Infinite Undiscovery Review Thread (1up Review) - Main forum

Since 1070 Days

2008-08-28 17:11:09 In reply to dcdelgado (2008-08-28 17:01:34)

Posted by dcdelgado

You can change the way your party behaves so you can approach situations any way you want. You can tell your party to

#1. move anyway they want
#2 split up and attack
#3 to concentrate on a single enemy
#4 you can tell them to stay back and wait
#5 you can set them to fight with the intention of starting or finishing any number of combos even chaining ones you've started.
#6 you can tell them to fight while conserving their MP.

so when can i issue the above commands, can i issue them whilst in battle on the fly ?

You would have to be unless it wouldn't make very much sense at all so I'm going to go ahead and assume that you can.

If you can't do that, then IGN would be justified in docking it as much as they did. The only things you do in the pause menu is prepare your party for battle or engage some private events for story purposes between the various characters or check out the personality traits of characters or equip them with whatever you want them to have. Everything we've seen about the game thus far suggests that you can perform a number of things on the fly while in battle. The whole game is designed around that very concept. For you to be able to connect with a teammate or multiple teammates (I forget) in the heat of battle, but not be able to coordinate tactics on the fly would be a grave mistake by tri-ace.

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Since 1061 Days

2008-08-28 17:11:09

I'm guessing you have to change it in the menu.

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Marumaro for the WIN !!

Since 1070 Days

2008-08-28 17:11:45 In reply to Jollipop (2008-08-28 17:11:09)

Posted by Jollipop

I'm guessing you have to change it in the menu.

If that's true, I agree with the score.

Since 1061 Days

2008-08-28 17:13:36

Well I suppose you might beable to change it with the D-pad.

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Marumaro for the WIN !!

Since 1108 Days

2008-08-28 17:23:29

That would be appropriate, i.e. change the commands with the D-pad. If you watch the IGN video review, in the bottom left corner ... you can see the SAVE MP, FREE d .... I think u can definately switch between them ingame .... there is absolutely no reason why u shouldnt. This has been done a million times before.

Why is the reviewer complaining about having TOO many characters ??? for goodness sake, that's one of the best things about this game. you can play the game with the ones you like and use the other ones on a second playthrough ... you dont have to customize all of them!!! He's actually complaing about how much time you spend to customize them all!!!! what a stupid thing to do! you have the choice u dumb a**!!!!

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dcdelgado

Since 1038 Days

2008-08-28 17:38:18 In reply to Optimusv2 (2008-08-28 17:11:09)

I hope so too, otherwise that would be very poor.

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Since 1061 Days

2008-08-28 17:43:41

I can see his point about too many Characters, it reminds me off Chrono Cross in that regard, and I like to play all classes/characters, when 1 levels up I switch it for a lower level character so they are always 1 level within each other, you never know when you may get split up and end up with 2 weak unleveled characters in your party.

The game is only 20 hours long though :S, what the hell have they been doing for the last 2 years.

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Marumaro for the WIN !!

FreeSwag

Since 402 Days

2008-08-28 17:54:37 In reply to Optimusv2 (2008-08-28 00:20:46)

Posted by Optimusv2

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/902/902768p1.html
For a game they gave a 7.1 to, I don't see enough justification for the score in their written review. The review is not very well written. When you give a game a 7.1, you usually expect some more details. Sounds like the game got busted down for not being a graphical marvel, having some framerate hitches here and there and it having too many characters for the reviewer's liking, in addition to having to equip each of them with stuff.

Posted by Optimusv2

No conspiracy here just don't think the written review is properly reflective of a 7.1 game :)

There are many characters in the liberation army, some of which, can never be added to your main party, but can be put into sub parties. There are a lot of dialogue related stuff to fill in what you need to know about the various characters through the activating of private events and you can effect the various relationships depending on how you treat the characters.

szaromir read the review, I'm not talking about a conspiracy I'm simply saying that for a game they gave a 7.1 to, the review isn't reflective of such.

The reviewer also seems to have a positive view of the story and didn't feel the game was boring and the length of 25-30 hours is the same as it was in Valkyrie Profile 2 so a game of this length isn't anything new for a square enix published title.

