Customer Reviews
almost... but not yet there 
2008-11-13
I want to say I love this game, and perhaps I do, but there's a lot of gripes I have too.
The one thing I absolutely love about this game is the battle system. The seamless integration of field and battle system is certainly something in JRPGs. Some critics said the battles become just a button mashing event, I have to disagree there. Unless you grind to raise your levels, you have to evade/parry the enemies' attacks, watch out for any enemies that get close to your healer, try to kill the enemies in the back first, know when to use which attack, etc. Of course, you do have the option of grinding your way up to the point where battles become mere button mashers.
And here's my gripes. First, the game doesn't feel finished. In the towns, there's doors that don't open, there's stairs that are crudely blocked by crates on the steps, and there's invisible barriers that make no sense. There's also this weird peculiarity on the load screen after a game over that you have to use the directional pad and not the analog stick. Most of the people in the towns perfectly match one of ten or twenty or so character models right down to the clothes.
Second, you are given almost no directions on which way to go. There's this one part that tells you to go to "Fayel" ...and to get a general north/south/east/west direction, I had to speak to some random townspeople. A simple world map would've been nice if they were going to assume you know the way. Though I've heard people complaining that the exits from the field are hard to find, but if you just follow the wall, you can find them easily enough.
Third, aside from the main party members, the characters don't have much of a plot. This is a tri-Ace game, and I expected something like from the Star Ocean series where there'll be some optional events around a character to flesh him out. This game doesn't have them. To be fair, the few main characters are well developed.
I still want a sequel/prequel to this, though. The setting is quite interesting, and I'm pretty sure they could easily fit another plotline into it if they wish. Next time, though, I'd like a more carefully crafted and more detailed world along with more optional development for the non-main characters.
Almost kinda halfway came close to being almost there. 
2008-10-31
Role-playing games strike a tricky balance between gameplay and narrative that is easy to take for granted when everything goes together correctly. Infinite Undiscovery is sadly an example of how flawed design and myriad imperfections can mar an otherwise enjoyable adventure. Square Enix manages to provide the frame of a role-playing game epic that falls short on execution.
Some of that energy is siphoned off by a largely empty and repetitious world, some of it is drained by faulty scenario design, and much of it isn't allowed real depth because of the relatively short length. It's easy to grow fond of the characters and become involved in their plight, but the narrative is only one part of the whole.
Rough around a few edges, but very well done 2008-10-22
I've read a lot of positive and negative reviews myself, and most are fairly accurate. There's definitely a niche of gamers that this will really apply to, but should still be a worthwhile purchase (or rental for those who can play for a week straight) for any RPG fan in general.
The story is by far the strongest point. There will be times that make you cry, times that make you laugh, and times that make you so raging mad that you forget a certain character is fictional - like a good book. Great cinematics, great voice acting, great plot.
The combat is fairly hit-and-miss (no pun intended). It took me until my 15th hour of playing to really figure out how to use combos and party orders (focus, combo, free, etc) to my advantage. Learning how to get some HP and MP back by using ground combos was very important. However, there is rarely a chance to take advantage of Connect skills, since you can't call for healing while connected, and battles are too fast or too on-the-edge to bother with another character's skills. Many of the boss fights are great and very challenging - sort of from the Kingdom Hearts genre.
One major disappointment, although I am still a good 5 hours from the finish, is that the game brings strategic situations into play with a flourish, then all but ignore them for the rest of the game. The first hour of play is heart-pumping escaping and racing the clock, then soon after that is a great siege scenario... then it drops off to the occasional ho-hum "win before time runs out" scenario, if at all. They could definitely have taken advantage of multi-party situations more - so far there has only been one (absolutely fantastic) section where that occurred.
I couldn't be happier with my purchase, though, and the only reason I probably won't play through it again is that so many good RPGs have come out or are coming out for the 360 - Vesperia, Last Remnant, Fable II, etc... hard to keep up with!
Intricate Storyline 
2008-10-17
When i first put this game into my Xbox, i thought it was just going to be another Japanese games filled with cliches. The game starts off a bit weird and the storyline leading to the first boss is pretty weak, so i thought i would give it a few more days and if it didn't become interesting, i would give it up. Well quickly after this happens, it gets really detailed and in depth. The storyline is very very unique and the grapics are absolutely amazing.
The fighting is a bit simplistic and sometimes you die somewhat often, but it just adds to the excitement of gameplay- watching out for things that'll kill you. However, you can connect with other party members to perform special attacks, and with around 16 computer plays that you can put into your group (4 at a time) the possabilities are seemingly endless. The only other con I can think of is that they didn't adjust movements of the mouth when transfering it to English, so the mouths never match up with what they're saying. There is such a great storyline though, sometimes you don't even realize it.
