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WHAT IS DQ3 SFC?
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The Dragon Quest series is generally considered to be the founding father of
all Japanese-style RPGs. Created by Yuji Horii, illustrator Akira Toriyama
and composer Koichi Sugiyama, and published by ENIX, the series as of today
includes six cardinal games (with a seventh on the way), three remakes, and
three spinoff games. Unofficial, homemade Dragon Quest clones can also be
widely found on the Internet for a variety of computer platforms, in both
Japanese and English. Finally, the series has been the basis for two animated
television series and an assortment of manga (comics), dramatic and humorous,
and official and amateur.
Released in 1996, the Dragon Quest 3 remake was the fifth and last Dragon
Quest title released for the Super Famicom (aka Super NES), and the second
remake on the system. Unlike a certain other RPG company's rereleases of
its flagship series, the rereleased DQs were totally remade, with entirely
new graphics, rescored music, added story events, and substantial changes to
gameplay and game balance.
Both in audiovisuals and gameplay, the remake of Dragon Quest 3 fully upgraded
the title to the standards of a mid-90s Super Famicom RPG... and then some.
The graphic quality surpassed the 1995 Dragon Quest 6, and was on the level
with contemporary *original* RPGs such as Namco's Tales of Phantasia.
The game made particularly masterful use of the Super Famicom's color addition
("transparency") capability to create night scenes with candlelight shining
from castle windows onto the moat, dungeons eerily lit by blazing torches, and
surprisingly realistic flames and lightning when battle magic is cast.
Gameplay improvements were almost too numerous to list. An entirely new
character class was added: the Thief, as first seen in Dragon Quest 6. The
underused Fighter, Merchant and Goof-Off classes were given new abilities and
more weapons and armor to choose from. In fact, there were nearly twice as
many armaments available in this DQ3 than in the original, including favorites
from other DQ games such as the multi-hitting Boomerang and the mighty
Iron Ball of Destruction. A dice&board minigame was introduced in which you
move from man-sized square to square on a palace-sized gameboard, picking up
prizes or fighting monsters according to the icons on the squares.
And among many other upgrades was a feature never before seen in the Dragon
Quest series: the Seikaku, or Personality System.
WHAT IS THE SEIKAKU SYSTEM?
---------------------------
From EDICT ((c) J.W.Breen 2000): 性格 [せいかく] /character/personality/
In addition to a name, a gender, and a profession, each player character in
DQ3 is assigned one of 46 "personalities". These characteristics give each
player's characters a personal touch; for once, one player's conventional
"male Hero/male Soldier/female Priest/female Wizard" party isn't exactly the
same as the next player's.
In fact, the "personalization" is a bit more than cosmetic: a character's
personality has an influence on the rate of growth of the five primary
abilities of Strength, Agility, Vitality, Intelligence and Luck.
The effect takes the form of a percent factor applied to the points added to
the abilities each time the character goes up a level. As the table below
shows, each personality is stronger in some abilities and weaker in others.
HOW IS THE HERO'S PERSONALITY DETERMINED?
-----------------------------------------
The Hero's personality is determined during the "waterfall scene", the new
opening sequence added to this version of DQ3. This scene consists of a
series of "yes/no" questions about yourself, to which your answers result in
entering one of several scenarios. What you do in the scenario determines
your personality:
The Tower
---------
This is the simplest scenario. You are one of a bunch of people lined up
to leap off the top of a tower (as in the parent's rhetorical question,
"if all your friends jumped off a building...") The choice is yours:
Jump off the tower......................Romanticist
Leave via the stairs....................Sabishigari-ya
The Forest
----------
In this scenario, there's an old man in the forest collecting boulders, who
will pay you 10 G per boulder you push to him (no, you don't get to keep
the money). The outcome is determined by how many boulders you bring him
before leaving the forest:
The Well Monster
----------------
You're a monster living in the well of a small village, and you come up in
the middle of the night and wreak a little havoc. Pressing any action button
causes you to breathe fire, incinerating the poor soul in front of you.
