Infinite Possibilities

All good things come to those who wait — the mantra of many an RPG fan who’s owned both Xbox and Xbox 360. And thankfully, the past holiday season treated us kindly with the arrival of both Mass Effect and Lost Odyssey. Mistwalker’s labor of Unreal Engine 3–powered love was a special boon for those of us raised on the age-old console-RPG philosophy of pretty-boy polygons, healing herbs, and turn-based battling.

But just as we’re shaking off the hazy dreams of Kaim and Co.’s journey through immortality, Square Enix, the granddaddy of console roleplaying, goes ahead and unveils the nuts and bolts of its new, tri-Ace–developed magnum opus on Xbox 360. Say hello to Infinite Undiscovery and our exclusive reveal!

Identity Cleft
The world within Infinite Undiscovery has an obsession with the moon. But currently it’s unrequited. Some mean men have gone and formed the Order of Chains under the command of the king bad, who calls himself Dreadknight. What did the Order of Chains do? They done chained up the moon, turning the entire planet’s landscape into nothing but a bleak wasteland. And along the way, they’ve captured you — or more correctly, some young guy named Capel, whom the Order has nicknamed “The Liberator” for reasons currently unknown.

But if you stayed imprisoned forever, there’d be no game — thus arrives the lovely, bow-and-arrow­–equipped Aya to spring you from your shackles and whisk you off to safety under the protection of rebel warriors. But the real catch? The warrior leader — a noble knight named Sigmund — looks exactly like you. He’s the real “Liberator.” So who are you? Are you just a doppelganger, or does something truly heroic lie within you, too? That’s the real thematic crux of tri-Ace’s brave new journey onto Xbox 360 — a mad mix of fantasy storytelling, clever new gameplay mash-ups, and…smells? Huh?

Random Acts
A beloved innovator, tri-Ace (see sidebar, page 3) is known for refusing to settle for turn-based battles. With Infinite Undiscovery, the developer seeks to push the JRPG combat system even more out of its comfort zone by incorporating the studio’s take on real-time fights. You can encounter enemies at any time in the field — even when you think you’re safely checking your inventory in the menu.

And when you do, the scene doesn’t shift to a separate, enclosed environment (à la Lost Odyssey or the Final Fantasy series) — instead, the whole thing happens seamlessly. You’ll instantly begin the fight with up to three other characters, where you can chain together different attacks, both light and heavy, or opt to execute moves that launch foes into the air so you can slam them down to the ground. Your attacks can be paired with those of your fellow party members, too. But the main thing to note is that you’re able to control only one party member at a time during a struggle, and tri-Ace isn’t ready to ante up details on exactly how or if you’ll be able to hot-swap between allies in the heat of battle.

123NEXT