Infinite Undiscovery Includes Gift with Purchase

I was personally hyping this game for the high A to low AA range. I was expecting an JRPG that carried with it the tradition of an engrossing story with beautiful senery, but also broke away from the norm with its revolutionary combat. What I got was a JRPG so generic that it was actually worse than average RPGs in the genre and its so called revolutionary combat sstem was so dull, simple, and easily broken that it just felt like a huge waste of time.

Visually, the game looks like an HD PS2 game with some enhanced textures here and there, some weak light and shadow work, a good draw distance, and a huge amount of shine, because apparently to make a proper JRPG these days everything must be shiny. It basically looks on par with Ninety-Nine Nights but with way less characters on screen, and to be honest, NNN's combat was much more entertaining despite being a hack n' slash. At least the combat looks really cool when you watch it, too bad it doesn't play that way.

The soundwork is nothing special. The soundtrack is pretty typical of JRPGs, epic and done with a symphony. It kicks in harder when you're in combat. That's good for the most part but it can get annoying when you're entering combat to kill one or two enemies. It's like having someone follow you with a cello and having them go nuts with it every time you step on a crack in the sidewalk. The voice acting is appreciated, but they did a pretty lousy job with it. Everything that comes out of these people's mouths is so corny and so badly written that it embarrasses me to play this game in public. On top of that, there's a ton of cut scenes where the characters talk, their mouths move and everything, but no sound comes out through the entire scene! That's just downright lazy.

The plot is incredibly horrible. On the box description it seemed fine, passable. Once you start playing though, and live through the plot, you realize how ridiculously stupid it is. You end up not caring about any of the characters at all because they're all annoying and unlikable. The game is pretty easy and never really offered me any challenge. The combat is so shallow and boring that I feel like I'm just zoning out and pressing X and B at times. The game really struggled to keep me interested. You can control your teammates and tell them what to do, but luckily the AI is good enough that they can handle themselves most of the time. The only real redeeming qualities to this game is that it isn't a glitchy mess, you get to ride a big red bear thing into battle, and it ends.

I was bitterly disappointed this time. Square Enix and Tri-Ace Really let me down, and I think I 've lost any respect I may have had left for Square Enix. I'll stick to MIstwalker for my JRPGs now, thank you very much.

When you first put this game in the 360, it will force you to connect and download an update from XBOX Live. This is only a one time download. This update is not for the extra content or bonus feature. It is a mandatory update. Without this update, you won't be able to play this game.

Overall, this is just another JRPG features annoying screaming casts and cheesy dialog. It is no where near other JRPG such as Dragon Quest VIII or FFX or even FFXII. However, it is somewhat better than Blue Dragon and Enchanted Arms, in my opinion. The game is short, not many side quests. The story is nothing special; go from one place to the next to cut down the chains. Kind of repetitive.

If you want to know what happens to all of the characters after the final boss, you must spend 5-10 minutes watching the credits and special thanking to some special people...Then a short film kicks in showing what each party member is doing after the final boss fight. Kind of interesting except the final, final scene showing Aya and her bear. Not making much sense but you have to watch the 5 minutes credit rolling at the end to find out. I won't spoil it.

This is a pretty good Game and Has some new inovative Ideas for the Gameplay. Though the cut scenes are a bit long and sometimes the voice acting cuts out for no reason the game's story line is what helps drive you to continue in this game. The great thing about this game is the ability to make Two and some times Three partys which will act on there own and will succeed based on the groups you made. The connection system is extremly cool as well it alows you to do things such as talk to animals to mind controling enemys its great. The game it self is relativly short Take you about 15-20hrs game play depending on your Skill level. The great thing about IU is the replay value is high and has 3 diffrent dificulty settings. Easy, Hard, and Infinate mode. A big aspect to the replay is a Tower that has Insane loot and bosses harder and more health then the final boss in the game. I wont spoil anything but lets just say it brings a challenge to a relativly simple RPG. I give this game a 8.5 Out of 10

The game itself is ok, but the poor voice acting and the way things move around in the game is just horrible. A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, when Squaresoft was just Squaresoft, you could just see that logo on an RPG and not even think twice about buying the game because you had a 95% chance of the game being awsome. Please think twice before buyin this one. Storyline is ok but it still is missing a lot and does not meet up to the expectaions of the Square Enix name.

