevent casting spells.
  • Mana Potion:
    • There is only one MP-restoring item, the Prayer Ring, which is reusable but has a 10% chance of breaking each time. There are only four in the original release, barring use of the Mod Rod to humor the shopkeeper at the Super Secret Faerie Village, and only five before the Bonus Dungeon in the remakes. The remakes allow Imps in the overworld to sometimes drop Prayer Rings, but the drop rate is less than a tenth of a percent.
    • The HD-2D Remake added in the Magic Water, Sage's Elixir, and Elfin Elixirs series staples.
  • Meaningful Name: Both subtitles carry the same meaning for the game, even though the Westernized one might be misleading at first.note  "Thus, into Legend" and "Seeds of Salvation"; the Legend of Erdrick/Loto is born, and the seeds are planted for a certain solitary knight to emerge and slay a certain almighty dragon in the distant future.
  • Mighty Glacier: Warriors. Powerful and durable, but very, very slow.
  • Metal Slime: There are Metal and Liquid Metal Slimes like previous entries, and they give you lots of EXP after defeated.
  • Minigame Zone: The SNES and GBC versions include Treasures n' Trapdoors — a man-sized board game — and most other versions of the game include Monster Arenas with the HD-2D Remake expanding them to include various prizes for beating the different levels.
  • Monster Arena: Initially, you could bet money on what monsters would win and earn lots depending whether or not the monster that was betted on won. In the HD-2D Remake, however, it's the usual fights between Monster Teams from Dragon Quest VIII, Dragon Quest X, and the Dragon Quest Monsters series.
  • Moth Menace: The Batterflies and their Betterfly and Dread Admiral relatives make their series debut, troubling enemy parties with Dazzle and other debilitating attacks like Poison Attack and Paralysis Attack.
  • My Rules Are Not Your Rules: Before the HD-2D Remake, completely different systems determined whether or not a spell or breath attack worked on a party member or on a foe, and/or how effective they were:
    • Monsters have set percent chances to completely resist related spells, even damaging ones. For example, a monster with 25% Fire Resistance has a 25% chance to be completely unaffected by a Frizz, or a Sizz, or a Bang, each time it's cast upon them. Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Wind each have their own resistances, along with basically every debuff or status effect spell.
    • Party members have two percent resistances, Breath and Spell, which are hard to come by and affect all instances of damage; so, for example, a Fire spell cast on a party member with 25% Spell Resistance does 25% less damage. Whether or not they resist the non-damaging spells is determined by Luck.
    • For the breath damage from Dragons, monsters use the same system as the party's, but with their existing resistances. Interestingly, their Resistances are half as effective against breath as they are against spells.
  • Mythology Gag: In the mobile phone/Switch version, as well as the HD-2D Remake, the inhabitants of Alefgard speak in Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe, an homage to the original English translation of Dragon Quest I and Dragon Quest II.