The outcome is determined by how many people you kill, and which ones.
Note that you have no choice but to kill the first man at the start of the
scenario.
If you kill the little boy hiding behind his mother:
...and everyone else except the man outside the Inn.......Ukkari-mono
...any other combination (including killing everyone).....Atama Dekkachi
If you don't kill the boy:
...and kill no more than 2 people total...................Gouketsu
...and kill the priest and nun, or everyone except them...Ikuji-nashi
...any other combination..................................Amaenbou
The Cavern
----------
You are inside a maze-like cavern that, for some reason, has direction signs
at every intersection. If you don't follow the directions, you'll fall in
a pit and the scenario will end. If you can't read the signs, the correct
directions are West, East and then South at the 4-way. The last sign reads
"No matter what, walk in a straight line due north!"
Fall down the very first pit............Wagamama
Fall down one of the next 2 pits........Makezu-girai
Go after the treasure (and fall)........Occhokochoi
Rescue the pinned girl..................Shoujiki-mono
Go straight through to the exit.........Ganko-mono
The Dancer
----------
You and some other people are watching a famous dancer. The young man on the
left is engaged to the dancer, but he's worried that she might not be
interested in him anymore, and tells you to ask her for him. When you talk
to her, you'll see that his fears are confirmed: she doesn't want anything to
do with him now that she's a star, and asks you to tell him so. You have
three choices of response to the young man.
Say "yes" and lie to him................Nakimushi
Say "no" and break his heart............Ippiki Ookami
Feign ignorance.........................Seken-shirazu
Don't get involved (exit the theatre)...Nonki-mono
The Desert
----------
You come upon two brothers in the middle of a desert. The older brother is
too exhausted to walk, and wants the younger one, Dick, to leave him behind
since they have just enough water for one person to reach the next village.
Dick asks you what he should do. This scenario (and the remaining two after
it) is a bit tricky if you don't know Japanese, since the choices are given
as a series of yes/no questions, which will loop until you choose one of
the three possible solutions. Unlike the other scenarios, this one has no
"escape" option either: the desert wraps around if you try to walk away from
the brothers.
"Leave your brother behind".............Ranbou-mono
"Press onward together".................Nekketsu-kan
"Leave the water with your brother".....Inochi-shirazu
The Castle
----------
The King of this castle is about to declare war on the neighbouring kingdom
because the Queen has discovered that they intend a surprise attack.
Actually, the Queen's information is a lie--what she actually wants is the
jewel that the neighbouring kingdom possesses. The Minister asks you what
should be done when one believes that a King's orders are in error.
"The King's order is absolute"..........Muttsuri Sukebe/Sexy Gal
"Follow your own conscience"............Zunou-meiseki
"Only pretend to follow the order"......Ochoushi-mono
Offer no advice (keep saying "no")......Yasashii Hito
Don't even talk to the Minister.........Shiawase-mono
The Wallet
----------
This is probably the rarest scenario, and was the last one I saw.
In this scenario, a feeble old man asks you to fetch his wallet from the
nearby house so that he can buy food for his grandson. If you do so, you
discover that you've been tricked: the wallet doesn't belong to the old man,
and you are arrested for theft and brought before the town priest. You can
tell the truth, or confess to the crime and spare the old man and little boy.
Confess to the crime yourself...........Mieppari
Say that you were tricked...............Nukeme-ga-nai
Don't take the wallet at all............Hikkomijian
HOW ARE YOUR ALLIES' PERSONALITIES DETERMINED?
----------------------------------------------
Unlike the Hero, whose personality is supposed to reflect the player himself,
your allies' personalities are determined semi-randomly.
When you register a new character at Luisa's Place and choose a name, gender
and profession, the values of the character's five abilities are displayed.
