Dragon Quest III and Phantasy Star are pretty different RPGs. Both of them have their strengths and weaknesses. This is another match up of a high fantasy and a science fiction setting. In this case, Phantasy Star has more fantasy elements to it, so there is more to compare when it comes to that.
These two series have been the most fun for me to compare. It felt like the Dragon Quest series was taking things from the Phantasy Star series. When you look at them in order, it kind of feels that way, even if there isn’t anything to suggest it was the case. I didn’t notice any crossover between the development teams on any of the games when I checked a while ago.
I like both of these games and the stories that they tell. They’re both turn-based games, and their stories have little twists in them. I’ll get more into that when we get there. Let’s see what these games have to offer.
Game Descriptions/Overviews
Both of these games have some great things in them. Each brings something different to the table, which makes this a little more fun for me. No one wants to compare a bad game to a good one.
Dragon Quest III is a high fantasy RPG where the player takes control of a party of four characters. One of them is the main protagonist, and the other three are interchangeable characters you create at the beginning of the game. In this game, you go on a quest to defeat a big bad guy who wants to destroy the world, and when you complete that quest, the real bad guy shows up! It is a very cool twist, if you don’t know it is coming.
Phantasy Star is a science fantasy game. It starts out as a revenge tale, and turns into a “save the world from evil” story. You go on a quest to find the other three members of your party, which is always something that I enjoy. The game has you traveling around a solar system, and eventually ends with a battle against the source of all evil.
These are just brief descriptions of both games, and there is much more I could write about them. I enjoy both of these games for different reasons. Let’s get into the biggest differences between them.
Main Differences
There are a lot of differences between these two games once you get past the core mechanics of the game. They have different settings, stories, battle screens, and graphics. Those are the four areas I want to focus on. There are some minor differences, but I’ll be focusing on the things that stood out to me.
Dragon Quest III is a high fantasy setting. This means there isn’t high technology like robots, guns, or that sort of thing. It is more of the sword and sorcery style of game. Phantasy Star has some fantasy elements in it, but adds in a lot of science fiction. You’re traveling through space and dealing with futuristic technology.
The stories are quite different. Dragon Quest III has the better twist in it as it turns into a prequel, and the real bad guy gets revealed. Phantasy Star starts as a revenge story, and then turns into a quest to free a solar system from a tyrannical king. There is also a fight against the source of all evil.
This is one of the most significant differences for me. Phantasy Star’s battle screens look much better. The enemies are larger, they have little animations, and the screen is bright and colorful. Dragon Quest III has a rather boring black screen, a picture of the enemies, and is mostly text.
The graphics are very different. Phantasy Star is more graphically impressive. It has comic book cutscenes, the enemies are animated on the battle screens, and everything looks much better. I like the graphics in Dragon Quest III, but they aren’t too different from the previous two games in the series. While it has some cutscenes, they don’t look as good as Phantasy Star’s.
Those are the biggest differences that stood out to me. There are a number of minor things, but I wanted to keep this to the bigger differences. This is part of the fun for me because it can be hard to find a few things to zero in on. Let’s get into what each game does better than the other.
What Does Dragon Quest III do Better?
Dragon Quest III does several things better than Phantasy Star. It helps that the development team had two other games to experiment with before this one. This game has the better twist in its plot, the dungeons are better, and I like how creative you can be with your party.
This game’s twist hits a little harder because it is given more time. You actually go to the world from the previous games in the series. There weren’t too many clues to give things away, and it was more shocking the first time I played this.
The dungeons in Dragon Quest III are much better. I like having a top-down view for dungeons instead of something that looks like a dungeon crawler. They’re easier to navigate, and the graphics are better as everything isn’t a monotone hallway.
While I prefer to go on a quest for your party members, there is something to be said about having options in your party construction. Dragon Quest III lets the player experiment with their party more. Phantasy Star only has four playable characters, and Dragon Quest III allows you to create a bunch of characters to form a party of four.
Those are the areas that stood out to me as being better in Dragon Quest III. It allows the player to be a little creative, and I like the dungeons more. This game has more of what I expect from a console RPG in it. Let’s get into what Phantasy Star does better.
What Does Phantasy Star do Better?
There are several things that Phantasy Star does better than Dragon Quest III. The story, battle screens, and the setting are better. I also love the graphics in this game, and think it is more impressive than what is in Dragon Quest III.