    Tropes N-Y 
  • Nerf: The HD-2D Remake adds a separate resistance for the "Bang/Boom/Kaboom" line of spells, which circumvent the enemy grouping system and hit everyone; before then, they went against Frizz/Sizz resistance. Bang resistance is now quite common.
  • No Infantile Amnesia: The Recall / Remember / Recollect set of spells in the remakes (excluding HD-2D) lets the Hero dredge up memories from further and further back. If you haven't memorized too many conversations, this includes the last time they ever heard their father's voice, with their mother pleading for him to think of their baby.
  • Non-Indicative Name:
  • Nostalgia Level: The final area in the game is the overworld from the first game. Which sets up the reveal that your character is actually Erdrick, the legendary hero mentioned in the previous two games of the series.
  • Not Completely Useless: Kaclang petrifies your entire party for three turns, making them invincible but also unable to do anything. Is it a waste of MP? Not in some cases; it replaces all status effects on your party (including Snooze and Dazzle) with itself, and some foes will actually run out of their own MP while trying to dent you!
  • Not His Sled: In the HD 2D remake, you'll get a rude awakening from new bosses who weren't there before. You'll get your first taste of what the remake has in store in the Pyramid, which previously had no boss.
  • Notice This: In the HD-2D remake, you'll notice blue sparkles on the World Map. Inspecting them gives you an assortment of items, weapons and/or armour.
  • Nude-Colored Clothes: The female Warrior was given light orange garments under her armor in the HD-2D Remake. The more covered-up design had previously appeared in Dragon Quest of the Stars and Dragon Quest Treasures with black to match the male Warrior, but flesh tones were presumably used this time because they're more easily hidden in the 2D sprite work.
  • Obvious Rule Patch: The original NES/Famicom had several unusual design choices that were changed in all subsequent updates.
    • The Golden Claws in the original game are the best possible weapon for a Martial Artist and can be acquired before you even Get on the Boat. However, the curse that afflicted them made it so that as long as they are in your inventory, you get into a combat encounter every. Single. Step. This, of course, made them completely impractical as a weapon despite their power, and relegated the Martial Artist to a lower tier as a result, simply because their damage output wouldn't be as good as an equally leveled but better equipped Soldier (even with a higher critical hit rate!). Later versions had the curse around the Golden Claws be dispelled once you escaped the dungeon basement, while also giving Martial Artists more weapons, though the value of the Golden Claws was also lowered so that selling them would be less profitable.
    • The village of Tedanki in the original game sells the Zombiebane sword and Magic Armor. The Zombiebane is the most powerful weapon for a significant portion of the game, being stronger than the Orochi Sword you get from defeating said boss later in Jipang and capable of holding you over easily until you get to Samanao (see below). The Magic Armor is one of the best suits of armor you can purchase, full stop, for most of the game. All subsequent versions have that same shop selling good, but not amazing, gear instead.
    • Samanao, which is reached relatively late in the quest for the Orbs, sells the Dragon Killer sword for a staggering but reachable sum of 15,000 gold. This is the strongest, non-cursed weapon that can be purchased in the game, and it does extra damage to dragons (late game Boss in Mook Clothing enemies) to boot. It's only barely weaker than the Thunder Sword (the strongest weapon before the World of Darkness), and much easier to acquire. Later games made the Dragon Killer sword into claws so that Martial Artists could use it, but also made it only available once you reached the World of Darkness to prevent the power scale from increasing too quickly. Samanao (renamed Manoza) instead gets...the Zombiebane sword.
    • Blasto is a spell that forces a target out of battle by quite literally blasting them over the horizon. Used against enemies, it forces an annoying enemy out of battle, though you lose the experience points and gold it would have dropped. Used on your allies, it sends them back to Aliahan, where you have to pick them up from the recruitment center again. This can be insanely frustrating when you're trying to get to the Merchant Town, which you cannot reach with the Return spell, and where the seas around it are crawling with Hades Condors, who love to spam Blasto. The HD-2D Remake changed Blasto to only force an ally out of the current combat, so that they come back when it's over. In keeping with the spirit of the original spell, though, they can't come back until after the combat is over, and they lose out on any experience points from the battle itself.
