Infinity 3

INTRODUCTION
I now come to my final Infinity review. I've played all three games and the experience has been very interesting. This, the third installment is simultaneously very different and very much the same as the others. Playing the saga has given me a lot of food for thought, and I think I'll be giving my thoughts on the series as a whole plus the whole open world RPG concept in an article in the next few days. But without further a do, here is my review of Infinity 3 by Nick.


The engaging NPC conversations return!

STORY
It's the same old scenario. In Infinity 3 you take on the role of Solo, an adventurer of whom we do not know the origin. The player may do as he pleases in an open world. There are "story" quests plus multiple side ones. There didn't really seem to be any link between the story quests a part from the fact that they granted you access to new areas of the map. There is no real story to talk of, and the dialogues were mediocre. But that's not why we play Infinity, is it?


The HUD was quite imposing; feeling closed-in?

GAMEPLAY
The gameplay has definitely improved since the first two installments. It's generally more fun to play and seems faster paced. There's a lot more combat, combat that has finally left an arena and takes place in the real world. However, you can grow your party very easily and quickly, thus making the fights very easy. Furthermore, does no one else find the enormous party of players a little ridiculous? This may just be a question of personal taste, but I think I would have preferred to have my followers invisible rather than have them follow me around like some giant conga.

There aren't actually that many quests. I played the game for two hours and I think I've seen everything. There were a few moments that got your adrenaline pumping, such as the moment in the snowy castle, or out at sea... But mostly the missions were rather anti-climactic and somewhat disappointing. The same problem I have with the rest of the series comes back; I just didn't feel like anything I did mattered. I didn't care about any of the characters, it didn't engage me.


If you ever get bored, you can always play snake!

DESIGN
Unlike the last two games, Infinity 3 was made in VX Ace. We're looking at unchanged RTP tilesets. I actually prefer the visual design of Infinity 2. This one was pretty solid, good use of the RTP, solid mapping skills, but didn't have the same style as the second did. Plus the fat HUD bothered me a bit; were the constant map coordinates on the bottom right of the screen really necessary? There was also some nice use of scripts for things like particles, leaves floating about etc...

The music was mainly well chosen, a part from a couple of maps were I found it a tad aggressive (I'm think of Liberta City for example).


The farming system, a timer...

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I am genuinely sorry to say that Infinity 3 disappointed me. The world didn't seem quite as infinite as I had hoped. Plus I was expecting a lot more from a game that was nominated for Best Game Mechanics in 2012's Misaos. It is however a huge improvement on the last two in most areas. It's definitely a fun game to play, and worth spending half an afternoon on.

I'm giving it the mark of 3,5. I know I may have seemed rather critical in this review, but it is still a very enjoyable game. It makes you laugh, doesn't take itself too seriously, and delivers to some extent most of the things it promises. Also, I would like to thank developer Nick for the effort that has gone into the Infinity series, and am looking forward to playing the soon to come Infinity IV!