Lords of Infinity

14 year old stat decay. That's it. That's the whole review. This should've been the game where the player character who made it through the nightmare that is Sabres and Guns *should* be starting to do better, but it's like Paul Wang forgot that he included multiple difficulties in his game. I made a near perfect character going into lords only to hit consecutive decreases in a build that was already much lower than the 25 year old. Wang. Buddy. You gotta fix this. WHY are the 14 and 18 year old functionally no different from each other stat wise? WHY does the first time we go to the estate decrease our stats? WHY is my dragoon losing intelligence and charisma in Aetoria? Shouldn't it go up, especially for a character just now hitting their later twenties? We speak and engage in politics every day, Wang! It feels like Lords of Infinity, moreso than any previous Infinite Sea entry, wants you to feel malnourished and wanting. You won't get progress within your relationships, you won't pass a lot of important stat checks due to stat decay, you will spend ten minutes restarting the chapter after making a single mistake (better than the entire game, like the previous entries at least), half of the content is locked to two paths (which is frankly just inefficient as an author if you're producing interactive fiction, it takes forever), and there's too many hidden stats that require looking within your save file if you wish to actually know where you stand in relation to each faction. I also don't appreciate how huge and disjointed it is with all the clubs and variables as there is no longer a "perfect route" I can try to forge. I mean there is, but I would need to replay the game like twelve different times and understand every hidden variable Paul Wang decided to implement and frankly, I don't have it in me. I think what Lords of Infinity made clear is that whilst this author is a good writer, he is not a good game designer. You NEED a guide to play these games even somewhat well because of the missing save system and overwhelming amounts of hidden stats. I liked the previous two games in spite of this for their engaging linear narratives and slow-but-sure rise of the player character, but both of these are missing in Lords. What is the appeal, bar the more political narrative? Don't get me wrong, I like that part of it, but it can't exactly carry the entire package by itself. I don't recommend playing this entry until it either gets fixed or when Wars releases in 10 years. As it is right now, it's a *very* frustrating slog.

So I will say off the bat, I like the slow burn, I think the writing overall is pretty good, I do think you if you are reading this review as a player should take a look at other reviews to see if the game is up your alley, and I think one day I will finish it. However, I literally can't make it through this game with the choices I made in the prior 2 games, even after feeling like the character I left behind at the end of Guns was fairly successful! It feels a lot like the designer took a look at the wealth stat and went "people remembered to prioritize this, right?" despite the fact that most options to secure wealth had really rough tradeoffs in the previous games that would reasonably deter most people from securing them. I think that concept is interesting at first glance, your character in Sabres and Guns was a warfighter, and Lords goes to great lengths to contextualize returning to peacetime as something the warfighters can't come to grips with so easily, but the mechanical brutality of economic management here paired with the usual lack of consequence telegraphing made it fairly hard to want to see the story of my war hero bumbling through politics and economics through. When I was playing Guns for the first time and realized I needed to make better choices in Sabres to come out on top, I thought that was pretty novel, it didn't feel like I had to redo Sabres to progress but if I wanted to continue seeing the story I wished to see I would have to go do it better. So I did. Now, I have the same feeling, but knowing some of the sacrifices to wealth I made to get the character I wanted, I realize now that the minmaxing I'd need to do to achieve the narrative that captivated me is particularly difficult, and maybe even impossible. It does feel like the systems are snuffing out quite a few MC paths, particularly idealistic heroes. I think with more gameplay driven systems here beyond just stat checks, a tiny bit of the curtain should've been pulled back to help make more informed decisions during the Estate management turns. I had done my first Guns and Sabres playthroughs without a guide but this one near-immediately necessitates a walkthrough to know what the heck is really happening. One day I'll start over from Sabres and Guns with the knowledge I have now, and maybe have a more fun time with Lords as a result. But I am not exactly itching to do it right this minute. So, I gotta say farewell to the Infinite Sea for now.

After playing the Infinite Sea series the whole way through multiple times now (as you can probably tell from my hours), I have to say; Lords of Infinity, for me personally, is the strongest entry in the series in terms of choices and freedom, but a relatively major shift when it comes to content, which places you at what might seem as a loss. This initially feels like a weakness, but serves only to further immerse you in the shoes of a person who has come home to find the world he returns to changed, and his most formative experiences of little use. The first two games feature an immaculately carved rendition of "Gunpowder Fantasy", that is to say, magic exists and is very much alive in the setting, but is more of a backdrop to the occurrences contained within a war of powder, shot and cavalry. It is absolutely magnificent. The Third sees your departure from the war and entrance into politics. Lords of Infinity begins with the end of your career as an officer in a Dragoon Regiment, and the beginning of said character's involvement in stately affairs and politics. Where the first two games have you wrestling with the prospect of keeping your men alive against nearly insurmountable odds at times, this one sees you attempt to keep your reputation alive as a politician, which is dramatically effected by your choices in the previous two games and your choices within this particular entry too. Overall, the writing is gold standard for visual novels, it immerses you to a degree where you can understand the goings on and the daily lives of the people within the setting without giving you so much information that its overwhelming. The politics themselves are absolutely riddled with intrigues and an overwhelming sense of duty, whether that is to crown, the people, or your own interests. It is in a sense, a setting in which the likes I have never seen. It is incredibly well written and well worth the price for the entire series, I highly reccomend. Do be warned, however, the series currently ends on a cliffhanger, and the writer himself can't give concrete answers as to the date in which the next entry will be complete, though it is in development. That said, what you get with the first 3 entries is more than enough for a huge amount of entertainment, and every month the Writer posts snippets of additional information and lore for free on his website.

absolutely great game，I mean it

Tierra and Victory

good

Great Story

Absolutely great.

GOOD

Best story i ever read and play cant wait for Chapter IV