Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 21
 maybe if they just..............nope. It still sucks. October 29, 2008
James J. Dejean (Baton Rouge, La)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
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.
 Who says the 360's hurting for quality RPG's? October 17, 2008
trashcanman (Hanford, CA United States)
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
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.
I was rather suprised. October 15, 2008
ws4life17 (Southern California)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
 Amazingg October 13, 2008
M. Fay (Boston, MA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
Hm.. Its a toughie October 6, 2008
Mr. Christopher J. Jackson (England)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
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:)
|