That's pretty much how I felt. I saw the video review first and almost canceled my pre-order. But it kept nagging me that he was going on and on about the lack of CGI and crap like that, that don't really matter in determining how good an actual game is. When it comes to jRPGs, I'm very old school in terms of production values - CGI and amazing graphics are not what is going to make or break a game for me. Back in the day, jRPGs were the worst looking games on consoles, but they made up for their lack in the graphics department, with good (at the time) gameplay and riveting stories. Never in the review does Hillary ever mention how the game makes him feel. The entire review plays out like a technical manual, or a check list of features Hillary expects to be in this type of game; so much so, that he almost comes out and says it on more than one occasion.

Then he's going on about all the stuff Infinite Undiscovery lacks that Square Enix has become renowned for over the last decade, and I'm thinking to myself, "But most of the games that Squeenix is renowned for over the last decade, is what turned me off from jRPGs in the first place." But he spends so much time going on about Square-this and Square-that, that it's like he is not even reviewing the game, just talking directly and exclusively to the Squeenix fans out there. And I'm thinking, "there's more to jRPG fans than just Squeenix fans." and "tri-Ace isn't even a part of Squeenix and are quite capable of making their own games."

At some point in the review actually says the story and the battle system are good, but it's like his spends so much time in the review afraid of pissing off Squeenix fans by doling out a positive review score to a game he has made the assumption they would not like, that he never actually reviews the game; just spends his time pandering to the tastes of what he thinks people reading/watching his review will like.

In so many ways, it reminds me of an article I recently read about why the current culture of game reviews/reviewers are ultimately failing the industry,

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/08/21/steps-t...

So I stayed my hand on canning my pre-order until I can get some other opinions on Infinite Undiscovery. I will say this however, I think the reviewers got it dead wrong with Too Human (a rental which I am having a lot of fun with), far too many of the reviews I have read on that one, seem more interested in pandering to what they think people want to hear, than actually reviewing the game and giving their own honest opinion (good or bad) about their gaming experience. So I am getting all the more leary on what reviewers have to say about other games. Were it not for the people at Sarcastic Gamer, I would have completely skipped over Too Human and not given it a chance based almost solely on industry reviews.

http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2008/08/wha...

I've been gaming for decades now, and am well past the point where I feel that game reviews (both good and bad reviews) should sound like an itemized checklist; especially those that seem to place over-emphasis on non-essential elements of the game; or worse still, where game reviewers feel the need to pander to what they think I might like in a game. Hillary gives the game a 7.1 out of 10, but never sufficiently explains the score.

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Since 1070 Days

2008-08-28 18:36:50 In reply to alimokrane (2008-08-28 17:23:29)

Posted by alimokrane

Yea I don't get that complaint either. I assume to even make sense of the complaint it would have to be that tiy are required to even customize the sub party members, but I don't see how that's a problem with a game like this where the characters appear to have such unique abilities. If customization for each really is only seen as annoying because it's deep then that's not really a bad thing, that just adds more value to the game. With the situational battles, you'll sometimes have to run through certain areas because something is preventing you from properly exploring so you come back to check for stuff later.

Reviewer makes the sidequests sound like a bunch of crappy fetch quests, but I assume those fetch quests are simply an excuse for you to battle more and if the battle system is good, which it definitely appears to be aside from some slowdown here and there, then I probably won't mind that all so much and there is always the main story to go back to, which IGN says is actually compelling with nice twists and turns even in spite of their score. They even have a positive view of the main character and mention that the adventure to unchain the moon was was enjoyable.

Would've liked to get a small bit of info on the sidequests and what they entail because there was mention of you being able to do things that would positively or negatively affect the relationship between you and your party members and I unless I'm mistaken I think that also involved getting them stuff they would like based on what you read in their bio in menu. Either way I can't wait to get my hands on this and tov. My copy of Too Human is coming today. While I wait for the others I can probably beat that one in no time.

Very good point jolli I didn't think of that one. It can be annoying if all party members don't level up with the rest of the pack, but then that's only ever been really annoying for me in turn based title. I won't mind it so much in real-time combat game like this because I only have full control over the main character and the rest are made to sound pretty capable by IGN.

