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Beyond the Beyond: Update 27: The Road of Return (Summoners)
So we have a brand new party member and I said earlier that I'd get around to showing his starting stats. Well here they are in all their starter glory.
So what exactly can you do, Tont? 
I know some magic. Care to elaborate?
*smiles* Don't worry. You'll see as soon as we run into some bad guys!
Tont rather predictably starts at level 1. Well he's a kid who's spent his whole life thus far being sheltered inside a remote village so it is to be expected. Since he's a squishy mage he needs to stay in the back and take advantage of the row modifier.
Well we'll just have to enter the monster-infested overworld and fix that little level problem. He could probably survive the trip back to Luna but there are too many enemies running around who can blast our entire group with magic for me to want to risk it.
You're sure you want to stick around for a few days, your highness?
Yes. There are still several books in the archives I want to read.
Uh, so what are we doing outside of town then?
As a concession I had to agree to let Sir Samson put the rest of us *sighs* through our paces.
Oh, training. Gotcha.
We need to be ready for whatever's under that pyramid.
So what is this training going to consist of?
Just wait. Trouble will find us.
Indeed it does because if there is one thing Beyond the Beyond is good at it's throwing a small army of monsters at the player.
Thankfully it doesn't take long for Tont to get some additional magic which he proudly shows off to the gang. As we can see Tont has picked up another tier of his starting Summon spell (he can cast it a whole four times before running out of MP, yay?) and has learned the same Attack spell that Edward knows. We've already covered Attack so let's see what Summon does.
Why it calls a monster into the fight on our side to attack the enemy! The higher tier Summon that is cast, the stronger the monster that appears will be. However the monster only makes one attack which the player has no control over. Sometimes it will be something useful like this High Elf's Wind 2 spell.
Other times it will be like this Lizard Warrior's basic melee attack. To be perfectly frank Summon generally isn't worth the MP cost to cast. There are things Tont's class does well. This just isn't one of them. If the summoned monster stuck around for the entire fight it would possibly be worth it. I suppose it does provide a clue about what higher level monsters are capable of for a first-time player.
On another note I mentioned previously that these goblins have some odd resistances. Since I was grinding and they showed up again I took some screenshots to illustrate. Here's Edward's basic Fire level 1 doing 8 damage to one of them.
Contrast that with his Fire level 2 spell doing the full 15 damage to both of them. Resistances in Beyond the Beyond are strange things.
Has the feeling returned in your leg yet, Finn?
Yeah. Ow, ow, ow. Silly me thinking Dad's training regimen was harsh.
At least this time no one had to carry you back to town.
True! I hear Edward and Sir Samson downstairs. Before we go we should do something about all this junk we're carrying around.
You were good to me old sword but now I have better.
You're seriously just going to buy weapons from us?
Yup. This is good Opheran steel.
I can also take some of those cards off your hands if you want.
Hey guys, what's going on?
Selling some of our old junk.
Are you interested?
I have a feeling we're probably going to need this later so no thanks.
While tempting I'm still going to hold onto my one-use nukes for the time being.
Well I guess I might as well pony up the cash for that new ribbon.
It's enchanted.
Yup. Made here in Simone, actually. They're popular with the noble ladies of Zalagoon.
Aside from Annie's new Holy Ribbon we also buy a Travel Hood for Tont and Edward. It's an extra two points of defense and they need those points the most.
A pleasure doing business with you kids. Come back if you need anything.
Oh we will be back. We'll definitely be back.
Hey what's with that crystal thingee? Edward?
It's a vision crystal. It's used to scry the area around you.
*nods* Oh. What does 'scry' mean?
It's a fancy way of saying it magically enhances your awareness of your surroundings.
After a little work here's Tont at level 9. His MP growth has thus far been excellent but he is a caster and his other stats reflect that. Tont is quite slow and usually acts dead last every round. That low speed brings up another problem: his Summon line spells will not automatically retarget if the intended target group is wiped out. Instead Tont will just stand around doing nothing. (spoiler: Which can result in a very nasty bug we'll see later.)
I find this pairs rather well with Samson if two groups of enemies appear but one group only has one member. I then order Samson and Tont to concentrate on the lone target. If Samson gets to attack he will either kill that one monster or leave it with just a few hit points that Tont can finish off with a level 1 summon. If Samson doesn't attack Tont still hurts the monster for a decent chunk of their health and Finn (usually) finishes it off at the beginning of the next round.
With the AI setting on 'Reserve' another option is loading Tont up on consumable healing items and letting his AI use them as it wishes when his turn finally comes around. Since he'll probably act last the odds are that, if Tont gets a turn at all, someone is probably hurt.
With some levels under his belt Tont is ready for the trip back to Luna. He'll catch up in level without needing any sort of special grinding. He just needs the raw VP and LP to soak some damage.
Just for the heck of it though let's pretend for a moment that I would waste 300 gold on a Vision Crystal and see what one does.
The result is that the game zooms a little ways out to show more of the surrounding terrain which is midly useful I suppose but definitely not 300 gold useful. It lasts until the next random encounter which in this game means not long at all. I have a map even if I didn't know my way around the game's overworld.
All right. We've got a lot of ground to cover. We're going from Simone in the north back to Ophera in the eastern desert. I'll stop briefly in Luna to rest but we won't stick around.
This may be the last time you see home in a long time. Are you sure you're ready to leave?
I've been ready. Let's go.
Soon after entering the caves northwest of Simone the party runs into a member of the living dead.
Ho, hum, more undead.
Eww! Don't hurt its feelings. It might be a shy ghoul.
I think it's got bigger problems with me about to attack it. Besides, if it's so shy why is it growling at us?
Uhh, ghoul speak for hello?
Whatever. Sending it back to the grave where it belongs.
The Ghoul had an Illusion Potion which Finn pilfers. We've already seen Illusion Powder but this potion is entirely different. It can only be used outside of battle. Like with Monster Bait there's no message indicating what it does (or when it wears off, if it ever does) but the potion's effect is to lower the encounter rate. As might be surmised it is an extremely rare item as it can only be found as monster drops (and drop rates are universally low so it is easy to play this game multiple time and not see a single item like this). UPDATE: Actually, it can be bought in some shops later in the game. I just forgot about them. I have a few ideas where this might be put to good use but for now it goes into our stash.
I am STILL glad I have these noseplugs. That was probably the best investment I've ever made.
*rubbing eyes* If we don't have to go into those caves again for a long time that would be perfect.
Days of hard travel slip by. They are mostly peaceful - mostly.
I don't understand why so many humans are attacking us. I have no idea either.
It's just the way it is.
Say, Tont, that reminds me. I was going to ask you a question.
Oh? That valley where your village is at is crawling with monsters, yet no one in town seemed to notice them. Why is that?
Well, uh, I guess the village is protected by magic.
Edward?
Uh, what? You can sense magic, right? So were there wards or something back there?
I guess there could have been. The entire village was blanketed in magic. I honestly wasn't paying too much attention to it.
*raises an eyebrow* What?
You can literally feel the presence of magic?
That surprises you?
I always thought it was a creepy old man thing the elders did to weird people out.
Dear journal, I must confess I never wanted to see sand again but here I stand, two weeks after leaving Simone, on the rocky southern border of the sands of the east. With the sea just barely on the northern horizon we will once again venture into the desert. We're all worried but this time we're better prepared. Let this be the last time we have to enter this Arawn-forsaken place.
The team isn't the only thing continuing onward. Our running joke just keeps on rolling.
Next time on Beyond the Beyond - treasure hunting! Finn will actually have a legitimate reason to call himself by that title, at long last.
