Infinite Space

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=...

Sega and Platinum Games' Infinite Space has had the worst luck spreading the word about itself. A spacefaring RPG for the Nintendo DS, it had the misfortune not only to be outshone (outgored) by Platinum's balls-out first release MadWorld, but for its Japanese debut in stores to coincide with E3 week, all but guaranteeing that few will notice overseas.

It's a bit of a shame, because apparently the game's a corker. Famitsu magazine rated it 9/9/8/8 for a total of 34 points in this week's issue, earning it a Gold award. "From the ship customization that reflects the player's tastes down to the tiniest detail to the battle difficulty (you are killed instantly if you let your guard down) to the vast and complex SF story; every aspect of this game is deeper than I imagined," wrote one reviewer. "The sheer volume is also overwhelming, and I applaud their efforts. There are some unkind parts of the game, but they are easily overpowered by the game itself."

Several other reviewers were similarly "overwhelmed" by the "vastness of the setting," which one found "simply staggering." High marks were generally given to the ship customization: "Customizing your ship doesn't seem very flashy, but it's highly addictive, and the customizations stick out pretty well from each other."

All this adulation came to Infinite Space despite the game's high learning curve. "The battles present a pretty high hurdle, and you can't even let your guard down in regular fights," one wrote. "It takes time to learn the tricks to battle, but the game stands up to extended play." Another agreed: "The game can be severe, with seemingly insignificant decisions having effects on the entire game situation. It seems complex at first glance, but the interface is easy to use and the game's simple to get into."

The US version of Infinite Space is due out later this year.

I'm a real sucker for sci-fi RPGs, and Platinum Games have a good track record. This sounds great.

I've had it preordered for a while.

Really?

Is there a firm release date?

I've been waiting patiently for the release of this game for a while now. Hopefully we get a launch date soon.

I'm seeing July 7 on multiple sites, though no official press release.

Edit: I doubt that's the real date, seeing as it just came out in Japan.

i preordered it from Amazon for July. I'm going to be playing this on my ride to HK in August.

Thanks for sharing, I'm intrigued enough to keep my ears open for more info.

I've been following this with interest. It's sounding more and more like a must-buy.

I'm a real sucker for sci-fi RPGs, and Platinum Games have a good track record. This sounds great.

Lard, I just realized this was the only sentence of your own, the rest came from the article. Anyway, I'm curious what you mean by Platinum Games having a good track record. Isn't the only game they've released been MadWorld? I'm assuming you're talking about the talent they have on the dev team.

Just curious.

garion333 wrote:
I'm a real sucker for sci-fi RPGs, and Platinum Games have a good track record. This sounds great.

Lard, I just realized this was the only sentence of your own, the rest came from the article. Anyway, I'm curious what you mean by Platinum Games having a good track record. Isn't the only game they've released been MadWorld? I'm assuming you're talking about the talent they have on the dev team.

Just curious.

Platinum Games is what became of Clover, the dev studio responsible for Viewtiful Joe and Okami. God Hand too, but I never played that one. They also worked on the original Devil May Cry. They're making Bayonetta, too. Madworld was their first release under the new name.

Totally gonna buy this when it comes out, too. Is it turn based?

So a western release is definite? Awesome. I'm up for some Itano-Circus + Star Control.

This is, according to IGN's summer preview, coming out on July 7th, 2009.

Either Sega is grossly inadequate at promotion or IGN has totally screwed up.

http://ds.ign.com/articles/996/99615...

This is, according to IGN's summer preview, coming out on July 7th, 2009.

Either Sega is grossly inadequate at promotion or IGN has totally screwed up.

http://ds.ign.com/articles/996/99615...

garion333 wrote:
I'm a real sucker for sci-fi RPGs, and Platinum Games have a good track record. This sounds great.

Lard, I just realized this was the only sentence of your own, the rest came from the article. Anyway, I'm curious what you mean by Platinum Games having a good track record. Isn't the only game they've released been MadWorld? I'm assuming you're talking about the talent they have on the dev team.