  • Offered the Crown: After retrieving a stolen crown, the King of Romaria immediately offers you his throne. Accepting leads to a temporary Non-Standard Game Over, But Thou Must!(!) eventually convince him to take his crown back and let you get on with the whole "saving the world" thing.
  • One-Man Party: Because supporting party members are optional and XP is split between the party members rather than copied, having the Hero go it alone means that they're earning 4x the "normal" experience and can easily level up enough to make up for the lack of support.
  • One-Shot Revisionism: Your hero is the son/daughter of Ortega. When you break into the treasure chamber of your liege's castle, the guard recognizes you and says that he respects your father too much to stop you. He still mildly calls you out for it, particularly since the king will actually give you permission to raid the treasury late in the game...
  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: In the North American NES localization, NPCs will either speak in Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe and then speak in modern English not long afterward, or vice versa.
  • Orochi: Eating sacrificial young women in Jipang and one of the game's bosses who's fought twice.
  • Orcus on His Throne:
    • Baramos doesn't seem to actually do much besides wait in his castle for you to show up and kick his ass.
    • Zoma is just sitting in his castle after his introduction, but this is justified in that he has essentially already won dominion over Alefgard, and does not consider the Hero a big enough threat to go out and eliminate, even when the party arrives right at his throne. Only once the Sphere of Light is used to break Zoma's Cloth of Darkness, does he understand the danger the Party presents.
  • Orichalcum: The Sword of Kings is made from Orichalcum.
  • Outside-the-Box Tactic: In the HD-2D Remake, bosses are far harder than in the original, with buffed stats and huge health pools. But all of them are vulnerable to the incredibly basic Martial Artist move Low Sweep, which trips them and forces them to spend an action getting up. It doesn't always work, and if the boss has more than one action, they can still act, but forcing a boss to lose an action is hugely beneficial.
  • Permanently Missable Content: Once you give up the Mod Rod, you can no longer buy items from the elf village. Thankfully, the HD-2D Remake allows the player to get another Mod Rod from winning a Monster Arena.
  • Personality Powers: The various remakes add descriptions of all of your party members: 'Lout', 'Thug', 'Crybaby', 'Wit', 'Tomboy', 'Lothario / Vamp', and so on. This actually has an effect on how their stats grow when they level up…
  • Plant Mooks: Funghouls, Morphean Mushrooms, and Mushroom Mages are mushroom-themed monsters which make their series debut. They often use Sweet Breath, which forces you to go to sleep for awhile, as well as Sleep Attack for the latter. Mushroom Mages instead fight with magic in the form of Crack to ice one enemy, and casts Heal to help one ally or itself.
  • Playboy Bunny: All female gadabouts wear the bunny suit. Naturally. They're also waitresses in the cabaret club in the Merchant Town and the monster arenas (a Running Gag in the HD-2D Remake adds more of them congratulating you for each level you win).
  • Player Personality Quiz: Used in the remakes. After answering a series of questions, the player is presented with a final scenario where your actions determine what the mysterious voice determines your character to be. Some of these scenarios include:
    • Forced Transformation: The hero finds themselves turned into a monster and thrown into the middle of a town. Do they avoid unnecessary deaths and escape as quickly as possible, or slaughter everyone in sight?
    • I Will Only Slow You Down: Two brothers are stranded in the desert; the older one, too exhausted to continue, tells his sibling to take all of their water and continue on alone. The younger brother turns to the hero for advice: Should he try and carry his brother, follow his last wishes, or leave the water with him and hope he finds help?
    • Leap of Faith: People are taking a flying leap off a high tower to prove their courage. The Hero can choose to jump themselves or turn around and walk away.
