Line #46 VideoGame/BeyondTheBeyond


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beyond_the_beyond.png]]
2	''Beyond the Beyond'' was one of the first {{Role Playing Game}}s released during the Sony Platform/PlayStation's life cycle, and one of the first developed by Creator/CamelotSoftwarePlanning (after changing its name from Sonic! Software Planning and working on the first two ''VideoGame/ShiningForce'' games).
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4	The plot is as follows: a war erupted between the surface-dwelling Beings of Light and underground-dwelling Warlocks of the Underworld, with the two sides eventually agreeing to a ceasefire after untold amounts of damage. This peace would last for hundreds of years until the "Vicious Ones", a quartet of powerful underground sorcerers, broke through the boundary separating the two worlds and started causing trouble. Finn, a young knight-in-training, is sent from his home of Isla Village to investigate the matter after learning about an attack on Marion Castle by the Bandore Empire.
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6	As this was Camelot's first "true" [[EasternRPG Eastern-styled RPG]] (most of its previous games were either tactical [=RPGs=] or dungeon-crawlers), ''Beyond the Beyond'' took flak for its sometimes confusing game mechanics and uninspired characterization and plotting (though there were one or two unique twists toward the end). It would be a few years before Camelot would attempt this genre again with the ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' games.
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8	Has nothing to do with BeyondTheImpossible, the [[Manga/ThereBeyondTheBeyond manga of the same name]], a [[Literature/BeyondTheBoundary light novel with a similar name]] or the unproduced sequel to the Lucio Fulci film ''The Beyond''.
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10	!!This game uses the following tropes:
11	* AerithAndBob: Almost every friendly human character has a "standard" name like Finn, Annie, and Galahad, while the non-humans get "fantastic" names like Tont and Dagoot.
12	* AmbidextrousSprite: Most noticeable during battle, as the characters will switch the hand that they use to hold their weapon depending on the direction they're facing.
13	* AttackOfTheMonsterAppendage: An early route have Annie nearly getting dragged underwater by the tentacle of some unseen monster after taking a wrong turn, until Finn saved her. The rest of the monster isn't shown at any point of the game.
14	* BareFistedMonk: Lorelei.
15	* BlackMage: Edward.
16	* BlackKnight: [[spoiler:Percy, following his supposed death at the hands of the Bandore Empire.]]
17	* BladeEnthusiast: Domino. Interestingly, when [[PrestigeClass upgraded]], he switches to a more traditional cutlass (he's a pirate), but just like the knives he used before, he attacks by ''[[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks THROWING]]'' it.
18	* BlindIdiotTranslation: Tont's thunder-elemental summon beast, Thor, is mistransliterated as "Tolle" in the U.S. version.
19	* ButThouMust: That frustrating sliding-block puzzle early on in the game? Yeah, you're going to have to solve that on your own, and no FAQ can help you since its positions are randomized each time.
20	* ButtonMashing: Certain button combinations increase the chance of double attacks, critical hits, counter-attacks, and even critical counters and critical double attacks.
21	* CallAHitPointASmeerp: Your characters' health is measured by two gauges: Vitality Points (VP) and Life Points (LP). If a character's VP run out, they get stunned for a turn and have to use up some of their LP to get their fighting strength back. If a character's LP run out, the character is considered "dead" and has to be revived by a priest.
22	* CharacterNameLimits: There is a limit of six letters for player characters' names. Lorelei's name is spelled as "Lorele" (or "Loreli" in the manual and back-of-the-box screenshots) because of this.
23	* CriticalHit: And performed [[IncendiaryExponent while the character is on fire!]] Except for Finn, who performs a unique combo attack with his dragon pal.
24	%% * CrystalDragonJesus: Arawn.
25	* DemotedToExtra: Everyone, but Finn is subject to this after the Bandore arc, with them only occasionally commenting on certain events.
