Beyond the Labyrinth Message Board

A portion of a Nintendo-Gamer review...

Why do the pretty ones always have to be so mean? Story of our life. A welcome dose of strategic smarts is undermined by lobotomised AI and dry-as-Ryvita delivery.

Full review here

Make sure to check out all the footage here, as there is a look at a retro-themed RPG aspect included in the game. Thanks to X7 for the heads up!

- normal, hard, super hard, ultra hard and hyper hard difficulty settings
- change the difficulty setting midway through the game
- clear history will show the lowest difficulty that you used at any point during the game
- press B to fast-forward through event scenes
- you'll meet the main girl from the game early on, and you'll meet in an unexpected way
- use photoshop for costume customization
- use the internet to trade your clothes with others
- change the color of the girls' panties
- HP recovers at save points
- there are special points on the game field that will restore HP as well
- move points that determine how much you can move are carried over to the next battle
- party members talk with you during battle
- these conversations are saved in a log
- beating the game will take about forty hours

- you must protect the girl during battle
- choose a character to absorb an attack by tapping their name on the touch screen
- upper left-hand corner shows a gauge for the girl's HP
- amount of life she has remaining is tied to her Magic Strike attack
- damage for this skill is calculated by multiplying her HP percentage by the Magic Strike number underneath her life bar
- this parameter increases when the girl deals damage
- it also has a maximum amount of gain

- seamlessly into battle when you encounter an enemy
- battle system is turn-based
- select the strength of your attack and your target
- the stronger the attack, the longer the character will have to wait for his next turn
- all characters except for the white-haired girl have one of three elemental properties
- elemental properties have a paper-rock-scissors relationship
- some attacks will make the enemy's HP float off into the air
- the next character will be able to suck up the HP, but only if he's of the same elemental property as the enemy that released the HP

- create your very own costumes
- costume creation tool was created from scratch
- dev team knew players would want the ability to change the characters' costumes
- this would have been a lot of work for the devs, so they gave the power to the player
- changes you make in the editor are displayed in real time
- change other areas of the girl, including hair color
- edits can be saved to SD in JPEG format

Direct link and more here
Link

- due out Jan. 19th
- ¥5,800 price point
- two other areas besides the labyrinth yet to be revealed
- the mysterious girl got lost while exploring the surrounding valley
- this valley holds sealed magic of some form and is not to be approached
- sometimes you lead the girl, sometimes she leads you
- goal is to reach the dungeon's exit
- the girl can only throw stones during battle at first, but she'll grow in power as you progress

Beyond the Labyrinth is set for a Jan. 19th release in Japan.

- control the camera with L, R, X and A
- scissors-paper-rock system of red, blue and green magic
- each enemy has a color, as does each attack
- bottom screen displays the sequence of upcoming attacking turns
- it also gives details of the monster you are currently targeting
- party members talk to each other through lines of text

Beyond the Labyrinth is definitely one of the prettier upcoming 3DS titles. Trailers on the game's official site have shown off some stunning environments. We've glimpsed everything from flowing lava to waterfalls, walls with strange geometric designs, underground caves teeming with fireflies and lush outdoor gardens. I've always been intrigued by atmospheric visuals - ICO remains my favourite game of all time - so couldn't wait to get my hands on this game's playable demo at TGS...