Maybe if you discount Oblivion, Mass Effect, Tales of Vesperia, Enchanted Arms, Eternal Sonata, Operation Darkness, Spectral Force 3, Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, and the upcoming coup-de-grace "Final Fantasy XIII" along with the rest. Yet I keep reading that Microsoft isn't offering enough quality RPG's. So I ask you this, mainstream gaming media: how many quality RPG's are out there for the Wii and Playstation 3? ........Damn right. Xbox 360 is currently your one-shop stop for every non-portable piece of role-playing hotness there is. So why won't anybody but the fans admit it? Alrighty then, on to the game. I racked my brain for weeks trying to decide between "Infinite Undiscovery" and "Tales of Vesperia". The reviews all came up Tales, but I loved what I'd read about IU so I took a chance, just like I did when I bought the horribly-reviewed but highly enjoyable "Operation Darkness". My verdict? I'll never trust a professional game reviewer again. I still plan on getting TOV and I'm sure it's great, but the luke-warm reviews for this title are uncalled for. It's immensely fun, full of brilliant characters and character moments, charming humor, secrets, and awesome combat. If you long for a real-time JRPG without overly-cartoony graphics that will give you some things you've never really seen before in this type of game, pick this up ASAP.

Picture this: Your reluctant hero Kappel (you), his archer girlfriend Aya, and the huge fire-breathing horned bear she keeps as a pet, Gustav are exploring an area along with a party of four other characters who are working entirely independently of you. You come to the top of a ridge and see your pals engaging a group of foes. Your archer fires an arrow above the fray which then rains damaging sparks onto the enemis, surprising them and panicking the littler ones. Meanwhile, you've climbed on top of the bear and together you both go charging down the hill, aiming straight for the big red ogre currently knocking your friends around like bowling pins. The force of your impact throws you off of Gustav's back onto the gorund but deals big damage to the ogre, who is now engaging your furry friend head-to-head. You pick yourself up and unleash a devastating combo of kicks into the ogre's back. He turns and stops your assault with a palm strike as he lifts his massive club with his other arm. You parry just as he attempts to crush you and leave him stunned just as the rest of your companions finish mopping up the rest of the baddies. All seven of you unleash a devastating combo adding up to dozens of consecutive hits as the lifeless ogre falls to the ground. Wonder what's around the next corner?

As you can see, combat in this game is exciting to say the least. There is a grand total of 18 very unique characters that can be spread out over as many as three independent parties as any given time. The parties are sometimes fighting side-by-side and sometimes only meet in passing. Each non- player controlled grouping is graded and rewarded based on their effectiveness so one would think you should choose your arrangements wisely. Unfortunately, the rating always seems to come out "C" regardless of what you do. Sloppy. Some characters prefer to be grouped together, such as Aya and her pet Gustav or the magical twins (*cough*PalomandPorom*cough*) Rico and Rucha, and perform better when they are. Each character also has sets of quirks that you are able to discover. For example, sexy magic-user Michelle is terrified of flying creatures. This can cause her to flee in panic and ignore your orders, leaving you without a healer for a while. Other characters are afraid of the dark, but ninja girl Komachi actually prefers it. This is a cool twist.

Each character usually does a great job fighting on their own, but you can "connect" with them at any time and command them to use their powers as you see fit. Rico, for example can talk to and control animals which makes him handy in some places to get info and even items from some furry friends or for turning foe to friend in battle. Rucha, on the other hand, can summon a small dragon to fight by your side. Each character has their own skills that come in handy both in and out of battle. As I said before, the game is full of charm and the cast is outstanding. Hours can and should be spent exploring the ins-and-outs of their different skills and relationships with each other. I just wish you were given more time with them.

