Koh and the ladies (and monster) in his life.note
Azure Dreams is a roguelike RPG released by Konami for the Playstation in 1997 in Japan, and everywhere else in 1998. The Game Boy Color version was released in 1999 in Japan and everywhere else in 2000, and it lacks the elements of town- and relationship-building.
The overall plot to both games is the same: you are a boy named Koh, and you live out in a desert village where a giant monster tower looms. Your father, Guy, went into the tower to find a legendary monster and hasn't been seen since, so you enter the tower to search for him, and fight/tame any monsters that get in your way.
Tropes used in Azure Dreams (for both versions unless noted otherwise):
- All There in the Manual: The ages of all the main characters is revealed there, even listing the age of Guy before he died.
- Ambidextrous Sprite: Koh, in the tower. In a reverse of early incarnations of Link, his shield will never face away from the viewer.
- American Kirby Is Hardcore: The box art for the PSX version: Japan
◊ and America◊. Unlike a large number of examples, this adjusts it to show a different aspect of the game that would appeal more to the US audience instead of making something more hardcore version of the box art. - And the Adventure Continues: Once you beat the game and leave your house again, the game displays this message.As long as you have the will for adventure, the adventures of Koh will not end here. You can continue your adventures from here on. Please enjoy.
- Antidote Effect: The hazak herb (which recovers a reduced attack stat) is completely useless on all floors of the tower that do not contain
Vipers, the only monster capable of inflicting that effect. However, try to make it through those floors, and you'll probably be kicking yourself if you don't have any. They're also useful for any monster from an Arachne fusion, which doubles their base power but does not apply to stats gained in the current tower trip unless their stats are healed. - Asteroids Monster: In the PS1 version, Manoevas can split into multiple weaker copies of themselves when hit.
- Awesome, yet Impractical: Some of the lighter monsters (including Kewne, your familiar) can be picked up and hurled at an enemy. This gives your monster a free attack on the enemy in question, even if they would normally strike second and also keeps fragile Koh a few steps back from the monster. Impractical only for two reasons:
- The throw damages your monster, too. Given that the entire game is based around resource management, wasting even 1 or 2 HP can be the difference between victory or defeat.
- Sometimes you miss and Koh apparently has a pretty good throwing arm and your monsters have a pretty bad case of ADD, leaving Koh to fight the monster alone and your monster to wander about the level randomly until you meet up with it again or go up a floor.
- Having two monsters out using the second collar you can find. Great for exploring end-of-the-run floors when you've got a Wind Crystal and plan to go back soon anyway. Not so great when you're trying to push for the top and need every Herb and MP-restorative you can get.
- The Dark Sword and Holy Swords respectively. Both have very good starting damage, but both succumb to rust, ultimately making the Gold Sword a better choice.
- Bag of Holding: Koh has one that can hold up to 20 items, monsters and eggs included. It's very small whenever he wears it, but it seems to become much larger whenever summoning or dismissing a familiar.
- Bag of Spilling: The monsters keep their experience levels upon exiting the tower. You, however...
- The Beastmaster: Koh can have several familiars in his possession, and he's fully capable of commanding all of them what to do, apparently a trait that he picked up from his father.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Koh, Kewne, Cherrl and especially Mia.
- Big Brother Instinct:
- Part of the reason why Ghosh can't stand to see Selfi fall in love with Koh.
- Koh for Weedy, considering that he's risking his life in the monster tower to find treasure and make money to provide for her and their mother, Wreath.
- Big Eater: Koh, if he wins Patti's heart. He has to eat every item on her menu, and then a special dish afterwards.
- Black Magician Girl: Ghosh's sister Selfi◊... in appearance, at least.
- Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Koh gets to participate in this optionally with Fon after building the Monsbaiya Theater, playing the tsukkomi to Fon's boke.
- Boring, but Practical: An easy way to increase an item's drop rate is to simply place it in storage. With 5 stored, even rare items like sands will be spawning regularly.
