![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Beyond the Beyond: Update 87: Walk Like A Faux-Egyptian (Flying Palace)
So in our last episode the team traversed the strange and magical depths of Pity Island. I suppose the biggest pity is that without the Ancient Tablet the island has lost whatever purpose it had and now just gets to be an isolated land of monsters cut off from the rest of the world until someone invents the airplane. Or somehow removes some of the shoals from its shores. I suppose that's also an option.
If I had brought the other three tablets the team could fly over and place them right away. Eh, they need a rest stop anyway to heal up. Isla is directly north from Pity which makes for a short flight.
What does the tablet say?
I have no idea. Edward?
*shakes head* The script is just as much a mystery to me as when Arawn gave us the first tablet. I've never seen anything like it. What about you, Sir Samson?
No, it makes no sense to me.
We could just ask Arawn. It's not like he isn't following our every move.
As long as these things do what they're supposed to and nothing more I don't really care what they say.
It's just some instructions that don't apply to you kids. Don't worry about it. GAH! Could you give us some warning before you do that?
No matter what happens Finn never loses his jumpiness.
I can't help it. I have a highly tuned startle reflex!
You're doing fine. Just keep going.
I made 7,000~ish gold in Pity without even trying. There were simply that many random encounters despite Pity's rather compact layout. Finn fishes out the other three Ancient Tablets and dumps them into his inventory. Where and how does he carry four large tablets? Hammerspace, of course. It's just video game logic that spares the player the annoyance of detailed inventory management.
Upstairs I find out that the free inn that Finn enjoyed earlier in the game has vanished because Steiner is no longer part of the roaming party. It is Steiner's dialogue that drives it and the developers obviously didn't feel it necessary to program an alternative. They took the dual attack and the free inn with one fell swoop! *shakes an angry fist*
At least the inn at Marion Town is cheap even with a full party.
The next day preparations are undertaken. Lorele's old gear is sold off and a fresh batch of herbs is bought. I even buy a few Healing Herbs. Finn actually used one in Pity since he was hurt fairly bad but no one else in the party was low enough to justify a Healing Rain. As I said before the useful life of Herbs is running out. Using two Herbs is still a fifth of the cost of one Healing Herb (10 gold each, versus 100 gold) but takes two inventory slots.
Is this all extremely nitpicky item management? Yes it is! At this point in the game I could swap over to all Healing Herbs and just absorb the cost but I am a little worried about the last round of purchasable gear upgrades.
Anyway, to reach the four shrines simply fly over to the bridge between Marion and Zalagoon. Turn south and keep flying. You might need to go a little east but the inner sea isn't that big. The shrine guardians have nothing new to say (bummer!) so there's nothing to do but walk up to the pyramid and place the Ancient Tablet where it clearly belongs.
Item > Ancient Tablet > Use
Once placed the light at the top of the pyramid becomes a ball of light covering the tip.
Arawn certainly loves his eyes doesn't he?
That's called the Eye of Horus, Finn. It's a symbol of wisdom.
Who decided on an eye for wisdom? It's really creepy when plastered over everything! Damn right it is! Ha, ha! You get used to it. It's not going to hurt you. We still have three more tablets, Finn.
Right! Focus on the task at hand.
When all four tablets are placed the ground begins to shake and a beam of light shoots out of the pyramid.
The other three shrines join in firing lasers. Despite what the composite screenshot above might suggest they don't fire in random directions. Instead they all point towards the space between them.
When your lasers combine you get a 3D transform routine! The game is finally going to actually use the 3D properties of the overworld map for something that actually works?
After a flash of light a giant blue caltrop appears in the sea. Well we're safe from the Giant of Bab-il. I'd like to see it come stomping through that!
Oh wait it's just an advanced pyramid that has risen from the bottom of the ocean. Because releasing Cthulu is a better option?
There's only one way to approach the pyramid and that's by air. There are no explicit hints that tell the player what to do at this point but it's not hard to guess that they should fly Steiner right into it.
So that's the palace? It's not flying. I think I can just barely see a door down there.
I guess there must be another test to get through.
