8-9-2008

- Private Events are in! When PEs happen between the main character and a party member, there are dialogue options and stuff just like in the SO games!

- Party Connects in towns and villages! When in a town or village Capel can Connect with a party member like he does in battle, allowing the player to bring that party member along with Capel around the village to interact with people (and animals) to get results that he would not get alone!

NEW UPDATE JULY 3RD 2008

Gameplay:

Seamless - The combat in Infinite Undiscovery is seamless and there are no transitions. Like many other action RPGs and adventure games the battles take place in the same field of exploration.

Completely real time - The action in the game does not stop flowing, even when you need a time out from combat. Pressing the Back button will make the party sit down to rest, this also opens up the game menu allowing you to use items, change equipment and skills, and so on. But even then the action does not stop, if you do this in the middle of combat enemies will continue to attack without mercy. It is best to find a safe and quiet place before resting.

Draw your blade - The RT button will toggle Capel's combat status between active and passive. When you draw your blade for an active encounter, the rest of the party will follow suit. Should you decide withdraw and run instead, pressing RT again will sheath your sword and the rest of the party will stop fighting as well.

Basic combat - Pressing the A button delivers a normal attack on the targeted enemy, while the B button will deliver a heavy attack. Different combos will result in different sequences of attacks, with the heavy attack always being the final blow in a combo.

Reflect Drive - By timing the LT button at the right time, just before an enemy's blow hits Capel, he will perform a Reflect Drive counter. This counter attack strike will leave the enemy defenseless for a moment allowing you to retaliate with a deadly combo.

Battle Skills - As Capel gains various Battles Skills as he progresses, you will be able to map these attacks onto the X and Y buttons. Pressing the respective button in combat will trigger that skill. You can use a battle skill to finish a chain of regular attacks as well, instead of a heavy attack. Battle Skills take up MP when used.

Action Points - The vertical bar on the right of the screen represents the AP bar. When you gain Action Points, the AP bar increases and goes up. When an enemy is being attacked, the AP bar will indicate a level on the bar. If the current AP bar is higher than that level, heavy attacks and Battle Skills will gain an additional edge. Depending on the type of heavy attack or the individual Battle Skill, the enemy will either be struck into the air, knocked away or smashed onto the ground. This puts the enemy in a vulnerable position for additional combos.

Force - A successive series of combos on an enemy will result in Yellow Force gained for the party. This Yellow Force replenishes Action Points. When a successive series of combos are delivered on an enemy that has been struck into the air, Red Force will give the party additional experience points. A successive series of combos on an enemy that has been smashed onto the ground will result in Green Force, replenishing HP and MP for the party.

Connect Action - Similar to Battle Skills, Capel can also equip two Connect Actions for each party member, mapped to the X and Y buttons. In combat, hitting the RB button will show the Connect Guide which maps each of other other three party members onto a respective button - X, A and B. Hitting that button will connect Capel with that party member. When connected, Capel can still move normally and attack, but pressing X or Y will trigger the respective Connect Action which puts Capel in direct control of that character's respective skill for the moment.

Tactics - While the player controls only Capel, there are different party tactics that can be activated in battle. This will change the way the party behaves and give you better control over any given situation. There are available commands: Move freely, Split up and attack, Concentrate on one enemy, Stay behind and wait, Combo, and Conserve MP.

Party Relations - Sometimes during or after a battle, party members will request to rest and recover. The player can ignore such requests but it will affect relations with that character negatively. Likewise the player can check the personal data of party members when in the camp menu to discover that character's traits and personality. If there is something the character likes or wants, going out of your way to fulfil that request will impact relations with that character positively.

Jobs - Each and every character in the game has a job class. The job class of the characters serve as both character background development, as well as a template for the types of skills the characters have. As Capel is a flute player, he is able to play tunes that can unlock passages and support the party's status.

Situation Battle - Throughout the various fields and dungeons of the game, there are many scripted events known as Situation Battles. These situations will pop up throughout the game as you advance in the story. When you return to areas later, it will be possible to explore more freely without the tension and high octane pace of the scripted events, but whenever the player is advancing in the game, there will be many varied scripted scenarios thrown at you to keep the game exciting and challenging. Some situations will have more than one possible solution, while others will require the player to figure out how to overcome the problem.

