Infinite Undiscovery (360)

[Cyros]

Re: Infinite Undiscovery (360)

I'm getting really tempted to trade in my spare PSP to get money for this or another game.

[Flawless]

Re: Infinite Undiscovery (360)

Infinite Undiscovery: Battle System Discovered

IGN: Why did you choose to use real-time combat for Infinite Undiscovery instead of a more traditional system?

Hiroshi Ogawa: We wanted to take a different approach to creating a battle system within a real-time world. Creating a game that offers the adrenaline rush you get from encounters in a real-time world, whether from making discoveries in an environment where time is constantly flowing, or interacting with various enemies, was the basic concept behind development.

IGN: You can direct other team members to perform specific attacks. How does that work?

Ogawa: There is a system called Connect Action, which enables the player to receive assistance from different characters by "Connecting" with one of three party members. Generally, your comrades will operate according to their AI capabilities, continuously attacking in coordination with Capell's condition. However, when the player uses the (X) or (Y) button while Connected, they can activate the Battle Skill (or Connect Skill) that is preset to that command.

Furthermore, there are certain Connect Skills that are not used automatically by the AI such as Aya's "Ravaging Raptor," which can only be activated through the Connect commands.

IGN: How many different characters are there who can join your team?

Ogawa: There are 13 different characters who can join the main party, and another 5 "Secondary" characters who can join secondary teams, for a grand total of 18 unique party members.

IGN: Why did you decide to create the party system? What do you feel it brings to Infinite Undiscovery that you couldn't have achieved with a traditional single-party system?

Ogawa: I suggested that I would like to see players enjoying "communication with comrades" in a real-time world. I wanted players to experience the adventure by interacting with characters that are not simply pawns (or units), but are actual comrades with their own personalities. To enhance the experience, we have prepared a variety of dialogue for many types of situations.

Infinite Undiscovery has a system that does not provide too many commands to control the actions of party members, so at times it may feel restrictive, but that is all part of our intention. These characters will advance and attack as they see fit. Travelling alongside characters with personality, who won't necessarily listen to your every command – this element is probably what sets this game's system apart from traditional offline RPG party systems.

IGN: The E3 demo seemed heavily weighted towards combat. Is there a lot of combat in Infinite Undiscovery or is there a good balance between combat, exploration and story?

Ogawa: It's difficult to state in simple terms, as these elements (combat, exploration, and story) are not implemented as separate systems in Infinite Undiscovery, but it would probably be safe to say that combat takes up a large percentage of the gaming experience. However, we have also prepared a significant volume of dialogue that unfolds in towns or through events to portray a variety of situations. Overall there is a good balance that doesn't lean too heavily on combat.

IGN: The battle system seems very similar to what has been described for The Last Remnant. How do the two differ?

Ogawa: It may be similar in the sense that both games have large-scale battles that revolve around a party system, however, there is a fundamental difference between the two; namely, that Infinite Undiscovery is based on a "real-time battle system with action elements" and The Last Remnant is based on an "innovative turn-based battle system." Our goal is to provide two completely different experiences through these games, so it would be great if players could play both and compare for themselves.

IGN: Many consider Star Ocean: Till the End of Time to have one of the best combat systems Square Enix has ever produced. Why not utilize that in Infinite Undiscovery?

Ogawa: Our fundamental principle was to develop under an entirely new concept, so we have intentionally avoided the continuation of familiar elements such as "Power Balance" and "CP."

However, the controls may provide a similar feel to that of the battle systems for Star Ocean, so we think that fans of the traditional system will be able to enjoy Infinite Undiscovery just as much. We hope that fans will enjoy Infinite Undiscovery, as well as the upcoming Star Ocean: The Last Hope.

[Flawless]

Re: Infinite Undiscovery (360)

I'm starting to lean towards Vesperia now. On an IGN podcast they said Infinite Undiscovery is about 20-25 hours long. Length really isn't a big deal to me, but 1UP mentioned that the cut-scenes usually aren't voiced (just text), and treasure chests get destroyed often by attacks, which also destroys whatever is inside them.

[injunwal]

Re: Infinite Undiscovery (360)

IGN review, 7.1

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/902/902768p1.html

[Flawless]

Re: Infinite Undiscovery (360)

I wonder if this game was rushed out so tri-Ace could concentrate on Star Ocean: The Last Hope, because some of things mentioned in that review are very unlike what we have come to expect from them.

[Flawless]

Re: Infinite Undiscovery (360)

Here's the IGN video review. Hilary Goldstein ends the review by recommending you save your money for Tales of Vesperia, or even Fable II and Fallout 3 in October.

<embed src='http://videomedia.ign.com/ev/ev.swf' flashvars='object_ID=821710&downloadURL=http://xbox360movies.ign.com/xbox360/video/article/906/906034/infiniteund_vidreview_082708_flvlowwide.flv&allown etworking="all%"' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' width='433' height='360'></embed>

[Flawless]

Re: Infinite Undiscovery (360)

1UP Review - B

The first few hours of Infinite Undiscovery, the first current-generation offering from acclaimed Valkyrie Profile creator tri-Ace, are so out of character for the otherwise reliable developer that they almost feel like an intentional primer for what not to do when designing an action-role-playing game. Undiscovery kicks off with a flaccid dungeon hack, a tedious chase scene, a grinding stealth-action segment, a pointless escort mission, an ill-advised attempt at a Legend of Zelda-style labyrinth, a half-assed castle-siege minigame, and scores of unvoiced cut-scenes straight outta 1995 -- and on the rare occasion that voices are present, they're laughable lip-synch that even Speed Racer himself would mock. Oh, and to top it all off, the game's got the chutzpah to immediately force the most grating, disturbing Palom and Porom knockoffs ever into your party. They're a couple of creepy, vacant-eyed gremlins who'd be right at home in The Shining.

