Alundra

Otherwise known as Adventures of Alundra. Released for the Playstation by part of the original Landstalker development team (who after this game would later work on Final Fantasy III and Avalon Code). It's an Action Adventure game that plays similarly to the famous The Legend of Zelda, featuring a Silent Protagonist, lots and lots of puzzles, and a Journey to the Center of the Mind.

The story is about an elf eponymously named Alundra, whose people, called 'Dreamwalkers', have the special power to enter people's dreams. He loves adventuring and that's where we first find him, taking a journey with a ship. While taking a nap, he sees a vision of a wise man named Lars who pleads with him to stop the evil demon Melzas. His destination is a village called Inoa, which Alundra comes across by getting his ship wrecked and being stranded there.

At first Alundra is welcomed, and he helps many people by using his power to enter people's dreams and saving those trapped in nightmares that actually could kill them. However, soon after, the village suddenly turns on him, leaving Alundra with just a handful of supporters. Things get a bit more complicated when another Dreamwalker, this time an elf girl named Meia, enters Inoa. At first acting like The Rival, Meia is quickly befriended by Alundra as they share the same goal: to destroy Melzas.

Published in the US by Working Designs. There's also a sequel entitled Alundra 2 that has nothing to do with the first game.


 * The Ace: Meia to a certain degree.
 * Action Girl: Meia
 * The Alcoholic: Gustav, ever since his wife died and his daughter became insane.
 * Always Someone Better: Most of the villagers thoughts of Meia compared to Alundra.
 * Ancient Tomb: Lars' Crypt and Despair Desert's dungeon.
 * An Ice Person: The Ice Wand, The Water Scroll, and Water Book allow Alundra to do this.
 * Anyone Can Die: Oh, wow.
 * The Atoner: Alundra,
 * Badass: Alundra and many of the other characters.
 * Badass Damsel: Meia.
 * Badass Bookworm: Septimus.
 * Badass Longcoat: Mayor Beaumont.
 * Badass Grandpa: Wendell,
 * Heartbroken Badass: Jess,
 * Bald of Awesome: Mayor Beaumont.
 * Also Nirude.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Alundra, Meia, and most of the townspeople at different points.
 * Badass Grandpa: Wendell, who fights the Murgg with his son Meade to protect Rumi, Nestus, and Bergus,
 * Battle Couple: Alundra and Meia to a certain degree. They even team up to save Elene from her nightmare.
 * Big Bad: Melzas.
 * Big Brother Instinct: Giles would do anything to protect his little sister Kisha,
 * Bittersweet Ending:
 * Black Comedy: Despite this being a game dealing with the suffering and death of often innocent people, Working Designs couldn't resist injecting it with their signature brand of humor.
 * Blessed with Suck: Sybill. A sweet young girl like her shouldn't have to suffer visions like the ones she's having.
 * Also Nadia who make things explode when she sleeps, and can help move obstacles in different points of the game.
 * Blow You Away: The Wind Book allows Alundra to do this.
 * Bratty Half-Pint: Bergus and Talis, at first.
 * Break the Cutie: Meia, so very much.
 * Broken Bird: Meia's dream explains it all.
 * Broken Bridge: Admittedly, no actual broken bridges, but there's one with a big rock on it and one blocked off by an old withered tree stump; both spontaneously disappear later in the game.
 * Bubblegloop Swamp: The Lair Of The Reptilicus Maximus.
 * But Thou Must!: Don't want to kneel and pray to Ronan's god at the beginning of the game? Too bad, you must.
 * Capital City: Inoa village, of course.
 * Catch Phrase: Jess starts most of his sentences with "Oy!" and ends most of his sentences with "You know what I am saying?".
 * Charged Attack
 * The Chessmaster:
 * Chest Monster
 * Child Prodigy: Nestus, to a certain degree.
 * City of Adventure: The main city of the entire game is Inoa Village, where most of the important events happen.
 * Clap Your Hands If You Believe: This went horribly wrong.  in fact, but.