Oh and Jolli Valkyrie Profile 2 was around the same length too. It was made longer by being a completionist and wanting to do more things. Content, but I'm not sure how much, is left out depending on what difficulty you decide to play at and who knows if the reviewer spent much time going back and exploring areas they didn't have the time to stop and explore before. Don't forget Tri-Ace is also clearly putting a lot of work into Star Ocean at the same time.

Since 1061 Days

2008-08-28 18:47:04

Yea you have a good point they probably level up even if they aren't in use.

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Marumaro for the WIN !!

Since 1070 Days

2008-08-28 19:26:56

According to a GAF poster a German mag reviewed it

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1257076...

German 360 Mag "360-live" gave it an 8.8/10 stating that its "maybe the best jrpg for the 360 so far".

Can't say how credible their review might be since another GAF poster mentions that they say IU also has Japanese voices? Translation issue or maybe the review is totally wrong in that sense.

Since 1061 Days

2008-08-28 19:27:56

Why do you pay so much attention to reviews ?

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Marumaro for the WIN !!

Since 1108 Days

2008-08-28 19:45:21

Op is on fire these days! :D :D First Tales and now Infinite Undiscovery!

Since 1070 Days

2008-08-28 19:46:13

Why does anybody on a forum create a thread dedicated to reviews for a game they are interested in? It's helpful for those who are interested in the game.

I may not need them to help make up my mind, but I usually do like to read them regardless and naturally it does make sense to dedicate a thread to all the reviews for a specific game of interest.

Alimo, it was too human first, THEN tales and now IU :)

Don't expect it to happen for Last Remnant though since I'm very cautiously optimistic about that game and reviews will, in a rare case, actually play a pretty important role in helping to decide whether I get it or not. If I create a review thread for a game, then there is a pretty good chance I'm buying that game :D

Since 1108 Days

2008-08-28 19:49:57

Oh please do keep the OPTIMismUS ;)

Since 1061 Days

2008-08-28 20:03:09

Sorry I didn't mean for that to come across as why are you making a thread for this purpose, it's none of my business what you do.....

I meant to say why do you pay these idiots any attention, what you are doing is actually giving the sites like IGN and 1UP more hits and making them more sucessful, even though you don't agree with what they say and in some cases may not even like the site.

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Marumaro for the WIN !!

Since 1070 Days

2008-08-28 20:18:43

You do make a fantastic point. I guess the reason for it is that, even if I may not agree with them and in the case of 1up, not like the site very much, I still accept the reality of the matter that they do carry a lot of influence when it comes to opinions on a wide variety of games and, as such, they will always maintain some sort of relevance so there is no point fighting it and then sometimes they'll surprise you by doing a pretty good job.

Since 1070 Days

2008-08-28 23:08:06

From the video review, the customization appears to be 6 items max per character including the weapon.

Buying from a shop looks fairly nice and easy as well.

When you are in a shop to purchase new stuff, it not only shows you exactly which characters are able to use which weapons (Scimitar sword showcases both Capel and Sigmund's picture at bottom of description so you know that's a weapon only they use) Not only that at the left it showcases every single item that is equipped for not just capel, but you can switch between party members to see what they have equipped while still in the shop.

It would be nicer if, while in shop, you could also switch between equipped items for all party members.

Unless inventory system sucks or something I'm not seeing the big problem problem :P You can even sit down on the field to finish equipping your party if you didn't completely do so. Why exactly would you have to fully equip your characters before you leave? Why not just toss some crap on then finish whenever you feel like on the field when it's safe by sitting down?

Since 1108 Days

2008-08-28 23:12:57

Exactly. Besides, the whole customization of weapons/armor/skills/spells is what I love most about JRPGs ... organizing things and so on ... Dare I say, it's the most enjoyable part to be honest.

Since 1061 Days

2008-08-28 23:59:14

Well As long as it shows all characters armor and weapon upgrades in the shop (even those not currently with you or in your party) then I am fine.

I hate it when people leave the party to walk about town or whatever it is they do and you can't buy stuff for them because you can't check what they are wearing.

