In the last post, I outlined how the story of Beyond the Beyond has really started picking up. Now that I have access to a ship, it feels like the world is about to open up. This is one of my favorite moments in any JRPG, when you finally gain access to the entire world map. Usually, the first thing I do when I get a ship is set off to explore every corner of the map, hunting for secrets or hidden treasures.
This time was different. I made it about three feet before finding out that you still have random battles on the ocean. That instantly killed the dream of carefree exploration. On top of that, I had no clue where I was supposed to go, so I decided to stick to the coastline and look for interesting landmarks.
That’s when I stumbled upon Leave Village, a small settlement on the southeast coast tucked away among dense trees. Talking to the villagers hinted at other islands to discover, but there didn’t seem to be anything I actually needed to do there, so I kept following the coast. Eventually, I reached the west side of the continent and found a river I could sail up. It looked like it might lead somewhere important, so I followed it to the end and found a castle.
The problem? There was nowhere to dock. The game had just let me steer my shiny new ship through a winding river maze only to tell me I needed to hike there on foot. It felt like the developers were trolling me, another questionable design choice padding out the playtime at the expense of my patience.
When I finally reached the place, I learned it was the Castle of Babaros. A short cutscene played where a red-haired woman got into a fight with some guards, completely wrecked them, and then bolted. I explored the castle but found almost nothing of interest, except for a massive tablet behind the king’s throne that seemed like it might be important later.
With no other leads, I went back to wandering the seas in search of anything to move the story forward. After caving and using a quick Gameshark code to disable random battles, and spending about twenty minutes sailing aimlessly, I finally found an island with the Temple of Discipline on it.
Temple of Discipline and Power!
Heading into the Temple of Discipline, it was clear the developers wanted this place to feel like a hidden fountain of knowledge. Books lined the walls, and old monks wandered the halls. As I walked down the main pathway, an old man stopped me and asked, “Ready for the challenge?”
The challenge turned out to be a dungeon containing one of the most frustrating “puzzles” I have ever experienced. The first floor had large, tile-based shapes laid out on the ground. I had to memorize these shapes so I could walk across invisible platforms on the next level. The shapes overlapped and were fairly unique, which made it a well-thought-out puzzle in theory. The problem was that any misstep sent me crashing back to the lower floor, and on the way back up I was almost guaranteed to run into one to three random battles.
The reward for clearing it made the pain worth it. At the end, I collected the Mystic Blade along with a message saying that Finn had become a Hero. I did not know exactly what that meant at first, but I was relieved that the rest of my party did not have to go through the maze for their own “enlightenment.” I still had no idea what this enlightenment actually was, until my first battle afterward revealed upgraded sprites for my level 1 characters. My stats had carried over, but my new Hero classes started back at level 1, with the same experience requirements as before.
When I left the temple and stepped into the surrounding village, I overheard a soldier talking about Bandore, completely unaware that his kingdom had already fallen. Then, as I exited the village, I was met with a huge surprise: Stiener was waiting outside, now transformed into a full-sized dragon. His transformation gave me the ability to fly across the world map, and for the first time, I could travel without random encounters.
Naturally, I began exploring the map from the sky. Eventually, I found a small island with a temple on it. I had no idea what was inside, but I decided to try my luck.
Mushrooms and Allies
This dungeon was probably my favorite from the entire game. At first it appeared as a standard cave style dungeon, but with a prevalence of mushrooms. Bumping into green mushrooms would shrink my character down and allow me to squeeze through tiny holes in the wall to access new areas. In some of those areas there were bodies of water blocking me from proceeding. If I was small then I could hop on a leaf and float along a pre-defined path. The branching paths and managing when to shrink and when to grow made this dungeon super tricky to navigate. Unlike previous dungeons, there was little to no backtracking and no punishing hidden drops taking me back to the beginning.
Battle were entertaining as my character sprites were also scaled down in battles if I was under the shrinking effect at the time. After an hour or so of trekking through the mushroom maze and fighting my fair share of random battles featuring some pallet swapped enemies and zombies I stumbled upon a tablet at the bottom of the dungeon. Before approaching I made sure to heal up my party and get ready for a boss battle. In true Beyond the Beyond fashion, there was no boss battle. I was able to retrieve the tablet and use an escape spell to get back to the overworld map. I now had two tablets in my inventory, but still zero idea what I was suppose to be doing with them. On a whim I wanted to see if I could get the table that was hidden behind the throne at Barbaros castle.
Returning to the castle I was surprised to find the castle in ruins, having been attacked by what I assume was Ramue. Many of the guards were laying on the ground wounded or dead, the ones that were still breathing talked about a horrible attack from a battle ship and flying dragon. In the throne room the king is laying wounded but still alive for now. He confirmed that Ramue had attacked the castle but he threw spirit water at him and they fled before they could take the Ancient tablet. Who knew spirit water was so effective, if only there was a low level dungeon that had a whole lake full of the stuff…
I found the red-haired princess from earlier locked in the dungeon below and after freeing her she runs off to check on her father. Lorele finally introduces herself and after saying goodbye to her father she asks to join the party, expanding my crew with another melee fighter. In my journey out of the castle I stumbled on a temple near the middle of the map. An old sage there told me I needed to fine the four Ancient Tablets. Happily I already had 3 of them, the downside was I had zero clue as to where the 4th tablet was. Heck I only found #2 by sheer luck and wandering through a random dungeon. I spent the next hour exploring the map, finding 3 more temples arrayed in a cross around a center stone ring in the center of the overworld map. I was clueless as to where this 4th tablet could be hiding. Sadly I had to resort to a walkthrough and promptly smacked myself in the forehead. There was a tablet in the basement of Bandore castle behind a locked door that I couldn’t get to before!
