Azure Dreams is set in the desert town of Monsbaiya. The town prospers because of a Monster Tower located over it. A skilled monster tamer named Guy disappears in the tower and is never seen again. His son, Koh, enters the tower when he turns 15 and meets a familiar named Kewne - a monster that can speak to humans. Kewne and Koh embark on a quest to reach the top of the Monster Tower and find the truth about Guy's fate.
The game offers a lot of choice in respect to how individual players wish to play. The main focus of the game is entering the tower and destroying its denizens, collecting treasure and monster eggs to hatch into familiars. Each monster has hidden spells, unique traits, and abilities. One side mission is the improvement of the town of Monsbaiya. With his acquired riches, Koh can finance the building of a theatre, hospital, racing track, casino, bowling alley, and gym. Some buildings allow the appearance of specific love interests (such as the Hospital making way for Cherrl to appear and the library making Mia available), while others offer minigames and the ability to acquire currency at a faster rate. Koh can also improve the furnishings and decorate his home.
The player is also given the option of pursuing romantic ambitions in Koh's life. There are seven characters that he may develop a relationship with, from tomboy Nico to stuck-up, selfish Selfi. There are a few differences that exist between the Japanese and American versions of the game; in the Japanese version it had voiced dialogue for every character, the title screen was dramatically changed, the intro movie was narrated and the angel/cherub was more animated, larger and looked much different. The monster book graphics were also redone. The Japanese version has a seahorse like selector with more colorful elemental bars, for example the water one has vines growing on it. The layout of the picture and text was different also with the Japanese version having the monster text off to the right and the stats under the picture. The buttons were also completely changed from the Japanese version, and not just an O, X swap. This relationship-building aspect of the game is absent from the Game Boy Color version.
Every time Koh enters the Tower, he returns to level one; however, any familiars hatched outside the Tower retain their current level. As such, progression through the higher levels of the Tower relies on strengthening the familiars or equipment. Strengthening weapons and shields can be an uphill battle, because the items that add a +1 to their attack or defense are often far outnumbered by Rust Traps, one of the many varieties of randomly generated traps that only become visible once activated. One remedy to this is to use types of equipment that do not rust. Furthermore, once in the Tower, there are only three ways of exiting it: If Koh "dies" within the Tower, he returns to town but loses all equipment he carried; a familiar can be sacrificed using a specific item found within the Tower, called an Oleem, allowing Koh to escape and keep all of his other equipment; and a Wind Crystal can be found in the Tower that allows escape at any time.
Another unique point of Azure Dreams is the random map generator: every time Koh enters the Monster Tower, the levels are randomly generated so as to make every monster-hunting experience different.
Activity within the main dungeon is turn-based, with one move or attack corresponding to a turn (e.g. when the player takes a step, so do opposing monsters). Randomly generated dungeons and treasures are also features shared with the genre.
Next Generation reviewed the PlayStation version of the game, rating it two stars out of five: "A randomly generated dungeon map might conceivably add to the replay value, but as it is, Azure Dreams will not exactly have many gamers coming back for long".[10]
A remake of the game was released on the Game Boy Color in 1999. This edition more than doubled the number of monsters of the PlayStation version[13] and added a bonus underground dungeon that spanned an extra 100 floors of gameplay, but the town building and dating elements were removed. The battle system was also changed to more resemble Pokémon, with each battle taking place on its own screen instead of on the field.
Notes
^Known in Japan as Other Life: Azure Dreams (Japanese: アザーライフ アザードリームス, Hepburn: Azā Raifu Azā Dorīmusu)
References
^ ab"Azure Dreams for Game Boy Color". GameRankings. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
^ ab"Azure Dreams for PlayStation". GameRankings. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
^House, Michael L. . AllGame. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
azure, dreams, role, playing, video, game, developed, konami, computer, entertainment, tokyo, published, konami, playstation, game, color, game, with, same, name, developed, konami, computer, entertainment, nagoya, released, years, later, spiritual, sequel, ad. Azure Dreams a is a role playing video game developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo and published by Konami for the PlayStation A Game Boy Color game with the same name was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Nagoya and released two years later A spiritual sequel Tao s Adventure Curse of the Demon Seal was released on the Nintendo DS in 2005 Azure DreamsDeveloper s KCET PlayStation KCE Nagoya Game Boy Color Publisher s KonamiDirector s Kenichirō HorioHaruhiko InabaProducer s Kazumi KitaueDesigner s Kouji YamadaKeisuke HattoriKenichirō HorioWriter s Kouji YamadaKenichirō HorioComposer s Hiroshi TamawariPlatform s PlayStation Game Boy ColorReleasePlayStationJP November 13 1997NA June 30 1998EU December 1998Game Boy ColorJP August 5 1999NA February 2000EU 2000Genre s Role playingMode s Single player Contents 1 Story 2 Gameplay 3 Reception 4 Game Boy Color version 5 Notes 6 References 7 External linksStory EditAzure Dreams is set in the desert town of Monsbaiya The town prospers because of a Monster Tower located