you have no idea how important this video is. once as a kid i saw in a magazine a page dedicated to this weird in development game with some girl in it, the writer making a big deal about how it was actually a first person rpg on the 3ds and generaly just hyping up the reader. and for years after that i tried to find just wtf that was, was it just a hazy memory of something entirely different? some game i never got the chance to play at the time? lost media? i even tried to look it up but without the name its was just impossible. now i learn that it wasnt even released overseas but thanks to some badass translator i can play it. thank you so much.
There's been quite a few 3D dungeon crawlers on 3DS if you're interested. Etrian Odyssey comes to mind, so does SMT Strange Journey, SMT 4, and if you want to go further back Orcs vs Elves for the DS is fully backwards compatible with 3DS. There were even a couple of Japanese Exclusive Wizardry games that are on 3DS too.
@@RyanBeardy I was on a similar situation, except I gave up of searching, because I figured out it was JP exclusive. I didn't know there was a fan translation. By the way, is it possible to play it on a 3DS console with the translation?
I was an online editor for a popular Spanish video games news site back then when ラビリンスの彼方 (Beyond the Labyrinth) was announced. I was the only editor among my teamwork to be excited and wishing for a Western release. But thanks to emulation, we can play this gem with a translation patch. Thanks for making this video!!
@@magic1wizard ya I found that out like yesterday, kind of a let down. I’m not to keen on the ds but I’m under the impression most of the games require dual screens right?
It seems like developers were able to make really fantastic looking games with what the 3DS had. I think the low resolution actually helped it, because I remember vita games having technically more advanced models, but a lot ran in subnative resolutions making them all blurry and jaggy.
Tri-Ace are generally underappreciated as far as tech goes. Valkyrie Profile 2: Lenneth went up to 1080i on the PS2 and it had better visuals than most early PS3/360 games.
I actually have the physical copy of Labyrinth no Kanata! I kinda dropped it after the second difficulty spike, but it was a lot of fun! Also, as a fun fact, the music was composed by Motoi Sakuraba, who you might also know from a little known game series Dark Souls.
Oh boy, a video essay made by a small channel with a bearded guy about a game I have never heard of in my life nor will I play randomly recommended by youtube, my favorite jokes aside great video
I actually own a physical copy of this game, it was like 500 yen in a used games bin when I lived in Japan back in 2013/2014. Really unique experience.
I visited Japan (from U.S.) recently and it shocked me how many games they have... just laying about haha. Path of Radiance (in English) could sell for multiple hundreds of dollars here but over there it's super cheap, for example.
There's always some crazy dude or team of dudes digging up the coolest, obscurest games and going the extra mile of translating them for everyone to see. They're doing God's work.
IIRC, the files that an emulator can use are also the files that can be direct-installed to real hardware. I'm unsure about the translation step however. Look, I know piracy and emulation are touchy subjects, but unless it's on a walmart shelf, it's effectively abandonware after the e-shop shutdown.
Probably converting from whatever 3DS emulators use to .cia files? I think Godmode9 can do that. Otherwise replacing romfs files for text probably works too, I'm sure.
Glad to see a video on this fantastic RPG. It blew me away when I played it, no coincidence that the Tri-Ace team behind similarly inventive games like Resonance of Fate and Valkyrie Profile 2 was driving this game. It’s very special indeed.
@@sirei01 Resonance of Fate is a flawed game but it is an interesting one. My issue with it is you can get through most of the game using the same strategy for almost all battle rooms.
Games likes these with largely unexplored lore and worlds. Knowledge about technology or magic long lost to all present humanity. Ruins of long lost civilizations that make you want to dive into every detail you see. I love stuff like this!!!
oh wow, this looks like if Shin Megami Tensei had a baby with King's Field. I was drawn to the atmosphere of this game even by the short clips you showed in the video. thanks, definitely gonna play it now :D
Really love the combat section; I can tell this was a primary point of interest and comparing it to SMT/Persona is high praise. Shame there wasn't more to this world and plot.
Randomly found this video in my reccomends. This was a game I knew about, but forgot since it never got localized. Was never aware there was a fan translation!
Very cool! Almost feels like a Team Ico game with having to manage the companion character and explore a giant structure with mysterious origins, I wonder if the devs were inspired by Ueda's works??
finding this video just sent me down the multiple hour long debacle of acquiring a Beyond the Labyrinth 3ds file and figuring out how to apply an English patch (because it was never released anywhere else but Japan). God I hope it was worth it. Your video inspired me, and that inspiration demands that I play.
I finished this game years ago on the 3DS and I feel privileged to own a copy of it until today. It's an incredible game I wish more people knew about. Its ending is so epic! Thank you very much for the video and for bringing this amazing game to light!
Beautiful video. There are many Japanese hidden gems like this that just go unnoticed due to the effort of translation. Thank you for bringing light to Beyond the Labyrinth!
thanks for having proper subtitles on this, I sometimes watch videos without sound on and I really appreciate good CC (as I'm sure those with hearing loss issues do as well). also just a great video overall!
I keep on checking in this game to remind myself that I still want to play it one day. I discovered it years ago and have become obessed with the mood it establishes and especially the soundtrack, which is so so great. It is very inspiring to see a game like this, as it really seems to transcend the medium and tell a unique story through means that no book, movie or image could do. I will hold off on playing it until everything feels right and I can dive into it fully and get immersed.
