So last month was a Four Job Fiesta-esque event for Dragon Quest 3, which gave me a pretty good excuse to start it up and play it throughout the month (Martial Artist, Merchant, Priest). I ended up going with the GBC version, since it provided a nice mix of the SNES version's changes with a NES-style soundtrack.
It's an interesting choice for a fiesta-style challenge. Unlike Final Fantasy V, the value is mostly in combatting that wonderful analysis paralysis when forming a party at the start. I wanted to go over my overall thoughts of the game, along with my experience of playing through with that party. My ramblings after the cutoff includes spoilers for story and gameplay, so beware.
Sometimes when playing these old RPGs, I like to try to put myself in the mindset of when it was released, to try to imagine that feeling of seeing an unfamiliar thing for the first time. For example, in Final Fantasy 3*, there was a moment that seems quaint now, but would have been downright jaw-dropping when it was new. Likewise, with Dragon Quest 3, there are a few moments that would have amazed a Famicom owner in 1988. After all, this wasn't too long after Dragon Quest 2 added a larger world and a party to the series, and it was only 2 months after potential contenders like Final Fantasy and Phantasy Star started to hit the scene, and yet both really felt the pressure from this game to step up for their sequels.
Realizing the true structure of this game would probably have been one such moment of amazement. You start off on a small continent with a clear critical path, then you move on to a larger landmass where you have a few more options to explore. During this time, you are trying to find your way to the Archfiend Baramos while following in the footsteps of the Hero's father Ortega, as townspeople along your journey drop hints by recalling his time in their towns.
DQ3 quest summary/ending spoilers
A big moment is when you get your ship and the entire world map opens up. Collect the orbs scattered around the world in virtually any order, with the only physical progression blocker being doors locked by one final key (a quest chain separate from the Orbs). The only soft barrier is the strength of the enemies in different locations, though the delta between them isn't massive. The latter of course, could be overcome through leveling and equipment. DQ2 opened up in a similar way when you got a ship, but the path to the Seals and the final area in that game was more linear than you would expect, particularly since it involved tracking down two late-game keys instead of just one. Plus, by the point when you get the ship in DQ2, you've already explored most of the world map's land area on foot. Essentially DQ3 built upon this base by giving you more to explore off the bat and more threads to chase down.
Eventually the Orbs give you access to Baramos' castle via a cool bird, you beat up the arch-fiend, and the real villain Zoma shows up during the celebration to cut a promo. Drop down the hole to find that Zoma rules the setting of the first game, Alefgard. This twist is why DQ3 is remembered pretty fondly, as it deftly ties the game back to DQ1 by revealing itself to be a prequel. In practice, Alefgard largely exists to prepare you for the final dungeon, as the key items are relatively easy to get, Liquid Metal Slimes roam parts of the world map, and the caves scattering the new world map are largely optional equipment hunts.
Then there's the Job System, another novelty for a 1988 Famicom game, as this was pre-FF3 and even pre-SaGa. For an early attempt, it's a pretty robust system, as each class has clear strengths and weaknesses, and none of the Jobs ever really feel useless. For brevity's sake, I'll just focus on the Jobs I rolled for the Fiesta. Martial Artist is focused on speed, and is secretly the best physical attacker in the game, as they develop a special calculation for critical hits as they level up. Merchant is a jack-of-all-trades physical class that is focused on HP and EXP growth. They tend to fall off in strength around endgame, but this is one class that was improved in the remakes, which expanded their weapon arsenal. You'd expect Priest to be focused on healing, and while they do learn healing spells, this set the DQ style where they can also strike hard with offensive spells, status effects. and an assortment of weapons. Naturally, Priests are a good job to roll in a Fiesta since without them, the Hero is your party's only healer for most of the game.
As for job-switching, well, it isn't a good sign when the general answer for "when should my party switch jobs?" is "almost never." Since switching jobs halves your stats, resets you to level 1, and lets you keep any learned spells, there are only a few situations where changing jobs is worth starting the grind over. In a normal game, it would be to switch someone to the Sage super-class, switch someone to Martial Artist for speed and those sweet crits, or to give a physical class some spells. In the Fiesta style, this aspect drastically limits your options unless you get a lucky roll. That's probably why most of the early Fiesta Victories involved Jesters, since the rules for them allowed someone in the party to "evolve" into a Sage. In my case, the only feasible switch involved the Martial Artist and the Priest, as you would end up with a super-agile Priest and a magic-casting Martial Artist.
Overall, I was lucky enough to roll a party that could do an entire playthrough without falling off that much. Outside of the re-classing, the only major grind points for this party were Orochi and Baramos (who wrecked the party in the early 20s). Orochi had more of a strategic challenge though, as Orochi can be put to Sleep in the first fight and Dazzled in the second (in the remakes; the original keeps the same stats for both). RPGs where status effects and debuffs on bosses are the rule and not the exception are always wonderful, and DQ3 certainly gives options on that front.
Besides that, it's Dragon Quest 3, you probably don't need me to tell you it's an RPG that's worth playing. Go with the SNES version with translation and bugfix patches, or wait and see how the HD-2D remake turns out (if there's ever an update on it). Heck, if you don't mind more of a challenge, check out the NES version to see the differences between it and the remakes, along with the infamous Parry glitch and RNG manipulations.
* FF3 moment spoilers
The moment when you leave the floating island, the world map that you've been spending the entire start of the game on, only to realize that it is just a small city on the real world map where the rest of the game takes place. A nice visual and a genuine twist back then.