Yeah uh not terribly thrilled with this. Props I guess that they adopted a more seamless, fluid approach to everything, with no battle transitions and stealth being somewhat possible, but there is a lot that turns me off. The voice acting isn't great, and even worse is that there are quite a few "cinematic" moments without voice acting at all. Imagine watching an action packed scene with predetermined camera angles, with subtitles playing at the bottom of the screen that don't designate who is actually talking. Yeah you can sort of figure out given the context of the situation and what is being said but it's sloppy and lazy. if the camera is pointing at the door or a monster and someone in my party is talking, couldn't you at least put "PARTYMEMBERNAME:" before the dialogue if you're too lazy to add voice? Also when there is voice, the lips aren't synced to it at all, and there are long pauses between lines that makes the entire scene feel jarring and unnatural. Maybe I am expecting too much, but after 20 years of jRPGs, haven't we reached a point where you add effective sound design and realistic dialogue to the game? It's like watching those godawful Xenosaga cinemas. The animations can be bad too, every character seems too eager to jostle and jitter around when all they are doing is talking. The art direction turns me off too, with an unseemly blend of realism and anime that just comes across as unnatural. I mean, at least Tales of Vesperia KNEW it was trying to be an anime and went for the cell shady/spriteish look. On the flipside, Final Fantasy knows it's trying to be more realistic. The graphics here look OK in stills but less impressive in motion. I'm also getting tired of the LINEAR FOREST PATH that is in every jRPG ever. When is someone going to blow the trees down and let us actually explore the forest instead of forcing us down a 5 meter wide trail with impenetrable bushes on either side?

I guess I hoped for a somewhat traditional RPG (ie LEVELS and MAGICKS and EPIC WAR STORYLINE) but with some real nextgen design choices and a more open world approach. Ultimately Infinite Undiscovery just seems to fall into the same jRPG pitfalls and trappings, with the usual glossy new battle system attached for good measure. If you're expecting a jRPG, you'll probably be happy.

disclaimer: i've barely even played half an hour