Beyond the Beyond: Update 1: Wherein We're Sucked Down the Rabbit Hole

[ladyabaxa]

Beyond the Beyond: Update 1: Wherein We're Sucked Down the Rabbit Hole

For future reference I'll be playing this on ePSXe 1.60 with middle of the road standard-level graphics settings (otherwise some of the graphics would be blurry or we'd have color smearing and that just isn't acceptable). Instead we shall enjoy the game in pixelated glory and a muted color palette. This game won't run in ePSXe 1.70 at all as far as I know and doesn't always get along with some models of Playstation 2. It will boot up in ePSXe 1.80 but that's as far as I tested the game with that emulator.

The game does have a video introduction but it is of horrid early 3D animation that won't make any bloody sense until we're much later in the game. It also happens to be hidden and can only be viewed in game by a button combination on the start screen. We won't bother with it right now. The curious can find it on YouTube easily enough. Instead we want to boot this puppy up and see the following screen.

Yes the folks who made Shining Force made this game (well, same studio at least despite the name changes). I already mentioned that but I just want to reinforce that fact before we depart. Anyone getting off this train had best depart now because...

...WE HAVE A TITLE SCREEN! Oh boy oh boy let's hit start and get going. A press start message will flash on screen but what other button would you use to go from title screen to the following...

We have a start menu! Woohoo! Okay that's enough feigned enthusiasm. The Continue and Delete Record options only appear if the game detects save files in either memory card. I have such files since I had to test drive the game. You can also choose Quit or hit the circle button on your controller to make the game reboot. Why? *shrug*

Also, like every other Camelot game thus far our patron speaks to us.

Intro Woman: At last! You've come! Something terrible is about to happen... I need your help.

Okay, okay I know how this works. We just need to pick New Journey and roll up our standard issue White Male Hero first.

Intro Woman: What is your name?

We're prompted to enter a name as the portrait for a wide-eyed kid pops up alongside a character selection table. This kid's got a default name that's just fine for us so I just pick END.

Intro Woman: Together with Steiner, you must save this world from an upcoming danger! Steiner should be an adequate partner. He will certainly try his best for you. Steiner! Take care of Finn!

Steiner: Finn! I'll take you to the village of Isla. There, our adventure begins!

With our name chosen the unnamed, never to be explained woman and the dragon she's holding look at each other as if they're wondering why anyone would voluntarily choose to play this game.

So we're handed a baby dragon and shoved into the world to find someone chopping firewood. The firewood seems to be floating off the ground so maybe it was a magic tree? Our new mystery person takes the one floating log and creates a third stack next to the previous two - somehow transforming the one log into six. There's definitely magic afoot.

From the door emerges a blonde-haired woman. All portraits in this game have eye-blinking animations but in the interest of not having a ton of animated GIFs all over the playthrough all portraits will be static.

Darling, Sir Kevins and Finn are a little late. Do you think they're all right?
Mmm... *pause* I'm sure they're fine. They will probably be home soon.

Beyond the Beyond uses TONS of pauses and ellipses. I'll edit most of the pauses out of the dialogue but the ellipses are coming along for the ride.

Back to our story we find a young blonde girl running out of the house all hot under the collar about something!

What do you mean by "they're fine"? Every time Sir Kevins visits, he takes Finn out into the fields and instructs him in swordplay until he is completely exhausted! How can you call that "fine"?!
Oh Annie... I understand your concern, but you shouldn't take your frustration out on your father.
But Sir Kevins is being too hard on him! If Finn gets hurt again, I will never forgive him! Seriously, it's getting ridiculous!

Great, I end up playing another rpg that begins with child abuse. Here's hoping we don't have to brutally murder our guardian in bloody gladitorial combat during the first act. I think the odds of it are low since we're not starting the game in the evil empire but you never know.

Our unnamed girl runs back into the house as her parental units watch, leaving them scratching their heads. Truly they know their daughter well. Yup.

What was that all about?
Huh? Ohhh. I think she just worries about Finn a lot. *turns around* Unfortunately... It looks like her concern might be justified. Look.
Huh? What do you mean? Sir Kevins! Oh... Finn... I'm never going to hear the end of this from my daughter am I?

The camera pans down and we see someone carrying a child on their back approaching from the south. This is the first instance where the game says to hell with any consistency in scale. After this scene the kid will suddenly have a sprite the same size as everyone else. It's minor now but later this will make zero sense. Trust me on that.

It's getting late. We were beginning to worry. Well Annie and my wife were beginning to worry. I've been chopping down this tree all afternoon. I've really gotta get this axe sharpened.
Hmmm... I didn't realize how quickly time flies.
Well... I hope Finn is not hurt. I really don't have the money to send for a doctor again. You still owe me for last time.
Oh, he is quite all right. When he recovers consciousness, he won't feel a thing. *pause* Well, he shouldn't feel any pain but uh, if he really doesn't feel anything we'll... hrm...
I don't want to be rude, but... *approaches Kevins* Even though you're his father, don't you think you're being a bit harsh?
*cringes*
Finn is just a kid. Why are you training him like this? It's too cruel!
Well I know you don't understand since you're not a warrior but training does tend to be cruel. It's either this or I set him loose on the random monsters lurking around out in the wilderness and watch as he fights for his life.

