Infinite Undiscovery

Infinite Undiscovery (インフィニット アンディスカバリー, Infinitto Andisukabarī) is an action role-playing game developed by tri-Ace and published by Square Enix for the Xbox 360 in September 2008. It tells the story of the main character Capell and his journey to sever the chains that are holding the moon, with the help of the Liberation Force. The game received mixed to positive reviews from critics.

Infinite Undiscovery
Developer(s)Tri-Ace
Publisher(s)Square Enix[1]
Producer(s)Hajime Kojima
Designer(s)Hiroshi Ogawa
Programmer(s)Yoshiharu Gotanda
Artist(s)Yukihiro Kajimoto
Writer(s)Ryo Mizuno
Shoji Gatoh
Composer(s)Motoi Sakuraba
EngineAska[2]
Platform(s)Xbox 360
Release
  • NA: September 2, 2008
  • AU: September 4, 2008
  • EU: September 5, 2008
  • JP: September 11, 2008[3][4]
Genre(s)Action role-playing
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

Infinite Undiscovery is based on the player making real-time decisions that can affect the outcome of the story. These decisions can occur at any time, even while the player is going through inventory in the menu.

The player controls the main character, Capell, from a third-person perspective while three other characters are controlled by AI. The player fights battles with this team of four, or sometimes with multiple teams formed from a possible 18 characters. In battle, Capell has the ability to use connect actions, which give him access to other team members' skills.

The game was originally meant to transition between day and night every 10 minutes, giving the player different opportunities; for instance, stealth would be easier at night. However, this system was later removed. Director Hiroshi Ogawa explained that other forms of stealth remained in the game: “As an example, when you’re running away from a hunting dog, you can distract him by dropping apples from the trees. However, the guards may catch you when they hear the thud of the apples.”[5]

Plot

Infinite Undiscovery takes place in a world where the Dreadknight Leonid and his Order of Chains bound the world to the Moon from all regions. The Main Chain is attached to the castle in the fallen Kingdom of Cassandra (formerly the kingdom of King Volsung) - wherein Leonid's headquarters lies. Any region bound with a Chain suffers blight consequences: crops wither and animals die. Thus, Sigmund the Liberator goes forth, alongside his Liberation Force, to unchain the world. An unwitting young man, Capell, is fatefully thrown into this conflict, of which he wants no involvement. Inevitably, these chain of events will change his life and those around him, forever...

Development

Infinite Undiscovery was announced in September 2006 by Famitsu.[6] Initially it was believed that Microsoft would publish the game,[7] but at TGS 2007, Hajime Kojima and Hiroshi Ogawa stated that Square Enix would take over publishing duties because they have more "know-how" with RPGs.[8] However, since Microsoft was the original publisher, it holds the trademark for the game[9] and shares the copyright with Square Enix.[10]

According to tri-Ace co-founder and R&D programmer Yoshiharu Gotanda, the game is set to contain 10 years' worth of ideas that can finally be realized with the Xbox 360, and with it, role-playing video games "will undergo a true evolution."[11] Tri-Ace wished to achieve this by putting the player through "situational battles" that would lead to "unknown discoveries" and cause permanent changes to the world.

The game was directed by Hiroshi Ogawa and produced by Hajime Kojima, both of whom are also credited in the tri-Ace titles Star Ocean: Till the End of Time and Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth. Tri-Ace president Yoshiharu Gotanda signed on as the game's lead programmer. Scenario was handled by ORG Ltd., including Ryo Mizuno and Shoji Gatoh. The game's characters were designed by Yukihiro Kajimoto.

The English dub was the first title released from New Generation Pictures's Shanghai Studios. As such it features voice actors from Texas and Los Angeles, as well as a large helping of new talent from Shanghai.

Reception

By September 30, 2008, Infinite Undiscovery had shipped 120,000 copies in Japan, 200,000 copies in North America, and 90,000 copies in Europe.[26] The game also sold 96,000 copies by its third week.[27] Famitsu gave it a total score of 32 out of 40 from four reviewers (9, 8, 8, 7).

