Infinite Undiscovery

"More Fun Than a Barrel of Lulz"

Infinite Undiscovery is the latest RPG from renowned developer Tri-Ace, and published by Square-Enix. For those of you living under a rock, Tri-Ace has developed such great titles as the Star Ocean series and Valkyrie Profile. For those of you living under a rock which is under an even bigger rock, Square-Enix has many claims to fame, most famously known for the Final Fantasy series, Kingdom Hearts, and Dragon Quest. So what does the unholy mix of these two video game giants bring us? Read on.

Story:
Infinite Undiscovery is an action-RPG, set in troubled times, in a world that is in desperate need of rescuing. It seems that the evil Order of the Chains has ensnared the moon, chaining it to the earth and dragging it down. As a result, strange monsters have been appearing all over the land.

Something bad will certainly befall the people of earth if the moon is to crash into the planet. Somehow, the chains need to be broken. Someone is going to have to stop the Order, and bring peace back to the planet.

Enter Capell. Well, not really. You see, Capell is a bard (a flute player, specifically), and has no desire to get involved in the affairs of the rest of the world. He'd rather mind his own business, and write paltry flute songs with ….catchy titles. That is, until he finds himself thrown into a jail cell, accidentally mistaken for the real hero, Lord Sigmund, commander of The Force, and the famed Liberator who is travelling the world in order to shatter the chains which bind the moon to the earth. And so here Capell sits, in a jail cell, confused about why he's there, what he did to get himself locked up, and why no one will listen to him when he says he didn't do anything wrong. And who is this Sigmund guy anyway?

Enter Aya. Literally. Who is this mysterious girl? And why is she calling Capell “Sigmund”? Well, it turns out that Capell looks so much like Sigmund, that even one of Sigmund's dear friends can not tell the difference. That's right, Capell and Sigmund are identical. Sound familiar? Sound cliche? Well, maybe… but give it a chance. You are treated to an opening sequence of a jail break, with Aya dispatching a guard or two and setting Capell free. And thus your adventure in Infinite Undiscovery begins.

Who are The Force? Who is Sigmund? Why does Capell look just like him? What's to be done about the moon? Who are the Order of the Chains? A compelling story awaits the player, and while there are some moments that tend to drag, IU's story is one that is bordering on unique, and engaging throughout. There is only one real plot twist, but most of the story plays out rather steadily. Though it mostly seems to be heading in one singular direction with one singular goal, there are several moments which alter your (and Capell's) perception of his friends, and of the world, and the Order. There's not much else that can be said of that without spoiling it, so I'll move on to some of the gameplay elements.

Story Score - 8/10

Gameplay:
As mentioned, you play the role of Capell, the bard, the reluctant hero, the wimp… well, for now. Being an action-RPG, enemies are encountered in real time on the world map. If you've played Final Fantasy XII and Star Ocean 3, think of it as a combination of these two battle systems. As Capell, you can perform a number of attacks which corresponds to button combinations. A simply quick or strong attack can be performed with A or B, respectively. Capell can also knock enemies into the air, or onto the ground, using combinations of the A and B button. This has certain benefits in combat. Attacking an enemy with an air combo results in more EXP for the party. Attacking a downed enemy restores HP and MP. Regular combination attacks restore AP, which is what is used to juggle enemies in the first place. Battle Skills are also used in combat, and can be assigned to either the A or B button. To execute a skill, hold either A or B and Capell will perform it. Skills assigned to A use less MP, but are weaker. Skills assigned to B use more MP, but are stronger. X is used to play the flute, as certain songs can give bonuses to your party, or reveal hidden paths or treasure chests. Y is used to call out a healing command to your teammates. Since the item menu is accessed in real-time, it is not always wise to go into the menu while in a combat scenario, as you can still be attacked. A simple press of the Y button will cause a party member to issue healing to Capell or anyone else in the party who is in need. Which brings me to the next section, the Party/Connect system.

As the leader in battle, Capell can order teammates to perform actions, which can be assigned to Connect Skills in the Skills menu. To connect with a teammate, you hold the RB button, and select the teammate using X, Y, or B (it will appear on the screen). Once connected, you can force your teammate to use a skill with either the X or Y button (keep in mind that you cannot issue a healing command while connected). This allows you to dictate the flow of battle, by using powerful skills in combinations against bosses, etc. The system isn't perfect, but with practice it can be very effective. You are given a tutorial on Connect Skills very early in the game.