Grumbling at Kevins's callousness Sonya takes our unconscious, scaled-down protagonist and heads towards the house to no doubt tend to the myriad wounds and dehydration the kid's suffering from. (Technically Sonya isn't named until the next update and we have to talk to an optional, flavor-texty NPC to get her name at all so I'm just going to go ahead and throw it out there and get it out of the way now.)

I know it's your job to defend the kingdom, and this may be hard for you to understand, but for women, we value children more than our own lives!

With that last sting, gender essentialism aside, Sonya heads inside setting plot gears into motion.

So, uh, you wanna shoot the breeze sometime? It gets kind of awkward around here.
*mutters something incomprehensible*

Finn!! WHAT THE HELL DID YOUR DAD DO TO YOU?!

Annie's wrath is enough to shake the camera violently for a couple of seconds before she runs outside. Somehow I don't think this little visit is going to end well. For Kevins that is.

How terrible... I must speak with you, Sir Kevins! You had better have a damn good explanation for why Finn's coughing up blood!
*nervous laughter*
Yeah you're on your own this time old friend. I'm not stupid enough to get between my daughter and someone's she's pissed off at.
I have... always wanted to tell you... I think your methods are extreme!! You allow Finn, who is without a mother, to live with us, but when you visit once a month, you nearly torture him to death! Is this your idea of being a good father?
Annie, calm down.
Dad stay out of this. If this ever happens again, I will... I will never forgive you!
I'm just saying we really don't have the money to bail you out of jail and Sir Kevins...
*runs back inside*
Ok fine don't listen to me. *grumbles* _{I'm starting to hate these monthly visits 'old friend.'}
Did you say something?
Hrmph. I was just thinking. Oh Annie... I must apologize, Sir Kevins. She has her mother's spirit.
Or perhaps her father's? Seriously, I've known you for years now. Don't think you can pawn this off on your wife.
Ha ha ha ha ha.
ha ha...HAHAHAHA!

WAHAHAHAHA!!

Annie runs back outside.

Dad! If Finn gets hurt like that again, I'm holding you responsible as well!!
Aw crap.
Well... *starts to walk away then turns back*

Sir Galahad, I think I will return to the castle.

We've finally got a name for Annie's dad. Hmm, Galahad huh?

What? You mean you're leaving without saying goodbye to Finn?

I care for him, but the longer I stay with him, the harder it is to leave him here. I'm also worried about things at the castle.
You're worried about Bandore, right?
Yes, we recently found several of their spies roaming around our kingdom. I wouldn't be surprised if they attack us while I am not there. Sir Galahad, please take care of Finn.

Will you ever change your mind and return to Marion Castle?
I'm sorry... but no.
Ahh... it must be the young prince that you don't like, huh?
Marion will be fine with you and Samson there. An old soldier like me only wants to live the rest of his days happily.

Kevins walks offscreen and Galahad turns to head inside.

(from offscreen) Finn has grown strong. Much more than I expected. Hmm... I know! As a reward, why don't I show him around the castle? Please tell him to go there when he recovers.
You want to take Finn to the castle when the kingdom's under threat from Bandore?
Sure. Why not? The castle would be safest place in the kingdom if we were invaded.
*sigh* Alright, I will. But that's kind of boring. Why not give him a challenge? If he succeeds, then he can go to Marion.
That's a good idea! Please do that. We just redecorated last month and I'd love to show off the new tapestries.

Kevins finally exits and Galahad goes inside. The screen fades to black and the same little tune that plays when you stay at an inn is heard. The screen then fades into a bedroom as we jump to what is possibly the next morning.

Ahh the little dragon has returned! This is Steiner and he was presumably sleeping or in the woods goofing off while Finn was out getting his ass kicked training. Since Finn's mom got fridged it falls to Steiner to wake him up so we can have a proper cliché rpg start and end what passes for the game's introduction cutscene. Hmm, a small flying dragon companion? Where have I heard that before...

Kyuruuuuu!

Finn, however, is having none of this 'get the hell out of bed so we can get going' business and rolls over. Steiner, being a flying dragon and whatnot just flies across Finn and continues pestering him. Aren't you glad your alarm clock isn't sentient and capable of moving under its own power?

Kyuruuuuu!

Undeterred by Finn rolling onto his back Steiner flies above his head, grabs it and starts shaking Finn until the kid finally jumps out of bed. That little dragon is certainly dedicated to his job I'll give him that.

Like so!

Kyrrrrrr... Good morning, Finn!
Steiner what the hell was that all about?! I got the crap kicked out of me yesterday and I'm sore in joints and muscles I didn't even know I had!
After what happened the last time your father came to visit I am not putting up with you moping and being cranky because of missed meals. As it is you've only missed breakfast. There's still some leftovers downstairs.
They saved some for me? Well I guess I can crawl downstairs to eat.