A quick flight to Bandore and a trip into the basement I used the gold key that I received earlier in the volcano dungeon. An odd quirk about the game is that some items like keys are single use, and others stay in your inventory making you wonder if they’re useful again. This key was, but after using it for this door I didn’t find another use for it. I now had the four ancient tablets and knew exactly what to do with them, which is a welcomed pleasantry in this game. Placing a tablet in one of the four islands caused a light beam to errupt from the temple towards the stone ring in the overworld map. After all four tablets were placed I was greeted with a cutscene of a futuristic glowing pyramid rising out of the sea! Another clear goal on where to go? I’ll take it!
On the way to the End
Just as I thought I was hitting my stride with the Flying Palace, the game threw a major curveball. Right as the palace was making its ascent, Dagoot showed up and blasted Steiner with a magical arrow, inflicting a “grievous wound” that sent the dragon crashing into the ocean. It was a strange moment; I felt bad that he was taken out, but because the game hadn’t really given me time to build a deep relationship with him, it didn’t hit as hard as it could have.
With a literal “flying machine” at my disposal I could explore the map fully. Just north of where I left there was an island I couldn’t access before. The “sting” of losing my best friend didn’t last long, though. I quickly found Steiner alive and well at the Dragon Shrine, where he was being cared for by guardians. Getting him back almost instantly took all the emotion out of this moment. I took a small detour for some side quests, specifically hunting down Mithril Silver in the Ice Cave. The ice-sliding puzzles were a bit of a chore, but getting that top-notch equipment from the smith in Mistrall felt like a necessary step before the final push.
Next was the Sand Cave, a dungeon notorious for hidden holes that drop you back to previous floors. I wasn’t entirely sure if it was the right way to go, it honestly felt like I could have come this way earlier, but maybe Steiner couldn’t get here. The Sand Cave was mostly uninteresting, just your standard dungeon until the end. The Black Knight was back for another fight! In a cool mechanical twist, I refused to fight the “Black Knight,” surviving twelve rounds of his attacks until he broke free of Ramue’s spell and finally Percy joined the party.
From there, I hit Quamdar Village, which felt incredibly odd at first. How could this town possibly exist out here in the middle of nowhere. Usually, towns are bastions of safety and support for the hero, but the people here were loyalists to Shutat. It was a narrative choice that finally made the village’s existence in such a hostile area make sense and gave the world some depth I didn’t expect from this game.
Final Dungeon
Finally, I made my way into the Abyss. The encounter with Yeon was hilarious, he honestly reminds me of Guldo (the green dude from Ginyu Force in DBZ). He did his typical gloating and annoying goading that it was a pleasure to finally take him out once and for all. Finding out Lord Kevins was still alive, albeit being tortured, raised the stakes significantly. The dungeon itself was fairly straightforward, though the Light and Dark Orb mechanic felt like classic JRPG padding, forcing me to retrace my steps multiple times just to pass different types of statues.
The final battle setup was a highlight. I loved the moment where Ramue tries to tempt you into ruling the world together. I rejected every offer, which was the right move; if you agree to any of her requests, you actually lose access to parts of your party for the final showdown. We took down Shutat and Ramue, only for the true demon, Akkadias, to emerge. What a freaking surprise, there was another big bad all along? Shutat tried to give a speech to make you feel sorry for him, but he didn’t have enough character development for me to care. Honestly I wish we had more interactions with him throughout the game.
We won the fight, but the victory was bittersweet because Lord Kevins gets trapped in the underworld in the process. The emotional weight of the scene was slightly undercut by Annie, who hit me with the absolute worst pep speech: “Don’t be sad, think about what Kevins would think”. Girl, he’s dead! There isn’t much to “think” about there. Queue up the next JRPG trope, the load bearing boss! Yeah the boss being defeated caused the entire temple to collapse but we made a dramatic escape on Steiner.
The post-game wrap-up revealed a final, poignant note: the Hero is heading into the Underworld specifically to search for Kevins. It’s a heavy, bittersweet ending for a character who has already been through so much. It’s pretty clear though that he didn’t really have a place in the world he saved. I feel like this happens a lot with the heros, their adventure puts them in a weird spot where they can’t just go back to being a regular person.
Final Thoughts
This story punches way above its weight for its presentation and gameplay. It’s a shame that the direction and mechanics have so many missteps, because underneath the “slog” is a genuinely solid story. While the characters could have been fleshed out more, they all had clear motivations that kept me engaged. I’m honestly glad I finally put in the time to see this one through to the credits. It only took me around 20 years to finally finish one of the most bemoaned RPGs of the PS1 era!
