Beyond the Beyond
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Beyond the Beyond'', known in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
as , is a
role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...
that was developed by
Camelot Software Planning (doing business as Camelot Software Planning) is a Japanese video game developer established in 1990 under the name Sega CD4, but quickly renamed to Sonic! Software Planning. Named after Sonic the Hedgehog, they were closely involved with Se ...
and published by
Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...
for the
PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
in 1995. Though not the first role-playing game released for the PlayStation, ''Beyond the Beyond'' was the first RPG available in the west for the console using a traditional Japanese RPG gameplay style like ''
Final Fantasy is a Japanese video game, Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and ...
'',
Dragon Quest previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a franchise of Japanese role-playing video games created by Armor Project (Yuji Horii), Bird Studio (Akira Toriyama) and Sugiyama Kobo (Koichi Sugiyama) to its publi ...
and ''
Phantasy Star is a series of console role-playing video games and other supplementary media created by Sega. The series debuted in 1987 on the Master System with ''Phantasy Star'', and continues into the present with ''Phantasy Star Online 2'' and other ext ...
''. The characters were designed by popular
manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
artist Ami Shibata.


Gameplay

Gameplay in ''Beyond the Beyond'' is, for the most part, standard for a
role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...
. However, the
turn-based In video and other games, the passage of time must be handled in a way that players find fair and easy to understand. This is usually done in one of the two ways: real-time and turn-based. Real-time Real-time games have game time progress cont ...
battle system does contain one feature that was not standard in role-playing games at the time. Dubbed the "Active Playing System", this feature allows the player to increase the chances of either landing an improved attack on an enemy or defending from an enemy attack by pressing the X button at the correct time during battle. It is similar to the timing-based attacks in the later role-playing game ''
Final Fantasy VIII is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation console. Released in 1999, it is the eighth main installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Set on an unnamed fantasy world with science fiction elements, t ...
'' (1999).


Plot

Long ago in the world of ''Beyond the Beyond'', a battle raged between the 'Beings of Light' and the 'Warlocks of the Underworld'. Before the planet was destroyed, the two sides signed a treaty leaving the surface world to the Beings of Light and underground to the Warlocks. After hundreds of years of peace, inexplicable happenings begin to occur. The player must control Finn, a young swordsman, to stop the evil power that has broken the treaty and invaded the surface world.


Characters

Playable: *Finn: the 14-year-old main character, in training to become a knight after his mother's death. Revealed by
prophecy In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a ''prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or prete ...
to be the savior of the world from the "Vicious Ones", a group of four mysterious and evil magicians from the Underworld. *Steiner: a baby dragon that Finn keeps, and his best friend, has the potential to assist him in battle. *Annie: a 13-year-old friend of Finn's and daughter of Galahad, she fills the healing role during the game as a Cleric. It is implied that she has a crush on Finn. *Percy: a 20-year-old knight at Marion Castle. Returns home to Isla village, critically wounded from a fight from Bandore troops, but is saved by Annie. He is Galahad's son and Annie's older brother. *Samson: a 32-year-old soldier, revered for his bravery, he is cursed and loses much of his strength shortly after appearing. Has the lowest LP in the game, and is the slowest of all characters, but also has the highest strength. He has no magic. *Edward: a 13-year-old magician and the prince of Marion. Has the highest MP of all the magic users and specializes in mostly elemental (Fire, Ice, Thunder, etc.) spells. He is pretty slow at first but after being upgraded he becomes the fastest in speed. Has the lowest defense of anyone in the game. *Domino: a 28-year-old pirate collecting treasure throughout the world who joins the party in order to pay his debt to Finn, who saved his life. He also seeks revenge against the 'Vicious Ones'. His weapon(s) of choice are throwing knives. Has the highest Luck in the game. *Tont: another young magician who hails from the ancient village of Simone. He had accidentally metamorphosed into an anthropomorphic blob by a
potion A potion () is a liquid "that contains medicine, poison, or something that is supposed to have magic powers.” It derives from the Latin word ''potus'' which referred to a drink or drinking. The term philtre is also used, often specifically ...
. He is a caster of offensive spells like Edward; but unlike him, Tont's magic revolves around summoning creatures. *Lorele: a monk and the Princess of the kingdom of Barbaros. Non-playable: *Galahad: the –semi-retired– 50-year-old former leader of Marion's knights. Finn's guardian and father of Percy and Annie. *Kevins: at age 39, he is the leader of the Marion Knights and as such was forced to entrust his son Finn to Galahad's care, he supposedly sacrificed himself by staying in Hell to prevent Akkadias's forces from invading the surface, but was rescued and brought back to the surface world by Finn. *Shutat: a mysterious man serving directly under the emperor of Bandore, he was taken over by an evil being named Akkadias. *Ramue: a cold-hearted witch reporting directly to Shutat, she has strong magical abilities. She places a curse on Samson in Marion to render him weak, in order to make the heroes appear as frauds to Zalagoon's king. *Dagoot: another of Shutat's three generals, he is a master archer. *Yeon: a strange goblin-like being, he is the last of Shutat's generals and has magic rivaling that of Ramue. He is a minion of Akkadias sent to monitor Shutat. *Zeon: the village chief of Simone as well as the strongest magician in the world. *Glade: adviser to the king of Zalagoon, he planned to betray Zalagoon with the Bandore forces by using Samson's curse against the party, but once his scheme is exposed, he went insane with fear and metamorphosed himself into a monster with Shutat's pill. *Akkadias: an evil being that fills the 'Devil' role, is the ringleader behind the 'Vicious Ones' and is the final boss of the game.


