Where the series really seems to have taken off. (9.2 actual score).
Graphically, the game doesn't really stand out. To be fair, I wasn't around when this game was released, but comparing this and the original Dragon Quest's graphics I don't see much difference. Sure, it's a bit more colorful, but otherwise meh. It's an NES game, and I've never been a fan of the 8-bit graphics that system sported. However, this is the perfect example of a case where the graphics plain...don't matter.
Dragon Quest III is an incredibly engaging RPG adventure. The class system and the way you're able to have an unbelievably malleable party is innovative still today, and really one of the greatest things to show up in an RPG in years. Basically, it works like this: apart from your standard Dragon Quest hero, you are able to choose, name, and select the classes of three other characters. This is rather like Final Fantasy in a way (which, by the way, was released a few months before this iteration of Dragon Quest), except that, after a certain point in the game, are able to change their classes whenever you want. This is an amazing thing: your characters keep all the spells and half the stats they once had, so you can change a pilgrim into a soldier and be able to cast spells, or change a fighter into a wizard and have a great physical attack power. In fact, the class changing micromanagement is so addicting, you might even forget about the main storyline and beating the game altogether.
The main storyline is also significantly better than the previous two games, although still not really groundbreaking. It does, however, have a major plot twist that seperates it from the other two games in the series. Also, it does an amazing job of tying up the loose ends present in the earlier games, effectively completing the storylines of those games. Chronologically, this game takes place before the original game, and it makes a big deal of this toward the end.
Other than the character management this game is a very standard RPG. Turn-based, you never see your characters actually in battle, and you exchange blows with some cleverly-designed monsters or pallete swaps of those same monsters until either you or they lie dead. It's standard. If you have ever played an RPG, you'll get the hang of this quickly, and if you haven't, you'll still pick it up really quickly.
As in Dragon Quest II, the difficulty ramps up towards the end. It's almost like the designers of the game wanted combat to play second-fiddle to exploration of the wonderful world they created until the end, when you've explored everything they wanted you to. It's rather cruel, and a bit tedious. Level grinding in general is tedious, and you'll have to do this periodically throughout the game because otherwise there's just no way to beat the nasty dungeons.
To sum up: Dragon Quest III is a superior sequel. It defines what a sequel should be: it takes everything good about the previous two games, and blows it up while further eliminating the bad. The 'bad' is still there, but in smaller doses. If the series keeps this up, the scores I give them will continue to come closer and closer to the sky. Play this game if at all possible.