I enjoy this game’s story more. It helps that this game starts off my favorite series of retro RPGs, but I also like how this starts as a revenge tale and turns into something bigger. Each of the characters plays a role in the story, which isn’t the case for Dragon Quest III.
Phantasy Star has great battle screens. They look closer to how the first Dragon Quest was set up, but they have little animations for the enemies. The enemy sprites are very large and detailed, and seeing them attack is awesome! They look much better than the boring black screens that are in Dragon Quest III.
This game is graphically superior to Dragon Quest III. I normally don’t bring this up, but it is a big reason why I like this game more. The comic book cutscenes are wonderful, and they add a lot to this game’s story. They look much better than just using in-game graphics.
I like the science fiction setting much more. It is unique for a retro RPG from the late 1980s to use this for a setting, as most of them were high fantasy games. The game also feels bigger because you travel to different planets as well as explore dungeons.
Those are the things that I like more in Phantasy Star when I compare it with Dragon Quest III. It does a lot of things better than Dragon Quest III, and if I thought about it a bit more, then I’d come up with a few more. Most of them are minor differences, though. Let’s get into which is better and which I want to revisit.
Which is Better Overall and Why?
I like Phantasy Star more than Dragon Quest III. They’re pretty different games, but I like this game’s story more than what is in Dragon Quest III. The setting, quests, and story are all more enjoyable for me.
I enjoy science fiction more than high fantasy, and Phantasy Star has a lot of science fiction in it. I love that you can travel around the solar system, and how this game combines magic with technology. There are also some little things, like eating burgers to replenish your health, that I love. This feels like a much bigger game than it is.
The quests in this game were more fun for me. Many of them have to do with finding your party members and getting the equipment you need to beat the game. While this isn’t unique to this game, it is better than a game where you start off with all your party members. This is one of the things that I normally enjoy more than a game that doesn’t have this.
Phantasy Star has the story that I enjoyed more. While it doesn’t have as satisfying a twist, it has enough in it that I can say I enjoyed it more. I like that you have to travel through space, as it makes the game feel bigger. It also makes for some cool visuals.
The visual storytelling in this game is also better. While Dragon Quest III is more cinematic, it isn’t as good as Phantasy Star. The comic book cutscenes are wonderful, and they add a lot to this game.
There’s nothing wrong with Dragon Quest III; I just like Phantasy Star more. I like the science fiction elements in the story, and the way the story is told is more enjoyable for me. Phantasy Star really shows off what the Master System can do, and it is better than the more dated-looking Dragon Quest III. Let’s get into the one that I would rather play.
Which Would I Rather Play?
At the end of the day, Phantasy Star is the game I would rather play. Both are solid RPGs, but I like one more than the other. It has a fun story, the setting is great, and I like the visuals more in Phantasy Star. Dragon Quest III has some great things in it, but given the choice between these games, I would choose Phantasy Star.
I’m not sure what else I can say about this game at this point. It is so much fun to play, and I like all the weird little things in it. Both games have similar problems, but Phantasy Star is able to overcome them. I also love the way this game’s story is told.
While this isn’t my favorite game in the series, it is a wonderful RPG that I enjoy playing. It is bright and colorful, and I love the battles in this game. It has so many things that I like that I’d pick it over most retro RPGs.
Conclusion
As I’ve come to the end of this, I’m running out of things to say. When I first played both of these games, I didn’t really like them. I knew that I was doing something wrong because the games didn’t make much sense to me. This was particularly true for Phantasy Star.
When I revisited these games a few years ago, I gave them more of a chance than I did the first time. Phantasy Star is the one I was the most excited about, once I really got in it. I didn’t grow up with the Dragon Quest series, so that one didn’t connect with me as much.
Phantasy Star, as a series, means a lot to me. The first game I played in the series was the fourth game. I played them in reverse order, simply because that was how things worked out. The first game has some great things in it, and quite a few that I’m glad were abandoned. I had a lot of fun with the first game each time I went back to play it.
Dragon Quest III is the game that I wish the second one were. I like having a party of four characters, and the introduction of character classes was nice. The twist that this was a prequel was very cool the first time I played this. The third game isn’t necessarily my favorite, but it is a lot of fun.
I still have to play the fourth game in each series, which I’m looking forward to. If the Dragon Quest series had done more to improve the graphics in its games, I might’ve liked them a little more. The Phantasy Star games always have great graphics, and the gameplay is very good as well.
If you liked this post, check out some of my other posts in this series. Such as Final Fantasy Mystic Quest vs Phantasy Star II or Final Fantasy vs Dragon Quest III.