    • My Master, Right or Wrong: A king is about to lead his country to war, unaware that his wife has orchestrated everything to get her hands on their fortune. The Hero overhears her Evil Gloating, but cannot convince the king to call it off, and must decide whether they are willing to fight for the kingdom despite disagreeing with its rulers or not.
    • What You Are in the Dark: The hero is lost in a cave and told to follow the signs exactly without any deviation. Along the way, there are alternate paths, including treasure chests left unattended. Does the hero take a slight detour to grab some loot and explore or continue without distraction? Near the end of the cave, there is a woman who is trapped and begs the hero for assistance. Does the hero assist her, despite violating their instructions?
  • Lightning Bruiser: The Monster Wrangler in the HD-2D Remake eventually becomes this, with their speed surpassing the warrior's and having a large variety of monster-related skills to do damage to enemies.
  • Player Mooks: The first Dragon Quest game to have these. Sadly, no one ever sings of their heroism along with Erdrick's. The HD-2D Remake even allows you to customize their appearance and even voice.
  • Plot Coupon: The Six Orbs of the middle stretch of the game, which let you revive Ramia/Empyrea and fly her to Baramos's Castle/Lair. Each of them have certain challenges for acquiring them, while an item called the Echo Flute will point you towards where they're supposed to be. They are as follows:
    • The Red Orb, found in a secret stash at a Pirate's Hideout, located roughly in the map's counterpart for Argentina
    • The Purple Orb, found on the body of Orochi in Jipang, though you have to beat the beast twice
    • The Green Orb, granted by a prisoner in Theddon, who can only be reached at night and with the Ultimate Key
    • The Blue Orb, found in a trial built only for the Hero in the map's counterpart of Australia, which also requires the Ultimate Key
    • The Yellow Orb, granted by the Merchant party member you leave at Newtown, though only after you do enough quests for Newtown to be completed
    • The Silver Orb, found in the Maw of the Necrogond in the Necrogond Region that can only be accessed by threading what amounts to a Chain of Deals, with the first item in the chain belonging to the Boss Troll you can only fight after clearing Manoza Cave, which can only be accessed by getting the Ultimate Key and finding the right teleportal
  • Portal Network: Many of the "small shrines" in the game have teleportals, just like the one that links Aliahan to Romaria, which offer an alternative way to shoot around the map. Quite a few of these meet up at the same shrines.
  • Post-End Game Content: In the remakes, beating the game unlocks a Bonus Dungeon. Beating its secret bonus boss allows the player to make a wish and bring the Hero's father back to life.
  • The Power of Friendship: Name-dropped in the monster wrangling feature of the HD-2D Remake. If you collect more than one of the same species of monster, you don't get multiples of them for the arena — the first one you collected simply becomes stronger because now you've brought them friends of their own kind!
  • Power-Up Letdown: In the NES version, Vitality and Intelligence Seeds do nothing but lower HP and MP growth respectively due to a quirk in how said growth works. This was fixed in the remakes.
  • Prequel: The game is a prequel to the previous two games, and surprisingly very subtle about it until you kill Baramos and enter Alefgard.
  • Precision F-Strike: One of the scenarios from the GBC remake's "Final Questions" segment has you playing the role of a fire-breathing monster. One of the villagers you kill screams "Damn!" as he's being burned alive.
  • Prestige Class: The Sage class. Only accessible by changing to that class at Alltrades Abbey (and only then by using the Words of Wisdom, or invoking the Gadabout's Magikarp Power), they learn all the Mage and Priest spells. And have a better selection of weapons and armor than the other spell-caster classes (though their stat growth is a little anemic). In the HD-2D Remake, wishing for a More Guns N' Buns from Xenlon allows anyone to become a sage and acts like an infinite use Words of Wisdom, useful for min-maxing.
  • Purely Aesthetic Gender: In the original NES translation, the script repeatedly referred to the hero as Ortega's son, male or female. This was referenced in the GBC version at the start, when the king starts to call your heroine son, corrects himself and adds, "But that dauntless look—no man could hope to match you!"
