Azure Dreams (PS1)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...s_Coverart.png

Ive recently replayed this game and i want to make a quick review of it cause it's a pretty interesting rpg.

Azure Dreams is a cross between a digimon game, a dungeon crawler, Act raiser and a anime harem. For those of you not familiar with the harem term here is what it means:

Harem, hāremumono (ハーレムもの?) (from harem), broadly, is an ambiguously-defined subgenre of anime and manga with an emphasis on polygamous or love triangle-type relationships; characterized by a protagonist surrounded, usually amorously, by three or more members of the opposing gender, sex and/or love interests.

In this game you play as a 15 yr old boy who just became a Hunter and as a hunter your mission is to explore a huge monster tower that is just outside your town.

The main story of the game is very simple, you are a hunter as your father was a hunter and your following his foot steps

This game doesn't bore you with a long story, it sets up a very simple premise because the fun of the game comes from the gameplay not the story.

It's important to know this game only focuses on 2 areas, The Monster tower and your home town, your basic goal is to climb up the tower searching for monsters eggs that will hatch and aid you traverse the tower as you search for loot and story items. these monsters are referred to as Familiars

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/azu...edreams-16.jpg
The Tower floors and loot are randomly generated so everytime you go to a new floor you never know what you'll get. Also and this is super important, once you enter the tower YOU CANNOT exit it unless you have a Wind Crystal or a similar item that warps you back to town, If you die on the tower you'll lose all your gear & items.

Without a warp item all your progress will be lost and they don't sell these items in your town, you have to find them in the tower.

Add to that your MC doesn't keep the Levels he acquired, only your familiars keep their levels. This may sound very tedious and it is but it also makes you focus on leveling up your familiar and use your MC as a backup.

Progressing in the Monster tower is fairly hard but very rewarding especially cause all the loot that you get can be sold in your town AND you take that money you make to rebuild your town, you can hire a carpenter to spruce up your town.

This game is divided by 2 different gameplays, In the Monster tower this game is a Digimon dungeon crawler game but when you are in town it becomes a harem sim dating game with management elements.

The contrast between the 2 different gameplay goes great, for those of you who have played Persona 3 & 4, it's essentially the same gameplay as those game.

You battle and explore a giant tower, you socialise in town.
The good thing is your love interests in this game are pretty interesting, here's a few of them

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/azu...redreams-6.jpg

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/azu...edreams-13.jpg

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/azu...edreams-14.jpg

I haven't gotten that far in the game but i had a conversation with that Fur girl in her item shop and she basically insulted me and we had to argue and then make up.

The social interactions in this game really surprised me. they're not outdated and still sound fresh, in fact the gameplay of this game still holds up to this day the only downfall this game has are the graphics are terribly outdated but gameplay wise this game is really innovative and also very challenging.

i played this game back in my ps1 days and i didn't like it. it's not a traditional rpg so i didn't get it but now that ive played the persona games and the harvest moon games i totally get what this game was trying to do.

i recommend this game to rpg fans that are into digimon and dating sim games.

Drakkhen
 

Here's an odd one: Drakkhen for the SNES. It looked and functioned more like a CD-ROM game instead of the sprite-based RPGs the SNES was known for.

The storyline wasn't too bad if you could make it through the crude, wonky controls and bad navigation. I could never seem to figure out where to go or what I was supposed to do. Not to mention the fact that your party was woefully prepared to fight the difficult enemies. If you went too far on the map, you would essentially be insta-killed by one of the various monsters if you didn't run from the fight.



Even given its downsides and the fact that I never got very far in the game, I still enjoyed playing it as it was such a different experience than the other RPGs of the time. And as far as the map music goes, it was pretty hip.

Thoughts on remakes & sequels
 

Ive been thinking about games that need a remake or a sequel and the first game i thought of was Megaman

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...Man_Series.jpg

Megaman has had ALOT of games that range from platformers to rpgs but i was thinking they should make a compilation remake that has all the the bosses from previous megaman games (or at least the most creative ones) all in one game. im not talking about using like 8 bosses im talking about using like 32 of them and giving fans a nostalgia overload that encapsulates everything they loved about the classic megaman games in 1 game.

They can do it in 16 bit graphics and just remake all the stages for the bosses, i imagine it wouldn't be that hard they don't have to add anything new to the stages just remaster them a bit if like they did with the Duck tales remake.

The megaman games are so good you don't have to mess with the formula you just gotta spruce it a bit and make it a digital download and you're good to go

Another game that needs a remake or better yet a sequel is Pokemon snap

http://cdn-premiere.ladmedia.fr/var/...trait_w858.jpg

I don't even own a Wii-U but i know a Wii-U Pokemon Snap would sell like crazy. I played the original for the N64 and though not my favorite game it was really enjoyable for what it was. im not really up to date with Wii U proyects but i haven't heard any news for a sequel all ive heard is fans from the game begging for one.

Even the nintendo staff wants a sequel but apparently there's some licensing issues preventing it.

Pokemon Director Speaks About Having a New Pokemon Snap

There's more games i want a remake or a sequel for but i'll get to them later.

Since a new King's Quest came out and looks amazing, i was thinking of another point and click adventure that deserves a remake, i first thought of Maniac mansion but then i remembered i played another point and click that deserves a remake, Disc world

http://sleague.civfanatics.com/image...orld_Title.png

It's hard for me to talk about this game cause i won't do it justice since im not familiar with the novels this game came from, i played this game on the ps1 without a walkthrough and it was hard as sh*t but the dialogue in the game is pretty witty and humorous. the main character is brilliantly voiced by Eric idle and his lines never get old.

here's a detailed review of the game by Pushing up roses.



It would be great if they revived this franchise and port it to consoles not just the pc. The Nes and the Genesis had pc ports of point and click adventure games and they did well, consoles gamers like this kinda game too.

Here's a Ps1 gem that still holds up as a great game.

Brigandine (Ps1)

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/...20111119123125
Before i begin talking about this game i strongly urge tactical rpg fans to get this game. If you can get a physical copy or just get the rom do so cause this game is fantastic.

What makes this game stand out from other tactical rpgs is that this game takes a different perspective in its storytelling. Like most trpgs this game is all about kingdoms in a all out war but what's different is instead of being assigned a single party of heroes to save the day in this game you are assigned a kingdom who aren't the good guys in fact, your kingdom is led by a capricious king named Dryst who kinda behaves like Kefka from FF6

http://img.gamefaqs.net/screens/9/a/...41824_2_15.jpg

This is the leader of the nation assigned to you, a madman the game's wiki describes as a tyrant.

The cool thing about this game is that even though it has great characters, it doesn't bore you with a cliché role or a long story, instead it focuses on the game play which is more about unit management and character development than story driven

"In Brigandine, the player controls one of the six playable nations. Each nation possess a number of troops and castles. Each troop is composed by a human leader, called rune knight, and fictional creatures such as dragons, ghouls and fairies, which are called "monsters". The goal of the player is to conquer the entire continent by attacking the enemy castles with the controlled nation's troops (or troops from allied nations). Likewise, troops are also used to protect the controlled nation's castles from enemy troops' attacks. Brigandine features two gameplay modes, both turn-based: a preparation mode and a battle mode."

The game does have a good story but its conveyed through short dialogue events not through long cut scenes.