LogFAQs > #979747698

Lopen posted...

The Dragon Quest 3 discussion feels like when people try to give some random artist from the 60s credit for creating rock forgetting that a lot of pieces were in place around that given artist.

I'm not saying it had no importance at all but I'm skeptical it was super important for console rpgs to exist. Normally I'd just say "well must be a Japan thing" but we got people comparing it to FF7 or SMB3 in this topic and I know that isn't right.

DQ3 was a cultural phenomenon in Japan. It made DQ mainstream instead of being something only gamers really knew about. Huge lines outside stores on the release date, so many people skipping work and school it became a problem, Enix stopped releasing games on weekdays because so many kids skipped school to buy it, etc. It broke all kinds of sales records when it came out. It's impact isn't even limited to JRPGS, hell it's not even limited to video games. It had a massive impact on Japanese media and pop culture as a whole. It still regularly places first in Dragon Quest series fan rankings. The DQ3 hero is in Smash, not the DQ1 guy. Tons of anime and other media reference DQ3. It's the best selling game in the series if you include the remakes.

Not that I blame anyone outside of Japan for not knowing how big of a deal it was, but even gameplay wise I think it's pretty clearly more influential on the future of the genre than DQ1 was.