"Infinite Undiscovery" isn't perfect, though, as fun as it is. It is very short (under 40 hours) for an RPG with so much depth. A lot of it isn't given any room to breathe and as a result, you will likely miss out on a lot. Also, the first act is a nightmare. Don't buy the game and then shake your fist in anger at me because of the cruddy game you just bought half an hour in. I suspect this is the cause of the lackluster reviews. As soon as you start, you're treated to bunch of fully-animated but annoyingly silent cutscenes every few steps. No voiceover. This is no longer acceptable. If you want to convey the information without any voice-acting, do it without making me sit through a cutscene. After very little combat, you're given a boss battle......that you don't get to fight. You're instructed to run from an invincible ogre. Yay? So after this lame sequence the game drops you into a forest so dark you can't see a thing. Even your mini-map is blurred. Headache-inducing. Then to top it off, the ogre comes back so you now have to run away and do so without being able to see where the hell you're going. THEN rather than letting you actually PLAY the game at this point, you're forced to carry a girl (no fighting allowed) and run away from a flying fire-breathing dragon whose every breath knocks you down so you have to wait seconds for Cappell to get back up so you can continue running to you-don't-really-know-where until more fire knocks you down. But once you get where it is you're going, your troubles are over. The game rocks, the silent cutscenes are mostly replaced with full voiceovers, and your band of rebels begins to grow. The save system has "old-school" written all over it. This is not a compliment. The story is cliche-ridden at times, but it is a JRPG so that's expected. Also, I REALLY wish you could control the other characters. They are so cool and so much fun to fight beside that I wanted to play as them myself. There are some characters that you aren't allowed to put into your personal party which bugs me as well. The characters themselves are all memorable and you gain a genuine affection for them as the game progresses, but again there just isn't enough time for you to spend with them and even less for those who cannot join your party. A lot more polish and a larger world would have made this game an all-time great.

"Infinite Undiscovery" may not measure up to the best of the best, but it's the most fun I've has with a current-gen Japanese RPG yet. The character humor is often more then clever and really offsets any cliches. There are some very frustrating challenges in store so keep gamefaqs.com handy. In fact, don't think the game is over just because you finished it. There's a much harder challenge to be found within the game. The story itself is actually pretty cool and refreshingly simple, leaving the action to carry the biggest load until the endgame. Smart move. Just like with "Valkyrie Profile" (an all-time favorite of mine) Tri-Ace has made RPG combat a true joy and thrown in some cool little secrets for you to stumble upon along the way -usually in the form of more character development. I really wish they'd put more into the multi-party system. That was one of my favorite -but sadly underdeveloped- aspects of the game. Squaresoft was always my favorite RPG factory (Enix's "Seventh Saga": also awesome in it's day) so color me thrilled that Square-Enix -after much hesitation- has decided to back the Xbox 360. This is a great start, but I hope they put more effort into the upcoming The Last Remnant

4 1/2 stars rounded down for giving me 4 discs worth of characters and innovation on a 2-disc story.

This game was great, I have to admit I was not expecting it to be like it is. Your teammates are actually compitent which is fabulous if your to busy to heal yourself. Want a better idea about this game? Imagine combining WoW (World of Warcraft) with the FF series (Final Fantasy) and a beat 'em up game like MK (Mortal Kombat). Only real downfall in my opinion is that you have to put away your weapon to open treasure chests and doors. With the sheer magnitude of doors and chests it became tiresome to keep sheething and unsheething my sword. That is the reason for it getting an overall rating of 4 out of 5 stars from me. Have fun guys and be sure to thoroughly explore each area.

So this was one of the best games ive played in a long time. i have been an RPG fan since i was 9. Dont really play much video games in general, but when SquareEnix puts out new material i will play them. i was very impressed with Infinite Undiscovery. it had every element of a great game. the characters were well developed, each having their own extensive past and that contributed greatly to the games playability. the battle system is amazing, it is in real time and very fast paced. the plot is great as well, and very unpredictable. while playing you will develop an idea of what is going to happen and then you are very suprised to discover you are wrong. it is a game filled with exiting twists and turns and u are able to see each character change and develop as the game continues. it is a great game and i have no problems with it.

Ok, so i read and re-read pretty much every review i could get my hands on prior to spending £30 on this game. Im obsessive over Final Fantasy and Square Enix's awesome array of games but did this one cut the bullet?

