Beyond the Beyond

Nightcrawler · November 16, 2006, 01:51:52 PM

Has anybody played this Playstation 1 game? I got a chance to play this not too long ago and was pleasantly surprised for an interesting reason.

It was so old school, it was fun! Honestly, this game could have been made for any of the systems of the 16-bit era. It was just such a throwback that it caught my interest. Tiny 2D people check, pixelated limited animation simple battle system, check.

It's sort of got a Shining force type presentation as well, although it does play like a straight RPG as far as gameplay. So, I started playing into it. Difficulty in the first dungeon. Check! I wasn't able to just breeze right through. It was actual early Dragon Quest level grinding hard.

A few screen shots

I'd call this game a 'modern old school' game, but PSX era games are already becoming classics. I'd recommend you give this game a try if you are looking for something on a semi-modern system that is really a throwback to the 16-bit era.

Does anybody else know of any other 'modern old school' games?

KingMike · November 16, 2006, 05:13:26 PM

Quote

It's sort of got a Shining force type presentation as well,

Wasn't Camelot (developer of this game, Mario Tennis, and Golden Sun) involved with Shining Force?

Tintenfisch · November 16, 2006, 10:57:11 PM

I thought about playing this game since I believe it was the very first RPG on the PS but felt it wouldn't do the genre justice. Maybe I will someday, but my brother pick up FF12 so I figured I would play that first.

Nightcrawler · November 17, 2006, 08:02:27 AM

Quote
Quote

It's sort of got a Shining force type presentation as well,

Wasn't Camelot (developer of this game, Mario Tennis, and Golden Sun) involved with Shining Force?

I don't think so, but I could be wrong. Looking up some quick info on gamefaqs shows Sonic Team as the developers for Shining Force 2. Is there any connection? I'm not too familiar with Camelot.

Gideon Zhi · November 17, 2006, 12:33:01 PM

Beyond the Beyond is... highly maligned, for various reasons. My issues with it tend to circulate around a too-high encounter rate coupled with slightly-too-long load times for the battle system. It starts to get old pretty quickly once you reach the pyramid area...

It also requires an awful lot of powerlevelling and grinding.

thimble · November 19, 2006, 01:07:27 AM

I absolutely adore Beyond the Beyond. It's one of the rare few games I've played in which the challenge exactly suited my needs. I was also very entranced by its simple musical atmosphere.

I found this game to be better than both Golden Sun I and II combined. Each and every dungeon had a new and neat functionality and many short distances fraught with peril. If majority held sway in my favor, I'd be recommending this game to the younger GBA generation. I must, however, step back and realize that my opinions are very different from most when it comes to such specifics. Most people applauding Beyond the Beyond are viewed as being sarcastic.

QuoteWasn't Camelot (developer of this game, Mario Tennis, and Golden Sun) involved with Shining Force?

Shining in the Darkness.

QuoteI thought about playing this game since I believe it was the very first RPG on the PS but felt it wouldn't do the genre justice.

First English RPG for the PSX. I think the first RPG was King's Field.

Edit:

QuoteDoes anybody else know of any other 'modern old school' games?

Quite a few... but I need to gather my thoughts. I must admit there are very few games I know of that play and feel just like Beyond the Beyond. Or at least can remember at the moment.

thimble · November 21, 2006, 11:56:36 PM

After finally coming to... Guardian War and Lucienne's Quest.

Nightcrawler · November 22, 2006, 08:02:01 AM

Those are for 3DO. How about for systems that the rest of the world actually owned.

KingMike · November 22, 2006, 06:45:29 PM

Apparently, the second one was released for Saturn, also...
http://www.rpg.bajtnet.pl/recenzja.php?kat=saturn/swordsor_j/&str=swordsor_j.htm

(though I guess it doesn't help you if it's in Japanese.

)

thimble · November 23, 2006, 12:11:17 AM

Talking to myself as usual. Here are a couple of links.

Nightcrawler · November 23, 2006, 12:08:19 PM

Nice links. I think I'll try it out when I get some time. I can't believe that emulator doesn't use joysticks. If you can get the keyboard to work, you can get joystick input to work from a programming perspective.

Headache · November 23, 2006, 11:42:56 PM

QuoteNice links. I think I'll try it out when I get some time. I can't believe that emulator doesn't use joysticks. If you can get the keyboard to work, you can get joystick input to work from a programming perspective.

I don't know if that may be any help, but most of the joysticks I ever seen had some software along with drivers which allows to bind joystick buttons to keybord keys. Sometimes I use that to watch video. I connect PC to the big TV Set, lie on a sofa, open a video file and control the player with the joystick, much like watching DVD on PS2))

Nightcrawler · November 24, 2006, 12:22:28 PM

Yeah, that's what you need to do to get it to work. However, I don't even need any software for my controllers. I use PSX pads hooked up to a USB adapter. Works just fine with nothing but the built in XP USB input device drivers. It's not a big deal, it' sjust one of things that you have to add yet ANOTHER peice of software to your system which really has not much use and it only due to poor programming on the part of the emulator author. Honestly, whether you're using SDL, DirectX, or whatever, joystick input is a trivial matter.

Bross · December 03, 2006, 01:10:36 AM

Beyond the Beyond was the first RPG I played for PSX man it brings back memories.

ultpaladin · December 19, 2006, 02:50:23 AM

I remember that game, I hated how I was attacked so much during really difficult puzzles. I got that game along with Suikoden and Wild Arms when I first bought a playstation. The other 2 were far better games.

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Beyond the Beyond