  • Purposefully Overpowered: The Vamp personality provides the highest combined stat growths with no downsides. While the HD-2D Remake made all personalities universal, prior to it Vamp was exclusive to females, and it still is much easier for Appearance B characters to get it. Getting it through character creation is rather tough to do, and is the only way for Appearance A recruits to have it. Appearance B characters can equip the Garter accessory to change their personality to Vamp, though they're in limited supply, and the book Guns N' Buns, a treasured possession of Xenlon, permanently changes the personality of Appearance B characters to Vampnote .
  • Random Drop: Monster Medals in the GBC remake. There are random items as well, approaching the ludicrous — for example, elevating shoes that give EXP with every step have an impossibly low chance to drop off a Liquid Metal Slime.
  • Randomized Transformation: The Mod Rod has the power to alter the physical form of the wielder, or an entire party's worth of people in one cast. However, you have no control over what form you take, so if you're looking for a specific effect, you're stuck spamming it.
  • Razor Wind: The main combat spells for Priests, the Woosh/Swoosh/Kaswoosh spells.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: All warriors wear pink armor, male and female alike. It's made a bit darker in the remakes… But only a little.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Most of the kings are clever enough to realize that helping the Hero and their party is paramount to the world's continued existence. Generally, if a ruler is not helping you or giving you tips, it is a safe assumption that they are some monster impersonating the real authority figure.
  • Reforged Blade: It's revealed that Zoma destroyed the legendary Sword of Kings because it was a threat to him. If one picks up the the pieces of Orichalcum left from the shattering and sell it to the Ultimate Blacksmith in Kol, he'll reforge it.
  • Regional Bonus: The opening cinematic, a proper title screen, and a proper Ortega sprite. The original version of the last more than likely confused a lot of players, because it was a Palette Swap of Robbin' 'Ood, though it also caused many a fan theory.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Several important villains are reptile-like: Orochi, the man-eating monster found in the island of Jipang, is a flame-breathing, five-headed, green-scaled dragon. Baramos looks like a wingless, fat Pteranodon. And Ortega gets killed by the King Hydra. Ethereal Serpents, Wyrtles, Wyrtoises, Boreal Serpents, Infernal Serpents, Hydras, and Metal Chimaeras make their debut in the series, while Chimaeras and Hocus Chimaeras return after being absent in the previous game.
  • Retroactive Legacy: The Hero is eventually revealed to be Erdrick, the legendary champion whom the heroes of Dragon Quest I and Dragon Quest II are descended from.
  • The Reveal:
    • One of the most epic reveals in the history of videogaming, and the one that cemented the game's place in the zeitgeist (especially in Japan): In the last quarter of the game, the world you travel to is the one with the kingdom of Alefgard on it. The player character is none other than Erdrick, and you play out the events that precede the rest of the trilogy.
    • As shown in The Stinger of the HD-2D Remake, it turns out that the High Priest who vowed to take care of the Dragon Queen’s egg is actually Hargon.
  • Revive Kills Zombie: After using the Sphere of Light, healing spells work wonders against Zoma. So do Medicinal Herbs. (250 damage a pop!)
  • Robe and Wizard Hat: Male mages add long white beards; female mages are Cute Witches.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: Defied. Should you accept the offer to become King/Queen of Romaria, they will positively refuse to let you go out and risk your life on an adventure, no matter how capable you are. Your menu options are even given humorously snobby responses if you try to do so anyway, suggesting your character is playing along. The only way to get on with the quest is to ask the old king to take his job back. That said, you can have a positive effect on the townsfolk of Romaria, and take up the crown again whenever you wish, meaning the Hero may as well be royalty at that point anyway - they just can't leave the city unless they briefly abdicate.
  • Samus Is a Girl: Depending on your choice in the remakes, it is possible to discover that Erdrick was a girl.
  • Scary Scorpions: Overlapping with Wicked Wasps, the Waspion monster family makes its series debut.
  • Schmuck Bait: The Golden Claws. You managed to find the secret chamber on the first trip to the Pyramid? Neato! You've found the best weapon for the Martial Artist in the game, period. But guess what; you're not leaving with them. From the moment you collect the Golden Claws, every single individual step you take in any direction will trigger a monster encounter. The only feasible way to get them and get out safely is after you've leveled well beyond that point in the game.