Fighting - is brilliant, i personally found the real time system absolutely brilliant, and lots of fun too. Although some parts are a bit tedious, the fighting is still a good laugh. 4/5

Story - i found the whole "looks like Sigmund" thing a bit lame in gaming terms, it seemed a bit simple. As the game progresses, the story does improve but its all a bit instant, things happening all over the place and no real indication of whats going on. One minute your destroying a chain, the next your conversing with Aya about your flute... 3/5

Actual Gameplay - Hmm, this ones a bit odd because, when playing through the game it sort of all just jumbles together in peices. Its good fun but there are too many kinks to make this a "Final Fantasy" adversary. The menu system is good, if a little tricky at times. I found the map irritating but well planned. Irritating in the sense that an RPG should be completely free roam, not set. Well planned because its very VERY hard to get lost.. except in the Cobasna. Overall, it is a good experience 5/5 for gameplay.

The Character system - I liked the idea of the connect skill, but its let down heavily by not really being able to use it to too much advantage. 18 characters is great, but none of them aside from the initial have much depth or story. Also Secondary characters... good idea but also very annoying as you cant use the secondary in combination with Capell, meaning that, through most of the game, they're useless. 4/5

Level system - Characters seem to get too powerful too quickly, i found that by the time i got to disc 2, it was far too easy to win without too much hassle. Although its damned fun getting to level 40 by the time your even halfway through the second disc. Also HP seems to rise rapidly and without substance... Again 4/5

Overall - I think this game is good for both experts and newbies, its easy to pick up once you know the ropes and even easier if your an old hand at these type of games. Overall im going out on a limb and giving this one a 5/5 as i played for hours, glued into the intense fighting (if a little repetitive) and would recommend for anyone who can put up with the storyline and terrible voicing:)

I can't express to you how much I love this game. I enjoyed playing, and wished it wasn't completely over for me.

--Pros
Battle System - I hope they continue to use this system. It's fun, and makes playing an RPG fun. I'm sick of the turn base.
Graphics - Wow! Everything looks great.
Loading Time - Pratically none! It's great not having to wait for it to load.
Plot - Exciting, and refreshing. Only thing I didn't like was the ending.

--Cons
Voice acting - I don't think they even tried to match the mouth to the words being spoken. And Capell's voice was....annoying when he was in whine mood.
Secondary Characters - Worthless, why do I need to drag them around when I don't really use them?

If you're a fan of any Tri-Ace game you'll find this game fun to play even with its flaws. Capell is the character you'll be playing and despite there being eighteen NPCs in the game you're only permitted to play Capell. Infinite Undiscovery is the perfect name for this game as it has infinite possibilities but fails to capitalize on them. Why have eighteen NPCs join your party if you aren't able to play them - aside from some minor abilities they possess. That is the main problem with the game, it is loaded with all these little ercks that bug the heck out of you. So we have all these characters but can only use one.....so let's head out and fight some monsters. You can only fight with your weapon despite the ability to sheathe your sword or you can play your flute to perform some minor spells. Your attacks are kept simple: two. Quick attack or heavy attack that you chain to perform some very limited combos.

Aside from the early limitations, the gameplay contributes to more of those little ercks by being clumsy at best. By the time your character is in position to attack the enemy, the enemy has moved and is now attacking you. And remember those characters you're not allowed to control? More often than not they get in your way and hamper your progress. Just another erck to add to the pile. But let's move away from the ercks and look at what this game does right. The battle animations are incredible and despite your teammates being a tad intrusive, their AI is almost always spot on. And though the gameplay is a bit clumsy, the controls are responsive and when you combine that with the battle scenes it produces a very fun experience.

So where are we at this point? Oh yeah! So Infinite Undiscovery has some flaws in the gameplay, but the battles, controls, and animation, along with an above average AI still produce a fun experience.....until now. The biggest problem with the gameplay is that the enemy doesn't stop when you choose to use an item - and there is also a delay when you access the game's menu. Other than that Infinite Undiscovery plays like every other RPG.....you go around to the various towns and talk to the townfolk to gain insight to your next destination. You can also use your flute to find hidden items or paths to aid in your journey. Overall Infinite Undiscovery is not a bad game....it isn't a great game either, but it is a fun game and you will get your money worth out of it.