- Butt-Monkey: Ghosh gets this in abundance with Koh stealing all the girls for himself. The only girl that doesn't completely turn him down is Vivian.
- The Casanova: Koh, eventually.
- The Casino: Funny enough, the church pastor can suggest this. Notable in that it's usually easier to get coins than lose them, making this is a bit of a Game-Breaker.
- Cerebus Syndrome: This happens when you reach a certain floor in the tower and find out that your father's partner Beldo killed him when he tried to take the Ultimate Egg and is waiting for you on the top floor. After this point, when you wake up in the mornings, only Nico will be there and starts to cry when you head off for the monster tower. This lasts until you beat the game.
- Character Development: Most of the characters go through this during the game.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Nico is the only one of Koh's potential girlfriends to appear in the game's intro, which establishes that she and Koh have known each other all their lives; accordingly, if you have succeeded in romancing her when Koh first encounters Beldo, she is the one in whom Koh confides.
- Child Prodigy: Many adventurers are said to only make it up the first few floors before having to give up. Koh seems to easily be able to traverse the tower on his first time, and can easily manage to get to higher floors each time he adventures in, depending on the player. The Random Number God also has a say in things, of course...
- Cleavage Window: Nico's shirt has a cutout below her neck but above her chest.
- Com Mons: Wumps (GBC)/Pulunpas (PS1). Unless you have the ultimate Catawump.
- Continuing is Painful: Less so than other Roguelikes, but dying means you lose everything you had on you at the time of death. If you've been spending multiple sessions upgrading a Gold Sword (or any sword, really)...
- Continuity Nod: During Selfi's sidequest in the Playstation version, she gives you a Pulunpa egg. In the GBC version, she gets a Wump egg, a baby Catawump (aka Pulunpa), which hatches into Wumpi.
- Cool Big Sis: Weedy is Koh's little sister but otherwise fits the trope. She even seems fine with the fact that Koh has multiple girlfriends, perhaps just a little bit annoyed that they take all of his attention.Weedy: (In the post-game, when the girls do a dogpile on Koh) It's always the same.
- Crutch Character: To an extent, Kewne. While, technically speaking, he never stops being useful, quite a few monsters with the appropriate levels and monsters fused the right way have unique abilities, unique magic, or are otherwise an improvement.
- Cursed Item: Some of the weapons and armor you can find are cursed lowering their effectiveness. These curses can be removed making the equipment more usable.
- Damsel in Distress: Selfi at one point in the game.
- Dangerous 16th Birthday: A year earlier than usual, but when Koh turns 15, he is allowed to enter the monster tower for the first time and face all of its perils.
- Deadpan Snarker: Fur in both versions towards Koh. She uses this in the Playstation version to tease Koh. It eventually backfires on her when Koh sees Ghosh flirting with her, only for her to deny Ghosh's advances. She admits to treating Koh better, and will admit she likes him, but tries to switch it back to making it seem she only does because she feels sorry for him, even to go as far as mentioning his dead father. Koh gets upset at this and leaves, leaving Fur saddened by what's happened.Fur: Dunno why, but Koh's lookin' real good to me lately. Better go get my eyes checked out or somethin'.
- Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Subverted. If you get 0 HP in the Tower, you get knocked out and wake up in Town, same as if you used a wind crystal. However, you lose EVERYTHING you had with you except for Home-hatched familiars.
- The main reason why to some gamers, Azure Dreams can be as scary as a survival horror game. Just imagine losing all those valuable items!
- It's worse when you find that valuable Monster Egg or Trained Wand, only to get murdered before finding a Wind Crystal. Especially because there's a chance it will never appear again.
- Disappeared Dad: Koh's father died while Koh's mother was pregnant with Weedy, although some say that his spirit has been seen at the top floors of the tower from time to time....
- Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Like a lot of Japanese media at the time, Nico's heavy abuse of Koh is played for laughs.
- The Dragon: Both a literal and a somewhat figurative example are the Dragons at the higher floors who are also some of the last monsters you see before the final boss.
