Infinite Undiscovery

Okay, seriously, what’s the deal with that name? That was the first question we asked Director Yoshi Ogawa and Producer Hajime Kojima when they unveiled tri- Ace’s new Xbox 360 action-RPG at this year’s Tokyo Game Show. It’s about “discovery and impact,” they told us, going on to describe the endless hidden items for the player to find, each of which will have a big effect on the way you play the game. But what those things are that you discover, they won’t say yet. Um, okay…

While the full meaning behind the odd title may still befuddle us, we do know a bit more about the game. It is an action-RPG, meaning that battles take place in real time and the method for fighting them will ring familiar for fans of tri-Ace’s previous game series, Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile. Details about the story are still sketchy: all we know is that it has something to do with man being “bound in chains,” according to Ogawa and Kojima (we think they mean that figuratively, though), and that the moon is a major factor. But we definitely did see our main character dealing with some problems on a major scale, including humongous monsters and natural disasters such as tidal waves. Ooh, we have a feeling that pesky moon is involved.

Even though details are pretty limited at this time, we’re encouraged by another marcher in the grand parade of Japanese-style RPGs making their way to the Xbox 360, especially when they come from a fan-favorite developer like tri-Ace. With all of Infinite ’s promised features — including seamless movement from encounters to battles, party-member A.I. that you’ll mistake for human-controlled, and a limitless amount of “discovery” — consider us very interested in the potential it holds for RPG fans.