Internationally, the game received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[12] IGN said, "This isn't a game marred with horrendous bugs or unplayable combat. And it's not boring. It's just misguided. The story is intriguing enough that RPG fanatics should at least give this a rental."[23] 1UP.com said, "Undiscovery is absolutely worth playing through at least once, with the regrettable caveat that it really could've been so much more."[28] GamePro said, "In the end, Undiscovery isn't a bad game but it is seriously flawed. I'd recommend renting it before you invest your hard earned cash on a purchase, especially if you're new to the RPG genre."[17] GameSpot felt that the game was too flawed to reach its potential.[19]

References
  1. "Infinite Undiscovery Coming Soon to the Xbox 360!". Square Enix. September 12, 2007. Retrieved August 22, 2008.
  2. Romano, Sal (April 2, 2010). "tri-Ace working on unannounced game using ASKA engine". Gematsu. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  3. Bramwell, Tom (May 22, 2008). "Xbox 360's Infinite Undiscovery dated". Eurogamer. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  4. "Square-Enix announces RPG Line-up for Xbox 360". Square Enix. June 10, 2008. Retrieved August 22, 2008.
  5. Reyes, Francesca (April 28, 2008). "Infinite Possibilities (Page 2)". Official Xbox Magazine. Archived from the original on May 2, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  6. Gantayat, Anoop (September 15, 2006). "Infinite Undiscovery Discovered". IGN. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  7. "Microsoft Showcases Library of Nearly 110 High-Definition Xbox 360 Games at the Tokyo Game Show". Microsoft. September 20, 2006. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  8. GameSpot staff (September 21, 2007). "TGS '07: Infinite Undiscovery Q&A Session". GameSpot. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  9. "Microsoft Trademarks". Microsoft. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  10. tri-Ace (September 2, 2008). Infinite Undiscovery (Xbox 360). Square Enix. © 2008 SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. / Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Developed by tri-Ace Inc. (back of case for Infinite Undiscovery)
  11. Nolan, Richard (June 21, 2008). "Infinite Undiscovery - preview". Play.tm. Archived from the original on July 1, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  12. "Infinite Undiscovery for Xbox 360 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
  13. Sterling, Jim; Bennett, Colette (September 14, 2008). "Destructoid review: Infinite Undiscovery". Destructoid. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  14. Edge staff (November 2008). "Infinite Undiscovery". Edge (194): 95.
  15. Whitehead, Dan (September 8, 2008). "Infinite Undiscovery". Eurogamer. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  16. Juba, Joe (October 2008). "Infinite Undiscovery: Great Combat Mechanics Overcome a Formulaic RPG Plot". Game Informer (186). Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  17. Herring, Will (August 29, 2008). "Is Infinite Undiscovery the next great 360 RPG? Uh, not really". GamePro. Archived from the original on September 1, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  18. Tan, Nicholas (September 30, 2008). "Infinite Undiscovery Review". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on September 8, 2015. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  19. Massimilla, Bethany (September 2, 2008). "Infinite Undiscovery Review". GameSpot. Retrieved November 28, 2015.
  20. Stratton, Bryan (September 10, 2008). "GameSpy: Infinite Undiscovery". GameSpy. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  21. "Infinite Undiscovery Review". GameTrailers. September 11, 2008. Archived from the original on September 14, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  22. Knutson, Michael (September 11, 2008). "Infinite Undiscovery - 360 - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on September 15, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  23. Goldstein, Hilary (August 27, 2008). "Infinite Undiscovery Review". IGN. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  24. Reyes, Francesca (November 2008). "Infinite Undiscovery". Official Xbox Magazine. Archived from the original on September 8, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  25. Garmer, Sean (November 3, 2008). "Infinite Undiscovery (Xbox 360) Review". 411Mania. Archived from the original on November 17, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  26. "Results Briefing Session: The First-Half of the Fiscal Year ending March 31, 2009" (PDF). Square Enix. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  27. "【ゲームソフト販売本数ランキング TOP30】 集計期間：2008年9月15日〜9月21日 - ファミ通.com" [[Game software unit sales rankings TOP30] Period: September 15–21, 2008 - Famitsu.com] (in Japanese). Famitsu. October 3, 2008. Retrieved April 28, 2013.
  28. Fitch, Andrew (August 29, 2008). "Infinite Undiscovery Review". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on July 11, 2012. Retrieved November 28, 2015.
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