- Drum Bathing: Available with the default house. You get a legitimate bath once you upgrade it.
- Drunk on Milk: Well technically it's Cola, but even that's strong enough to make Koh pass out.
- Dungeon-Based Economy: All the economy is around the eponymous tower in the centre of the town where adventurers gather to get their mons and some other materials that are obtainable there. The player has the capacity to literally use the dungeon economy to build up the town.
- Elemental Powers: Most monsters have them. While most monsters have a set one, others that don't have one can discover new abilities by fusing with one that does have one. The monsters that do come with powers almost always will transform into another creature once they hit level 20.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Monsters come in three types: Fire, Wind, and Water. Fire beats Wind, Wind beats Water, and Water beats Fire.
- Elemental Weapon: When the player finds elemental powered weapons in the tower, they do a small dose of extra damage compared to the same power non elemental weapons. This is however a double edged blade considering that the tower plays an elemental rock paper scissors.
- Everyone Loves Blondes: Koh for Cherrl.
- Extreme Omnivore: The Barong, a somewhat rare monster, will eat absolutely any item you throw at it and spit a random item back out. this uses up its MP very fast, though, so it has a limit.
- Familiar: Any monster that you hatch and raise is called this. To get higher in the tower, it is essential that they become stronger, as unlike Koh, their levels don't reset when they leave the tower.
- Fanservice: The main motivation to complete the Water Medal quest and re-open the swimming pool, as whichever of the seven girls Koh has won over are regular patrons (though only one shows up at a time), complete with new character portraits clad in swimsuits. For the Ho Yay, a swimsuit-clad Ghosh◊ is also a regular patron.
- Fanservice with a Smile: All of the girls to a certain degree, but Patti especially.
- Fission Mailed: The final boss.
- Fragile Speedster: The Picket, who can move twice as fast as any monster, but drops if you hit it once.
- Fusion Dance: Once you obtain a second collar, you can combine your monsters and give them a new form.
- The Gambling Addict: Vivian when she's sad about dancing poorly, as long as the Casino is up.
- Genius Bruiser: Koh, who can dish out damage and take it to given the right equipment, but ultimately he, aka the player, has to use smarts and strategy to defeat stronger monsters, using traps, magic balls, and familiars to advance through the tower.
- Genre Mashup: The core gameplay loop is a mix of Roguelike and Mon raising, but later in the game it adds in a Dating Sim and even some Management Sim elements (constructing new buildings in town).
- Geo Effects: This grants you an advantage, taking less and dealing more damage as long as you're a space above your enemy. They can take advantage of this as well.
- Glass Cannon:
- The Killer, who has high attack and critical-hit ratio, but only moderate defense.
- Also the Arachne/Ashra, who specializes in double attack power but trades it for low hp and defense.
- The Goggles Do Nothing: Kewne has a pair of goggles, but never uses them.
- Good Morning, Crono: Nico often has to get Koh out of bed with a hard kick (until he wins over one or more of the seven potential girlfriends, at which point they take it in turns to wake him up more amiably). In the GBC version, she only does this at the beginning of the game (or if you get knocked out in the tower).
- The Goomba: Pulunpas show up for the first three floors of the tower, and if you have a familiar and a weapon, you can dispatch them in one hit. The monster called Noise, however, shows up ONLY on the first floor, and is even weaker: a level 1 Koh can destroy them without a familiar easily, using the craptastic weapon (singular) you can purchase in town.
- Great Big Book of Everything: Weedy's monster book.
- Guide Dang It!:
- Many people don't know that certain places can only be built after you've beaten the game and talked to the right people that will request their construction.
- Depending on what you say to Cherrl about where her healing herb came from, she has two different outcomes. If you choose not to tell her that it was you that got it, Cherrl will choose to become a nurse. If you tell her that you got the herb, she will be healed, but continue to stay at home, making dolls of you that she sells. Picking the latter means you don't see her in her swimsuit, as she just chooses to stay home.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Cherrl. Out of all the girls, she is perhaps the most innocent of all, not knowing anything about the outside world and only desiring the basic ability to walk without being fatigued. She is also very young and pretty for her appearance, being the same age as Nico but looking almost Mia's age. She'll even become a nurse with the correct choices, wanting to help others like herself.