You kids are catching on. I can't let just anyone walk in and take something so valuable.
It's full of monsters, isn't it?
It is a teensy bit dangerous, yes.
Sounds like fun!
1st Floor
I'm sorry. When did we walk onto the set of Stargate?
Let's see: super advanced technology that presumably includes anti-gravity all wrapped up in a pyramid built by an other worldly being. Also, ancient Egyptian motif. Stargate was initially released in 1994 with a release in Japan the following year. The game's original release date is November of 1995 with its U.S. release in August of 1996. So the two are contemporary to one another but whether the movie influenced the game at all is somewhat doubtful as its Japanese release would put it pretty late in the game's development cycle. There's also no teleporting around, alien symbiotes, or other assorted chicanery. There isn't even a Monster of the Week in the palace. As we shall see, for all the hoopla, the palace's internal security is actually pretty low-tech.
At least it's dry in here.
If there are monsters I wonder where they came from?
I'm afraid I might have gone on a spree collecting souls centuries ago. Well, good luck. I'll see you kids on the other side.
That was rather direct. It actually answers some of our questions. The monsters were sealed up in these places long ago as spirits and are released to fight intruders.
And we're the intruders... Nothing we can't handle.
Wandering up the eastern passage the team finds a trapdoor. There's no visual clue to this trap.
What's that sound?
That rattle?
It sounds like a... a gear of some sort.
There's a trapdoor under us!
Oh GREEEE
EEEEAAAAAAATT! Umph!
Everyone okay?
Yeah.
Just my pride hurt a bit more.
Odd place to put a trap I would think.
Yeah who blunders into a corner? Besides us, I mean?
In a chest to the south is a Cloak of Darkness. Well I'm glad we could fall down a pit into an otherwise sealed off area to get a cloak that I'm never going to equip. I suppose it is slightly more interesting than just stuffing the chest full of money.
Seriously, the plot dictates that the player spend a third of the game with a perma-cursed member. Who would want to spend more time cursed after that? Cursed equipment is sometimes worth the trade-offs in Shining in the Darkness and Shining Force -usually cursed weapons because they can hit all enemies or the wielder can avoid the curse effects - but I see no benefit in Beyond the Beyond. I'll sell this after the team gets back to town.
As they round the corner to find a way out the team comes across a pair of Burials. Behind them though is a new opponent: a Green Dragon.
That's a dragon! Small dragon. Is it a baby?
It doesn't look friendly.
That's because it isn't. Let's not forget what Arawn said. To fight a dragon. Hmm, let's find out how strong it is!
It seems to have the same thought about us.
As the team begins cutting its way through the Burials the dragon casts an Attack level 2 spell on its surviving hovering friend.
Attack boosts are always a cause for concern but in this instance the Burial's attack for 43 damage isn't enough to groggy Finn. Yay for his slowly increasing VP max?
Ow, ow, ow!
That one attack is the only use the Burial gets out of their boost. Annie charges out at the start of the next round with a 60 point critical hit. Maybe it's just me but Annie seems to have a rather high critical hit rate. Then again as the highest speed character on the roster she gets to attack more.
Just you wait, dragon! I'm comin' for you next!
Miss Annie can be so scary when she has a mind to.
It hurts but I'm going to be fine, sis.
The dragon is in the enemy back row which greatly slows down the rate at which the team can hurt it. Despite being a dragon it isn't very tough and only manages to scratch at Annie before Finn cuts it down.
Are you disappointed, Lorele?
I am! Arawn said he gathered these creatures long ago. I can guess why none still roam Barbaros.
AHH! What was that?! It's just a trap. Behind us. If we were stumbling around in the dark it might actually be dangerous.
Now I'm curious if I can jump it.
You keep saying things like that. What is it with you, Finn?
You weren't there with us in Zalagoon when he would jump down wells. This I have to hear!
So here's one gimmick of this dungeon: spike traps. There's only one pit trap thankfully but that's because (as one might surmise from the lefthand part of the screenshot above) the dungeon is designed to descend. Yes, the developers went to the trouble of animating and coding in a pit trap that is used only once for an entirely optional area. It's a bit of a missed opportunity to annoy the player.
