Line #31 VideoGame/BeyondOasis


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/story_of_thor.png]]
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3	->''"VideoGame/StreetsOfRage and Zelda had a daughter, and she grew up beautiful." ''
4	-->-- '''James, Insert Credit'''
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6	''Beyond Oasis'', or ''The Story of Thor: A Successor of The Light'' in Japan and Europe, was an action RPG title for the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, something along the lines of ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda''. The player takes control of the young prince Ali, who receives the mystical Gold Armlet at the games outset. Soon after returning home to the kingdom of Oasis, Ali finds that strange forces have invaded his homeland, and he sets out on a quest to gain the aid of the four spirits of the armlet to fight against them. The Four Spirits are Dytto, the Water Spirit, Efreet, the Fire Spirit, Shade, the Shadow Spirit, and Bow, the Plant Spirit. With their help, he attempts to challenge the forces of Silver Armlet, who uses his armlet's power to lead the invaders against Oasis. As the story unfolds, the prince discovers more details behind the origin of the armlets, the character of Silver Armlet, and the dark power the silver armlet contains.
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8	A notable game for a number of reasons. For one, while it was quite like ''Zelda'', one interesting difference was breakable items: if you used a weapon or item too much, it would break and become unusable. Since there was no way to repair broken items, the player is forced to try and conserve what he or she is given.
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10	The game was followed up by a prequel: ''Legend of Oasis'' for the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn, which is more merciful with the weapons, and adds two new spirits, Airl the Wind Spirit and Brass the Sound Spirit. ''Legend of Oasis'' focuses on Leon, the apprentice to the wizard Ordan who battles the evil Agito to become the Spirit King.
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12	----
13	!!Common tropes between both games:
14	* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: The American and European covers both forgo the anime style of the Japanese cover (pictured above for ''Beyond'', and also for ''Legend''), in favor of more serious artwork:
15	** The US cover for ''Beyond'' has evil-looking eyes overlooking the land of Oasis during a storm, while the European cover has Ali's shadow cast upon a stone tablet, with fire crackling underneath.
16	** For ''Legend'', instead of an anime-styled artwork, which is used in-game, both the European and American covers use computer-generated artwork and have Leon wielding a scimitar, while a purple demonic enemy looms over him in the background.
17	* AmuletOfConcentratedAwesome: The Armlet that can summon the 4 elemental spirits (six in the prequel). It's useless until you clear the first dungeon though.
18	* BigBad: Agito is the great evil and FinalBoss of both games (either himself or his incarnation).
19	* BittersweetEnding:
20	** In the first game, [[spoiler:Agito is destroyed and Ali becomes TheGoodKing, but his sister Gwyne, who he just reunited with after years of thinking she had died, chooses to remain in the spirit world to be the guardian of the Armlets for the rest of her life.]]
21	** The sequel also offers its share of bittersweetness: [[spoiler:We lose Brass and Aril]].
22	* BreathWeapon: Efreet can use a fire-breathing attack against enemies.
23	* DarkIsNotEvil: Shade is the Dark Spirit, found in the Shrine of Darkness and looks like a faceless shadow with creepy long arms, but is otherwise allied with the protagonists in their fight against Agito.
24	* ElementalEmbodiment[=/=]NatureSpirit: The Spirits:
25	** CastingAShadow: Shade.
26	** DishingOutDirt: Bow.
27	** MakingASplash: Dytto.
28	** PlayingWithFire: Efreet.
29	* ExtremeOmnivore: Bow, the Plant Spirit, is said to have an "appetite". This translates to the gameplay as using its attacks to crack open heavy gates to proceed further.
30	* FairySexy: Dytto is a petite female sprite who wears a bathing suit.
31	* HealItWithWater: Dytto is specialized in water magic. The player can use her abilites to restore their health.
32	* InconsistentSpelling: In the first game, the Tree Spirit is named ''Bow''. In ''Legend'' its name appears in the animated opening as ''Bawu''.
33	* KillItWithWater: Dytto's water abilites are efficient against fire enemies. It also serves to put out small fires.
34	* LivingShadow: The Spirit Shade is depicted as an afterimage of yourself and attacks by extending your shadow and scratching enemies. His SuperMode involves Ali going into a meditative state and Shade separates from him, becoming invincible.
35	* MarketBasedTitle: ''The Story of Thor: Heir of the Light'' is ''The Story of Thor: A Successor of the Light'' in Europe, ''The Story of Thor'' on the European ''Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection'', and ''Beyond Oasis'' in North America. ''Thor: Chronicles of the Elemental King'' is ''The Story of Thor 2'' in Europe, and ''The Legend of Oasis'' in North America.