26	* DistressBall: Annie, in the ''very first'' moments of the game, runs off to the Cave of Spirits to the south of her home village after her father denies her the chance to go on an adventure just because she's a girl.
27	* DualBoss: Ramue and Shutat, the penultimate bosses of the game.
28	* EliteFour: The Vicious Ones: Yeon, Dagoot, Ramue and Shutat.
29	* EvilChancellor: Glade of Zalagoon, who seems unusually adamant in labeling the mighty Samson a fraud. Surely enough, while the heroes are away trying to lift Samson's curse, Glade tries to cow the king of Zalagoon into surrendering to the Bandore Empire.
30	* EvilOverlooker: Shutat, on the box art.
31	* EvilSorcerer: All four of the Vicious Ones. Dagoot is less obvious than the others, but he still relies quite a bit on magic during his boss fight.
32	%% * FlunkyBoss: Dagoot and Yeon.
33	* ForcedTransformation: An irreversible accident involving transformation powder turned Tont (and another Simone villager later in the game) into a yellow slime.
34	* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Normally, you can remove curses by going to a priest, but a plot-based curse saps Samson of his legendary strength, and no priest is strong enough to remove it. He has to go and personally ask for the help of CrystalDragonJesus to lift it. Even that doesn't work, as Master Zeon, who Arawn sent you to, admits after trying that he couldn't break it and that it was Samson himself that did.
35	* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: [[spoiler:After Shutat is defeated by the heroes, an evil alien named Akkadias shows up and reveals that he was [[TheManBehindTheMan mind-controlling Shutat all along and is the true villain]]]].
36	* GuideDangIt: You'd think the game would at least tell you what the items or spells do. Also, good luck finding a number of locations without a lot of aimless wandering.
37	* {{Gonk}}: Yeon, the greenish sorcerer of the Vicious Ones.
38	* HeroicMime: Finn. Steiner does all of the talking for him.
39	* HopelessBossFight: You'll be forced into one with Ramue if you attempt to leave the Border Church without solving the [[SolveTheSoupCans arbitrary sliding puzzle]] that's there. Also counts as a NonStandardGameOver.
40	* INeverSaidItWasPoison: How did Glade know that Samson was cursed when nobody told him directly? Because he's working for the BigBad.
41	* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Percy, if you attack and defeat him in combat without realizing that he's the Black Knight]].
42	* KingMook: A few forced encounters against enemy soldiers. Two of these are guarding a specific location and give no outright indication of just how much tougher they are, having several times the HP of normal men and bordering on MarathonBoss status (or at least BaitAndSwitchBoss), capable of one-shotting weaker team members with their arrows. Another one of these guys shows up later with several regular soldiers with him, and it is plainly obvious this time because he is quite noticeably taller than the others. You can be easily smashed by either encounter if you think it'll be over in a couple of rounds.
43	* {{Klotski}}: While hiding in the church to escape a hot pursuit, you encounter a sliding tile puzzle that you [[SolveTheSoupCans must solve]] in order to not be killed by the BigBad.
44	* TheManBehindTheMan: Shutat is manipulating the emperor of Bandore for his own goals, [[spoiler:but even he is a pawn of the true villain, Akkadias.]]
45	* MarathonLevel: The final part of your quest to cure Samson's curse qualifies for this. You have to fight through ''two different dungeons'' (the Magic Beans Tower and the Tower of Arawn) without saving in order to reach the sorcerer Arawn.
46	** Expect any dungeon you enter to become this if you're underleveled, as the majority tend to have several enemies quicker than your party who utilize area-of-effect attacks.
47	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: If you see a piece of equipment that has a dark-sounding name like 'Dark', 'Devil', etc... do yourself a favor avoid it, because it's always cursed when you try to equip it.
48	* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Not necessarily a new power but, [[spoiler:Adult!Steiner can fly over anything and anywhere in the ending]], something he couldn't do during gameplay.
49	* NoobCave: Averted. It is actually quite easy to die in that first cave where you pursue Annie. In fact, you should probably grind a few levels here before you do anything.
