Other Life: Azure Dreams
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| Other Life: Azure Dreams | |
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 cover art |
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| Developer(s) | Konami |
| Publisher(s) | Konami |
| Release date(s) | JPN August 5, 1999 NA 1999 |
| Genre(s) | RPG |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E (Everybody) |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy Color |
Other Life: Azure Dreams is a 1999 Game Boy Color port of the PlayStation game, Azure Dreams. The port was praised by fans as having smoother game mechanics than the original game.
Contents |
[edit] Story
The story of Other Life: Azure Dreams is nearly identical to the PlayStation version. The game begins in the desert town of Monsbaiya as Koh, a boy who has just turned 15, has come of age and can now climb the Tower of Monstrosity. On his first adventure in the tower he meets a small blue dragon named Kewne. Kewne claims to have known Koh's father, Guy, who was the greatest monster tamer in history. Koh enters the tower looking for Guy, collecting and hatching eggs, battling monsters and unraveling the secrets of the tower.
The story progresses one step farther, as after the first playthrough you can replay through the game to get a second ending. However, this game also sacrifices the relationship building feature of the Playstation version.
[edit] Gameplay
The gameplay is very similar to its predecesor and other turn based dungeon crawlers. Each action and move made constitutes a turn, with the player character and each monster acting once per turn. Certain status effects and abilities will allow fewer or greater numbers of actions.
Throughout the floors of the tower are scattered items. These range from swords, shields, and wands to magic balls and monster eggs. Fighting alongside the player are one or two 'familiars', monsters you have tamed.
As in the PlayStation version, there are several ways to leave the tower. If Koh is defeated, he will wake up at home having lost all the items he brought with him into the tower, with the exception of familiars. There are two items which will teleport Koh and all his items out of the tower, the Olimseed and the Wind Gem.
It is possible to beautify the town of Monsbaiya through various means, such as giving money to Koh's childhood friend, Nico, who will turn portions of the desert town into a grand garden.
[edit] The Tower
The tower consists of 31 above-ground floors and 99 subterranean levels. Each floor, with few exceptions, is randomly generated. As the player progresses in either direction, the difficulty of monsters increases.
Entering the tower will reset the player's level to 1, making his items and familiars key in progressing to the more difficult floors. Only 5 items may be carried when entering the tower.
[edit] Monsters
The game largely revolves around the taming, leveling and fusing of the tower's monsters. Monsters can be bought at some expense in the town's stores, but are more often found as eggs within the tower.
Eggs may be hatched at home or in the tower. Any monster from an egg hatched while inside the tower will disappear after leaving the tower, emphasizing hatching eggs at home.
Monsters and familiars have typical RPG attributes, like the player, including an important MP attribute. All actions the familiar takes consume a set amount of MP, including simple movement. When MP reaches 0, the familiar becomes inactive.
Monsters had four classes, Wind, Water, Fire and an "Anti" class effective against all three. Each class, excluding the fourth, was weak against one class and strong against another.
Two familiars could be fused together to create a single familiar with attributes and abilities derivative of the familiars used to create it. This feature was often used to unlock abilities or even create new kinds of monsters findable only through fusing.
