The Big Sleep Trivia Quiz

Answer: To restore health and status fully

Quite a lot of role-playing games don't even have a regular night interval, so sleep is often not required, and some hardcore gamers might apply this to 'real life' as well. Some examples of games without regular night intervals include several of the 'Final Fantasy' series, 'Wild Arms' 1-3, 'Grandia' 1 and 2, 'Terranigma', 'Secret of Mana'... and so on.

Sleeping is usually undertaken to restore status fully, as journeying and combat reduce the health of characters over time. Occasionally it is used as part of the storyline to progress the game, but this is not as regular. Such resting often takes place in campsites or inns/taverns.

Answer: Meia

'Alundra' was released for the PlayStation in 1997. The game has a slightly similar style to the Legend of Zelda games as Alundra must solve puzzles whilst also dealing with real-time enemies. It weaves some interesting moral and personal concepts together, such as the fear of death, false belief, and murder.

Whilst Alundra and Meia are unrelated, they both share the power to enter peoples' dreams. Meia has a troubled past which is explained when Alundra enters her dream to determine whether she is on his side or not, and Meia also becomes the closest person to Alundra by the end of the story. The antagonist, Melzas, uses the nightmares to cause the villagers to pray to him and this act gives him strength. When the villagers begin to stop believing, he increases the intensity of the nightmares to keep them praying.

Answer: Spikes their food with sleeping weed

'Final Fantasy IX' is a role-playing game released for the PlayStation in 2000. The art style is somewhat more cartoonish than its two predecessors, aiming to give more of a fantasy feel. Garnet is the princess of Alexandria, a powerful city within the game. Garnet craftily obtains the sleeping weed from Zidane, the main character, as she claims to want a cure for her insomnia. With this weed, she places everyone to sleep except for Steiner, a loyal knight of Alexandria. Naively, she wishes to return home to talk to her increasingly erratic mother, the Queen, which turns out to be a bad idea, as she is trapped.

Answer: The Fade

'Dragon Age: Origins' was released in 2009 for MS Windows, PS3 and Xbox360, and is a single player role-playing game with an older fantasy style (no guns or major technology) and the ability to make choices which can affect later aspects of the game.

The Fade is said to be a place inhabited by spirits and by demons. Whilst the demons are the bigger focus, one of the main characters is sustained by a friendly spirit from the Fade.
Most people enter the Fade in their dreams (not dwarves, however), although they cannot remember their time there, however, Mages are forced to recall in order to bolster their mental strength. There are several types of demons which feed off of human emotions. The weakest of these is the rage demon, which feeds off human rage, and the strongest is the pride demon, a highly intelligent demon which is rarely encountered in the game.

Whilst most demons simply take over one's body as a host, if they can amass enough energy, they can actually exist within the physical realm. At the cost of one who lives in the physical realm. The demons can be killed within the Fade, which is what the party must do to the physically manifest Sloth Demon, who tries to keep the party inactive with illusions based on their past, whilst draining their energy. The main character escapes their illusion quickly, but must work their way alone around the surreal dream-like plane to find their allies and defeat the Sloth Demon.

And, the song reference is 'Fade to Black'.

Answer: Powder from sleeping flowers

'Seiken Densetsu 3' is very similar in style to 'Secret of Mana' ('Seiken Densetsu 2') in battle, monsters, and to some extent storyline as well. It was released in 1995 for the SNES, however it was only released in Japan, although a fan translation was made for Western players.

There are six characters, of which three can be chosen to play with at the very beginning of the game.
One of these characters, Riesz/Lise, tells of the hostile takeover of her homeland, the Wind Kingdom of Laurent/Rolante, using the sleeping flower's powder to incapacitate the defenders. She is able to escape, but the king is killed and her younger brother is kidnapped. Using the advice of a 'master' strategist named Don Perignon (since it really takes a master strategist to use the same tactic as the enemy), they use the wind spirit Jinn to blow sleeping powder into the castle, yet, this only affects some of the residents, meaning the party has to fight their way to the top.