 * Combined Energy Attack: A literal and figurative one is
 * Cool Old Guy: Jess, Nava, and Wendell.
 * Cool Old Lady: Yustel the fortuneteller, who will tell you where to go next and refill all of your health and magic for only 15 gilder.
 * Creepy Child: Subverted with Sybill and Elene. Sybill's visions scare people, and Elene
 * Creepy Twins: The Bosses of Nestus' Nightmare.
 * Curb Stomp Battle: If you fight Wilda while wearing Nava's charm which blocks certain elements, his fire attacks are useless, which makes that fight a walk in the park.
 * Curse: The whole village suffers from nightmares, and everyone fear that they will be the next victim. Also, some villagers suffer from more powerful nightmares and curses than others:
 * Nadia is making stuff blow up as soon as she falls asleep. When you arrive in the village, she's been awake for 6 days straight, and is becoming more and more tired and irritated. If you go visit her in her house as soon as you arrive in Inoa village, you'll see her briefly fall asleep while standing, which cause the nearby table to explode. When the mine crumbles, she's on the defensive, stating that she didn't fall asleep (as it turns out to be, it indeed wasn't her fault). Later, when she falls asleep again, she blows up Olen's house (good thing he's dead when this happens... You'd better have got the Gilded Falcon inside before that).
 * Sybill's curse involves her dreaming while being awake, and she dreams of things to come, most of them being bad news. People are kind of scared of her because of this.
 * Kline's curse is so powerful that even if you save him from his nightmare,
 * Elene's curse made her insane, experiencing split personalities.
 * Dark and Troubled Past: Meia, who.
 * Death Mountain: Mt. Torla.
 * Dead Little Sister:
 * Deadpan Snarker: Meia.
 * Deceased Parents Are the Best: Unfortunately, many different characters sadly qualify for this.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Meia.
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: The end of last fight when Alundra defeats Melzas.
 * Dishing Out Dirt: The Earth Scroll and Earth Book allow Alundra to do this.
 * Doomed Hometown
 * Down the Drain: The Coastal Caves and Nava's Keep in the Undersea Caves are some of the water based levels in the game.
 * The Dragon: A literal and figurative one is Dread the Dragon, the last boss you fight right before Melzas.
 * Dream Land: Alundra and Meia are Dreamwalkers who have the abilities to step into people's dreams and nightmares.
 * Dug Too Deep: The Coal Mine.
 * Eldritch Abomination: Some of the enemies fall under this,
 * Emotionless Girl: Sybill borders on this.
 * Everyone Loves Blondes: Alundra for Meia.
 * Also Kein for Lutas.
 * Everything Is Better With Monkeys: Subverted very hard by the murggs, they are really, really nasty monkeys
 * Expy: Alundra kind of looks like a fusion of Link and Crono.
 * Extreme Omnivore: The Murgg
 * Far Side Island: Nava's island qualifies for this.
 * Feelies: The game had six different disc arts, randomly inserted into each box, and the box itself came with a map Feelie
 * Fingerless Gloves: Alundra and Meia have them.
 * First Town: Inoa Village.
 * Forgotten Fallen Friend:
 * Garden of Evil: The garden section of the final dungeon  meets this requirement, complete with its own hedge maze.
 * Genki Girl:
 * Guide Dang It: Getting all of the Gilded Falcons; some can be Lost Forever due to secret timer mechanisms or being locked away in one-time-only dungeons. Also, the Fiend and Infinity Plus One Swords aren't exactly something you'll just happen across by yourself.
 * Hailfire Peaks: Elene's dream is a fire level AND an ice level AND a water level AND a desert level!
 * Happily Adopted: Jess thinks of Alundra as his own son,
 * Happily Married: The mayor and his wife, Lutas and Kein, and Rumi and Meade
 * Heroes Prefer Swords: A lesser example. Alundra can use many weapons, but the most powerful ones are the sword types.
