Inotia: A Wanderer of Luone, the adventure-RPG follow-up to Chronicles of Inotia: Legend of Feanor, is available from the app store. With a decidedly deeper RPG system, new control options, and a ton of quests, Inotia 2 is sure to impress and delight with its solid gameplay.
As with most games in this genre, there is a backstory full of sacrifices made for the good of the land, evil forces taking over, heroes emerging to battle evil, castles, keys, and all the other usual suspects. You must choose your main character from one of five class types: Knight, Magician, Priest, Thief, and Templar. Two characters are males, while the others are scantily-clad, well-endowed females. The questionable attire is only a cause for concern while pictures of the females are displayed during dialogue scenes and the like. Otherwise, the characters are relatively small during the actual gameplay and are less revealing.
There are more than 200 quests for you to embark upon, which should keep players busy for a while (estimated time to complete all quests is 48 hours). The completion of quests earns points which are used to level up, improving your stats and making your character stronger for future battles against tougher and tougher opponents. Some items can be combined with other items to create new or more powerful items. There is a skill tree for further customization of your character, as well as passive and active skills to be earned. New quests and information can be picked up through speaking with other characters in the various environments.
One of the interesting features is the ability to control up to three characters at once by hiring mercenaries, complete with their own skill sets and abilities. It’s a lot of fun to pull the “gang” strings in battle, as well as experience what characters of other classes have to offer. Another great feature is its online component. Com2uS is well-known for getting online multiplayer right, and Inotia 2 is no different. Match-Up Mode allows you to take a team of three and battle other teams controlled by players around the world. It certainly adds excitement and replayability to the game.
The gameplay screen is well laid out, with a map in the upper right corner to orient yourself. We liked the d-pad controls slightly better than the touch controls, so we had a d-pad in the lower left corner and an attack/action button in the lower right, which is used to pick up items, fight battles, etc. Next to the d-pad is the menu button, which brings up a very detailed menu system that clearly lays out character stats, attributes, inventory items, quests, and all manner of info relevant to the game. This was another well-implemented feature.
Graphically, the game is quite impressive. There is a lot of detail packed into a little screen, yet the gameplay is pretty smooth. When characters level up and take on new armor/weapons, you see them change visually, which is a nice touch. The soundtrack is nothing special, but it’s adequate for the game. Nobody plays an RPG for the music, anyway. Com2uS thankfully included the option to play music from your own library. Controls were strictly touch-based and we found them to be very effective. Mis-taps and re-taps were unnecessary. In fact, the biggest negative we found in the game was the lack of auto-save, which must be handled manually through the menu system.
Replayability is extremely high, due to various character classes, customizations galore, a plethora of quests, online play and rankings, exciting battles, skill trees, expansive inventories, and the list goes on. The RPG genre on the iDevice is becoming increasingly more crowded, but Inotia 2 is clearly making its case to be a leader and set a standard to which other RPGs must aspire. As this is a premium game, it demands the new premium price of $7.99. Inotia 2 contains all the glitz, glamour, and polish of a 5-Dimple triumph.
Inotia: A Wanderer of Luone gets our AppSmile 5-Dimple rating:
