thirdworldgamer

I've finally finished Infinite Undiscovery. Here are my final thoughts on the game: - I like the combat system implemented in the game. I encountered no problems with my A.I. controlled party members, although half the time I'm wishing I could switch between characters or sub-parties. - The environments are very wide and don't feel like they have set paths, however, as a whole, the game's world feels much smaller compared to other JRPG worlds. Some scenarios require that you backtrack to previous towns. - There's no shortage of in-game real-time cutscenes. They do a good job of telling the story; I can imagine some players finding too many cliches' in the plot, however. I enjoyed it for what it was and I liked the overall execution of the story. The only thing I didn't like was the ending---I mean, the ending itself is good and lengthy and it has a lot of scenes with the other characters (which I liked), but I did not like the scene that appears right after ...

Just got past the Cobasna Timberlands in Infinite Undiscovery. For the first time, in a very, very long time, a video game has forced me to play with a pen and paper by my side, to draw out the map of the explorable terrain. The Cobasna Timberlands have these magical barriers that teleport you around the map. If you're thinking of just running from point A to point B in this area, you'll be either surprised or sorely disappointed. The way the barriers teleport you can feel very 'random' and I think most people will find themselves totally lost in this area. Tonight I found myself near the point of frustration. I never thought I'd have to get a pen and paper and map out the teleporters in the map to figure out how exactly I would get to my destination. Maybe I was just feeling lazy. Why should I even bother using a pen and paper and why should I map this out separately? Shouldn't the game tell me where to go by this point? I had already finished the main quest i...

When Tales of Vesperia got released in Japan a few weeks ago, the Xbox 360 saw a huge sales spike which overwhelmed the local Xbox office in Japan so much that they had to issue an apology to their buyers. For this week, MS Japan managed to fulfill the increasing demand for the Xbox 360 in Japan; and as posted earlier, their efforts helped them beat the Nintendo Wii and sell Square-Enix's latest offering in the JRPG genre. I got a message from my friend in Japan, Yusuke Caiman, and he gives some account of what's going on over there: My message: "I just hope Xbox Japan continues to fare well; their continued success also spells success for gamers, since it will inevitably attract more Japanese developers to make games for the Xbox 360." To which Yusuke responds: "I hope so too & 360 console supply must continue for that. I checked 5 my neighbor game shop & big electric store. In week of ToV, all of them sold out regular 360, but had a few Arcade & Eli...

I reached the End of Disc 1 of Infinite Undiscovery after 10 hours of play. Some might think that's disappointing; but actually that isn't a bad length for being halfway through a JRPG, considering Eternal Sonata took 10-12 hours to complete. (Note#2: Too Human also took exactly 10 hours to finish, though it isn't a JRPG). The description for the game on Play-Asia promises a story worth about 30 hours, so I'm guessing I might reach the end of this in 20 hours. By the end of Disc 1, one thing really stands out for this game: the fact that it lets so many of your party mates be on the field at one time. Granted, you only really have control of one character, and you can only give orders to three other characters. The rest of the party that you didn't pick for your own party are assigned by you to sub-parties, who travel on their own and accomplish their goals. The thing is, they travel on their own by your side , so as you're fighting on the countryside, there...

It's a JRPG invasion over here.... now that both Tales of Vesperia and Infinite Undiscovery are in the house, it's been JRPG paradise for the past few days (with the occasional Ninja Gaiden II for the sake of variety) :D [Note: Both me and Wuffy are using my gamertag : SCYTHERAGE to play Infinite Undiscovery and Tales of Vesperia respectively, so if you want to see how far we're into both games, check my 'scytherage' gamercard.] Wuffy's been playing ToV for over 30+ hours now and she doesn't seem to be near the end yet. Of course it's better to read her impressions. I do find myself constantly impressed by the graphics of ToV whenever I look over my shoulder [as I'm typing on this computer] to see her playing the game. The one thing which sticks out for me (as what you'd call a 'bystander'; someone who just casually sees the game, since Wuffy is the one playing it), is the sheer number of voice dialogue in Tales of Vesperia. It seems to ...

First impressions [I've learned my lesson from Too Human, so don't take this as a recommendation just yet...] - The graphics are great, so far. There's this "pause" that happens when you're in combat, but it isn't really framerate stutter; it feels more like that effect in some games to emphasize the action. You know what happens when you hit something in Street Fighter II? The sprites have this odd 'pause' to put emphasis on your hits? Same thing happens in Infinite Undiscovery. I think some might construe it as framerate stutter, when it seems more like a 'special effect'. At least that's the way I see it. The bottom line is, it didn't have any negative effects on the gameplay. So far, so good (after about 2+ hours of play) - Great art style, well rendered environments. It has this slightly cartoony look but it's clearly a design choice (Anime-styled look overall, but not cell-shaded.) - When I left the prison at the start o...

It seems the deluge of games for the Xbox 360 is about to begin. I'm barely done with Soulcalibur IV (I'm still enjoying the online mode immensely) and I'm in chapter 4 of Ninja Gaiden 2 , and here comes three more big Xbox 360 titles: Too Human - I'm getting this despite what the reviews out there are saying. I have a feeling the reaction in the reviews is more because of Denis Dyack's little stunt on Neogaf rather than weighing in on the game's actual merits. I've posted earlier about not 'understanding' the game after three tries, only to figure it out on my third attempt...apparently there's fun to be had in the game, and I think that's the whole point. Tales of Vesperia - be prepared to read a lot of posts from my wife about this game. Hmm...if that's the case, I'm not going to have that much time playing on the 360 since she'll be using it... O_O ... Uh oh.... Infinite Undiscovery - Another RPG!? This month is going to l...