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Marumaro for the WIN !!

Since 1070 Days

2008-08-29 00:17:22

On top of that, you have the opportunity to choose between various abilities for anyone of those 18 characters (including capel) and set which 2 specific battle skills you want to map for the main character capel or anyone of the other 17 characters in the game.

Keep in mind, this isn't even touching on the Connect skills yet. This is all from the Battle Skills menu. This is just the stuff the ai partners will be able to do while fighting alongside you without you needing to tell them what to do, but you just get to specify which 2 you want them to concentrate on most as they back you up if they are going to use abilities.

Then when you go to the Connect Skills menu you get to set exactly which 2 skills you'll want to map to the x and y button so you can take control of specific character abilities or have your party members cast them on their own at your request. If you set sigmund's connect skills to superkick1 and superkick2 (made up names) when you choose to connect to sigmund in the heat of battle, those 2 skills will be the ones you'll be able to either take control of or have sigmund cast on his own.

Now one thing I noticed in that video that is shared between BOTH the battle skills menu and the Connect Skills menu is that you don't have to, like in some jrpgs, back out and go into a separate menu that only applies to a specific character when you want to now adjust the skills for another character in your party. From either the connect skills menu or the battle skills menu, you can one moment be looking at and setting battle or connect skills for Aya and from that very same screen simply press RB or LB and be already on your way to setting battle or connect skills for Sigmund.

It's pretty nicely setup I think. The reviewer, based on his own words, responds to this by saying "there's just too many stuff to manage and you don't really benefit from it."

Some of the skills I read do very different things like temporarily make your enemies fight on your side so what does he mean you don't benefit from them?

Then you also have to consider that party member abilities also possess special properties that range from a way to launch the enemy in the air, knock the enemy down or knock the enemy back or simply are beneficial for running up nice combos. Depending on which of the 3 you do, combo an enemy that has been knocked in the air, combo an enemy that has been knocked to the ground or simply comboing an enemy that is toe to toe with you, you gain a different kind of force reward to your party. So the character abilities you get to manage and choose between can be key in planning your battle strategy. Isn't that a benefit?

Well it's difficult if people don't understand what those benefits are. So what are they?

Successfully combo an enemy that has been knocked in the air?

You'll get Red Force which gives more experience points for your party than you would've received otherwise. So if you want more experience, pull off more aerial combos.

Successfully combo an enemy that is standing toe to toe with you?

You'll get Yellow Force which gives you more Action Points which are important because you need them to pull off your most impressive skills.

Successfully combo an enemy that has been smashed to the ground?

You'll get Green Force which will replenish the HP and MP of your entire party.

Sure sounds like benefits to me :P

The girl twin has a personality trait where she gets really confused whenever an enemy launches a surprise attack. She also has another personality trait where she's in a much better mood when her twin brother is in the party. Meaning she gets a stat boost when he's in and probably a stat decrease when he's not in. The brother of the 2 twins is hyperactive and never stops moving, but then he seems to be pretty good at finding things (that's a hint if I ever saw one)

Weird things to complain about I think.

Since 1070 Days

2008-08-29 22:19:36

http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3169677&p=4

B.

Seems the lip syncing may be not so great, I already knew there were some unvoiced cutscenes, mostly tutorial type cutscenes with more attention given to em from what I've seen. He also doesn't seem to hold anything back in regards to his dislike of the opening of the game.

entecillo

Since 620 Days

2008-08-30 10:19:21

I wont buy the game.... Why? Cos its not translated to my language. Spanish i mean. Oh, shit...Im so... disappointed...

Anyway, game looks great.

:(

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Pedro Alexander

Since 1108 Days

2008-09-03 15:52:44

gamespot review is up 6.5/10
http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/infiniteundisco...

I have no comment. I am paying £25 for the game so I cant complain :D

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RENT: SH5, ME, VP2, BK3, NarutoBB, SCVI, GAxe

2009: FF13, SC5, AW, RE5, Im Alive, Cry On, SO4, BG&E2, Bayonetta, Doom 4, LoShadow, SF4, Ninja Blade