 * Heroes Want Redheads: Meia for Alundra.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Nadia, who's suffering from a nightmare tells Alundra to first save her love interest Bonaire from his nightmare that he's suffering from at the same time.  This doubles as a Tear Jerker later on when
 * Also
 * Later on,
 * Hero with Bad Publicity: Alundra at first, due to most of the villagers beliefs that he is responsible for Melzas tormenting the city and using nightmares to kill the townspeople.
 * Hidden Heart of Gold: Giles.
 * Also Talis.
 * The Horde: The Murgg just seem to keep on coming. Just when you think you've finally conquered them for good,
 * Hot Witch: Meia's magical powers classify her for this.
 * Ice Palace: Kline's Nightmare and the Ice Mansion.
 * Infinity+1 Sword: Two of them.
 * The Legendary Sword. It has no Charge Attack, but it doesn't need it since its normal attack is even stronger than the Charge Attack of the next strongest weapon. Annoyingly, tied to Mercy Mode, requiring you to die and Quick Restart a lot to get it.
 * The Spirit Wand. Grants infinite MP in exchange for having no physical attack. It requires collecting all the Gilded Falcons in the game, several of which are prime examples of Guide Dang It and Lost Forever. One of it also requires getting five straight wins four times on a Roulette Table, which is a Luck-Based Mission and is as frustrating as it sounds.
 * Irony: Almost every person whose life you save from a nightmare
 * Infant Immortality:
 * The Insomniac: Nadia. If she falls asleep, things tends to blow up around her. Also, some villagers will admit that they are afraid to sleep and are keeping themselves awake in order to avoid nightmares, such as Fein.
 * It's All My Fault:
 * It's All Upstairs From Here: Zazan's treehouse in the Murgg Woods.
 * Jerkass Gods:
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Giles.
 * Also Talis later on.
 * Journey to the Center of the Mind: Apparently there's a lot of block puzzles in people's minds...
 * Killed Off for Real: Like you wouldn't imagine.
 * Kill the Cutie:
 * Lethal Lava Land: Mt. Torla so very much.
 * Light Is Good: Alundra's charge attacks have a light based power.
 * Light Is Not Good:
 * Likes Older Women: The mayor's young son Talis, who openly admits his crush on Meia.
 * Load-Bearing Boss:
 * The Lost Woods: The Murgg woods, of course.
 * Maniac Monkeys: The Murggs, in spades.
 * Making a Splash: The Water Scroll and Water Book allow Alundra to do this.
 * Also, the Watcher In The Water literally defines this trope.
 * The Maze: Once again, the Murgg woods. Also Nava's Keep.
 * Mega Manning: Inverted in saddening way.
 * Mentor Occupational Hazard:
 * Me's a Crowd: Elene, so much so that her dungeon consists of four multiple parts.
 * Minecart Madness: The Coal Mine.
 * Moon Logic Puzzle: How are you supposed to figure out the colored sages puzzle on your own now? May also qualify as a Guide Dang It and Lost in Translation.
 * My Greatest Failure:
 * Nerds Are Sexy: Meia, who's both very pretty and highly intelligent.
 * Never Say "Die": Averted.
 * Nice Guy: Alundra and Septimus.
 * Nice Girl: Meia, and few of the girls in Inoa Village.
 * Nintendo Hard: The puzzles! Especially the ice mansion and Kline's Dream, which were so bad Working Designs had to post a solution on their webpage for a short time.
 * Noob Cave: The House Of Tarn.
 * Our Elves Are Better: They can enter dreams!
 * Papa Wolf: Jess definitely qualifies for this,
 * Parental Abandonment: Unfortunately, quite a few characters actually have this in common.
 * Playing with Fire: The Fire Wand, The Fire Scroll, and Fire Book allow Alundra to do this.
 * Numerous enemies and bosses do this, like Wilda and Dread who are dragons.
 * Posthumous Characters: Lars and the other spirits trying to help Alundra stop Melzas.
 * Powered by a Forsaken Child: It's no coincidence that you gain new items whenever someone dies:
 * Power Incontinence: Nadia. Everytime she falls asleep, things go KA-BOOM!