  • Screen Crunch: The GBC remake's English localisation is largely based on the NES version's, but that game had its text display altered in the process to allow for double line names, which was unfeasible on the GBC due to the screen's lower resolution and physically small size. This meant many names had to be truncatednote , have words replaced with iconsnote , or sometimes changed completelynote .
  • Secret Test of Character: To determine your hero's personality in the remakes, a mysterious voice asks a series of questions, then throws you into one of these based on your answers. Your reaction to whatever issue you face determines your personality. Said tests range from dealing with a greedy queen leading her country to war based on lies, to exploring a cavern, to deciding whether or not to take a leap of faith off a tower.
  • Sequel Hook: The HD-2D remake adds a stinger where the High Priest of the Dragon Queen's Castle promises that her child will be raised to be a new leader of the land while taking up a familiar looking pose and swearing upon his name: Hargon.
  • Sequence Breaking: In the HD-2D remake, you can tell a resident of Castle Edina that the castle has the Bottomless Pot before even figuring it out for yourself.
  • Shout-Out:
    • In the original Famicom version, some names of pre-made party members reference other works or actors. You sometimes get the Warrior named Han Solo, Stallone, or Ben-Hur. One of the four names available for the Mage is Merlin. This also appears in the HD-2D Remake, where a possible Mage name is "Merl" (a more subtle Merlin reference).
    • In the Soo village (NES version)/Persistence (HD-2D Remake) you will meet Ed the talking horse. Additionally, a villager at night will mention that "his horse is a horse, of course of course".
    • The green crab enemy is called Crabber Dabber Doo.
    • At the Promontory of Olivia (NES version), you will hear the sad tale of Olivia and her lover Errol (now known as Eric). Bonus points that it is a seafaring tale.
    • The Gaia's Navel dungeon features a creepy hallway with talking heads in the walls telling the hero to, "go back," as he passes each one. This sequence happened in Labyrinth.
  • Shifting Sand Land: Isis and its surrounding area, complete with a pyramid. This area corresponds to Egypt in Real Life.
  • The Six Stats: The original versions had five stats: Strength, Agility, Stamina*, Wisdom, and Luck. The HD-2D Remake added Resilience* for total of six.
    • Strength: Attack is equal to this stat plus boosts from equipment. Attack effects damage dealt by basic attacks, and in the HD-2D Remake Abilities that derive their damage from basic attacks.
    • Resiliencenote : Added in the HD-2D Remake, Defense is equal to this stat plus boosts from equipment. Defense reduces damage from incoming basic attacks and Abilities that derive their damage from basic attacks.
    • Agility: Adds to a multiplier for your per-turn initiative roll, and in versions before the HD-2D Remake your Defence before equipment boosts is half your Agility. The HD-2D Remake splits the Defense aspect from Agility to a separate stat, which helps balance Thieves (who could get out of control in some versions thanks to their Agility growth).
    • Staminanote : When you level-up, your max HP tries to get to around double your Stamina.
    • Wisdomnote : When you level-up, your max MP tries to get to around double your Wisdom, and in the remakes your Wisdom is involved in rolling to see if you learn a new spell or ability. The HD-2D Remake also "backports" an effect seen from VIII onward, in that Wisdom also influences how hard your spells hit.
    • Luck: Decreases the odds that an enemy's debuff spells, Status Effects, or One Hit Kills will work. In the HD-2D Remake Luck also increases the chance of your debuffs and status effects landing and your chance of performing critical hits.
  • So Near, Yet So Far: In the beginning of the second part of the game, you arrive in the city of Tantegel. You can see Zoma's Citadel -the final dungeon- across a narrow strait.
  • Squishy Wizard: Mages can use powerful offensive spells, but they aren't very durable. Priests have a few elements of this, but are better about growing out of it.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: Faerie princess Aniseed and her human lover, who chose to be Together in Death, leaving behind an angry faerie queen who thought they just eloped. And cursed everyone in his hometown to sleep forever.
  • Stock Sound Effects: In the HD-2D Remake, several monsters have stock sound effects when they attack or are defeated.