- Heavy Sleeper: Koh never seems to wake up himself, his girlfriends or his sister usually having to wake him up.
- Heroic Mime: Koh can be named as you wish and for the most part he doesn't talk. However, there are moments where he has some dialogue, such as when doing the comedy routine, or eating Patti's food.
- Impossibly Cool Clothes: As well as some of the characters' normal garb, most of the girls' swimsuits, though elaborate, would certainly be impractical as actual swimming garb. Standout examples include Nico's◊ suit, which is fastened by metal clasps that make it look like a pair of denim overalls with the middle section and legs missing, and Selfi's◊ suit, which has an enormous pink bow and a small bell on the front.
- Infinity +1 Element: The legendary monster has a special "Shadow" element that nothing else has.
- Infinity +1 Sword:
- Your weapons can be powered up using an item that Randomly Drops in the tower, and gold swords never rust or degrade. It's possible to buff your equipment until you don't even need familiars to clear the tower any more.]
- The Trained Wand counts as this, being harder to find than a Gold Sword, but benefiting from both Red Sands and Mixture Magic. Like the Gold Sword, it will never rust.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Selfi, at some times before her Character Development. Ghosh, in the GBC version It's revealed that his and Selfi's dad was also killed by Beldo, whom he and Koh team up to defeat. After that, he becomes a Friendly Rival
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Ghosh in the PSX version, at all times, even after his "Character Development".
- Jumped at the Call: Koh goes to the tower to become an adventurer as soon as he hits 15, ignoring the fact he has no experience at all.
- Killed Off for Real: Koh and Weedy's late father Guy.
- Kill It with Fire: Wind-genus monsters are weak against fire attacks. Further, most of the offensive spells available to monsters are fire-elemental (wind and water are more centered around buffs/debuffs)
- Leitmotif: Most of the tracks in the game not based on the Recurring Riff (see below) are character leitmotifs. All seven girlfriends get their own musical theme (which plays whenever they wake Koh in the morning after being won over), as does Ghosh, and most of the tradespeople (each shop has its own theme).
- Lethal Joke Character:
- Nyuels. They have sucky stats, no offensive magic except for mix magic, their inherent auto-property is poison resistance (which means that they can resist ONE spell in the game, which can ONLY be produced by traps, which Koh is more likely to step on anyway), and even when they turn into upgraded Battnels they don't really improve much. However, their magic is a healing spell (useful for keeping Koh alive), and they get 50 mp (half of their max, worth ~4 heal spells) from any herb. Free healing? Yes please.
- Also the dark green Pulunpas on the higher floors, because of their ability to steal monster collars and send your monsters back into your bag.
- Life-or-Limb Decision: Beldo, the final boss.
- Likes Older Women: Koh, considering that three of his girlfriends (Fur, Selfi, Vivian) are older than him.
- Marathon Level: The forty floors of the Monster Tower; since you start on the first floor every time you enter the Tower, they must all be beaten in a single sitting to win the game. It should be noted that you are able to save between floors. To avoid abusing this, once you save, it'll go back to menu. Whenever you activate this save, if you restart for whatever reason, you automatically show up in your bed as if you lost.
- Marry Them All:
- A possible outcome in the PS1 version; the fact that, post-Relationship Upgrade, half of the girls (Nico, Selfi, Fur, and Mia) will stop by Koh's house every morning to kiss him goodbye for the day (the others will only stop by if they are the ones actually waking him up) seems to indicate that they do not entirely object to sharing his affections.
- In the GBC version, Koh still has two girlfriends: fellow treasure-hunters/monster-tamers Selfi and Atlee (who only appears in the GBC version).