These values are determined by adding small random bonuses to the following
base abilities:
Now, you are given the chance to use five Seeds of your choice to further
raise the character's abilities. As usual, each seed will increase the
appropriate ability by 1-3 points. After assigning the seeds (which you can
do yourself or have it done randomly), the character's personality is
determined by the following process:
The base values from the above table are subtracted from the abilities to
get the "bonus" values--the amount by which each ability exceeds the base
value for the character's gender and profession. The five abilities are
ranked from highest to lowest bonus. If two abilities have an equal bonus,
the base ability is used to break the tie. Finally, a personality is chosen
based on the profession, the highest bonus, the value of that bonus, the
second-highest bonus in some cases, and random chance:
Highest bonus is STR; Soldier/Fighter:
STR >= 11 : Gouketsu/Chikara-jiman/Otoko-masari
STR >= 7 : Chikara-jiman/Nekketsu-kan/Otenba/Ranbou-mono
VIT is 2nd: Ranbou-mono/Oogurai/Muttsuri Sukebe/Otoko-masari
AGI is 2nd: Inochi-shirazu/Otenba/Ukkari-mono/Makezu-girai
Otherwise : Muttsuri Sukebe/Seken-shirazu/Nonki-mono/Shoujiki-mono/Futsuu
Highest bonus is STR; Wizard/Priest:
STR >= 11 : Chikara-jiman/Otoko-masari/Inochi-shirazu
STR >= 7 : Ganko-mono/Osekkai/Chikara-jiman/Nekketsu-kan
VIT is 2nd: Ganbari-ya/Kurou-nin/Oogurai/Wagamama
INT is 2nd: Makezu-girai/Mieppari/Ikuji-nashi/Sabishigari-ya
Otherwise : Seken-shirazu/Namake-mono/Shoujiki-mono/Otenba/Yasashii Hito/
Futsuu
Highest bonus is STR; Merchant/Goof-Off/Thief:
STR >= 11 : Chikara-jiman/Makezu-girai/Otenba/Nekketsu-kan
INT is 2nd: Kire-mono/Ippiki Ookami/Nukeme-ga-nai
VIT is 2nd: Inochi-shirazu/Otoko-masari/Ranbou-mono
AGI is 2nd: Occhokochoi/Subashikkoi/Ochoushi-mono
Otherwise : Sabishigari-ya/Romanticist/Nakimushi/Amaenbou/Wagamama/Futsuu
Highest bonus is AGI; Soldier/Merchant/Goof-Off:
AGI >= 12 : Denkou-sekka/Inochi-shirazu/Subashikkoi
AGI >= 7 : Subashikkoi/Occhokochoi/Wagamama/Makezu-girai
INT is 2nd: Nukeme-ga-nai/Ochoushi-mono/Hinekure-mono
STR is 2nd: Ranbou-mono/Otenba/Nekketsu-kan/Ippiki Ookami
Otherwise : Ukkari-mono/Mieppari/Sabishigari-ya/Nakimushi/Futsuu
Highest bonus is AGI; Fighter/Thief:
AGI >= 11 : Denkou-sekka/Inochi-shirazu/Subashikkoi
AGI >= 7 : Inochi-shirazu/Subashikkoi/Occhokochoi/Ippiki Ookami
STR is 2nd: Makezu-girai/Nekketsu-kan/Otenba/Mieppari
VIT is 2nd: Nekketsu-kan/Ganbari-ya/Muttsuri Sukebe/Hinekure-mono
Otherwise : Ippiki Ookami/Romanticist/Inochi-shirazu/Nakimushi/Futsuu
Highest bonus is AGI; Wizard/Priest:
AGI >= 8 : Subashikkoi/Nukeme-ga-nai/Occhokochoi
STR is 2nd: Makezu-girai/Mieppari/Ukkari-mono
INT is 2nd: Atama Dekkachi/Nakimushi/Ochoushi-mono/Sexy Gal
