Today’s entry is one that might surprise you: Our new German correspondent Thomas Nickel dares to suggest that maybe Beyond the Beyond isn’t totally awful after all. A radical suggestion, I know, but please read the article and hear him out before rounding up the lynch mob.
For my part, I’ve always seen the disparity between the popularity of Golden Sun and the hatred for Beyond the Beyond as an interesting case study, because on many levels they’re basically the same game. I don’t know if it’s a sign that people have grown more accepting of boring games, or if Nintendo-only gamers are simply under-equipped to recognize a bad RPG when they see one due to the relative scarcity of the genre on the systems they play (admittedly a less valid interpretation now that we’re in the DS’s waning years). I suppose someone could write an interesting article about this, but it won’t be me. That would mean I’d have to play more Camelot RPGs, and I think I’m pretty well done with those.
Beyond the Beyond is by no means a bad RPG. It’s just kinda… average. Parts are great, and parts are not so great. One _could_ argue that Golden Sun pulls a lot of its DNA from this game, but that would be doing that series a disservice, despite what some may think (no offense).
See, I think there are a few things that keep BtB from being what it could have been, most of which were covered in the article.
Firstly, while the timed button-pressing was a decent enough idea, there was never enough feedback to tell if you were doing it right, and didn’t really seem to help anymore than if you just randomly let the game play out. And if you do _that_, the battles go a good bit slower than Golden Sun. It just takes too long for your characters to rip off an attack.
The other thing pointed out that is valid is the high encounter rate. When coupled with a battle system that should be faster but isn’t, it just destroys the pacing.
Plus, the game is devoid of the rudimentary puzzle-solving that I find enjoyable in the Golden Sun series. Psynergy powers are cool.
Anyway, Jeremy, I don’t know if you ever gave Shining the Holy Ark a shot, but you might enjoy that one. It may not be quite as deep as the other first-person dungeoners you’re used to, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite not usually liking that type of game. Of course, that sentiment may doom it, but I just thought I’d throw it out there.
Beyond the Beyond has always reminded me of a bizarre cross between Final Fantasy’s writing with Dragon Quest’s mechanics and battles.