- Meaningful Echo: While not exactly a word-for-word echo, Guy's words of wisdom at the beginning are brought up when Nico tells Koh to give her a punch for being dumb, Koh reminding her of what he said. Nico immediately falls for Koh afterwards when she realizes he's calling her a woman, and she's noticeably happy about it too. Could also explain why Koh is such a ladies' man.Guy: Listen Koh. A man must take good care of women.
- Meaningful Name:
- Koh's hometown of Monsbaiya is a place that was named because people bought monsters from that city.
- Also Patti Pan the waitress, whose first name can reference a meat patty, and whose last name can reference the cooking utensil, or the Japanese word for bread.
- And the monster called Killer which has high attack stats, and an even higher critical hit ratio, and they love to come in multiples.
- The monster called Naplass. It tends to have a habit of falling asleep at random points... even in the middle of a fight.
- The "Block", which is well known for having the highest potential defense in the entire game thanks to its double defense trait.
- Megaton Punch: The Golems had a two-turn variation of this that do a lot of damage if it connected.
- Missing Mom:
- Nico, whose mother left her and her father when she was very young which explains her Tomboy personality.
- Also Patti.
- The Mole: Kewne, though it's against his will.
- Mon
- Money Fetish: Fur. Fur. Fur. To the point that she will charge Koh for the privilege of looking at her in her swimsuit if you talk to her at the swimming pool. (That said, of the seven girls, Fur does wear the most revealing swimsuit.)
- Monster Compendium: Weedy has a monster book that will give some background information about monster's you have encountered. You must either meet them in the tower, hatch pre-evolutions/evolve for certain monsters, or make various buildings and play the mini-games in them to discover new monster types.
- Mooks, but no Bosses: In the PS1 version, you'll face 38 floors teeming with monsters on your journey up the tower, but not a single unique encounter. The sorcerer Beldo waits at the top, but it's impossible to actually lose to him.
- Ms. Fanservice: All of the girls qualify to a certain degree, but Nico's◊ normal◊ attire and Fur's◊ bikini make them stand out even more so.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The appropriately named Killer.
- No Last Name Given: Koh and his family are some of the only main characters without last names.
- Oh, Crap!: Beldo's whole dialogue when Kewne betrays him and Koh starts attacking him with with his father's sword.
- Older Than They Look: Several characters qualify for this given the game's art style, but Cherrl really stands out considering that she is actually 15 and around the same age as Koh, even though she looks like she's 12, and even younger than Mia, who's 13.
- One Head Taller: Koh to Cherrl and Mia, granted because they're very short.
- Open-Minded Parent: Wreath. Understandably, because Guy was always hunting in the monster tower himself. Though the trope is both subverted and played straight with Koh's girlfriends. She comments that many are great help around the house, but otherwise lampshades the fact he has so many.◊
- Permanently Missable Content:
- If you don't forgive Kewne for momentarily betraying you in the end, he'll fly away sad. By doing this, you never see Kewne again, and will never find another.
- Because getting certain items or eggs is based off the RNG, it's entirely possible that if you die in the tower holding the specific items, they will never appear again.
- Playable Epilogue: You can continue to challenge the tower after winning the game, now armed with the Game-Breaker ultimate monster. As an additional reward, you also get to keep your father's old sword. While it is only slightly stronger than most other weapons that drop during gameplay, it can be upgraded like every other blade and has a unique sprite.
- Playing with Fire: Kewne, and a lot of the other monsters. Also Koh if he used certain orbs.
- Posthumous Character: Koh and Weedy's late father Guy.
- The Power of Blood: Combines types AB and O. Beldo needs Koh's blood to break the seal left on the Ultimate Egg by Guy. In their confrontation at the top of the tower, Beldo strikes Koh with his father's sword, releasing a shower of blood all over the floor, the first and only time any blood appears in the game, and an indication of how serious things have just gotten.
- Recurring Riff: In the PS1 version, half the tracks in the game are based on one riff. Its most straightforward appearance is on the bottom four floors of the tower, but the other seven tracks which play in the tower as well as the themes for the town and Koh's house (and their various subtle variants) and several other tracks are also based on the same melody.