Just curious.

The talent on the dev team - which is basically the same as it was for Clover Studios.

I picked this up today after reading and hearing some generally positive things about this game. I played an hour or so and it seems to have potential but it's difficult to tell because i've heard it's 60 hrs long and deep with a steep learning curve.

If anyone is still curious about this giant bomb has a quick look

http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-...

I have this thirty dollar best buy certificate burning a hole in my pocket, and I'm spending it tomorrow on either this or Red Steel 2. I'm leaning RS2, but only because I have a good deal of Pokemon SS left to take up all my portable gaming time.

Then again, the breadth of things it sounds like you do in this game sounds really awesome...

I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't have IS, actually.

I'm pretty deep into it now. It starts off with a lot of lame cliches but it does shed a number of them relatively early on. I just got my first ship with a super mega hyper death cannon special weapon.

My biggest problem with this game is that you basically NEED a walkthrough. There are so many non-descript locations and 9 times out of 10 when you click an option in the tavern you just get one of several long, canned conversations (that you can thankfully speed up with the shoulder buttons). Then sometimes, seemingly by picking random options multiple times in JUST the right taverns, you can get new crew members, new missions, new ship components, etc. In other words, it's REALLY easy to miss stuff and once you have, you can't always go back for it.

I still have no idea what I'm doing in this game... Granted, I'm only an hour or so into it, but man, is this game odd.

Compelling (so far), but odd.

I put a few more hours in and am enjoying it. The battle system isn't the greatest but even at the low levels I've noticed major differences at how my ship performs by moving crew to different areas and switching out ship parts. It seems like a game i'll need paper or my iphone with me when I play to keep notes. There is no mission journal or log and references to places to go or people to meet are dropped kind of casually.

IUMogg wrote:

There is no mission journal or log and references to places to go or people to meet are dropped kind of casually.

That part of the game is designed pretty poorly. Like I said, it's also really easy to miss stuff if you don't backtrack to every single planet you have access to and talk to everyone at least twice every time you advance the plot. I'd recommend everyone play with a walkthrough, at least the first time.

Last night I got the blueprints to a gigantic battleship with a huge beam cannon as its special weapon. It is a very nice ship, even though it cost me 200,000G to build and outfit it and it sadly does not have fighters. Or AA, for that matter. Keep in mind that getting this ship was a three-step process and the game offers you absolutely zero indication that any of the steps will lead you to a shiny new ship. In fact, one seems to be the objectively wrong thing to do. It also kind of sucks when the guy who gave me the ship told me that it's super unique, the only one of its kind, massively expensive and the result all this super classified research, all the while SHOWING me the ship... only to hand me the blueprints and tell me to go make my own. I guess the one he showed me was a display model?

Early in the game, combat seems a little more random and battles are a lot closer since you really have no choice but to get in there and butt heads, and your firepower is usually on par with your enemy's (or a bit worse). Later in the game you start to overpower most enemies (I'm flying a fleet of 1 carrier and 4 battleships while it's extremely rare the enemy has even 1 carrier and 1 battleship). You also get fighters.

Fighters are extremely expensive; carriers are the most expensive ship class and you need a lot of fighters to start doing significant damage. I have a fleet of 150 fighters across all ships and they cost 500G a piece. You'd be best served looking for cruisers - and later, battleships - that have catapults rather than going the pure carrier route as carriers are ONLY good for launching fighters.

Buy an Askold cruiser as soon as you can. It's a solid ship all around and one of the earliest ones that can launch fighters. That early in the game you won't be doing a ton of damage with a fighter attack (think, 1 damage per tick, compared to the 350 my fleet does now) but once enemy fighters start showing up that's the best way to deal with them. The alternative is sitting still and plinking away with AA, which renders you immobile and takes up a weapon slot. Later on in the game the Agrell battleship is a great replacement for the Askold.

That said, once you have a good fighter fleet going you can pretty much roll over anything. They have unlimited range, ignore formation bonuses, and regenerate lost fighters as long as they aren't deployed. It's just that upfront cost that'll kick your ass.

OK, something I just learned. When you beat the game you unlock two new game types, a New Game + kind of thing and an Extra Mode.

In New Game +, you get to keep all the money you had at the end of your last game and some of your characters maintain their level and skills. Not all of them. You do not keep your reputation. You do not keep your ships. You do not keep your actual crew members (you still need to go recruit them). You do not keep your blueprints. All you get is your money and EXP. This was a huge disappointment for me since I wanted to try some of the other branches without giving up my awesome fancy ships. It's also kind of silly how you're still panicking about money in the very beginning even with 100,000G in your pocket.

In Extra Mode you need to move through a bunch of reorganized maps, fighting bosses. You start off with 20,000G, all of your blueprints, and every crew member. That includes some characters you couldn't recruit in the main game (my ship's waitress is President Brian, not because he's any good at it but because I am an asshole). I've only played it long enough to pick up an Askold with some top-tier fighters. It feels a bit like the opposite of New Game +.

I don't think I'll be playing through again. Note that my first playthrough was still 50 hours, and that was with a walkthrough telling me exactly where to go and what to do, even when the game gives you no real indication and expects you to wander. I might play around with the Extra mode a bit more since it feels more like what I want out of the game (less plot, more pew pew pew).

Extra mode sounds much more interesting.

Since I put this game on the backburner for other, less portable games I'm curious what walkthrough you ended up using Lobster. This one looks more thorough than the other one on GameFAQS.

That is indeed the walkthrough I used.

Also, WTF, change your avatar back.

LobsterMobster wrote:

That is indeed the walkthrough I used.

Also, WTF, change your avatar back.

In a few days. James Cameron is hilarious and I made an avatar of him. Did you see what I did there? Did you?

garion333 wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

That is indeed the walkthrough I used.

Also, WTF, change your avatar back.

In a few days. James Cameron is hilarious and I made an avatar of him. Did you see what I did there? Did you?

No. I do not see you. >_<

garion333 wrote:

In a few days. James Cameron is hilarious and I made an avatar of him. Did you see what I did there? Did you?

Is that who that's supposed to be? What's he got on his head?

Hmm, I thought more internet goers would've seen the article. I just thought he looked absurd.

Oh, he does.

Finally picked this up. I wanted it on release but figured I'd get it when it went on sale. But the print run was so small it never did. Has been $30 and up on Amazon for a couple years it seems. Had it on my wishlist forever.

Finally on a whim checked Gamestop the other day and the one closest to me had a copy, or so it said. Found it, in the used drawer instead of out on display which is probably why it was still there. And only $15. Good enough for me. :cooL:

Stele wrote:

Finally picked this up. I wanted it on release but figured I'd get it when it went on sale. But the print run was so small it never did. Has been $30 and up on Amazon for a couple years it seems. Had it on my wishlist forever.

Finally on a whim checked Gamestop the other day and the one closest to me had a copy, or so it said. Found it, in the used drawer instead of out on display which is probably why it was still there. And only $15. Good enough for me. :cooL:

I struggled with this one. It's got some compelling aspects but it is also exhibits some of the worst habits of the JRPG design philosophy. A walkthrough is almost essential. There is no quest journal and there are situations which only occur if you talk to the same person multiple times, or go back to planets you would not think to visit. A blind playthrough requires tons of backtracking and guesswork.

I wasn't crazy about the lack of a New Game + option. Even if they'd just let me keep all my designs, so I could play through and unlock the ships I had to miss the first time around. But no, nothing carries over.

Yeah I saw your guys tips from before and have that FAQ up as I played. Only ran through the tutorial and first couple planets this weekend. Seems interesting enough, although I can already tell the battle cutscenes are going to be way too long and I'll be skipping them soon.

Seriously a scene for powering up weapons, a scene for shooting, another scene for damage. Can't I just hit attack and see "pew pew" once? Do I need 3 different camera angles and all these dramatic pauses for every turn of a battle?

Still, RPG... in space! Will play a lot more just because.