Development

The soundtrack was composed by
Motoi Sakuraba is a Japanese composer and keyboardist. He is known for his numerous contributions in video games, such as for '' Tales'', ''Star Ocean'', ''Mario Golf'', ''Mario Tennis'', '' Golden Sun'', and ''Dark Souls'' series, as well as several other ani ...
, who later worked on other Camelot Soft titles such as ''
Shining Force III is a trilogy of fantasy turn-based tactics role-playing video games designed for the Sega Saturn. These games served as sequels to Shining the Holy Ark and were the final entries in the Shining series to be developed by Camelot Software Plann ...
'' and the ''
Golden Sun is a series of fantasy role-playing video games developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Nintendo. ''Golden Sun'' follows the story of a group of magically-attuned "adepts" who are charged with preventing the potentially destru ...
'' series along with other series such as ''Star Ocean'' and ''Valkyrie Profile''. For the North American release, ''Beyond the Beyond'' was translated into English by four production personnel at
Sony Computer Entertainment America Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...
.


Reception

Critical assessments of ''Beyond the Beyond'' were divided upon its release: While Shawn Smith and Sushi-X of ''
Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The m ...
'' found it to be an impressive RPG, Dan Hsu and Crispin Boyer in the same publication and
Glenn Rubenstein Glenn Rubenstein (born March 2, 1976) is a writer, director, and journalist based in Northern California. Journalism Rubenstein has been a columnist for the ''San Francisco Examiner'', ''Sports Illustrated'' for Kids, CNET's (now defunct) GameCente ...
in ''
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
'' deemed it derivative and underwhelming, though still a solid and satisfying enough experience for fans of the genre, ''
GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...
''s Scary Larry considered it outright "lame and predictable", and ''
Next Generation Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to: Publications and literature * ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company * Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...
'' described it as "painfully derivative, plodding, and not even a terribly challenging adventure". However, there were points of agreement, with even the most positive reviews remarking that the game has a very generic RPG visual style and simply does not look like a next generation RPG, though some also remarked that the 3D battle graphics are impressive. Most reviews said that the story is highly derivative and suffers from overlong, dull dialogues, though ''Next Generation'', which otherwise gave one of the more negative reviews, said the story was pleasingly long and interesting. While Shawn Smith and Dan Hsu praised the music, Glenn Rubenstein, Scary Larry, and
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
all called it tepid and generic, and criticized that it is in
MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...
format instead of the high quality
Red Book audio Compact Disc Digital Audio (CDDA or CD-DA), also known as Digital Audio Compact Disc or simply as Audio CD, is the standard format for audio compact discs. The standard is defined in the ''Red Book'', one of a series of Rainbow Books (named fo ...
that was by this time standard for CD games. Another common criticism was that the battles are excessively frequent. The game maintains a 44% average rating on
GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
, from 8 reviews. '' Official PlayStation Magazine'' gave it their lowest possible score of 0.5 out of 5. Other review scores for the game included a 6 out of 10 from ''
Electric Playground ''EP Daily'' (formerly ''The Electric Playground'') is a daily news television show that covers video games, movies, TV shows, comic books, collectibles and gadgets. Created and executive produced by host Victor Lucas, and his Vancouver, British ...
''. In a retrospective review, Andrew Long of RPGamer argued that the extensive time it takes to complete the game is due mostly to long and complex dungeons, frequent random encounters, and the steep difficulty of
boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...
es.


References


External links

* * {{Authority control 1995 video games Camelot Software Planning games PlayStation (console)-only games Fantasy video games Role-playing video games Sony Interactive Entertainment games PlayStation (console) games Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Motoi Sakuraba Single-player video games