 * The Power of Love:
 * Precocious Crush: Talis has one on Meia.
 * Promotion to Parent: Giles and Kisha's parents died when they were very young, so Giles has been looking out for Kisha ever since.
 * Purple Is Powerful: Meia, who wears purple clothing qualifies for this.
 * Randomly Generated Levels: Nava's Keep so very much.
 * Redemption Equals Death:
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: Many enemy characters and bosses have these.
 * Redheaded Hero: Alundra.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Bergus is the Red Oni to his twin brother who is the Blue Oni.
 * Religion of Evil: Uh oh.
 * Reptiles Are Abhorrent: The Lizardmen prove this all too well.
 * Also Wilda and Dread, who are both dragons.
 * Revenge:
 * The Rival: Meia, at first.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: The Murgg King, Zazan who fights Alundra at the top of the Murgg tree hideout.
 * The Scapegoat: Many villagers will end up blaming Alundra for their misfortune, beginning with Myra, Nadia's mother. Giles certainly is the most aggressive toward Alundra, calling him a demon.
 * Sequence Breaking: Once you get the Long Boots in the desert area, you can actually start the sequence to activate the teleporters set in the game.
 * Shifting Sand Land: Despair Desert, filled with Sand Worms.
 * Shock and Awe: The Wind Scroll allows Alundra to do this.
 * Shoplift and Die: Invoked. You can't steal from shops, and the shop owner will make herself very clear that if you try to steal something, she will have to break your knees.
 * Sibling Yin-Yang: Nestus is calm while his twin brother Bergus is energetic.
 * Silent Protagonist: Alundra.
 * Simple Score of Sadness: "Ashes to Ashes".
 * Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Kline's nightmare.
 * Smooch of Victory: Meia gives one to Alundra in the ending,
 * Sole Survivor: In the end,
 * The Starscream:
 * Surfer Dude: Bonaire.
 * Swamps Are Evil: The Lair of the Retilicus Maximus. Complete with endless amounts of Lizardmen enemies.
 * Teen Genius: Septimus, although he might be a little too old to qualify.
 * Temple of Doom: Nirude's Lair.
 * Time Stands Still: Melzas pulls one of these in an ultimate attempt to stop Alundra from reaching him.
 * Tonight Someone Dies:
 * Too Good for This Sinful Earth:
 * To Serve Man:
 * Town with a Dark Secret:
 * Troubled but Cute: Meia, so very much.
 * Tsundere: Meia, at first.
 * Underground Level: The Coal Mine and Lars' crypt are only some the many underground levels in this game.
 * Under the Sea: The Fairy Pond
 * Underwater Ruins: The final dungeon
 * Undying Loyalty: Jess and Sybill to Alundra,
 * Also Giles to Kisha,
 * Ungrateful Bastard: So, you just saved Giles from a nightmare! Is he going to show some gratitude to you?
 * Also
 * Unwitting Pawn:
 * Used to Be a Sweet Kid:
 * The Very Definitely Final Dungeon:
 * The Vamp: Sara, in Bonaire's nightmare.
 * Waif Prophet: Sybill.
 * Wham! Episode: Every sequence has it's own title when you save the game.
 * What Could Have Been: Apparently, according to one of Sybill's dreams,
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl: Sybill and Kein.
 * Wise Beyond Their Years: Thanks to (or rather because of) her dreams, Sybill.
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds:
 * Also
 * Unwitting Pawn:
 * Used to Be a Sweet Kid:
 * The Very Definitely Final Dungeon:
 * The Vamp: Sara, in Bonaire's nightmare.
 * Waif Prophet: Sybill.
 * Wham! Episode: Every sequence has it's own title when you save the game.
 * What Could Have Been: Apparently, according to one of Sybill's dreams,
 * White-Haired Pretty Girl: Sybill and Kein.
 * Wise Beyond Their Years: Thanks to (or rather because of) her dreams, Sybill.
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: