Clearing Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake with Only the Hero: Defeating Baramos and Zoma on Draconian Quest

The game begins with the protagonist answering a series of questions posed by a mysterious voice. The subtitles render the protagonist's name inconsistently, but they are called something close to "Gral." When asked for a name, the commentator says, "Shall I answer honestly?" and replies "Gaming Boy," adding that Gaming Boy was born on October 20, 2023, and that a year has already passed. In the following personality quiz, the result is "Naughty," and the protagonist's personality becomes "a sexy gal who loves boys more than anyone." The commentator quips, "What on earth was this guy trying to do?"

Woken by their mother and sent to the castle, the protagonist is ordered by the king to defeat the archfiend Baramos and is handed some starting funds with the advice that "if you go alone, you may share the fate of your father Ortega, so find companions at the tavern." The commentator, however, skips the search for companions. The reason given was a tongue-in-cheek remark: "Adding manpower to a late project only makes it later."

The advantages of going solo are explained concretely over the course of the early adventure. It may look tough at first glance, but group-attack weapons like boomerangs and whips are so strong that they handle almost every battle on their own. Because one character monopolizes all the experience, levels come quickly. And there's no need to agonize over companions' vocations or career paths. For these reasons, the commentator reflects that "heading out alone was the right call after all."

The first destination is the northern kingdom of Romaria. The king promises to recognize the protagonist as a hero if they defeat the thief Kandar, who stole the golden crown from the castle, so off they go. In the battle with Kandar, the protagonist first sweeps away his henchmen with the Edged Boomerang's group attack. Against Kandar himself, they use Flame Slash, a new technique introduced in this game. According to the commentator, Flame Slash is stronger than a normal attack, and since it hits his elemental weakness here, the damage is even higher.

Next, they head to the Pyramid to obtain the Magic Key. There, the archfiend's minion, the "Nile Demon," lies in wait. In this battle the commentator changes tactics. The minions occasionally put the hero to sleep, so they want to take them out as quickly as possible. Purely in terms of efficiency, a boomerang group attack would be better, but given the risk of being put to sleep, it feels safer to take them down reliably one at a time. After dealing with the minions, they hit the boss with about six Flame Slashes to defeat it.

In the eastern town of Baharata, Tania, the granddaughter of an old man who runs a black pepper shop, has been abducted by kidnappers. The culprit is Kandar again, who challenges the hero with "I won't lose this time!" The commentator teases that he looks redder and darker than before, as if he's feeling unwell. This time, they prioritize the henchmen with the Steel Whip. Once all the henchmen are down, all that remains is to whittle Kandar down with Flame Slash.

Bringing back the black pepper earns them a ship from the King of Portoga, and at last they set out to sea. Here the story's major goal is revealed. The archfiend's castle is surrounded by rugged rocky mountains and cannot be reached by land or sea. The plan, therefore, is to gather the six orbs, revive the immortal bird Ramia, and storm the castle from the sky. The first orb is obtained at the pirates' den.

In Tedanc, a village haunted by ghosts, a "Guardian of the Underworld" appears before the person trying to hand over an orb, declaring that the living are not permitted and attacking. From here on, the commentator begins using Kazapple, the hero-exclusive top-tier spell. Partly because it exploits the enemy's elemental weakness, it deals huge damage, and they obtain the second orb.

At the Navel of the World, a Warlock appears, seeking the orb. They first take out the insect-like minions with Kazapple, then defeat the boss as well. According to the commentator, this dungeon is apparently designed as a trial to be faced alone to begin with. They remark that it may have been a bit too easy for a protagonist who had come this far solo. That makes three.

In Jipang, they slay the monster Yamata no Orochi, who demands sacrifices. The commentator explains that the Orochi does nothing but spam fire attacks, so it's best to go in with fire-resistant equipment. They then point out a solo-specific advantage: with no companions, you only need to prepare countermeasures for one person. Simply firing off Kazapple was enough to win. Pursuing the fleeing Orochi to the front of the shrine, they discover that Himiko, the ruler of the land, was the true identity of the monster devouring the sacrifices. Although it's a rematch, she isn't significantly stronger, so they defeat her with about ten Kazapples and obtain the fourth orb.

In Samanosa, rumored to be acting strangely, the protagonist is thrown into jail the moment they meet the king. Figuring "it's probably the same pattern as last time," the commentator promptly breaks out and confronts the king in his bedchamber. When they reflect his true form in the Mirror of Ra they had prepared, the king is revealed to be a Boss Troll who had changed his appearance using the Staff of Transformation.

The commentator introduces this boss as a versatile opponent who, while appearing to rely on brute force, mixes in Sap, Fuddle, devastating blows, and more. They further describe him as "quite the brainy type" who had earned great merit in the archfiend's army, such as framing the hero Simon, who was spoken of in the same breath as the protagonist's father, and having him exiled to an island. The battle itself is simple: spam Kazapple and restore lost HP with Meditation, and he goes down. As he falls, the Boss Troll leaves behind the words, "With strength like this, you'll never be a match for Lord Baramos."

When they visit Simon's place of exile, he has already passed away. His last will instructs them to throw the Sword of Gaia into the volcano. At the volcano, the guardian Revenant blocks the way. The Revenant says that seeing the protagonist reminds it of a human it once pushed into the magma. Since their father Ortega is said to have died in the volcano, the commentator takes this to mean that this creature is apparently their father's killer.

The Revenant spams Frizzle and a spell that sounds like "Ragon" in the subtitles, among others. So they go in fully equipped with fire- and spell-resistant gear and, as usual, defeat it by spamming Kazapple. At the shrine beyond the path opened by throwing in the Sword of Gaia, they are granted the Silver Orb.

In a certain undeveloped land, there's a man eager to build a town who is looking for a merchant. The commentator says, "Let's just kidnap someone from our hometown," and jokingly brings a merchant, noting that the king had mentioned people being traded at the tavern. The name and the person didn't matter.

Just a few minutes after handing over the merchant, a town with beautiful cobblestone streets has sprung up. However, the merchant faces fierce backlash from the residents and ends up thrown in jail. The commentator's only reaction is, "Well, these things happen." A gift for the protagonist, hidden by the merchant before being imprisoned, lies in the ruined mansion, and it turns out to be the last orb. With all six orbs gathered, Ramia is revived. Remarking that the priestess's whisper is "weirdly sultry," they gain a means of traveling through the sky and head for the archfiend's lair.

Baramos acts up to three times per turn. According to the commentator, most of those are not devastating blows but normal attacks, dealing around 180 damage. He occasionally uses spells like Kafrizzle, but thanks to the protagonist's high resistances, they have no effect at all. The pattern the commentator lays out is simple: use Meditation when HP drops below about half, and otherwise spam Kazapple. They defeat Baramos after about twenty casts.

Upon returning to Aliahan, the king praises the protagonist for defeating the archfiend alone and holds a celebratory feast. Then the Archfiend Zoma appears, declaring that he is the ruler of the world of darkness and that Baramos was merely his underling. The mother says, "You're not a monk anymore, are you," and sends the protagonist off once again, telling them they can come home anytime they're tired. The protagonist descends into the other world, Alefgard.

Seeking the power to enter the Archfiend's castle, they visit a tower associated with the spirit Rubiss, who is said to have created this land. There appears Baramos Gonus, who calls himself "Lord Zoma's right hand." The commentator calls him a palette swap of Baramos and wonders whether he might be his younger brother. He's accompanied by minions, but simply casting Kazapple is enough to win.

The commentator also gives concrete numbers. With Kazapple, the minions go down in three casts and the boss in fourteen. The maximum damage taken in one turn is around 160, so as long as you heal occasionally, you can defeat him without trouble. In fact, he goes down on the 16th turn. They also note that this is Kazapple's last time in the spotlight, reflecting that it had supported the adventure for a long time ever since they got the ship.