That ain't the way to get on my good side...especially that last part.

Still, I soldiered on, partially due to the involvement of designer Yoshiharu Gotanda, the wunderkind programmer who helped birth the Tales, Star Ocean, and Valkyrie Profile franchises -- I think it's safe to say the dude knows what he's doing. And once Undiscovery stopped trying to shoehorn so many disparate, unnecessary concepts into a game that, at its heart, is a simple action-RPG, my patience finally paid off. Around the same time, coincidentally enough, the cut-scenes began brimming with voice work, and a charming, surprisingly compelling tale unfolded.

Undiscovery's protagonist, Capell, is a simple flutist who finds himself involved in a large-scale conflict; the wandering busker joins up -- mostly against his will -- with a ragtag liberation force who plans to free the moon from its chained bondage. Yeah, that whole part doesn't make a lick of sense, really, but it does lend itself to some breathtaking imagery throughout the game. Capell wields a pretty mean blade, but unlike most of his companions, he can't use magic himself, so the game's real-time combat (the action keeps moving even on the inventory screen, though you can pause in a pinch) revolves around barking out healing commands when necessary and "connecting" with your compatriots to use their potent powers. Capell can also play his flute to imbue the party with certain status effects, and some tunes even act as weapons. The resulting combat feels a bit like a Tales game crossed with Final Fantasy XII -- a very good thing, as I love Tales' stylish swordplay and appreciated FFXII's lack of random battles, though I never did care for the latter's hands-off approach to combat. For the most part, party members follow commands pretty well -- my only complaint is that it takes a few too many button presses to sync up with them.

And since the game revolves around conflict between armies, you'll acquire a pretty substantial collection of allies -- more than 15 by game's end. I love managing huge casts of characters and experimenting with myriad formations, but Undiscovery lacks the convenient hub castle and streamlined party-swapping at the core of most successful army-gathering RPGs. The game's environments are also far too expansive and spread out for their own good; it can take more than five minutes to trek between cities, for example -- and that's assuming you avoid any combat along the way. You can also converse with your party and craft items by connecting with allies in towns, but you've gotta find them in the overly huge hamlets first -- which makes the whole process more trouble than it's worth at times. Undiscovery's interface is certainly tolerable, and the intriguing, amusing storyline and enjoyable battles kept me playing, but interacting with your force and getting to know them -- a major draw of the game, really -- should've been a helluva lot easier.

To me, though, Undiscovery is really more than the sum of its parts -- despite the badly botched opening segments and frustrating menu and navigational issues, it really won me over with its rewarding combat, kooky charm, and goofy humor. Aya, Capell's spunky, sassy archer sidekick, quickly became one of my favorite RPG heroines in recent memory thanks to witty writing from the localization staff and palpable chemistry between Capell's and Aya's voice actors. The story even succeeds in spite of a glaring quality discrepancy between the major protagonists and the ancillary characters. For every ***-kicking, kickass companion like Aya, you'll have to lug along an absolute dud...like the aforementioned twin-mage brats or a freckled thief boy who wears what looks like a Breathe Right nasal strip, sounds like a chick trying to sound like a guy, and takes his vocabulary cues from flap-mouthed Saddam Hussein of South Park.

Tri-Ace RPGs are known for their extensive bonus content, and based on my playtime, Undiscovery looks to deliver on that front, offering four difficulty levels and a postgame dungeon that, as the game puts it, takes "balls of steel" to conquer. Certain plot points seem to suggest the possibility of multiple endings, though publisher Square Enix would neither confirm nor deny my suspicions. I played through the main quest in about 30 hours -- a decent length, but that's also short enough to encourage replayability. Unfortunately, we probably won't know exactly how much replay value the game truly holds until obsessive completists get their hands on it, but I feel confident in saying this: Undiscovery is absolutely worth playing through at least once, with the regrettable caveat that it really could've been so much more.

Undiscovery's ending also screams sequel possibilities, and I sincerely hope tri-Ace gets a second chance to explore this concept's potential. By the end, I'd grown quite attached to the world and characters, and I wouldn't hesitate to go on another adventure with (most of) them. With any luck, this could be the next Suikoden or Dark Cloud -- a fresh, intriguing take on role-playing whose potential is only fully realized the second time around.

[Flawless]

Re: Infinite Undiscovery (360)

GameInformer Review - 8

Despite the formulaic plot, some of the characters are endearing (a giant bear!), and several dungeons make excellent use of a multi-party mechanic that lets you put all of your accumulated warriors to good use. Along with its thoroughly entertaining combat mechanics, these elements help Infinite Undiscovery recover from its lack of surprises. It may not be the best game on Tri-Ace’s resume, but it’s still one of the best RPGs available for the 360.

[ThaGenecyst]

Re: Infinite Undiscovery (360)

Hilary can kiss my butt with those complaints.

[jfsolo]

Re: Infinite Undiscovery (360)

Given the relatively short length, I'll probably rent this one after I finish Vesperia.

[trobinson97]

Re: Infinite Undiscovery (360)

Damn, I wanna play this game, there just too much good stuff coming out. Guess I'll get a gamefly account.

[Flawless]

Re: Infinite Undiscovery (360)

<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" id="gtembed" width="480" height="392"> <param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" /> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="movie" value="http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=39850"/> <param name="quality" value="high" /> <embed src="http://www.gametrailers.com/remote_wrap.php?mid=39850" swLiveConnect="true" name="gtembed" align="middle" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" allowFullScreen="true" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="392"></embed> </object>