36	* NonLethalBottomlessPits: The series has these kind of pits (that drain a bit of life and teleport you to the room entrance), ''but'' it also has a powerup (Shade, the Dark Spirit) that will fly you out of the bottomless pit, costing you a bit of mana rather than life.
37	* OminousCube: The inert forms of the elemental spirits are that of a cube. In the ending sequence of ''Legend'', after the defeat of Agito, Leon finds himself without the Golden Armlet and he and Myra discover that the spirits have turned into cubes.
38	* OurGeniesAreDifferent: Efreet, the Fire Spirit, is based on the ifrit of Arabic folklore, a type of magical being connected to fire.
39	* SummonMagic: The core of the gameplay: the player has to seek spirits embodying the elements and summon them. Doing so allows the player to use their powers.
40	* WhenTreesAttack:
41	** For both games, Bow, the Plant Spirit, is shaped like a venus flytrap. It also can be commanded to attack enemies with its bite.
42	** In ''Legend of Oasis'', there is the boss named Berbulb, a giant round plant bulb that opens up its folds to release bees at the player.
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44	----
45	!!''Beyond Oasis'' provides examples of:
46	* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Underneath the castle, although [[JustifiedTrope there's a reason for this]]; something important is hidden down there.
47	* ApatheticCitizens
48	* ArrowsOnFire: Not only did they give you fire arrows, but they threw in bomb arrows for good measure.
49	* ArtificialStupidity: Combined in a weird way, as although the AI controls the Spirits, the player can give them basic guidelines of where to move and what to do based on the direction he or she is facing and what buttons are pressed. The worst example of this is a secret minigame to get a special item.
50	* AttackReflector: Tired of bombs being thrown at you? Arrows too? Wanna have a good laugh? Using any sword besides the [[HilarityEnsues fire sword]] you can bat those suckers right back at him.
51	* BackFromTheBrink
52	* {{Backtracking}}
53	* BehindTheBlack
54	* BlockPuzzle: The myriad switches which must be held open with rock/iron/steel balls. No reason is given for this.
55	* BonusDungeon: Quite a few and some of them are [[BrutalBonusLevel Difficult]] but yield the best weapons in the game.
56	* BoringYetPractical: The Alt. Knife might not seem much with basic stabs, but it's easily the most versatile weapon in the game once the player gets the hang of the various combos and is unbreakable.
57	* BottomlessPits: A danger at first, these become less so after acquiring Shade, who will pull you up when you fall.
58	* BreakableWeapons: Everything except the Alt. Knife and a handful of infinite-use weapons that are very hard to find.
59	* CherryTapping: While wiping out enemies with the broadsword is fun, there's a certain satisfaction that can be gained form using the knife. Plus, it has all those nifty special moves that are hard as hell to perform.
60	* CognizantLimbs
61	* DarkWorld: Shadow World, after defeating Evil Eyes.
62	* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:After the King faints from his wounds inflicted by Silver Armlet, he remains motionless for the rest of the game, giving the impression he perished. In truth, he was simply badly wounded, and the credits show him recovering in bed with his daughter nursing him back to health; although he does hand the throne over to his son anyway.]]
63	* EldritchAbomination: In ''Beyond'', Agito is in an even more monstrous form than in the prequel: he occupies a pool of green liquid, has four large arms and several snake tentacles that emerge from the liquid to attack Ali.
64	* EmergencyWeapon: The Alt. Knife. It does come with a number of combo moves that increase its usefulness.
65	* GiantEnemyCrab: You have to defeat one to claim the first spirit companion.
66	* {{Golem}}: A recurring boss is a large rock creature with two arms.
67	* HostageForMacGuffin: Played very straight: BigBad kidnaps hero's sister, demands MacGuffin in exchange for sister's release, hero complies. To their credit, the BigBad releases the sister unharmed as promised.
68	* HyperactiveMetabolism: Different types of food instantly restore different amounts of HP and/or MP when eaten.
69	* InexplicableTreasureChests
70	* InfinityPlusOneSword: All of the infinite weapons count in one way or another, but the Infinite Omega Sword is truly their king, with its long reach and ability to set enemies on fire.
71	* LongLostRelative: Ali's older sister. [[spoiler:She turns out to be the antagonist, possessed by the spirit of the silver armlet.]]
72	* LowLevelRun: Very easy to do, as "level-up" power-ups are hard to come by, and don't do much aside from raising your maximum HP by a few points and allowing you to do extra damage. In fact, the game ranks you better if you do a low level run. It keeps track of a number of things and ranks them at the end, and Ali's level is one of those things.
73	* MarathonLevel: One of the bonus dungeons has 100 floors. Each floor has enemies that need to be slain before you can advance to the next floor. If you can beat all 100 floors in a row, your reward is an unbreakable sword that can set your opponents on fire.
