If a fan remaster were made for this game, what things would you like to see? Open to discussion over a potential future project. I see many people vie for this, and while I don't see myself ever having it in me to fully develop my own game from scratch (even though I know I have good ideas and if I got off my ass could probably make something half-decent) I would at least like to do some modding/rom hacking with games and eventually polish up a remaster of something that I used to love, and that I see other people asking about regularly. Hidden gem types of games. Azure Dreams is the first that came to mind.

Anyways, for those who don't know it's a PSX roguelike dungeon crawler monster raising game where you also build and upgrade a town and date a harem of 7 (I think it was 7) girls. Teen boy's wet dream.

The GBC version was an atrocity to look at, but it did have a longer dungeon and more monsters, which is something I would add to a remaster of the PSX version (if I'm able to figure all that out one day).

So please feel free to discuss and contribute ideas. I'm not promising anything anytime soon, but it's in my heart and more people chiming in would motivate me to get started on that path.

Self-bump, hoping to get discussion going. I know there are Azure Dreams fans out there, just gotta catch their eye.

>>3760297 (OP)
I tried playing this game and really wanted to like it, but I got bored during the intro sequence and turned off by the graphics (especially the baby cherub thing, that was a bizarre choice.) I should try it again.

>>3760416
It gets so good, push yourself past that. The game has a great loop, there's so much to do.

I tried the GBC version but found the intro unbearable, like worse than Golden Sun levels of endless inane dialogue. Is the PSX version better?

>>3760483
The PSX version is way better. The GBC version was ugly as shit, had no town to upgrade, no dating the girls, awful combat.

PSX version is infinitely better than GBC version. Do yourself a favor and try it. If you still don't like it then you're wrong. :)

I hated this game with a passion then and still dislike it. How I forced myself to finish it, I'll never know and just attribute it to being a kid.

A mechanic where every time you leave a dungeon, you are brought down to first level in experience is one of the most retarded things ever. Also, it was my first encounter with roguelikes so the concept of one town-one dungeon? I despised it.

>>3760490
You're just wrong, that's all. The incremental progression is what it's all about. You're like Sisyphus, and we must imagine him happy.

Wow, I’ve always been interested in Azure Dreams, but I thought a lot of things were cut from the western release, so I never played it. But I just looked it up, and that’s not the case at all. I think I’ll start a playthrough. Any tips?

>>3760490
Yeah this game sucks, it's basically a grind-a-thon

>>3760505
Focus on finding sands that upgrade your weapons so you can incrementally get stronger as you go. It starts slow but gets complex. You can only take so many items with you into the tower each run and there are certain pieces you can take with you and permanently upgrade. Once you have those keep doing runs for monster eggs, getting money, and upgrading your town. The gameplay loop is phenomenal. If you like the first hour, you'll love the rest of the game. Maybe first few hours, give it some time.

>>3760532
My gameplay loop is play until I accidentally die and lose the 20+ trained wand I was grinding up and then I don't play it for a year and start it all over again
I'll beat it someday kek

>>3760297 (OP)
Assuming it's an actual remaster:
> redraw all the graphics at 2x to 8x size
> fix bugs, crashes, and some exploits
> allow you to take more than 5 things into the tower
> allow you to take more than 20 things out of the tower (expanded inventory)
> make all the stats visible, explain what they do in the UI (and manual), and make them actually function
> make the use of every item, spell, ability, monster, monster skill, item attribute, etc, all visible, explain what they do, and make them actually function
> real final battle with the enemy
> implement the second tower
> implement a basement deep dive
> let you pick what traits and spells a monster gets when combining them
> don't implement a phone UI for the PC release
> add a randomizer
> make it easy to mod:
>> put all the items, stats, and skills into text files and have them loaded into the game and interpreted.
>> for every version and update, release a list of subroutine offsets and headers relevant to modders in a text file, formatted as csv, json, xml, or what have you
>> put all the sprites and 3D models into folders (or archives) separate from the executable file, again for easy modding, and ensure that the subroutines which handle them are easily extensible
> add a local multiplayer mode, co-op and versus mode, and ensure both split-screen and multi-monitor modes exist
> add a mode where another player can control the main player's monsters.

>>3760505
Use the (de)randomizer to unfuck things, and use the picket/maneova glitches to dupe barong items (sands, seeds) to power up your gold sword, trained wand, mirror shield, or leather shield.
https://adrando.com/

Also read the guides in the randomizer website.

>>3760541
what things am I unfucking?

Why play this when dragon warrior monsters exists?

>roguelike
Into the trash

>>3760582
>why play Fatal Labyrinth when Shining in the Darkness exists?
While I can't speak for how much you'd actually enjoy the former, the gameplay is different, for a start.

>>3760627
Shining In The Darkness is great. Never heard of Fatal Labyrinth.

>>3760588
Cool, you don't like it and you came to post to let everybody know. You're a special little guy.

