Playing the recent HD-2D remake of Dragon Quest III, it didn’t take long for me to realise that this game is special. At first, I attributed it to the stunning, ultra-detailed art style and soothing soundtrack, which has a nostalgic quality even for first time visitors to the Dragon Quest franchise. The magical journey to defeat the evil archfiend Baramos has never looked or sounded better. But I soon realised that there’s more to Dragon Quest III in what it – or rather, its central characters – leave unsaid.
The Silent Protagonist of Dragon Quest III
A silent protagonist can be considered standard fare for video games, especially at the time of Dragon Quest III’s original release in 1988. Though initially this was often due to technological restraints, it’s not uncommon even now, with Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii explaining in a recent interview that “the symbolic protagonist” remains a useful way for players to project their emotions onto the main character.
I found this especially true in moments where the game quietly explored the relationship (or lack of) between the protagonist and their father. The way each player views this relationship will really depend on how sympathetic they are willing to be. When they are still an infant, the Hero is left by their father, Ortega (also considered a great hero), who travels across the world to save it from the threat of the demon Baramos. The Hero is left to follow the decades-old trail left by Ortega, in an attempt to finish the quest and hopefully find answers about the fate of their father. Through flashbacks, we learn that while Ortega feels guilty for abandoning his wife and child, he doesn’t necessarily regret it, given the importance of his mission in restoring peace to the land.
Spoilers ahead!
Personally, I wasn’t convinced. Picking up the breadcrumbs from Ortega’s journey, we learn a lot about the people he met along the way, mostly adoring villagers rescued by him from monsters. Possibly I’m reading too much into it, but there’s even a hint that he had a dalliance with one of these devotees, and there are grateful children who also play an almost surrogate role, standing in for the Hero at various points of Ortega’s quest. These children clearly fill a gap for Ortega, who misses his family, but it is a gap of his own creation none-the-less.
The ending is of Shakespearean proportions – the protagonist finally catches up with Ortega only moments after he is rendered blind, deaf and completely weakened from battle, and therefore unable to recognise his own kin. He requests that a message be taken back to his family, which he unknowingly tells to his own child: “I’m sorry…I wanted to make the world a better place…A place where you wouldn’t have to be afraid…”
Through it all, during each memory told by grateful villagers, and even in the end – the protagonist says nothing – not a single line of text. Are they silent in acceptance, coming to terms with the fact that they lived most of their life without a father, who ultimately had to serve a higher purpose? Or is it silence in protest, a resentment at being left behind while Ortega instead forged deep connections with people around the world through his travels? The unspeaking protagonist of Dragon Quest III allows you to draw your own conclusions, and the tone of the ending will feel completely dependent on your outlook.
To Be a Party to Silence
There’s very little player choice in Dragon Quest III – the adventure happens to you, and the Hero is often shepherded into events by others rather than through making any deliberate decisions. However, one of the few choices the player is allowed to make is who to bring on the adventure with them. The number of party members and their vocation is entirely up to you, and in the remake at least, you can customise their names and appearances, to a degree. However if you’re expecting group banter to fill the time between story beats, à la Octopath Traveller, you may be disappointed. Apart from a few one line exceptions, the party remains as silent as the Hero themselves.
I lamented this at first, worried that I’d find the experience more dull for the lack of party interaction. Yet would you believe me if I told you that by the end of my journey with Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, I was aware that each member of my crew did have little personalities, ones that I had subconsciously assigned them? It reminds me almost of the way I used to play video games as a child, inventing stories for NPCs and areas (like choosing a house for myself, even if it wasn’t actually possible to go inside it). Sort of the way that everyone who played Animal Crossing as a kid has a distinct favourite villager despite there only being a handful of personalities for each one. In fact, Dragon Quest III does feature a long list of personality categories which can change based on the type of item equipped or consumed. While this really only impacts the way stats grow, it became hard not to think of Marcella, the warrior class in my group, as a ‘meathead’ when she is so colourfully described this way in the menu.
In fact, there is one party member who gets to speak a comparatively decent amount. To progress the story, the player must select a group member with the merchant vocation, in order for them to stay on as a mayor-of-sorts in a new town being founded. I didn’t have a merchant party member, so I ended up recruiting one fresh and subtly naming them ‘Selly’. Despite the fact that they had actual lines, Selly of Sellyville was my least favourite party character, their personality already decided by the necessity of the storyline they play a role in. I can’t say I hold a particular affection for Selly, probably because I wasn’t able to craft my own head cannon for them as I did for the likes of my main crew, Margaret, Howl and Marcella. In all, a truly memorable video game companion is hard to come by, and Dragon Quest III puts this into the player’s hands by allowing them to inwardly assign their characteristics, either as defined by vocation, fighting style, or their literal personality type.
Concluding Thoughts on Silence in Dragon Quest III
Despite its loud, vibrant colours and exciting sequences, I would chiefly describe Dragon Quest III as a quiet sort of game – a welcome departure from some of the games I’ve been playing as of late. There’s been lots of discourse lately about Dragon Quest III being a back-to-basics JRPG, and I think the silence within the game contributes to the sentiment of the game feeling “scaled back”. In fact, I was fairly relieved when I realised that, though there is some voice acting, this is kept to a minimum, given my general inability to tolerate JRPG voice acting. This sense of stillness is true right through to the ending, with the protagonist silently accepting their fate of remaining in a new world, cut-off from their home, and choosing to disappear speechlessly (for now). It’s a melancholy way to close the game and it stands in contrast to the more bombastic bosses and side characters. But it feels fitting that the Hero, who never spoke a word throughout their adventure, should bring peace and quiet to the world, and then vanish without a sound.
Have you played Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake? Or perhaps you played the original? Either way, let me know your thoughts below!