The spike traps are triggered by stepping on specific tiles. They are mildly annoying because the game has to pause to play the flip up animation.
Then when the player steps off the trigger panel the game has to pause again to flip the trap back down. Anyway, the gimmick is that spikes block paths and force the player to detour around them. It's not quite an invisible maze.
I still think I could jump it!
I am a bit uneasy about the possibility of more pits. If it's all the same perhaps we should search out an alternate route.
2nd Floor
There are only two possible routes and one is blocked. The answer is thus rather obvious. To the north on the next floor is a little stretch of hallway with nothing of interest. There is no pit and no secret passages.
I wonder what it says on the wall here. It looks like the writing on the tablets. Both belong to Arawn. Maybe it's his native language?
If so then I hope nothing vital is written here.
If I hadn't already fallen and found the chest seeing it from the west side of the floor would be a solid hint that I had missed a hidden route. The staircase leads to the east sarcophagus by the entrance. It isn't possible to go down that hidden set of stairs though. They're one-way only just like the spike trap. Go too far down one hallway and, if you want the treasure, you have to go back up to the first floor and find the trapdoor again.
As for the rest of floor 2 it is actually a rare case of the game wanting the player to take the shorter route. Being as well trained as I am I of course took the longer route and had to backtrack. At the end is a switch to flip the blocking spikes.
That was easy. We'll have this wrapped up in no time!
We're going to be lost in here for days aren't we?
I won't tell anyone if you don't.
3rd Floor
This floor is where the real puzzles start.
Left or right?
There's a sarcophagus at the end of the hall down there.
*shrugs* It's a start.
Upon approaching the sarcophagus it slides out of the way on its own.
And now they're moving on their own! Do you think we'll have to climb in one? I hope not. I'm glad we're all on the same page.
I wonder who made these. I mean, I doubt these ever held bodies. One might as well ask who made the Flying Palace or Arawn's Palace or Arawn's Tower. Unless Arawn tells us we'll probably never know.
All of those are so old, centuries old. Older than anything in Barbaros. That's for sure. He's super old so it might not seem that way to him.
He designed everything from top to bottom to be a long series of trials. To think, they've just been sitting around for their appointed time. What happens to them after the Vicious Ones are dealt with?
Arawn waits a few centuries for more Vicious Ones to show up?
Surely he's got something better to do with his time.
These places seem to take care of themselves, sis. I doubt he has to show up very often.
Over on the east side of the floor is a blocked passage and a floor switch. Stepping on this one doesn't do anything though.
I'm jumping up and down and it still won't go down! Maybe this is just a decoy.
Why would anyone make a decoy?
Because it's a puzzle, Finn. It's not supposed to be completely straightforward.
Hmm, maybe it is a fake but there are some notches on the sides of this plate that I didn't see on the plate upstairs.
Okay. We've barely seen this floor anyway.
As the team begins its search an encounter with Manticores leads to this rather caption-ready situation. Despite the fact that Edward's Defense is lagging a bit behind because of my refusal to upgrade he still doesn't take much damage from attacks. He doesn't get targeted much to begin with - granted this is partly due to how fast the team leaps to the attack. In this run the game has apparently decided that the character in slot 2, which is Annie, is it's highest priority unlike my last time through where it pummeled character 3 over and over again.
As they make their way down the hallway the team stops to search each sarcophagus and accidently finds that one is easily moved back.
Careful. Let's not get it wedged in there.
It's in our way! There's a hall behind it. Let's circle around.
The monsters in the Flying Palace are mostly the same as what the team found in Pity. Burials continue their screen-hogging ways. Evil Shamans continue to earn the team's early aggression.
So that man lived long ago and his soul has been trapped here for centuries. How sad. Arawn is capable of amazing things. Frightful things. He seems alive now. Not that he'll be living for much longer.
Burials aren't all that flammable so they resist Edward's Fire 3 spell. It's still worth the MP cost to hit four of them and an Evil Shaman. Burials aren't much of a threat on their own.
