THE moon is somehow now chained to Earth. Throw in a musician, an unlikely hero in a role-playing game (RPG) and make him the leader of a group trying to unchain the moon.
If nothing makes sense here, welcome to Infinite Undiscovery, the latest RPG from famed developer Square Enix.
CHEAT SHEET
Healing
Healing is one of the best abilities that your teammates have. With battles fought in real time, configure the settings such that your teammates can only use healing spells in a boss fight. This way, you are constantly healed and you don't have to worry about them casting anything else.
Giors and Harpies
These two creatures are scattered across the lands in the beginning and offer a whopping 200 and 120 experience points respectively. Consider taking down a dozen or so to gain enough points to level up several times if you have the chance.
Sneaking up
You can actually control the movement of Capell such that he can sneak up on enemies to gain a battle advantage. This is very useful early in the game when fighting strong enemies like the Giors.
It is also the first exclusive Japanese RPG for the Xbox 360.
Fans familiar with RPG games will feel right at home in this tale of a group of warriors trying to untether the moon to save our planet.
Capell, the musician, is mistaken as his heroic lookalike but, like in all RPGs, he comes through in the end.
While Infinite Undiscovery has the usual trappings of an RPG, including a title and premise that barely make sense, the game is actually fun to play and a must-have for fans longing for a decent adventure.
As with previous Square Enix offerings, the game is beautiful with richly rendered characters and movie-quality cut scenes.
The gameplay happens in real time though as there is no pausing of the game to consider options. Whether the hero is fighting off monsters or deciding to equip items, the game goes on. This means you could very well be ambushed in the middle of dressing up your party, which is a 'pause' mode in other RPGs.
If you are fighting a horde of creatures, you cannot pause the game to heal yourself as the enemies are still attacking even as you are busy looking for an item or spell. Chances are, Capell will be dead by then.
Awareness plays a huge part in this game as you can connect with teammates and use their special abilities. It could be as simple as using an arrow attack to destroy barriers or using a special ability to talk to animals to move on a quest.
All party members are also visible in this game, unlike other RPGs where only the hero can interact with the environment. So, even if you can avoid running into a monster, your party might not do the same, which can lead to some frustration during encounters.
As a whole, the real-time element works as it forces players to think on their feet instead of cheating by suiting up each time they fight a different monster.
As you are the de facto leader, you do have some say in guiding the party. For instance, you can select 'Save MP' so everyone uses regular attacks instead of Magic Points needed to activate spells. Teams can also be told to coordinate an attack or be given free play on the battlefield.
Controlling the party is kept simple with some common keys mapped out. The 'Y' button, for example, calls upon anyone in the party to start healing the injured.
The game is rather short in that there are not many side quests to perform. While the maps are huge, players are prevented from entering some areas if these are not part of the story yet.
Despite the rich graphics, the voice acting does not support the content. Cut scenes are merged with in-game sequences, but only the cut scenes have dialogue. Imagine watching the scene unfold only to find out in the next moment that you have to read the subtitles instead.
This article was first published in Digital Life, The Straits Times on Oct 22, 2008.
