Dragon Quest 3

Dragon Quest 3 (DQ3) is the third game in the Dragon Quest series. It was released on the Famicom/NES, and then re-released on GB/SFC in Japan only, and GBC worldwide. The version that is run the most, and is considered the standard for RTA runs, is the SFC version.

General notes about the run
The DQ3 SFC run uses a party composed of a Warrior, a Thief and a Mage. The Thief is class changed into a Sage later in the game, and the Mage is class changed into a Warrior soon after that. This allows the Mage to use magic while still surviving, and allows the Thief to be a Sage, arguably the strongest class in the game. The Sage learns a lot of strong magic, and has access to abilities such as Tiptoe, which is a free spell that allows you to avoid battles with enemies around/below that characters current level.

The RTA run is centered around getting equipment to help you survive in areas well above your character's current level. During the early moments of the run, this means hoping you don't get into encounters, and when you do, hoping you run away without losing too much health or having too many characters die.

In order to lessen the need for relying on running away from battles, you fight battles you get in most areas, in order to get some levels. A lot of this revolves around getting a feel or calculating what enemies give the most EXP but are the least troublesome. Once you reach Garuna tower, however, it is quicker to fight every battle you get, as there is a chance you will encounters metal slimes, and any extra EXP you have will help lessen the amount of slimes you need to kill.

A strategy that is used fairly often throughout the run is re-ordering your party so that the person who has the highest chance of taking damage changes. This means that instead of having your Hero or Mage die easily because of the party order, you can have your Warrior take the most damage, or have the highest HP party member at the time do such.

Bosses generally devolve into attacking with your Warrior and Hero, and healing with your Thief and Mage. The later bosses involve using specific spells against the boss, while healing with your Sage and Hero. The Warrior ends up being a tank, being in the front of the party, attacking when he can.

Videos
[Placeholder for when I can add links to Nico/Twitch VODs for RTAs - Falcon]

Route(s)
This is a translation of a run that was, at the time, world record. It is a bare-bones route, without many notes on when to fight battles or what levels to be at certain times.