On another note I do like how the battle background is an enlarged version of the same wall murals scattered around the Flying Palace.
EEWAAAGGH!
What was that, sis?
These things are gross. I'm pretty sure that's what she was trying to say.
Well Burials are rather high up on the enemy power scale and have enough attack power to make for decent critical hits.
You want a punch to the nose don't you?
They are also thoroughly gross when they attack. Keep that tongue to yourself, Burial!
And there's Lorele hitting level five and upgrading her Holy Light spell to level 3. She's yet to use it in a trend that is likely to continue but she has it anyway.
In the upper left corner is another piece of armor that Annie will never equip: a Devil Ribbon. It was presumably taken from a ribbon-loving devil centuries ago. Why Arawn keeps this stuff in boxes in his super-advanced pyramid ship is a mystery though. Stuffing the Devil Ribbon into Finn's pack they continue winding their way through the corridors.
This thing's got bad magic in it doesn't it?
You can sense it laying in wait?
It's more like the skull embroidery is a clue.
They also find out that Green Dragons can breath fire. Er, well their shoulders can breath fire. This is what happens when spell animations are paired with monster animations that aren't positioned with the spell in mind. I like to think, though, that Green Dragons are actually robots and have flamethrowers hidden in their shoulders ready to flip open and fire at any time.
To solve the puzzle just push the pushable sarcophagus over the plate. Don't accidently push it somewhere that you can't move it any further or you'll have to go back upstairs to reset the floor. Every time the sarcophagus is moved the game plays a loud KLUNK sound effect that implies it is empty and thus lightweight. How does it hold the plate down then?
Magic, that's how.
Are we free?
Free? To... continue forward?
You ask that is if we could go back, Finn.
Before heading downstairs Finn spots a sparkling jewel on one sarcophagus. When he pries it loose, like any self-respecting treasure hunter would, he finds out it is a Mage's Jewel. So, thus far, the treasure chests have contained cursed gear while something useful was hidden on a faux-casket. Sounds about right for the dungeon theme. The team's a bit too savvy to fall for any Curse of the Mummy stuff though so they walk down the stairs.
What exactly are they looking for in this pyramid? Who knows! The game hasn't specified except to say that we'll get to use the Flying Palace if we pass Arawn's test.
4th Floor
The fourth floor presents no obvious path to take with branches leading to branches in the winding passageways.
I wonder how far down we are now.
For all we know there could be a sprawling complex under the ocean floor just waiting for us.
Let's hope not!
As they begin to make sense of the fourth floor another random encounter bumps Edward up to level 6 and upgrades his Attack spell to level 2. Now that's a useful spell upgrade! It will target the entire team thus enabling all the frontliners to crank out nice critical hits while Edward sits back and watches. The level ups are coming in a bit slower than Pity. It feels like the encounter rate is a bit lower. In addition to that, enemies are mostly melee so there are no funny nuke-em-all instances where the team gets pummeled.
It's that smoooooooth difficulty curve kicking in again. I'll take it! After the multi-dungeon marathon that was Bandore this is almost pleasant.
Instead Finn gets screamed at by a Fenril and becomes extremely confused.
AAAAAHHH! The bees! The bees are everywhere!
Your brother's lost his mind again.
Or found it again. It's hard to tell some days. Shouldn't we be worried? He's slashing away at the air around him.
Naw. I've got this.
Finn's confused attempt to attack his sister goes a lot less smoothly when she's also not confused. She easily blocks his attack.
I'll get you! You won't turn the coconuts on me again!
Finn you don't even know what a coconut is. And yet they're still his friends.
I would say that's weird but he became best buddies with Steiner before he had any idea of what a dragon really is.
Maybe the coconuts are replacements for Steiner.
You think I don't hear your buzzing but I'm on to you! I'll get you! Whatever it is let's not mention this to Steiner or the next thing we know we'll be up to our eyeballs in real coconuts.
Now I'm hungry!
In the center of the fourth floor is a rather odd structure. A large wall adorned with the Eye of Horus bisects a chamber.
Ugh, my head! What happened?