over it A skilled monster tamer named Guy disappears in the tower and is never seen again His son Koh enters the tower when he turns 15 and meets a familiar named Kewne a monster that can speak to humans Kewne and Koh embark on a quest to reach the top of the Monster Tower and find the truth about Guy s fate Gameplay EditThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed October 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message The game offers a lot of choice in respect to how individual players wish to play The main focus of the game is entering the tower and destroying its denizens collecting treasure and monster eggs to hatch into familiars Each monster has hidden spells unique traits and abilities One side mission is the improvement of the town of Monsbaiya With his acquired riches Koh can finance the building of a theatre hospital racing track casino bowling alley and gym Some buildings allow the appearance of specific love interests such as the Hospital making way for Cherrl to appear and the library making Mia available while others offer minigames and the ability to acquire currency at a faster rate Koh can also improve the furnishings and decorate his home The player is also given the option of pursuing romantic ambitions in Koh s life There are seven characters that he may develop a relationship with from tomboy Nico to stuck up selfish Selfi There are a few differences that exist between the Japanese and American versions of the game in the Japanese version it had voiced dialogue for every character the title screen was dramatically changed the intro movie was narrated and the angel cherub was more animated larger and looked much different The monster book graphics were also redone The Japanese version has a seahorse like selector with more colorful elemental bars for example the water one has vines growing on it The layout of the picture and text was different also with the Japanese version having the monster text off to the right and the stats under the picture The buttons were also completely changed from the Japanese version and not just an O X swap This relationship building aspect of the game is absent from the Game Boy Color version Every time Koh enters the Tower he returns to level one however any familiars hatched outside the Tower retain their current level As such progression through the higher levels of the Tower relies on strengthening the familiars or equipment Strengthening weapons and shields can be an uphill battle because the items that add a 1 to their attack or defense are often far outnumbered by Rust Traps one of the many varieties of randomly generated traps that only become visible once activated One remedy to this is to use types of equipment that do not rust Furthermore once in the Tower there are only three ways of exiting it If Koh dies within the Tower he returns to town but loses all equipment he carried a familiar can be sacrificed using a specific item found within the Tower called an Oleem allowing Koh to escape and keep all of his other equipment and a Wind Crystal can be found in the Tower that allows escape at any time Another unique point of Azure Dreams is the random map generator every time Koh enters the Monster Tower the levels are randomly generated so as to make every monster hunting experience different Activity within the main dungeon is turn based with one move or attack corresponding to a turn e g when the player takes a step so do opposing monsters Randomly generated dungeons and treasures are also features shared with the genre Reception EditReceptionAggregate scoreAggregatorScoreGBCPSGameRankings70 1 72 2 Review scoresPublicationScoreGBCPSAllGameN A 3 Electronic Gaming MonthlyN A7 75 10 4 Game InformerN A8 10 5 GameProN A 6 GameSpotN A7 3 10 7 IGN6 10 8 7 10 9 Next GenerationN A 10 Official U S PlayStation MagazineN A 11 PlayN A70 12 Next Generation reviewed the PlayStation version of the game rating it two stars out of five A randomly generated dungeon map might conceivably add to the replay value but as it is Azure Dreams will not exactly have many gamers coming back for long 10 The game received average reviews on both platforms according to the review aggregation website GameRankings 2 1 Game Boy Color version EditA remake of the game was released on the Game Boy Color in 1999 This edition more than doubled the number of monsters of the PlayStation version 13 and added a bonus underground dungeon that spanned an extra 100 floors of gameplay but the town building and dating elements were removed The battle system was also changed to more resemble Pokemon with each battle taking place on its own screen instead of on the field Notes Edit Known in Japan as Other Life Azure Dreams Japanese アザーライフ アザードリームス Hepburn Aza Raifu Aza Dorimusu References Edit a b Azure Dreams for Game Boy Color GameRankings Retrieved June 13 2016 a b Azure Dreams for PlayStation GameRankings Retrieved June 13 2016 House Michael L Azure Dreams PS Review AllGame Archived from the original on November 14 2014 Retrieved June 13 2016 Azure Dreams PS Electronic Gaming Monthly 1998 Azure Dreams PlayStation Game Informer No 63 July 1998 Archived from the original on September 21 1999 Retrieved June 13 2016 Air Hendrix 1998 Azure Dreams for PlayStation on GamePro com GamePro Archived from the original on February 7 2005 Retrieved June 13 2016 Mielke James July 22 1998 Azure Dreams Review PS GameSpot Retrieved June 13 2016 Cleveland Adam February 24 2000 Azure Dreams GBC IGN Retrieved June 13 2016 Frost Steven August 24 1998 Azure Dreams PS IGN Retrieved June 13 2016 a b Finals Next Generation No 44 Imagine Media August 1998 p 96 Azure Dreams Official U S PlayStation Magazine 1998 Azure Dreams Play No 40 November 1998 pp 76 77 Azure Dreams Monster Shrine www flyingomelette com Retrieved 2020 06 19 External links EditAzure Dreams at MobyGames Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Azure Dreams amp oldid 1140387984, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