Hee hee! *jumps off the stairs* Morning, sleepy guy.
*grimaces* Argh! Not so loud Annie! I just woke up and my ears are still ringing from yesterday!
Why would your ears be ringing? *pauses* You know what? Forget I asked that. I'm trying to keep my blood pressure stable today. Anyway, Daddy has something important to tell you. He's been waiting a while, so please see him as soon as possible.
Great. What does he want now?
*shrugs, then starts walking towards the stairs*
Please don't be about chores. Please don't be about chores. Please don't be about chores!
Your best friend, Steiner, took care of you all night.You should thank him.
Yeah I know Steiner's my best friend. You know Steiner's my best friend. Everyone knows Steiner's my best friend. Why would you say something like that?
Because.
Because, what?
Because! That's why!
I, who, what?
*giggles*

Annie exits.

Ya know what? Nevermind. It can't be that important.

Annie took care of you too. What is she talking about?
My head hurts waaaay too much to think about it right now.
Let's go, Finn! Sir Galahad is waiting.
Breakfast is waiting. Galahad can hold on a few more minutes.
Never change, Finn.

At last we have control of our main character. Steiner autofollows Finn at this point and will be our constant companion. There's another scene when we head downstairs so let's end this update on the high note of basic menu explanations instead of jumping into even more dialogue.

Pulling up the menu we also see that we start the game with a bit of money. At least Beyond the Beyond doesn't start by giving the main character a pathetic sum to fund what is supposed to be an urgent mission. (I'm looking at you Shining in the Darkness!) The commands are pretty straight forward. Choose 'Talk' to speak to an NPC. 'Search' lets you pixel hunt for the game's many hidden goodies. It's not as bad as Shining the Holy Ark but the developers hid a bunch of stuff - mostly junk - in otherwise nondescript places. 'Magic' pulls up the spell submenu so you can cast spells. Finn doesn't start with magic so it will be some time before we see some use from this. 'Item' goes to a character select list so you can choose whose inventory you want to mess with. 'Prepare' goes to various game settings we're not going to fiddle with right now save one: Status.

This edited screenshot is a summary of Finn as he starts the game. He starts at level 1 with nothing but some clothes on his back that give him +3 defense. As far as vital stats go Finn has 12 VP - this game's jargon for hit points - and 3 LP or life points. I'll explain life points when we get into combat. Pressing X toggles the stats and equipment windows over to the magic window and back again. Since Finn's education has been in the form of severe beatings he doesn't know any magic (yet!). The five stats are:

Strength - how hard the character hits things. Strength + weapon attack strength = the character's attack rating

Defense - how good the character is at avoiding taking damage. Defense + armor defense strength = the character's defense rating

Speed - Beyond the Beyond uses a fixed initiative system making Speed a critical (to a point) stat

IQ - the character's supposed brainpower. I honestly have no idea what effect this stat has, if any, since it isn't tied to magic damage or healing amounts. It might be factored into whether status ailments work or not. Maybe. This stat can largely be ignored.

Luck - the manual describe's this as 'success ratio' so I'm inclined to think it has some importance. More on this when we get to combat.

-- SUMMARY OF EVENTS --

Finn: Main player character. His mom got fridged before the story began. He is the son of Sir Kevins but was thrust onto Sonya and Galahad because, uh, well he just was. Finn is your standard issue Silent Protagonist Swordsman but we're ignoring the silent part of that description because that would make the game more boring for us. We might also end up ignoring the protagonist part too...

Steiner: Dragon shoved into our hands by the game's start screen narrator. Steiner is Finn's best friend and living alarm clock. The fact that nobody in the opening cutscene seemed at all bothered by the fact that Finn has a baby dragon for a bestest buddy is somewhat alarming. I guess the people of Isla have just gotten used to having a flying fire hazard around at all times.

Annie: Finn's adopted sister and daughter of Sonya and Galahad. She is going to be pissed at her father for some time to come for perfectly good reasons the game sees fit to ignore. Don't you just love a good dose of misogyny with your video games?

Galahad: Retired leader of the Marion Knights. Sir Galahad is not particularly fond of his replacement Sir Kevins. Despite this he raises Kevins' son Finn anyway. I guess he owed Kevins a favor.

Sonya: Annie's mom and Galahad's wife. She is also pissed at Galahad because he allows Kevins to abuse Finn during monthly visitation. I'm guessing her opinion of Kevins, himself, isn't much better.

Kevins: Current leader of the Marion Knights. He's also Finn's dad and comes to visit once a month. Kevins is worried that their neighboring country Bandore might be planning an invasion since some spies from there were recently caught. Despite this he still wants to reward his son surviving "training" by dragging him across the country to the capital. (Note: the game will interchangeably refer to him as Sir and Lord Kevins. Both are technically correct.)

Next time on Beyond the Beyond - we walk down those stairs and find out what Galahad wants to talk to Finn about! It's probably going to involve a lot of exposition!

Update Zero | Index | Update Two