At Zoma's castle, the protagonist comes across their father Ortega, thought to have fallen into the volcano, fighting monsters. Ortega can no longer see or hear, and entrusts his words without knowing who he is speaking to. He had lost his memory but has now remembered everything; he left behind his wife and newborn child and never did a single fatherly thing for them. He then asks that his child in Aliahan be told: "Forgive this father who could not bring peace to the world. I wanted to see you grown up, even just once." The video plays this scene as is, and the commentator adds only that after the farewell, they headed to Zoma.

Zoma first sends three of his minions after the protagonist. From here, the commentator switches to the Falcon Sword, which they introduce as "a weapon sold at the neighborhood item shop."

The first opponent, King Hydra, has no notable weaknesses, so they attack with Falcon Slash. They also prepare fire resistance so as not to share their father's fate, and defeat it after bashing away for a while. The second is a rematch with Baramos Gonus. Unlike last time, he has no minions. Since Flame Slash, which exploits his weakness, does slightly more damage than Falcon Slash, they carve him up with Flame Slash.

As for the third, Baramos Bomus, the commentator says it was the most powerful boss of this adventure. That's because it auto-regenerates 300 HP every turn and deals several hundred damage or more at once. So the commentator first hardens with Kaclang and keeps casting it, waiting for the enemy to run out of MP.

Even after running out of MP, Baramos Bomus apparently keeps choosing spells, which lowers its attack frequency accordingly. Taking fewer hits means fewer turns spent healing, making it easier to out-damage its regeneration. By the commentator's calculation, factoring in the armor's reflected damage and healing actions, their damage output averages about 650 per turn. Subtracting the regeneration, that whittles away roughly 350 per turn. Indeed, after about a minute of trading blows, they defeat it.

In the final battle, they first strip away Zoma's barrier with the Sphere of Light entrusted to them by the Dragon Queen. The commentator explains that it's possible to win without using the Sphere of Light, but it seems like it would take a long time, so this time they use it as intended. Since it exploits his elemental weakness, they fight with Flame Slash here as well. They also say that fighting the archfiend with hero-like attacks is nice because it feels like "being a hero."

Zoma specializes in cold-based attacks, but the protagonist's ice resistance is so high that they barely work. Here the commentator offers their view on the series. In the past, there were few ways to gain elemental resistances, but recent Dragon Quest games have more robust equipment, so no archfiend relying solely on cold has appeared since. Perhaps Zoma, too, should rethink his cold-heavy build to suit the Reiwa era. In that sense, their impression is that Zoma is a retro archfiend who retains vestiges of an older era.

However, once his HP drops, his behavior pattern changes and his attacks suddenly become much fiercer. There was a moment when two Kaswooshes and one normal attack took off about 600 HP at once. The commentator advises that the latter half of Zoma is quite brutal, so it's good to keep HP on the high side, and also says that three devastating blows in a row would surely be fatal. In the end, the battle is decided in a single turn, and Zoma perishes, leaving the words: "As long as there is light, there will also be darkness. Someone will once again emerge from the darkness, but by then you will have grown old and will no longer be alive."

In the ending, the King of Tantegel commends the protagonist, saying that fighting all alone must have been very hard. Perhaps because the Archfiend has perished, the hole leading to the original world has closed, but he says Alefgard too will surely begin to walk forward as a world of light, and he bestows upon the protagonist the title of "Erdrick," the mark of a true hero.

The commentator's overall assessment is brief. Even while walking the path of thorns, the hero alone was able to save the world. The original's excellent level design is left intact, with many touches that seem to raise the resolution of the world, and even now, more than 30 years after the original release, it was a great deal of fun to play. They conclude that the bittersweet ending, which leaves a touch of loneliness, is also a very Dragon Quest-like finale.

At the very end of the video, a post-ending scene is included. The video ends with a scene in which a figure calling himself Hargon vows to the "Queen": "I shall raise your child into a great dragon who will rule the world."