Use all your senses - Aside from visual contact, enemies and monsters can be attracted to sound and smell as well. When visual senses are clouded or blocked, the minimap will reflect the other senses instead. If the player uses an item with a strong smell, or performs an action which creates a loud sound, enemies can still be drawn to the party even in darkness.

credits:
duckroll for the gameplay write up

Very extensive update today. They updated the world map, showing the 4 major regions in the world as well.

The Battle section is also updated with tons of more detailed gameplay specifics.

Tactics:

There are 6 party AI commands that can be active at any given time. Move freely, Split up and attack, Concentrate on one enemy, Stay behind and wait, Combo, and Conserve MP.

The Attack Point (AP) system is also explained in more detail, along with the Force system. I'll try to explain it in more detail because it's a little tricky to understand. You have two normal attacks (normal and heavy) as well as 2 battle skills that can be equiped at any time. Battle skills takes up MP, but normal attacks do not. At the same time, the heavy normal attack and most battle skills have "additional" physical attack properties. This can come in 3 possible forms - "knock back", "lift" and "knock down". This is when AP comes into play. The AP bar on the right has a "target" indicator which shows you how full the AP bar has to be, at least, before the targeted enemy you're locked on to will suffer those effects when you use a heavy attack or battle skill.

What does this mean? Say you have a battle skill that can lift the enemy into the air. If your AP bar is currently below the "target" indicator, you can use that skill to attack, and it'll take up MP as usual, but it will not lift the enemy into the air. If your AP bar is high enough, it will. So... why DO we care if enemies are lifted in the air, knocked back or knocked down? Well there are obviously advantages in gameplay as it's an action RPG and in these circumstances the enemy will be open to more combo attacks... BUT... the Force system makes it even more interesting.

The Force system rewards the player for pulling off combos (it doesn't have to be the main character that pulls off the combo, anyone in the party can do it, hence the Combo AI setting) on enemies in different circumstances. If an enemy if comboed while in a normal state, you gain yellow Force which fills up your AP bar (ah, so that's how we get AP), and as your AP bar fills up, it allows you to pull off the additional attacks as stated above. When an enemy is lifted in the air, all aerial combos will result in red Force, which is extra experience for everyone. When an enemy is comboed when in a knocked down state, green Force will result, which replenishes HP and MP for everyone.

Hope that helps!

Woooot!! Love the PAL cover Art SWEEET! The game looks very good but bear in my mind that screen taken off HDTV always look better.

Anyway, I love what I am seeing.


PS: Op, I love the thread title :D

Video from Xbox Event in Japan goes on Xbox Live THIS week.

Why thank you, I was hoping it would receive some love :D

I really like the graphics, but I know what you mean about the characters Lebato. They seem really nicely done from an artistic point of view.

Oh and I only ever play games they are off HDTV so that's what I'll be seeing only better !

I just want a solid framerate and man the gameplay sounds so exciting. How crazy is it though? The 360 is getting all these rpgs, it's insane. And we still have Tales of Vesperia and Star Ocean 4 on the way. I'm stunned by how good Star Ocean 4 looks.

The demo video looked pretty sweet, graphics looked fine to me but then I'm not a graphics whore like so many.

I wasn't impressed that not all the cutscenes weren't voiced, it's only a demo so I'm hoping the final version has this, I would have imagined by now games would support completed voices everything :P

European box art is pretty nice too, does that mean we will get it same day as the rest of the world ^^

Only a few days between each territory I think with Japan, oddly getting it last it seems.

OFFICIAL RELEASE DATES;

US: September 2nd
Europe: Septmber 5th
Japan: September 11th

HHmmm those 3 days are guna be hell .... :(

Hard to believe the XBOX brand has come this far... just a couple of years ago it was inconcievable for the XBOX to get any good JRPGs. Now I'm trying to figure out how to get all those games.

August: Tales of Vesperia
September: Infinite Undiscovery
Holidays 2008: The Last Remnant

August: Tales of Vesperia
September: Infinite Undiscovery
Holidays 2008: The Last Remnant

I dont want to start a flaming war but I am sure it would have been a different story if this was released on PS3 or Wii.

MS seems to be putting in the effort so that we get games here in europe at the same time as other regions. We always get screwed! It has certainly been the case with almost all their first party titles and they are even pushing 3rd party publishers to do the same especially Square Enix with IU and Last Remnant and we all know how much SE loves europe :S

There's something about the character's faces that's kinda creepy. I am hoping you have the option of ditching those little kids early in the game; preferably off a cliff.

why is there no other demo footage out there?

The demo footage was taken from Xbox insider on the JP marketplace I think, its first part, there will be another part tomorrow I think.