As a party leader, you can also assign formation commands to your whole team. Using the directional pad (which also changes flute songs, I forgot to mention), you can change your party AI to Focus on your target, perform Combos, Wait, Save MP, Spread Out, or set them to Free. Once again, this system is not perfect, but the AI is pretty responsive.

And more or less, that's the battle system, take it or leave it. I personally find it to be very enjoyable, even if in the later parts of the game I'm using the same skills over and over again. There's enough variety that you don't HAVE to do that, I mostly just do it for efficiency in some of the grinding or post-game areas.

As for parties, most of the game is played with a party of 4, including Capell. Capell can never be taken out of the main party, as you are playing the game through his eyes. Wherever Capell is, you are. Get used to that. You won't be able to control any other characters throughout the game. Now, while there is only one main party, there is a total of 18 characters in the game. Some of these characters are designated as “Secondary” characters. What this means is that they can not be placed in the main party. They do have a role, however. They can be placed into secondary parties for attacks on areas with multiple parties. You will split up your group, and based on how well you put a team together, you will get a certain rank and bonus at the end of the multi-party area.

While this is a good concept, it is not used nearly enough for the amount of secondary characters you are given. I think there are only 3 or 4 multi-party areas in the whole game, and this is one of the drawbacks for me. If you're going to devote time to a secondary character system, you really should make it more useful. And since we're talking about usefulness, I should get to one thing that isn't limited with secondary characters, and that is Item Creation.

All of the secondary characters (as well as some of the main characters) have an item crafting ability. If you want to obtain the best armor, weapons, items, and food in the game, you'll need to level everyone's IC up, even your secondary characters. You can connect to secondary characters in town in order to access their IC abilities.

There are several abilities that your characters have. There is Cooking, Forging, Alchemy, Writing, and Enchantments. Each ability can improve from level 1 to level 6. You will need to acquire raw materials from shops and from enemy drops in order to be able to craft. Ultimately, the best items in the game can only be achieved through crafting. For you completionists out there, crafting will be very enjoyable. I see it as a necessary part of mastering the game, but you can clear the game without spending a whole lot of time on it.

Gameplay Score – 9/10

Graphics:
This game is beautiful. I'm playing on a 32” HD TV, and the colors and landscapes are bright and bold, and seem to be alive. The first two hours of the game are played in a dark prison and a forest at night, so it is not until you really enter the first outdoor area in the daylight when you start to notice just how good-looking this game is. Character models are also excellent, and some of my favorite in any RPG to date. Though Eugene looks a lot like Jade from Tales of the Abyss, I will remember these character's faces for a long, long time.

Battle animations are fluid, though there are some (intentional?) slowdowns while performing Skill attacks. Magic attacks look nice, with some being more impressive than others. Boss fights look epic, with some bosses taking up nearly the whole screen. Some of the outdoor areas are kind of bland, but the cities really shine, and so do most of the dungeons.

There are no CG cutscenes in the game, except for the one in the opening (and maybe one more, I can't recall exactly.) This is not a bad thing, though, as the game only takes up two discs, and the in-game engine is so good that the scenes play out nicely without the CG. I did notice some slight clipping, but nothing to get worked up about.

Graphics Score: 9/10

Extras:
The name Infinite Undiscovery is a play on words. It is formed from Infinite Unknown Discover(y)ies. What does this mean exactly? Well, probably not what the developers intended. There is certainly not an infinite number of things to discover in the game. In fact, it's very finite. There are 40+ side quests, but not more than 50. Most of these are fetch quests, and very few of the rewards are worth the effort. There are also a number of Private Events, which are personal conversations between Capell and other party members. These are far more interesting, and can result in obtaining a few unique items, as well as uncovering new Titles for characters.

