Recently, Square Enix has been on a serious remake kick, with plenty of revitalized versions of its Final Fantasy franchise being done across both 3D and HD-2D. However, alongside those were the remakes of the Dragon Quest titles that brought the “Erdrick Trilogy” to life in a way that gamers couldn’t truly experience before. My NEP cohost Scott reviewed the two remake titles and praised them heavily in his reviews. Plus, we know from sales figures, especially in Japan, that the games have done incredibly well.
However, that doesn’t mean that the Square Enix team was certain about how things would go. For example, in a chat with Famitsu, producer Masaaki Hayasaka revealed that he was truly “worried” about how releasing the third game before the first two would go:
“When I first heard ‘Let’s release Dragon Quest 3 first for the HD-2D versions’ from Mr. Horii, I was honestly worried.”
The reason for this was that he was afraid that, while playing the games in this way would be best for the “story chronology,” the third game had a LOT more gameplay elements that helped it improve what happened in the first two entries. Thus, he didn’t want the other remade titles to feel “inferior.” Thus, he and series creator Yuji Horii talked a lot about how to ensure that the games were on as much of an even keel as possible.
To that end, Yuji Horii and Hayasaka revealed that eventually, the two remake games were worked on simultaneously, and that certain positive elements came from that:
Horii: Partway through both games ended up being developed simultaneously, which was tough.
Hayasaka: Indeed. But there were mechanics that were only made reality because of that, so I’m glad we persevered.
Indeed, and with more remakes on the way, the team will undoubtedly attempt to make these next titles just as good as the remakes that have been released so far.
Source: Famitsu