A dog screamed at you so you've been ranting and raving at nothing.
That would explain why I'm all hoarse.
In the southeast corner is a small chamber with four lit torches in the corners and a mural of two people praising or worshipping a flame.
Praying to a fire. That's... unusual. I remember you being quite happy to see a campfire.
But I didn't get down on my knees and sing its praises.
Maybe we need to set something on fire in here. That'll be easy! You say that as if we're a bunch of pyromaniacs.
Tont would have to be here for that. Instead we have Edward who is very careful about what he rains fire on and Finn who still doesn't understand how he summons Steiner to douse things in dragonflame.
See, we're not all ready to light the world on fire. Just a few of us. So you're lumping yourself in with Tont?
Just wait till he sees what Steiner can do. He'll flip.
The eastern side of the floor is a small maze with flip-spikes hidden within. The only objective is to push north.
Also there are manticores.
Don't think that you'll stand in our way!
Finn's attempt to lay a smackdown is met with laughter as his attack is blocked. Just sayin, this wouldn't have happened if Steiner were still little and flying around with the team!
What was that, Finn?
I think my head might still be messed up.
The manticore springs to the counterattack launching an exchange of blows.
I'll get you yet you flying wanna be cat!
You're taking this rather personally, Finn. I'll get vengeance for the coconuts!
WHAT?!
*laughs* Just messin' with ya, sis. *pause* Stop looking at me like that. I'm not crazy.
...
No, stop it! Don't give me that look!
When we get outta here... Oh hey, I think we can get through here. Come on, guys!
As a reward for navigating the mini-maze is a treasure chest with a Battle Shield for Finn. He loses the +2 Attack from the Spike Shield but gains four more Defense. Given the fact that Finn has taken quite a beating recently that seems a fair tradeoff.
Nothing to worry about, Finn. The magic in this one seems fine.
Oh? Really? Well it's about time!
In a small room just south of the treasure chest is a lone sarcophagus. Searching it reveals a rather ordinary looking item. Good thing the team's looking in every nook and cranny or this would be a confusing dead end.
Key Item Torch got! (Yes I know it doesn't have the key item coloring but it is plot-needed and cannot be discarded.)
A torch?
So we do have to set something on fire.
Why didn't we just do that with magic then?
Because none of us really took that idea seriously? Besides, I suspect we're activating a waiting enchantment, not lighting a fire as if it were a candle. Figures!
The team passed a brazier as they crossed the floor but there was nothing they could do with it until now.
Eeek! It just lit itself!
A magical, self-lighting torch. That would be handy in Barbaros.
And like that the brazier is lit!
You know, if we had bothered to pay attention to the murals here we would have realized what we were doing.
We're supposed to actually read these things? There's the Eye of Horus above the flame. I wonder what that means.
Contrary to what one might think lighting a brazier causes that odd wall to slide down opening an upper passage.
That was unexpected. I guess the Eye of Horus has... SEEN THE LIGHT! Ha, ha, ha!
...
Ha, ha, er... Moving right along.
I don't even know why you undead bother. You're not a threat at AEAEADGG!
What was that, brother of mine? GRMMMPHEA!
Finn's trip through the Flying Palace has been less than stellar for him. Wights can paralyze with their critical hits which is way better than some old school RPGs would do. (Because getting those levels was so much fun in the first place that I just had to do it all over again. For funsies.)
While Finn somehow manages to remain standing in spite of his paralysis (he's such a trooper!) Sir Samson finishes off the last Wight.
I must say I am a little concerned that Arawn trapped the souls of some undead in here. Could they not be released from their undeath? Maybe he just likes the variety. Whatever. We're destroying them. That should be enough.
Then Annie levels up and upgrades her Healing Rain spell. First Attack and now Healing Rain. The level ups might not come with much of an increase in stats (but that's normal for this game) but the new spells are certainly welcome. Now Annie stands a chance of keeping up in a boss fight with lots of group-wide spells flying around.
Just north of the strange purple eye wall is the staircase down.
Next time on Beyond the Beyond - more of this dungeon