Every character has a list of Titles, which are Capell's personal thoughts about the character. Most titles are just interesting little quips that Capell writes down, which are unlocked when the characters reach a certain level (did I mention you can get to level 255??) Others are more game-affecting. Unlocking a Title which notes that a character is afraid of the dark means that when that character is fighting in dark areas, there is a drop in his or her stats. Likewise, when fighting enemies that the character is scared of, they may behave differently in battle. Another little interesting twist is that some characters, when teamed up with others in the party, boost each other's stats. For example, when the twins Rico and Rucha are together, they each get a stat boost. There are dozens of little things like this that are extras and worth noting. You might discover something new by trying different combinations.

After the main game is over, there is also a bonus dungeon called The Seraphic Gate. This challenging dungeon takes you through all of the areas of the game with harder enemies, more boss fights, and only one save point! Be prepared before entering, as the levels and equipment you beat the final boss with are not nearly enough to get through here…

Extras Score – 8.5/10

Replayability:
Infinite Undiscovery has four difficulty modes. Easy and Normal are available at the start. After finishing normal, you unlock Hard. After beating Hard, you unlock Infinite. Infinite is no joke. The very first area in the game could take you several hours to get through, when it could be passed in 15 minutes in Normal. Doing 1 point of damage to 200+ HP enemies that can kill you in one hit is an effort best left to those who are dedicated completionists. The only benefit to finish Infinite, other than bragging rights, is the 1 GS achievement for defeating the boss of the Seraphic Gate. That's pretty much it.

That being said, the main game on Easy or Normal can probably be finished in 20 hours, if you don't bother with too many sidequests or with crafting. If you do, I could take you about 40 hours for the main game, or more! Hard mode and Infinite mode could put you well over 60 hours each. I finished the first disc in 8 hours on Normal, but didn't finish the game until the 38 hour mark, and didn't finish the Seraphic Gate until hour 49. Still working on Hard mode…

While there is no New Game+ option, I feel that the replayability of this game is high. The additional difficulty modes, and the depth of the item crafting system keep me coming back for more.

Replayability Score - 7/10

Polish:
Polish is a measure of how much time the developers spent on fixing little things, improving the overall quality of the game, and putting out a product that they are proud of. The polish score doesn't factor in to my overall score, but is worth mentioning for this game.

Parts of the game feel rushed. I say this even though I am in love with the game, because it wouldn't be a complete review if I ignored it. Some of the voice acting is abysmal. Not really the main cast, but much of the supporting cast just seems like they didn't give a crap. Or at least the voice director didn't. The dialogue itself was fine, but the stale delivery of some of the lines is just amateur at best, and I blame the director for that. I would have liked a Japanese voice option, not because I can understand Japanese, but because I wouldn't have noticed how bad some of the acting was if I didn't understand what they were saying.

The text on non-HD TVs is very hard to read. I have an HD TV, but I've heard from many people who don't that they couldn't read the in-game tutorials, and couldn't see the HP or MP of their characters. This is a problem with a lot of current gen games, and is something that is easily corrected, but often overlooked.

The secondary character system seems empty. It's a good idea, and it worked well for the areas which it was used, but it wasn't used nearly enough. I'm not saying they should have been main party characters, because I personally don't like to deal with all of that micromanagement (there's enough characters as it is!), but I really wish they implemented the element more throughout the game.

One minor nit is that connecting with characters in town is sometimes a tedious chore. Since you need to find the character first in order to connect to them, you often spend a lot of time roaming around town from one place to another, since the character you connect with runs back to where you found them from after you break the connection. Not game-breaking, but it can be annoying if you're trying to do a lot of crafting between different characters while in town.

Polish Score – 6/10

Summary:
Infinite Undiscovery is not a game for everyone. And it is certainly not a game without flaws. However, most of the complaints I read about are with the real-time menu system, and with the Connect system, and for some reason RPG fans can't seem to get over the fact that you can only control one character throughout the whole game.

That being said, I think it's a great game, and should be a part of any RPG fan's library, especially if they are into action-RPGs, or other Tri-Ace games. Sure, there are some areas that could have used a little more work, and the gameplay itself takes some getting used to, but in the end I don't think I've played a more fun RPG in this generation, and it's really tough to think of a lot of RPGs that are in the same league as IU in the “fun” department.

Overall Score (not an average) – 8.5/10 (GameFAQs makes me use an 8/10)

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/22/08

Game Release: Infinite Undiscovery (US, 09/02/08)