This game is extremely challenging and frustrating at times, the first few hours are some of the worst in any recent RPG, the menu system is cumbersome, the voice work in the cutscenes is hit or miss, and the crafting system is tedious at best, but despite this...

Infinite Undiscovery is one of the must fun experiences I've had with an RPG in the past couple years. The plot is suprisingly well written and compelling, the writers do a very good job of developing the primary cast, and even give the characters a chance to grow a little bit over the duration of the story. The world and its environments are large and detailed enough to have a sense of place to them without being completely overwhelming, and every city has just the right amount of NPCs. The art is above average, if not amazing at times, and the music does an excellent job of complementing it. When all the pieces come together, it's a very satisfying experience. The difficulty level is fairly high, but the game does a good job of making it feel like it's easier than it actually is - enemies and bosses can do brutal damage to your party, killing people in a single attack, but the game mechanics make it easy to recover from anything except complete destruction and manage to kill a boss anyway. The game has excellent pacing in most of its dungeons, save points placed in almost perfect locations, fairly clever boss encounters, and most of the other things you'd want out of an eastern RPG.

From a technical standpoint, this is an impressive showing from tri-Ace, on par with their previous titles if not better. The visuals are crisp and smooth, all the cut-scenes are done in-engine with fairly smooth animation (though unfortunately, the lip-syncing is atrocious), and with the exception of some slowdown during busy fight sequences, the framerate runs at a solid 60 FPS at all times. The controls are for the most responsive (with the exception of the nearly awful menu, and connect system), and the camera is almost good enough to not be noticed. Party members have suprisingly good AI and respond promptly to your commands, which makes most of the battles feel suprisingly effortless considering the game's difficulty level.

Despite the game's flaws, I'm very optimistic to see what tri-Ace does next - my expectations for this one were met and surpassed.

Infinite Undiscovery (IU) is a pretty good game. As a fan who started with Final Fantasy VII and whose last real RPG was the .hack//GU games on PS2, I know how to appreciate a good game.

IU can start off a little shaky for some, and even the first hour or so can have some people irked at some of the things the game throws at you. But it all takes a little time, and a little patience, before the ball gets rolling and the game begins to unfold.

It doesn't take long before you have a good ten or so characters to choose from, and the fact that everyone, whether they're in your main party or not, earns experience when you do, is a plus. You won't have three or four level 20s and the same number of level 7s.

The characters themselves are memorable and diverse, each with an appropriate voice actor that does a pretty decent job. Everyone seems to criticize the lip-synching (or the lack thereof). If a little thing like that bugs you, turn on the subtitles and read the dialogue rather than watch your characters speak without moving their lips.

The dialogue is well-written and there are actually some pretty funny cutscenes every now and then, usually centered on Capell and Aya, the two main leads.

The weird thing is that after clocking about 8 and a half hours, I was prompted to switch to disc 2. Awful quick, don't you think? I mean, a bit happened in disc 1, but I wasn't expecting the halfway point so soon.

At any rate, the graphics (especially the character models) are clean and crisp. The music is pretty good and though combat can be overwhelming at times, it's not long before you get the hang of things.

The achievements are a little ambiguous, too. Guess I'm gonna have to pick up the strategy guide when it's published.

Anyway, if you like RPGs, go ahead and pick it up.

Nice title, isn't it? But don't expect a blatant fanboy review. Quite the contrary. If I had to summarize what you should need to know about this game, it's this: THIS GAME IS NOT FOR EVERYONE; DO NOT BUY IT UNLESS YOU ARE EITHER BLATANTLY OPEN-MINDED OR HAVE RENTED IT FIRST, OR HAVE A GREAT RETURN POLICY, OR SOMETHING.

Why do I emphasize that so? Because the nature of the game calls for that emphasis.

You see, Infinite Undiscovery is not a traditional RPG. It's an action RPG with some elements that emulate online gaming. That's issue #1. It's linear, but open at the same time. That's issue #2. It also doesn't pan out until you're a few hours into the game; you'll be lost on the story momentarily as it begins to develop itself; that's issue #3. There are others, but those are the first and foremost in my mind.