Overall, Infinie Undiscovery is definately a game you should look into.
A real "love/hate" relationship 
2008-10-16
This game was awesome for some reasons and totally sucked for other reasons. So i'm gonna do the typical "pros & cons" review to keep it simple.
Pros:
-Almost no loading time: i mean zero ... the most loading you'll see is when you start up the game. Once you get going whether it's transitioning areas, entering battle, or even going in and out of buildings (an act that some games have murdered with load times) is all but instant.
-Awesome cinematics: Ya this story is HUGE on the storytelling thing. It can be a bit much i'll admit (like put your xbox into screensaver mode long cinematics :P) but the upside? -> you can just hit "select" and jump right thru them if you don't care about the storyline (which sadly is one of this game's strongest points.
-Good visuals: The graphics are of course stunning and the "world and dungeon" designs are all pretty unique. You won't see any copycat map setups here, each area has it's own unique layout that will keep you interested.
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Cons:
-Controls: while you have freedom of movement and can try to circle around your enemy to attack, the controls are lacking when it comes to actually attacking your enemy. You have 3 basic combos, and you gain special attacks as you level up that you can "chain" into your normal swings. And when i say "chain" i mean struggle to get an effective combo together. Basically your basic attacks are performed by tapping A or B and your special abilities are activated by HOLDING A or B, an act which, in my experience, the computer seems to have difficulty distinguishing between.
-Spectator Sport?: You are very involved early in the game; meaning the outcome of battles and events relied heavily on YOUR personal participation. However about half-way thru (either right before or right after i inserted the second disk) while i still found it enjoyable to beat on the trash mobs and minibosses, i soon realized that my role as an actual "player" would come to a grinding halt very soon. I think it was the second or third main boss i came up against when i realized this fact -> "Holy crap, for me to win this fight, i have to pretty much stay AWAY from the boss and let my secondary group (which can't die by the way) fight him themselves and when they weaken him enough i run in and hit the big chain that we're trying to destroy." Rinse and repeat that and you have the last few major boss fights. Sad right? My jobs were to: A. stay alive and B. hit the chain. Because heaven forbid i actually try to ATTACK the boss, he would 1 or 2 shot me into oblivion everytime.
-Saving: or lack thereof. Save points are few and far between almost to the point that i found myself constantly thinking "holy crap if i don't find a save cube soon i'm gonna have to do all this crap over again if i die!" which brings me to my next con ->
-Death: ya it sucks. Especially when you've been playing for half an hour or so and still haven't come across any save cubes so then you get to have the fun experience of repeating the aforementioned half hour of gameplay. And as i mentioned about the boss fights; it is VERY easy to die. You can die one of 2 ways: A. your whole party including you die (that's an immediate game over) or B. you die and some of your party is still alive; if they don't rez you in a certain amount of time .... ya you guessed it ... game over. It wouldn't be so bad except your CPU companions aren't all that bright. You could die ... and have a healer that could rez you in the group OR even a whole stack of rezzing potions in your inventory. So while you're laying there ... slowly dying ... you'd think that they would pick ONE of the 2 options to get you back in the game ... wel i'd say that happens about 50% of the time. I'm not joking. They CPUs are idiots ... so i won't even make a separate section in the cons for them.
-Skills and leveling: you level up like nobody's business in this game, but at what price? A lot of your time is spent scrolling through countless submenus making sure that none of your 12 or so party members hasn't learned a new skill that you should apply to their combat abilities. Not to mention the massive skill and item database. This game is so high maitenance i felt myself going cross-eyed trying to keep all the information straight. In fact to even USE any items you have to bring up the menu (which makes you stationary and completely defensless) and scroll through all of your other crap to find the healing or mana regen potions you thought you bought but you can't remember what they're called cause there's so many different kinds and while you were trying to find them either you or the rest of your party was killed cause you couldn't move or help them ..... ya that pretty much sums up item usage. There are so many other issues i had that would fall under "maitenance" that i really just dont' feel like listing them. Suffice it to say it seemed like a lot of work for very little benefit.
Summary:
Well if you like a good story and some nice cinematics this game is for you. If you like PLAYING a game maybe with a little bit of customization and some freeroaming quests, this game is NOT for you. And yes the only reason i rated this game 3 stars is cause i LIKE cinematic/storytelling games :P.