  • Suicide Mission: The reason why the King of Aliahan hesitates to ask the Hero to defeat Zoma, is because he believes it would be a death sentence and too much to ask someone who defeated what turned out to be The Dragon.
  • Trap Door: Playing Treasures n' Trapdoors (in the SNES and GBC versions)? Watch for the spaces that might have these.
  • Trespassing Hero: The castle at Edina requires your party to trespass in order to gain a crucial item. The guards won't let you in; you'll need to use either the Invisibility Herb (aka Fading Jenny) or Invisibility spell to get past the guards. For some reason, none of the castle's inhabitants seem to object to your presence inside (though they will insult you for being a commoner). It implies that the guard out front is just a Jerkass.
  • Trope Codifier: Not so much in the rest of the world, but in Japan? Good. God. We mean it when we say that Dragon Quest III is the game that codified every major trope and element of JRPGs, and that every single JRPG that followed, in every single series or franchise, owes something to it, either through direct imitation, indirect inspiration or attempting to "answer" a "fault" of the game. For a few examples of the big ones:
    • The somewhat put-upon voiceless protagonist? Yup, they're all patterned after the Child of Ortega and what the Child goes through in this game.
    • Your choice of party members and party customization? Obviously there's been a lot of variance from Dragon Quest III on this one, but everyone really is trying be as good or better than what was on offer here.
    • The revealing swimsuit that actively changes the graphics so you can see your female party members wearing it? That originated here, and has been both referenced and parodied to the moon and beyond.
    • A late-plot reveal of a whole second world to explore and the game being bigger than originally supposed or advertised? Oh yup. This is one of the biggest — everyone who does this in their games is trying to capture the same lightning-in-a-bottle that resulted from Dragon Quest III's Alefgard reveal.
    • Similarly, (non-Dragon Quest spoilers) a big reveal of a bigger boss to what you were previously fighting? Yup, another one with a lot of variants, but everyone from Zemus (and Exdeath, and Ultimecia) to Blue as Champion to Mithos Yggdrasil to even Rei Ryghts all call back to the reveal of Zoma.
  • Trouble Magnet Gambit: Inverted with the Golden Claws. Dangerous in the pyramid (every step's a random encounter, and you can't use magic in the basement where you get it), but once you leave, as long as you don't return to the pyramid, it's the martial artist's best weapon.
  • Truth in Television: Seems a little silly that a King is willing to trade a ship for some pepper, right? However, pepper in the past was once extremely valuable (even more valuable than gold)! That's because in the old days, pepper was a type of spice and could only be found in the Far East. For people whose only mean of seasoning was salt, pepper because a valuable commodity.
  • Updated Re-release: The remakes on the Super Famicom, Game Boy Color, smartphones in the 2010s and the Switch. All are chock full of extra goodies from IV, V, and VI (though the GBC version has a few features the others don't, such as the Ice Cave).
  • Useless Useful Spell: This is the game that introduced the Ironize/Kaclang spell, which turns the party into indestructible iron statues for several turns, unable to act, but unable to be hurt. It's generally useless, but has some edge cases when it can be very useful. Rockbombs, for example, will eventually case Sacrifice, killing themselves but killing the party at the same time; Kaclang allows you to survive without being hurt, while still getting the experience and money, if you time it right. In the HD-2D Remake, the boss fight at the volcano is extremely difficult, with the boss hitting with devastating multi-hit spells and strong physical attacks, but his MP is severely limited: casting Kaclang 2-3 times will drain his magic pool without taking any damage, and he'll whiff turns constantly by continuing to try casting, making the fight much more manageable.
  • Version-Exclusive Content: The SNES remake added a Pachisi/Treasures n' Trapdoors board game, and the GBC version then added the ability to collect Monster Medals and an Ice Cave Bonus Dungeon tied to those medals. None of these were kept in further ports of the game for mobile devices and the Switch, or in the HD-2D Remake; even as they incorporated the rest of the SNES/GBC updates.
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential: Some of the "Final Questions" from the beginning of the remake feature this. Most notable is one where you're a fire breathing monster coming out of a well in a village. You can leave peacefully, or murder everyone, including a dog and a mother and her sleeping child!
