A good story with great potential., but the length of the game and some flaws hold it back from being just that, great.
- Good Story
- Great detail on characters and environment
- Real time battle makes it challenging
- Character stories and expressions draw you to them
The bad:
- Large environments cannot be fully explored
- Some battles are surprisingly easy.
- Computer AI sometimes is annoying
- Length is a little bit short, making you want more.
Most RPGs are driven by the length and strength of the story. Infinite Undiscovery barely has either of those traits. The length of the game is too short to make it a great RPG. The story, while good, isn't strong enough to push the rating higher. Granted, this game isn't the worse RPG created, nor is it the best RPG created.
You play as Capell, a flute player imprisoned falsely by his captors due to a mistake in identity. You get rescued by a beautiful girl named Aya, and together you join with the Liberation Force in order to cut the chains that are pulling the moon closer to the planet, endangering all.
Graphics:
The game houses some stunning sceneries and great detail in the environment and characters. Some of the dungeons look great with nice lighting, and objects such as ice and mirrors look very good. The towns and castles in the game feel very medieval, and each town has a different feel to it thanks to the detail and coloring it received. In battle, some battle skills look very flashy and will dazzle you. The only times that it seemed the game became pixellated was the characters' shadows. Sometimes running around town, looking carefully at their shadow on the ground, it isn't as smooth as it should be. Also particles like snow and rain sometimes continue inside a building when it shouldn't. However, overall the graphics of this game is great even with these minor flaws.
Gameplay:
Gameplay might be where the game experience most of its flaws. Unlike other RPGs, this game has many invisible boundaries that kill your passion for exploration. At first, running through the plains may seem like a large open area that you can explore, but soon you'll end up getting suck because a small ridge or a small rock. As well you'll see an open area that you want to go to, but the game will not allow you. This also applies for towns and cities. Although seemingly large, you can't fully explore as you'd like. There are many houses that are inaccessible and the houses that you can go into, you're restricted to the first floor, not allowing you to the second floor. There is no other form of transportation other than running from town to town, although there are warps and a boat, those only allow you to go to certain destinations and nowhere else. This could either benefit the game, or annoy you. Running around back and forth to town makes the game longer, and if the game allowed for quicker transportation, this game would be shorter than it is already. Despite all of this, the linear play allows the gamer to quickly identify where to go next. This allows less confusion, and less time searching on what to do next. The continuous foot travel also forces the player to fight and level up, allowing the characters to level to their proper level.
The battle system also has its strengths and weaknesses. The battle takes place in real-time. As well, in order to engage battle, you'll see your enemies in the area, and you can run around them or rush into them. As well, you can sneak up on them, or they can sneak up on you. Finally light and shadows plays somewhat or a role in the game where if you stay in the shadows, it is harder for the enemy to spot you first. As real time strategy is great and challenging it will frustrate new players . It is more difficult for you to access your items and give them to your party, as every time you get hit, the menu resets. As well the battle continues so by the time you throw an item to that character, they're probably dead. Now for experienced RTS RPG players, this is a welcome challenge. IU also allows the user to have a "heal request". By tapping the "y" button when you have a party, you can request everyone in the party (if they aren't busy, and depending on their class) if they can heal you using items or magic. Depending on the party you have, the AI will either use items or magic. Since you can't control what they're going to use, it is wise to note that they'll probably rape your stock of items. Of course some characters will always resort into spellcasting to heal, but sometimes that's also bad, because the cast time might kill the others that are about to die. Amazingly, the "heal request" actually makes the battles easier than you think. Sometimes you can just tap "y" forever and never die, and sometimes you just have to run around not taking damage, tapping "y", and letting the computer kill the enemies.
Pulling the menu up while not in battle, in town, or your sword sheathed, annoyingly makes your characters to sit. Although it provides realism, its painfully annoying in the late stages where you have to wait for them to sit in order to use item creation, see items, or view status.
Finally, in some situations, you have to use more than 4 characters, with the computer controlling the other parties, thus forces you to shell out more money than usual to equip everyone with the latest gear. Now this is great for realism, and provides a challenge, but people new to this might be more irritated.
As the game progresses, you begin to understand the story and learn more about the interesting characters. The sad thing is, the game is a little short before you can enjoy everything. In a huge world, one would think there would be other towns, and areas to explore.
Sound:
The musical score of the game is good, although it isn't the greatest. It does fit the atmosphere of the game as well as the situations. Each town's music helps make it different from the other as well as the areas of the game. The sound effects of swords clashing during battle are very good and characters screaming things during fights also help make the fight more interesting. Some problems occur with lip-synching as sometimes the audio does not come close to matching the mouth of the characters.
Extras:
As with any Tri-Ace games, the game comes with great extras once you finish 1 play through. Harder difficulties come available as well as extra dungeons to play. Item Creation doesn't disappoint allowing you to cook, write, or create weapons and armour. Finally, the Achievements included with Xbox360 challenge the player to attain a perfect 1000 gamerscore.
Overall:
Infinite Undiscovery is a game where the potential is great. After playing through the game once, you realise and wish that the game could be longer because the characters are so appealing, the battles are fun, and the story is good. The graphics are great and the sound accompanies it greatly. However, due to some flaws, this game may annoy you, or you may like it to your benefit. Either way, Infinite Undiscovery is a rental for most gamers, and for those that are wanting a decent RPG, consider buying it, as the price for this game should have dropped making it more worthwhile to buy.