>>3760627
But in the case of the two games originally being compared, they aren't that different

>>3760844
Dragon Warrior Monsters has mostly random encounters, where your boys line up against the enemy and time basically stops until the battle is over. There is a very obvious transition between the exploration map and a battle, because it's a more traditional RPG.
Azure Dreams has the monsters be (generally) visible. They might be roaming the floor, sleeping, or they may even have stumbled into a trap for easy pickings. Monsters are able to join in a fight or run away, and things like warp traps able to temporarily separate you from your current murder buddy.

Unless one or both of us is thinking of a different Dragon Warrior Monsters game, a far more sensible question would be "why play this when Pokemon Mystery Dungeon exists," the closest thing to a good answer being in the OP: a harem subplot. Speaking of which...

>>3760297 (OP)
It would need more girlfriends with bigger tiddies. A fan remake doesn't need to give a shit about useless junk like tact.

>>3760297 (OP)
Can I have at least the undub first? Modders had like 25 years for that and yet there's nothing on that front, in a game with dateable waifus no less, as atrocious as they look

>>3760566
Read the bugs list:
https://adrando.com/guide/bugs.html

>>3760894
The game isn't voice acted though?

I agree we need more waifus.

>>3760929
Meant to reply the VA bit to >>3760910

>>3760929
The jap version is. VA was axed in the English version.

>>3760934
Didn't know that. Any good?

As for waifus, how far down the coomer rabbit hole are you willing to go?

>>3761024
There were some big names among the cast as far as I remember (not very well)

>how far down the coomer rabbit hole are you willing to go?
No amount of tits can make that art fappable, forget about it. I could get a heart boner from seeing the girls in a wedding dress with a ring, though, would make the playthrough worth the effort at least. I found the game coming from Rune Factory, so anything from there would be welcome (up until RF5 and later homofurrypedofaggotry degen shit)

>>3761489
Well good luck

>>3760297 (OP)

>>3762285
Selfi was best girl.

>>3761489
Dude your taste is so shit, the art is a fucking classic

>>3761489
>I found the game coming from Rune Factory, so anything from there would be welcome (up until RF5 and later homofurrypedofaggotry degen shit)
So I take it Koh's mom and sister won't be date options?

What about a femme monster?

>>3760488
>The GBC version was ugly as shit
The monster sprites were somewhat good at least

>>3762285
Rule 34 on Selfi (the blue-haired one)?

>>3766814
>>>/h/8464713

>>3766814
people like you should be banned for being bad at the internet

>>3762285
I remember the glasses girl reading Lolita in the library

>>3760297 (OP)
For years there was a rumour the rival character was secretly a gay romance option in Japan. He wasn’t, but it would be based if he was.

>>3760494
>>3760510
You can complete the tower the first time you enter without using a single Sand. It's not that hard and doesn't require exploits or particularly good RNG. I've done it. I also used to watch Azure Dreams tournaments where they had an hour to get as high as possible and top competitors regularly beat it before then

>>3760297 (OP)
perhaps a bag upgrade to 30 slots

>>3773492
Having space to carry even more broken items would make the climb really easy, but sending items back home the same way as monsters might be nice. Maybe you have to sacrifice a Wind crystal or something to do it so you can't effortlessly take everything you find. Though if the difficulty were rebalanced around it, a bigger inventory would be fine

>>3773515
If there is a larger inventory then the game would have to be more difficult. I like the idea of sending items back the same way. Thanks for sharing the idea.

I'm the OP - anybody commenting/reading this know about romhacking and modding in general? If so and you want to collaborate or point me towards resources to get started I would be grateful, though I know I can go do my own homework and find stuff as well. Never know who knows a good source so putting it out there - please chime in.

>>3773557
The most comprehensive modifications and bugfixes of the game I know are by pro_grammar of the Azure Dreams randomizer. If you can suck it up and use Discord there's resources there.

I would reconsider doing a fangame over trying to hack the original. Azure Dreams' code wasn't great. The 2nd tower was probably cut because the game fucking crashes when you get too high. AD is fundamentally a roguelike and those are pretty easy to code. There's a million tutorials. 3D makes things harder but if you use an engine like Godot or Unity it'd be pretty trivial to get a bunch of billboarded sprites moving around on a grid

>>3773585
You're right, a fan-game from scratch that mimics it would be way better. I want to learn to code (more than the simple bit I know) anyway, and game-design would motivate me to learn it more than any other practical application when I have no monetary incentive.

Any idea which language would be best to code in for a game like Azure Dreams? I only learned Java at university over a decade ago and never pursued IT/Compsci stuff. I pick things up very quick and love to teach myself skills if I have enough of a reason to dive into something. That's the reason I made this thread, to see how much hype (if any) there would be for something like that. I wouldn't churn anything out for years at this point, but the potential is there.

