Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Infinite Adventures RPG Review (part 2)


SPELL EMPOWERMENT
One thing I really loved about Infinite Adventures was the option to use that energy bar on the right to “empower” a spell and cause it to fire first in a round. Empowered heals saved my characters from dying so many times that I wonder how adventuring parties have ever lived without it in the past! A number of spells, including and healing spells, can also be adjusted in their targeting—for extra mana cost—to include not one but a full row of either your characters or enemy monsters. I particularly like using this feature to target the entire back row of enemy ranks where those nasty spellcasting shamans, wizards, and sorcerers like to hide out!

SKILLS AND CLASSES
I could spend a long time detailing the wide variety of skills, spells, and other abilities that each character class has available through well-designed skill trees. I couldn't help but create more characters than I could take with me just so I could try out each of the 10 classes and mix it up among 5 different races. I spent time going through the same parts of a dungeon just to level up some of my newbie characters and try out their skills in battle so I could decide on the perfect balance for my party. Infinite Adventures actually made this a very plausible option, too, because during my sorties, I could adjust the encounter rate whenever I wanted. When I took out a new party, I'd put the encounter rate as high as I could, but when they were beaten up and barely hanging on to their lives (or worse), I could turn the encounter rate to “none” and walk back home safely...if I'd forgotten to bring enough warp crystals with me (or couldn't afford any!) Sometimes turning the encounter rate to none helped give me a fighting chance with a fresh party when I went up against the difficult boss monsters.

LOOT
Piles of loot in a dungeon crawler is often a selling point for some, but for me, I've always liked the loot I find to feel more rewarding. I honestly dislike having so much loot that I have to spend tons of time sorting or selling it, spending more time in my inventory than in the game world. Yet the loot system in Infinite Adventures felt right to me. Instead of filling your loot bag with yet another bulky, heavy steel weapon, you find materials and runes as you explore. These materials can be taken back to town, and if you sell them to the blacksmith, it will allow him to use those materials to craft better weapons and armor than he could previously, which then go on sale. Your hard earned gold can then be spent on the best weapons and armor you can afford, which can also be improved through the use of magical runes that you find. There is even one character class that has skills you can unlock which increase the frequency of good “drops” from the monsters you encounter. Loot isn't the main focus of the game, thankfully.



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