Otherwise : Ikuji-nashi/Seken-shirazu/Amaenbou/Romanticist/Futsuu
Highest bonus is VIT; Soldier/Fighter/Merchant:
VIT >= 10 : Tough Guy/Tetsujin
VIT >= 6 : Kurou-nin/Ganbari-ya/Ganko-mono/Muttsuri Sukebe
STR is 2nd: Chikara-jiman/Oogurai/Nonki-mono
Otherwise : Shoujiki-mono/Osekkai/Namake-mono/Hikkomijian/Futsuu
Highest bonus is VIT; Wizard/Priest:
VIT >= 11 : Tough Guy/Tetsujin/Ganbari-ya
VIT >= 6 : Ganbari-ya/Ganko-mono/Kurou-nin/Muttsuri Sukebe
INT is 2nd: Yasashii Hito/Osekkai/Makezu-girai/Sexy Gal
Otherwise : Sabishigari-ya/Ikuji-nashi/Seken-shirazu/Nonki-mono/Futsuu
Highest bonus is VIT; Goof-Off/Thief:
VIT >= 11 : Tough Guy/Tetsujin/Oogurai
VIT >= 6 : Ganbari-ya/Ganko-mono/Oogurai/Muttsuri Sukebe
STR is 2nd: Ranbou-mono/Inochi-shirazu
Otherwise : Namake-mono/Ippiki Ookami/Sexy Gal/Ochoushi-mono/Romanticist/
Futsuu
Highest bonus is INT; Soldier/Fighter:
INT >= 10 : Hinekure-mono/Zunou-meiseki/Atama Dekkachi/Romanticist
INT >= 6 : Mieppari/Romanticist/Ikuji-nashi/Ojou-sama
Otherwise : Seken-shirazu/Amaenbou/Ochoushi-mono/Yasashii Hito/Futsuu
Highest bonus is INT; Wizard/Priest:
INT >= 10 : Kire-mono/Zunou-meiseki
INT >= 6 : Zunou-meiseki/Nukeme-ga-nai/Atama Dekkachi/Romanticist/
Ikuji-nashi
Otherwise : Nakimushi/Yasashii Hito/Amaenbou/Sabishigari-ya/Shoujiki-mono/
Futsuu
Highest bonus is INT; Merchant/Thief:
INT >= 10 : Kire-mono/Zunou-meiseki
INT >= 6 : Nukeme-ga-nai/Zunou-meiseki/Mieppari/Atama Dekkachi
**Otherwise : Ippiki Ookami/Romanticist/Kurou-nin/Ukkari-mono/Futsuu/Osekkai
(Due to a bug, this row is never used, and the preceding one used instead)
Highest bonus is INT; Goof-Off:
INT >= 10 : Kire-mono/Zunou-meiseki
INT >= 6 : Nukeme-ga-nai/Sexy Gal/Muttsuri Sukebe/Ochoushi-mono/
Atama Dekkachi
Otherwise : Namake-mono/Nonki-mono/Amaenbou/Ippiki Ookami/Futsuu
Subtracting the base stats for a female Soldier, this character's highest
bonus is in STR. The appropriate table (Soldier/Fighter, STR highest) is
used. This character's STR bonus is not 11 or greater, but it is 7 or
greater, so this character's personality will be Chikara-jiman, Nekketsu-kan,
Otenba or Ranbou-mono.
This character's highest bonus is in AGI, and the appropriate table for
a Wizard/Priest is checked. The AGI bonus is not 8 or greater, so the
second-highest bonus is determined. The bonuses for VIT and INT are tied,
but a male Wizard's base INT is higher than VIT, so the row for INT is used.
The possible personalities are Atama Dekkachi, Nakimushi, Ochoushi-mono and
Sexy Gal. Since a male character cannot be a Sexy Gal, this Wizard will be
either Atama Dekkachi, Nakimushi or Ochoushi-mono.
TO BE ADDED
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A list of items and events that can alter a character's personality
The interaction between professions and personalities