50	* NonHumanSidekick: The hero's pet dragon, Steiner.
51	* OptionalPartyMember: Only Finn, Samson, Edward, Annie, and Domino are "required" to finish the game. Tont is almost dropped into your lap, while Lorelei and [[spoiler:Black Knight Percy]] will actually require some searching.
52	* OverratedAndUnderleveled: Samson. A big deal is made about his massive physical strength early on, but he's only in your party for a few minutes before he's inflicted with a curse that renders him nigh-useless for the next several hours of the game (and this is before you have the option of switching him out for someone better). Even after you get the curse lifted, he's a GlassCannon that's outclassed by most of the other characters.
53	%% * {{Pirate}}: Domino.
54	* PrestigeClass: At a certain point in the game, once Finn reaches level 20, he has to complete a long dungeon ([[SoloSequence by himself]]) in order to graduate from Swordsman to Hero. Once he completes the quest, his allies can access their prestige classes at level 20 without having to endure the trial again. [[spoiler: Except Percy, who is already in his Prestige Class if you manage to successfully re-recruit him.]]
55	* PropheticName: Samson, a soldier known for his SuperStrength.
56	* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Prince Edward, and later, princess Lorelei.
57	* SheatheYourSword: This is how you get [[spoiler:Percy]] back. Don't attack the BlackKnight.
58	* ShoulderSizedDragon: Steiner, at first.
59	* SpritePolygonMix: Character and enemy sprites are in 2D, while the overworld map has 3D elements.
60	* SquishyWizard: All three of the main magic users: Edward, Annie and Tont. Taken literally in Tont's case, as he's a human-turned-slime creature (and he becomes even squishier and gooier after his promotion).
61	* StayInTheKitchen: Annie gets hit with this early on when her father (and Finn's foster father) send him to the Cave of Spirits on a FetchQuest. Annie asks if she can go too, only to get the "you can't 'cause you're just a girl" treatment. That just makes things worse when she gets pissed and takes off for the cave on her own, where she takes a wrong turn and is almost killed by a Kraken. She's almost hit with this again after returning from the Cave of Spirits, but the combination of the swamp water and the water from the FetchQuest lead her to develop healing magic and she's allowed to go with Finn.
62	* SummonMagic: Tont specializes in this. There are two varieties: One summons a random mook to deliver a one-time attack on an enemy, while a second variety allows him to summon powerful guardian beasts that hit every enemy at once.
63	* SuperStrength: The expected proof that Samson is who he says he is is that he's strong enough to lift a solid marble pillar. This is sapped from him by the curse.
64	* ATasteOfPower: You've got Samson busting heads for about five minutes after he joins the group before he gets affected by his plot-induced curse. Then he becomes TheLoad for a great long while, as the curse will either occasionally freeze him in place, or hit him for damage.
65	* TokenNonHuman: Subverted with tont, a human boy transformed into a monster after drinking a certain potion by accident. [[spoiler:He returns to normal in the ending]].
66	* TookALevelInBadass: Steiner, after you complete the promotion quest. He goes from a harmless-looking baby dragon to a majestic golden wyrm, and you can ride on him and summon him into battle. He becomes useless as a vehicle later on [[spoiler:once you gain control of the Pyramid, which moves much faster and can fly over mountains that Steiner can't]].
67	* VillainousBreakdown: The normally calm and self-assured Glade explodes into a [[TalkativeLoon rambling nonsensical rant]] when Samson returns to Zalagoon free from his magical curse to showcase his trademark brute strength. Glade then takes a pill that transforms him into a monster, providing a very tough boss fight.
68	%%** HeroesPreferSwords: Finn, Percy.
69	%%** Staff: Annie, Edward, Tont.
70	%%** BareFistedMonk: Lorelei
71	* WhiteHairBlackHeart: Shutat, one of the {{Big Bad}}s.

Context VideoGame / BeyondTheBeyond