74	* OneWingedAngel: Silver Armlet turns into a giant hideous monster in the final boss fight, after you defeat their humanoid form.
75	* PointOfNoReturn: Tough example. When you reach the Shadow World after defeating Evil Eyes, you're not coming back. There's several weapons and items to find that will help you through the rest of the game, but any gems or infinite weapons you missed becomes out of reach.
76	* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The [[RankScalesWithAsskicking Prince]] Ali, hero of the game. [[spoiler:Also Silver Armlet, who turns out to be his mind-controlled sister.]]
77	* SamusIsAGirl: Underneath the BlackCloak, [[spoiler: Silver Armlet turns out to not only be a girl, but also [[LukeIAmYourFather Ali's older sister]].]]
78	* SaveThePrincess: [[spoiler:After Silver Armlet's forces raid the castle, he kidnaps the princess and holds her ransom for a great cube hidden underneath the castle. When Ali hands it over, he keeps his words and releases the princess unharmed.]]
79	* SomeDexterityRequired: Ali has a few special attacks he can do with the Alt. Knife, including a backflip with the somewhat unintuitive "forward-back-forward-attack" motion. And then a triple backflip strike that requires a forward-back-forward motion immediately after a fully circular motion. It's tricky.
80	* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Some sources refer to the basic weapon as the "Ali Knife" as if it's named after the protagonist. "Alt. Knife" makes more sense after playing ''Legend of Oasis'', where one of the weapons is called the Altair Knife.
81	* TooAwesomeToUse: There are single-use items you can find that let you summon your spirits ''anywhere'', not just in places where the game intends for you to summon them. Subverted once you realize using them from your inventory directly causes you to lose them forever. There however is a perk to using the Armlet's orb on the call items, it transforms into another item as well as summons the respective spirit. So it is a slight trade off, you can either hold onto the item for a free summon in a pinch or potentially just use them to trade up for better healing items or weapons.
82	* TranslationMatchmaking: Despite what the title implies, ''Beyond Oasis'' (a.k.a. ''The Story of Thor'') has nothing to do with the earlier UsefulNotes/GameGear game ''Defenders of Oasis'' (originally titled ''Shadam Crusader'' in Japan) other than they were both [=RPGs=] published by Sega.
83	* WizardsWar: In the backstory, two sorcerers, Raharl, commanding the light, and Agito, with power over "chaos and destruction", waged a "devastating battle" against each other that destroyed the realm of Oasis.
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85	!!''Legend of Oasis'' provides examples of:
86	* AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance: Airl looks like a cross between a bird and a cloud, fitting for the Wind Spirit.
87	* AttackTheTail: The weak spot of the Screamer boss is its tail.
88	* ChestMonster: In a certain area of the game, the player can find a "seventh" spirit named Tokipin, who is a living chest that can attack with its toothy lid. It passes itself off as the "Spirit of Treasure", but the player can defeat it and, with its dying breath, it admits it was not one of the (canon) six ones and only wanted to help.
89	* {{Cumulonemesis}}: Inverted. Airl is the Wind Spirit, whose body is made of fluffy soft pink clouds, and is one of Leon's allies. She can still hurt enemies with her weather powers.
90	* DamselInDistress: A young woman named Myra is targeted by Agito's followers. She eventually becomes brainwashed and has to be rescued.
91	* DoomedByCanon: ''Legend of Oasis'' has two spirits that didn't appear in ''Beyond Oasis''. Naturally, you find out ''why'' by the end of the game: [[spoiler:Brass becomes an InfinityPlusOneSword and Airl changes into a teleport spot that allows Leon to reach the FinalBoss.]]
92	* FishPeople: The boss of the water dungeon is a green Creature of the Black Lagoon-esque man with gills and fins.
93	* MakeSomeNoise: Brass is the dragon-like spirit of sound, with the ability to emit sonic waves that can break crystals. He can be summoned from metallic surfaces.
94	* NumberedSequels: The European version calls the second game ''The Story of Thor 2''.
95	* OurGhostsAreDifferent: The boss of the dark shrine is a giant cocoon named [=GhostEgg=]. After some moments, it opens its many external eyes and absorbs nearby ghosts who keep wailing, until it eclodes to release a snake-like creature named Screamer.
96	* {{Prequel}}: The game is set centuries before ''Beyond Oasis''.
97	* ShockAndAwe: Airl, being the Wind Spirit and with a body made of clouds, can cast lightning as one of her powers.
98	* SolidClouds: One of Airl's abilities is to be able to carry Leon on her fluffy cloud body.
99	* TwoGirlsToATeam: Dytto's artwork paints her as female. Airl is also referred to as "her" in the opening.
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Context VideoGame / BeyondOasis