  • Video Game Stealing: The SNES remake onwards added the Thief vocation who can steal items in battle. Unusually, the Thief does not have a steal command — there is only a random chance for them to loot an extra item when the battle is over.
  • Virtual Paper Doll: In the remakes, whenever characters wear certain items such as the cat suit or the Magic Bikini, their appearance changes to reflect that. Only certain items do this in the original version, and not to the same extent.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: The Mod Rod lets you randomly change to different forms. Including monsters. NPC's react accordingly to this. Except for faeries, who can see right through most disguises… Yet will still sell to you if you transform into a dwarf or other creature they're friendly with.
  • Wake-Up Call Boss: In the HD-2D Remake, the Ripper of the Rift in the Pyramid is one. He has two Kylla cronies who have Heal, Crack, and Lullab-Eye. It serves as a wake-up call that the remake isn't going to hold your hand throughout the game.
  • Walking Swimsuit Scene: The swimsuit armors let the player turn any female party member into this.
  • Warp Whistle:
    • The Chimaera Wing and the "Zoom" spell both let you teleport to any village or town of humans, if used outside a towernote , cave, dungeon, or building. (The HD-2D Remake lets it be used anywhere, even if there is a ceiling.) If used in battle, it reverts to the original function of sending you to your starting point outside Aliahan.
    • The "Bazoom" spell is not an advanced form of "Poof", but rather a high-speed spellnote  that launches a single target far away! Before the cell phone versions, you could use this on your own party members (other than the Hero) to temporarily dismiss them; they'd end up at Patty's Party Planning Place afterwards. Even now, though, enemies can use this to shoo one of your companions out of the party.
  • Wham Shot: After beating Zoma, the Hero emerges from Talontear Tunnel just in time to witness the hole in the sky closing. You are now stuck in Alefgard.
  • With This Herring: It's your Dangerous 16th Birthday and you're off to face the greatest threat to the world the kingdom has ever known. The king is so impressed with your decision to take up arms that he rewards you with a whopping 300 gold pieces, which wouldn't cover a full set of the (crappy) equipment for sale in the very first town. The Game Boy Color version doesn't even give you that much! The king sends you off with a club, a simple set of wayfarer's clothes, and 50G, which is just enough to buy a pot lid for a shield. At least you can recruit other adventurers to help you out, so you won't struggle too much.
  • Wolverine Claws: Claws are the very few weapons beneficial to Martial Artists. Monster Wranglers also get to equip them in HD-2D.
  • Wutai: Jipang is based on ancient Japan.
  • Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Beginning with the mobile ports, the people of the Dark World, AKA Alefgard, speak this.
  • You All Meet in an Inn: Invoked; you create / pick up / drop off your party members at your hometown tavern.
  • You No Take Candle: Particularly in the remakes, every town from Romaria forward has people speaking with stereotypical accents and varyingly broken English.
  • Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: So you finally defeated Baramos, and completed your quest? He has a boss called Zoma, and he's in another world called Alefgard. You find this out during a Fake Ending after exploring literally the entire world, spending 40+ hours to do so.

 
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Wakey-wakey, rise and shine...

Dragon Quest III starts with the hero's mother waking them up for an audience with the king... on their 16th birthday, no less.

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Good Morning, Crono

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The Name of...H...

Zoma

Zoma's Death

Dragon Quest III

Alternative Title(s): Dragon Quest III The Seeds Of Salvation

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Wakey-wakey, rise and shine...

Dragon Quest III starts with the hero's mother waking them up for an audience with the king... on their 16th birthday, no less.

(Leave a comment)

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5 (1 votes)

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Main / GoodMorningCrono

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1:12

Wakey-wakey, ri...

 0:52

The Name of...H...

 2:27

Zoma

 1:45

Zoma's Death

 1:53

Dragon Quest III
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