The first thing that caught my
attention about the Infinite Adventures video game is that it is an
RPG. Anything and everything that bears that title will at least get
a second glance from me. When I started reading about Infinite
Adventures and viewing some of the screenshots and videos, I became
even more interested. The game has a very old-school turn-based
“Wizardry” feel to it, with a first-person perspective common in
dungeon crawler games such as Elminage, Stranger of Sword City, and
Demon's Gaze, to name a few. One of the reasons I chose to purchase
this game was because I read a little background info about the
developer, Stormseeker Games, and discovered this game was designed
and programmed by one guy. As a solo game developer myself, I know a
little about what that's like, and I really wanted to be supportive
of the effort. I was glad I did after I started playing Infinite
Adventures!
BATTLES
To be honest, there are a lot of games
done in this style and though I continually try to get into them, I
always end up quitting before solving them. One thing that often
deters me is the grind—when the game starts to feel endlessly
repetitive and I'm pressing the same buttons, going through the same
sequences as fast as possible, I quickly start to lose interest. The
point of a dungeon crawl, in my opinion, is to have fun managing the
various skills of your party to compliment each other and survive
dangerous encounters, taking advantage of tactical options and
monster weaknesses while managing your resources carefully to emerge
from each battle successfully. Thankfully, Infinite Adventures does
this quite well, and adds in a few innovations that embellish the
experience even further.
RESOURCES
Depending on which character class you
choose for each of the six characters in your party, you have four
different resources to manage, including mana, rage, focus, and
astral. Mana is traditional for spellcasters, and it depletes from a
starting max pool until it's empty. Rage is a resource used by
warrior type classes, and though it starts 0 in an encounter, it
accrues based on the damage you deal or suffer over time. Focus is
used by finesse or precision type classes that can specialize in the
use of ranged attacks, such as a ninja or a technocrat, and these
classes begin with a maxed pool that replenishes over time during
battle. Finally, astral is used by the Stormseeker class (named after
the company, Stormseeker games), which absorb magic with their giant
greatswords and then use it to fuel powerful skills. With all these
resources to manage during a battle, the strategy is already built in
to each encounter, making timing and sequence very important.
TACTICAL OPTIONS
However, the strategic options don't
end with the resources in Infinite Adventures. There is a 5-slot bar
on the right side of the screen that fills up over time during an
encounter, and you can use this energy to power “Kessens,” which
are one-shot powers like: a guardian wall that reduces incoming
damage by 50%, a free attack from all 3 of your front characters, a
ranged attack from all 3 of your rear characters, or an ability based
on some of the choices you made during the development of your main
character at the beginning of the game. But wait, there's more...
No comments:
Post a Comment