>>3773585
>fangame
This. It's way more viable and you're more likely to get people on board to assist. There's way more people out there that know how to do things in Unity/Godot/etc. than the PS1 today. Plus, you can easily port the sprites over and upscale them and the UI elements so things look nicer on newer displays. Also, you could always make it an original game at the last minute in case Konami tries to send the yakuza or ninjas after you.
>>3773937
Since you studied Java, you'll be able to easily pick up C# in Unity or GdDScript in Godot. You could use C# in Godot, but C# is still a second class citizen when programming in Godot.
I've tried making a mystery dungeon style game before with party members. If you have a competent enough programming background, I want to say it's an "easy" game to make, the hardest part is just handling the simultaneous movement. If you get filtered by figuring out how to handle the simultaneous movement, like I did, you could give the game real-time action combat or some sort of rts/xenoblade/ff12 style combat where things like auto-attacks are automated.

>>3760297 (OP)
>fan remaster
don't just upscale the textures/sprites and call it a day

>>3774198
I would NEVER get filtered. I'm stubborn as fuck and would be angry with myself for not understanding. It's easy enough to network with devs/programmers online and outsource for some help so I learn what I was doing wrong.

When were you trying to do this? How far did you get? Are you making a different type of game now? If you liked AD too, then when I do get started on anything I'd love to stay in touch just to a) keep you in the loop, b) collab if you were up for giving suggestions/helping further.

And thank you for the feedback and suggestions.

Late to Thursday but I've played this game A LOT.

By reading the thread it's obvious a few of you didn't have something important.

The instruction book that came in the cd case. It explains EXACTLY how each mechanic works. If you don't have that, just leave the game on the title screen for awhile. There's a tutorial.

If you have ADHD this is not a game for you. The story opens slowly. The tower requires actual thought to progress.

Due to the level reset you can't just fling yourself down a hallway like a moron. You must also cultivate the town. Build it.

This is too much for people who wanted Diablo with Lufia graphics. This game requires thought, even if it is "oh that will definitely kill me. Better not engage".

Challenge mode: fap to the Sorcery girl.

>>3774221
>Thursday
Fucking strange autocorrect.

>>3774221
I had the original game. I had every single original JRPG released in the U.S. on PSX. I had a good life growing up but I threw a ton of them away going to university and selling our house which I now regret. Didn't realize how much money certain ones could be worth. I was sold on emulation at the time and needed to make room to living in cramped quarters, plus trying to detach from adolescent trauma and loss so make a snap choice to toss a lot. Not all, but most. Anyway, Azure Dreams is intuitive enough anyway with trial and error, I never had to read the instruction booklet. I don't get where you see people without having had it here.

I was asking about going a remaster and adding to an already great game, I almost feel like you didn't get the theme of the thread anon...

>>3774221
Reddit spacing. Just want to point that out

>>3774371
Don't point it out, that's a waste of everybody's time, yours included. It doesn't signify anything. Some people like being able to read in chunks like that, it appeals to them, so they do it. It doesn't bother me, and shouldn't bother you.

>>3760297 (OP)
It's just a mystery dungeon roguelike, right? Based on the NDS' spiritual sequel Tao's Adventure I played.

It's a very niche genre. With a lot of labor involved, animating everything. Compared to 1st-person grid dungeon crawler.

>>3774371
I love not being able to correctly parse my sentences because some shit website somewhere forces people to type like that.
Gotta talk like a zoomer phoneposter to not have people start reeeeing because Redditors like you try to out each other in the threads.

>>3760297 (OP)
GBC tower length and monster amount with >PS1 graphics and town building.
>More uses for buildings that otherwise just exist to meet girls.
>More things to spend money on (functional weapon/monster shop, being able to take more items/familiars into the tower, purchasing other kinds of bonuses...)
>Better final boss.
>Restore cut content (voices, marriage... Ghosh???)
>Better translation (but still accurate and straightforward, not "localization" tier)
>I'd probably add more locations and dungeons, but that might just by my stupid younger self talking. I'm not sure that it would actually make the game better.
>Let me take the dick bike into the tower, dammit.
>Maybe more townsperson side quests. Just to characterize them better and give you more opportunities to grow as a hero.
P.S. I hate remakes and remasters, but this game is a weak point for me and it always felt unfinished, so I would hypocritically remake the shit out of it.

>>3774221
That sounds less like challenge mode and more like easy mode

>>3760297 (OP)
isn't this shit complete ass?

>>3777319
Not even close, don't be a fool, you foolish fool.

>>3774216
Meant to respond sooner. Last year was when I tried making a mystery dungeon style game- before I collaborated with some people I found for a larger project. While I don't want to come off as shilling, I do have what I worked on currently on Github. The project was being made in Godot, using a now very outdated version of a plugin called Gaea, and the code is very crusty in places. (You) might still find some benefit taking what you can from it.
>https://github.com/EveningComet/Project-Mystery-Dungeon

>>3760297 (OP)
A new game + like mode where you pic a monster type you have in a save, get it in the first room with the basic sword, shield and one apple, and now you have to conquer the tower in a single go.

>>3777165

>Let me take the dick bike into the tower, dammit.
https://tenor.com/view/always-sunny-bike-bike-with-penis-gif-12055014