Your character starts out in jail. You get rescued eventually by Aya, who actually mistakes you for someone else who apparently looks identical to you. As you make your escape from the prison, you'll end up in a forest, and finally, meet some more of the key characters. Seems overly simple, but that's what I can give you without spoiling things.

In this game, you really have to think, I mean really think about what you're doing. Things like walking instead of running so you can attack someone from behind. Sound plays another big part of the game; if you don't have at least a 5.1 surround system you'll be impaired in this area. Even smell plays a small part - if you stink, enemies can detect you. In the darkness you can get assaulted by enemies you can't see (but they can see you because they're nocturnal). Getting attacked from behind cripples you and makes you susceptible to critical attacks. There are tons of different elements you need to take into consideration as you fight, which increases the immersion and the challenge.

Additionally, the world is alive; there is no "pause to bring up the menu". You need to make sure there are no enemies in the close vicinity, or that they are out of visual range, or you're in a town before bringing up the menu, because you can still get assaulted during this time. A strategic element to be sure, and one I wouldn't mind seeing in a future RPG, just slightly better implemented (more on that later).

With the "Connect" system, you effectively are giving commands to your colleagues to either do special attacks, heal, or talk to NPCs on your behalf, revealing different information than you get. The game relies heavily on this system, as you will frequently have need to use a character's special technique to get through a certain area. This lends itself to problems, however (more on that later).

If you're a fan of pure aesthetics, this game will not disappoint. The graphics, music and sound effects are all excellently done, and quite frankly some of the best looking on any game released to date. Some people have mentioned framerate issues; to me, they're so infrequent I wouldn't even call it a dealbreaker. With graphics this good, and minimal load times (considering it's basically an open world), a half second framerate drop every now and then is forgivable. Just make sure you turn down the voice volume; it tends to come through rather loudly on your left rear speaker during battle for some reason.

That doesn't mean there aren't issues, because there are.

- In the beginning of the game, you're evading a rather large foe. It seems almost impossible not to get hit by this guy. An option to turn and risk fighting him would have been nice.

- In a forested area, you're told to "stick to shadows". Considering the whole forest is dark, this instruction is confusing to a newbie user.

- Some areas are just ridiculous. Like when you have to cross an open field with some small ruins, and a creature is blowing fireballs at you which are possible, but extremely difficult, to dodge because of the camera angle. No instructions as to what to really do, except run. Might have been something there that I missed for all I know.

- You have to press Right Trigger to draw your sword. I like that and all, but what I don't like is that your colleagues won't draw their weapons if you don't, even if the tactic says to go all out.

- Quite a few things are not explained to you. In the beginning, Aya explains one of her Connect commands, which you use to take out a guard. That's great. Later, you're given Flute songs, yet never told what each song does or how/when to use them. I didn't even know I could use the flute until I was 2 hours into the game, even though I had it all along. I was also stuck on one area (and the web is lit up with boards about the same area) where I had to use another character's Connect command to charm enemies to a door; nowhere is this explained. That same character can talk to animals; not explained either.

- Outside of the primary characters, the additional characters don't have very much development.


As I said before, you should test this game before actually buying it. It might not be for you. It's not a bad game; just different. I wouldn't say it's similar to an MMORPG, even though it has some of the qualities. I would say...if you took Final Fantasy 12, with a better story and more plot development...and a better battle engine with pseudo-full control...you'd get this game. IMO, it's what FF12 should have been. Take that for what it's worth.

In short, this is the real-time/seamless combat RPG that Final Fantasy XII could and should have been. Combat is relentless and very involving. However, the "connect" system is really just a gimmick, and ends up being used mostly in forced puzzle-minigame chores rather than as a useful skill in combat.

My #1 complaint for this game is the poor voice acting throughout, and the lack of selectable Japanese voices. With 2 DVD DLs worth of data, not including the Japanese voices as an option is inexcusable. You'll see what I mean once the twins join your party.

The graphics in the camera-perspective-restricted Eternal Sonata might make Undiscovery look a little dated. But the real-time battle system from Undiscovery more than makes up for it and proudly shows off the new direction most new J-RPGs are headed towards.