Answer: Pikachu

The 'Pokémon' franchise is very large and popular, owned by Nintendo. The games often translate to a colour, for example the first game releases were for Nintendo's GameBoy handheld console in 1998 as 'Pokémon Red' and 'Pokémon Blue'. There has also been an accompanying anime television series, and several movie releases.

'Pokémon' are the collective term for the animal-like creatures who are captured and pitted against each other in friendly duels. To capture a Pokémon, it must be defeated in battle, and a Poké Ball (round ball) thrown at it. The eventual aim of the games is typically to defeat the strongest Pokémon trainers and thus be the best. All of the listed Pokémon are first generation, that is to say they were introduced in the initial release. Pikachu is often the most well known, as it is not kept in a Poké Ball in the anime series, and always accompanies Ash Ketchum, the main character in said series. It is a lightning mouse, and has no special relationship with sleep, hopefully that revelation is not too shocking (cue groans). Snorlax is well known for having a large appetite and sleeping a long time, and this sleep is notoriously difficult to disturb. Drowzee is a pre-evolved form of Hypno, and both of them like to eat dreams and use hypnosis.

Answer: Sleeping Forest

'Final Fantasy VII' really popularised the 'Final Fantasy' series, a set of role-playing games which are neither final (... yet) or directly related. It was released in 1997 for the PlayStation and has held influence over several other titles due to its popularity.

The aim of the game is to save the planet from a malevolent 'person' known as Sephiroth who is a key part of Cloud's (the main character) storyline. The Sleeping Forest is seen, aptly enough, in the main character's dream after a significant story event, which is how the party know to go there, and it is also the last time a particular character is given dialogue. Whilst the Sleeping Forest can be visited earlier in the game, the Lunar Harp can only be excavated at this point of the storyline. With the Lunar Harp in tow, the forest is actually incredibly short to pass, almost unnaturally so.

Answer: Wild Arms 3

'Wild Arms 3' was released for the PS2 in 2002, and is a turn-based role-playing game with elements of the stereotypical 'wild west' interwoven with fantasy elements, such as magic. The four main characters are Drifters (adventurers) who meet in somewhat strange circumstances. Whilst they are initially task-bound to work together, and are an unlikely group, they end up sticking together as their responsibilities increase from finding a simple treasure, to saving the planet from metamorphosis.

The dream-demon, Beatrice, is introduced very late into the game. Her wish is to live in a world she can actually inhabit, and not in the information-based library of data she 'lives' in. Many of the game's loose ends are tied up as her machinations are revealed to have been the stem of the majority of the previous troubles the main characters have had to deal with. She manifests herself as a small child, and has manipulated several of the key characters into doing her bidding through dreams.

Answer: Link's Awakening

'Link's Awakening' was released for the Nintendo Gameboy and, atypically to most of the 'Legend of Zelda' series, not set in the kingdom of Hyrule. This game, however, has a similar style of play to the likes of 'A Link to the Past', as Link must battle and explore his way around several locales to find eight instruments with which to awaken the sleeping Wind Fish. Yet, all is not quite as it seems.

The places and locations all leave their impression on Link, however, at the end of his journey, where he awakens the Wind Fish, it is revealed Koholint was all Link's dream, and will vanish when he wakes up.

Whilst this may appear anticlimactic on the face of it, it is hinted and suggested at several times through the game, and it can be somewhat sad to realise the island is gone/never existed.

Answer: Piranha Plant

'Super Mario 64' is a platform game developed by Nintendo, originally for the Nintendo 64. It combines the familiar 2d Mario setting with an expansive 3d locale with an emphasis on exploration. Bowser, the typical villain of 'Mario' games, has captured Peach again, and Mario must save her. With the strength of the Power Stars guarded by Bowser's minions, he can break Bowser's seals within the castle and confront him.

The (sleeping) Piranha Plant is met in Whomp's Fortress, the second level of the game, if one progresses in a linear fashion. A sign in front of one informs the player of the following: "I'm sleeping because... I'm sleepy. I don't like being disturbed. Please walk quietly.". They can hit for up to three segments of damage, and given Mario has only eight, they can be quite dangerous. Hit them whilst they sleep for best results, but don't try this on family and friends!