- Relationship Values: You can flirt with as many as seven girls in the PS1 version of the game, and to get the best "ending", you'll have to score with them all.
- Sexy Backless Outfit: Most of the girls have this going on.
- Shipper on Deck: Dr. Hush seems to be fine with Koh and Cherrl being together, and even suggests Cherrl to take her time when she goes to the house to wake up Koh.
- Shirtless Scene: Whenever Koh takes a bath or changes at the public pool.
- Shock and Awe: Several monsters have this ability.
- Shrinking Violet: Mia, at first.
- Skippable Boss: On the second floor of the tower, sometimes Ghosh would challenge you to a duel. If you accepted, you could fight him, or walk away from him as he followed you, and hop on the elevator to the next floor, leaving him behind. Or you could always just decline.
- Sleepy Head: The Naplass, who will fall asleep at random intervals, even in the middle of battle, unless you combine it with a Dreamin, a familiar that never sleeps.
- Spell My Name With An S: It's Patti, not Patty, and Cherrl, not Cheryl.
- Stalker with a Crush: Mia, after she falls in love with you but before Koh confronts her about it, will follow him around town at every single location.
- Starter Mon: Kewne. He knew your father and has a special link to you. And unlike you, he doesn't lose his levels when you leave the tower, so you rely on him fairly heavily.
- Stone Wall: The Block and its evolution the Metal.
- Strong Family Resemblance:
- Super-Reflexes: Whenever an attack is about to land on Koh, he'll sometimes side step entirely to dodge the blow. Happens mostly with Bow Trolls, where Koh can dodge their arrows much easier from a longer distance.
- Supreme Chef: Patti Pan.
- Title Drop: Done by Cherrl after completing her sidequest... and screwed up by the localization crew when they translated the line as "sky-colored dreams".
- Took a Level in Badass: Koh. The once annoying kid who everyone looks down upon eventually becomes a celebrity, going to higher floors than anyone else (aside from Guy). He even gets popular enough to have people freak out by his presence, and later on they make T-shirts with his face on them. He can even potentially get seven different girlfriends, some of whom looked down upon him before. They're even fine with sharing him.
- Troubled, but Cute: Nico to a certain degree. She's definitely got the cute part down at least, with just a dash of troubled past thrown in for good measure.
- Tsundere: Nico and Selfi and Fur (PS1 version mostly).
- The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Nico And Patti.
- Underboobs: Nico is sporting an impressive pair in one group picture◊ of the instruction manual, and on the cover◊ for the music CD.
- Unidentified Items: You get three options to identify equipment, monster eggs and magic balls: equipping/using them (still won't show you the counter with the magic balls), using an identifier item and getting out of the dungeon since everyone at home can see what items are worth.
- Unstoppable Rage: Koh at the end when he's defeating Beldo, who just tried to kill him AND told him that it was he who killed Guy.
- Unwinnable: If you beat the game and made it to the top floor without a way to escape the tower, you're pretty much screwed because there's no other way out from the top floor. You'd better have a Wind Crystal, because it's going to suck if you don't.
- The Vamp: Fur and Selfi.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: In a strange way, Ghosh towards Koh. While Ghosh spends most of his time acting like a Jerkass towards Koh, Selfi reveals that he talks about you all the time, making up weird rumors about you, and he seems to appear wherever you go.
- Weapon-Based Characterization:
- Koh's only weapons he can use are swords or wands.
- Trolls can have a bow, sword, or mace, and are the only monsters that can equip items. Theirs can even be buffed or cursed.
- When It All Began: The game takes place right before Koh is born, and even has various important events that happen before the game even really starts.
- Wizard Needs Food Badly: Your monster buddies need to be well fed, or they will collapse on the spot, unable to move or do anything.
- Zerg Rush: If the player sets off a Monster Room, several monsters will suddenly appear, which can easily swarm and destroy the player if they aren't strong enough for the monsters of that certain floor.