Thanks for this -- as a fan of dungeon RPGs and with a fascination for obscure Japanese games, this was a homerun and something I've never heard about before!
never heard of this game but i watched for the first minute and stopped because i want to play it myself. i'll come back here once i've done so. glad i caught this in my feed o7
What a fascinating little insight into a game long forgotten. I always love coming across people talking so passionately about something so obscure- it just feels nice to aee that no matter how much you might think your hard work lead to nothing, somewhere out therr someone noticed it and really liked it. Konami might not have cared, but a bearded man on the internet did and decided we all should hear about it. See, it doesn't even have to be sonething I myself vibe with. As interesting as the battle system sounds I would be so frustrated if two intriguing concepts (the girl scavenging for magic and a real world MMO-team suddenly having to become her guardians as they bond with each other) ultimately DIDN'T lead to interesting story beats. But even if I wouldn't dig this, I still feel my day was improved seeing this kind of passion for something so few experienced. So thank you for that- this felt like a nice way to end my evening :)
16:42 is exactly what I've been preaching sadly, Many don't even want to touch the topic of emulation evenmore when you'll have to eng patchit yourself, the most recent work that impressed me was that persona 2 part 2 on psp which never seen a global release it took some fans to replace all the dialogue with the already available ps1 version of the game and apparently some people have been waiting for almost 2 decades for that to happen
Uhhh never heard of this game, or your channel (thanks YT for the random reccomend) but you got my attention, specially with the QoL features like the auto map (I hate tracing the map manually). It does feel similar to Ico which I love, so i'm definitely trying this one out, thank you for the video
I loved this game. I wish you had mentioned the amazing OST it had. The look and aesthetic was great and the combat was simple yet deep at the same time.
Almost kinda reminds me of another Konami game, Lifeline on the PS2. But it's a much simpler game, more interaction between you and the game character, and she's the one that attacks but you have to tell her what to do though.
Great video, got me really interested and now I plan on trying this game later! You have a great voice for narration and I enjoyed your script, keep it up man!
What a cool find! I love games that use self-aware means of interacting with the player, but it's a shame this game only really used it as a novelty feature. Either way, great video Ryan! :)
This was really cool, I'll have to check out this game as well thanks for the share. At least we got the Spirit Camera Fatal Frame spinoff & the AR cards from the first Bravely Default to enjoy.
Wait, there's a translation patch for this game? Also, it's still nice to see people talking about this game! I still hope we get some sort of revival for this title, or maybe even a spiritual successor.
I tried out a fan translated version of this on 3DS when I had first hacked my 3DS. I never really beat it, but it was kind of interesting. Truthfully, I found the combat mechanics a bit too exhausting to continue the playthrough, along with how sparse the whole plot felt. There is something neat to the kind of atmospheric, story-lite experience presented, but those two things together made it less than appealing.
It’s honestly some of the best graphics I’ve ever seen for a 3DS game, I don’t know how Nintendo managed to get this onto a 3DS console, it’s truely astonishing.
I absolutely LOVE her design, and the animations are great. It's clear that they focused all their efforts on the visuals and combat; it's a bummer they didn't have a story, 'cause that kind of kills motivation to play it, let alone see it through to the end. I hate the 3DS since it was generally a death sentence to make a game exclusive to it. RIP.
I'd never heard of nor seen this ever before. It looks like it would have been in the same series as ICO, the world looks similar,the design of things looks similar. Very interesting.
Oh, this game. I did some very little beta testing back when Nagato was translating it. Very poor job on my part, very limited. Sorry Nagato, I wish I would have worked harder.
Downloaded this game randomly on my 3DS, randomly clicked this cuz I was confused about the title at first but now I can see this game is right up my alley. Will prolly start it soon.
This game is interesting! Can you clarify something for me? You said the girl character couldnt hear the interactions of the rest of the party. Saw that on screen as "she can't read our chat". Is there communication with the girl character? And what exactly do you do which acts as that communication?
I mostly meant communicating your intent to help by playing the game, defeating enemies, and protecting her. There isn’t much outside of that as thats the only major way to interact with the girl.
Wow this game looks amazing, grapgics and story (however much there is), and the combat? Forget about it. It truly earns the title of unique. I can totally see it tanking overall in the west and only carving out a unique fanbase though lol
I started playing this game last month and it’s amazing how it’s barely ever talked about! The game has some flaws in my opinion but overall it is to me the definition of a hidden gem
Thank you for your video. This game is exactly the type of game I would have bought. Alas Konami will be out one sale as I play the fan translation on my hacked New 2DS XL
Great video man! also the game looks pretty interesting! I wonder if I can find a translated repro cart, I'm interested to see if the more casual and intermittent playstyle inherent to the handheld format will impact the play experience! It might help with the sluggish story pacing since being able to pick it up and put it down could break up the monotony
The ending is not bad... it's pretty good (aka normal) ending and totally goes how expected (I mean it doesn't have any plot twist and it's the easiest conclusion I can think of, after all, this is not the first game with this kind of premise)... but... well, it's also a bit disappointing, only because I was hoping for something more than just that.
