wayyyyyy better than 1 and 2, I think that what makes DQ3 stand out so much over the other classic ones is how much freedom you really have to play through it with how your party works. Thanks to the class system and how it prestiges, you can be as overpowered or underlevelled as you want, as well as the fact that you can make your party fit any one of your needs, which leads to infinite replay value, which is something that I don't think a lot of other RPGs really strive to have. I think that's why this game is one of the fan favorites, and is my favorite out of the original famicom dragon quests.