It was interesting to play the original Dragon Knight III, since I tried the Knight of Xentar release a looooong time ago, and even back then as a horny teenager the writing was so painfully unfunny I quickly gave up.
This PC-98 version is way more interesting, and compared to the first two games, it does try a a lot of stuff. Does it hit all the right notes? Not really, but if you played I & II, you should try it anyway.
Dragon Knight is very connected to the previous games (which makes the choice to localize it especially bizarre). Soon after the events of DKII, Takeru is travelling in his brand new gear, brimming with confidence. That's when he gets jumped on by bandits who steal his armor and sword, leaving him naked. Worst, in his attempt to get his stuff back, he is tricked into drinking a potion that drains his strength back to level 1. Turns out, everything was a plot of demons, who seem to have it against him for some unknown reason. In order to clear everything up, Takeru will travel the world and party up with his friends Baan (from DKII) and Luna (from the first DK).
So yeah, the first thing to notice is that this is no longer a dungeon RPG. Dragon Knight III is a more traditional and ambitious game with a world map and various towns to visit. You'll even go back to familiar locations from the world of Dragon Knight like Strawberry Fields or the town of Phoenix.
The main issue is that the quality of gameplay doesn't really follow. If the first two games were already simple, this one is beyond simple. Combat is automatic and the dungeons very short. And while the game is technically decent (with beautiful CGs), the actual graphics are kinda dull. It has pretty poor diversity in environments, with most places ending up looking the same (a notable exception would be a Gigeresque-looking dungeon).
Even the story is pretty simple, even though it does provide a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.
As a sequel, Dragon Knight III works well. It expands the scale of the world and give fans plenty of easter eggs and small references to the two other games. They even do that thing that I always love, the "Dragon Quest victory lap", when you can travel around the world after beating the last boss to speak with NPCs. Sadly, on the pure game standpoint, it's very superficial and may disappoint after the excellent Dragon Knight II.
This PC-98 version is way more interesting, and compared to the first two games, it does try a a lot of stuff. Does it hit all the right notes? Not really, but if you played I & II, you should try it anyway.
Dragon Knight is very connected to the previous games (which makes the choice to localize it especially bizarre). Soon after the events of DKII, Takeru is travelling in his brand new gear, brimming with confidence. That's when he gets jumped on by bandits who steal his armor and sword, leaving him naked. Worst, in his attempt to get his stuff back, he is tricked into drinking a potion that drains his strength back to level 1. Turns out, everything was a plot of demons, who seem to have it against him for some unknown reason. In order to clear everything up, Takeru will travel the world and party up with his friends Baan (from DKII) and Luna (from the first DK).
So yeah, the first thing to notice is that this is no longer a dungeon RPG. Dragon Knight III is a more traditional and ambitious game with a world map and various towns to visit. You'll even go back to familiar locations from the world of Dragon Knight like Strawberry Fields or the town of Phoenix.
The main issue is that the quality of gameplay doesn't really follow. If the first two games were already simple, this one is beyond simple. Combat is automatic and the dungeons very short. And while the game is technically decent (with beautiful CGs), the actual graphics are kinda dull. It has pretty poor diversity in environments, with most places ending up looking the same (a notable exception would be a Gigeresque-looking dungeon).
Even the story is pretty simple, even though it does provide a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.
As a sequel, Dragon Knight III works well. It expands the scale of the world and give fans plenty of easter eggs and small references to the two other games. They even do that thing that I always love, the "Dragon Quest victory lap", when you can travel around the world after beating the last boss to speak with NPCs. Sadly, on the pure game standpoint, it's very superficial and may disappoint after the excellent Dragon Knight II.
Holy shit and I mean holy shit is this bad. Not only did they cut out half of the game’s dialogue (because it was talking about the earlier Dragon Knight games), they absolutely shit on the still existing dialogue. Full of spelling errors and dumb voice acting. Can’t wait for the PC-98 translation.