Your Guide to Getting Into Infinity Blade

[FeatherWriter]

Attention Sanderfans.

It appears that there is a significant lack of people who have played through the Infinity Blade games or read the novellas. I AM HERE TO FIX THIS GROSS OVERSIGHT. I'm lucky enough to have been given an iPad by my school, so I got ahold of the games - and they're great, but I know that lots of people don't have or can't afford iOS devices. Therefore, I bring you:

FEATHER'S GUIDE TO INFINITY BLADE AND WHY YOU SHOULD GET INTO IT

Yes it's on tumblr. I typed that all out this afternoon and I don't feel like reformatting it for here. Besides, that'd be a heck of a long post without a Read More breaking it up.

Behind that link is not only an introduction to the series, but a guide to the stories of the games, so that you can read the novellas and understand what's going on. You're welcome. It was a labor of love, mostly because I need more Infinity Blade fans to scream at/with about characters and sadness.

(Edit: I lied, the guide can be found in full below.)

GO READ/PLAY INFINITY BLADE. IT'S AWESOME. DO IT.

[FeatherWriter]

I've gotten some teasing from friends that all I ever do is link to tumblr posts over here, so I'll go ahead and post it here. Let it never be said I didn't do anything for you guys. You're welcome. The guide follows below:

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First of all, what the heck in Infinity Blade anyway?

Infinity Blade is a trilogy of RPG swordfighting games for the iOS platform (mobile Apple devices run iOS, like iPad, iPhone, and iTouch.

If you have an iOS device, stop reading this now and just go buy the apps. Trust me. They’re worth it and you should support the company. The gameplay is fast and intuitive and fun and the graphics are gorgeous. I know what you’re thinking: it’s a mobile game app? How could it have good graphics? Well, prepare to be amazed.

What the heck, Skyrim doesn’t even look that good. How did you fit those graphics on a mobile device? It’s sorcery. Go get the games if you can. For the rest of you who can’t get to them though, fret not. I’m here to help.

Why should I care?

Here’s the thing: the Infinity Blade games only tell half of the story. And the other half is told by BRANDON SANDERSON. Did you get that? Brandon Sanderson has more fantasy books out and you might not have read them. I’m assuming if you’re on this forum, that means something to you. You should fix that immediately. Because they’re amazing and will leave you sobbing on the floor and throwing pillows across the room. That definitely didn’t happen to me or anything…

 

Brandon has written two novellas for the series, Infinity Blade: Awakening and Infinity Blade: Redemption. The games and the novellas present a continuous storyline, so it’s really inadvisable to try to play the games without the novellas or read the novellas without playing the games. You’ll be super lost. The chronology of that is (games bolded, novellas italicized): 

1. Infinity Blade
2. Infinity Blade: Awakening
3. Infinity Blade II
4. Infinity Blade: Redemption
5. Infinity Blade III

Each one picks up where the last leaves off, so the opening of Infinity Blade 2 is you playing through the epilogue of Awakening before going on to the next part of the storyline. Super cool. Unfortunately this means you can’t just jump into the novellas without knowing the story. Very sad.

Which is why I’m here. This post will give you all the info you need to read the books and understand what’s going on, because they’re incredible. Obviously, this is going to have spoilers for the games. I’m telling you what the story is. If you plan on playing the games yourself, you should probably stop here.

Ready? Let’s do this!

Infinity Blade I

 

In the first game, you play a series of protagonists, unnamed in the games, though Brandon names one of them “Siris” in the novella. You fight your way through a castle filled with monsters and warriors of various kinds in a series of one-on-one duels. Eventually you make your way to the very top of the tower and you face the God King in a duel. 

• (It’s a recording of a screen, so the quality’s a bit low, but you can see how it’s actually played. Most of the rest of these videos are taken directly from the game so they’ll be nicer than this one.)

With most of the fights, if you lose, you can just reload and try again, but if you lose to the God King, that character “dies” and you start again as one of his descendants about 20 years later. You keep all your stats and equipment though so it’s really just that you start the map over. So you’d keep going, bloodline after bloodline, until you finally got enough stats and skills to beat The God King.

• Watch this video to see what happens when you beat the God King. (This person equipped Siris with exactly the same weapons and armor as the God King has, so it looks like the God King is fighting himself. It’s just a normal fight though. The fact that they look the same doesn’t change anything about the gameplay.)

Also, you might notice that the characters are speaking a sort of nonsense language (though one that’s got some heavy Latin influence.) It’s called Pangean and they only do that during the first game. They’ll talk in English for IB2 and IB3. It’s a cool little bit of worldbuilding though.

Finally, if you take the Infinity Blade down to the dungeons of the castle, you can unlock the final bosses of the game, called the Deathless Kings. 

• (There’s a few preliminary fights to get down to the dungeons here. You can skip to 
   if you just want to see the dungeons themselves.)

CONGRATS! You know all you need to about Infinity Blade 1! You can now go read Infinity Blade: Awakening! You can buy that by clicking here!

I’ll wait here while you do that. Don’t come back until you’ve finished it though, because GUESS WHAT, there’s gonna be spoilers as we move into Infinity Blade 2. Go. Read and enjoy. Maybe message me with your reactions as you do. Come back here when you’re done.

…

…

…

Finished then? Want more? Alright, let’s keep moving. I’m gonna assume you’ve read Awakening from here on out, so if you get spoiled, it’s not my fault.

Infinity Blade 2

 

Like I said above, IB2 starts with Siris’ infiltration of Saydhi’s palace, so it overlaps a bit with the end of Awakening. It serves as the tutorial for the game and daaaaaaang it’s pretty. As you’ll see, Isa starts out talking in Pangean, then they transition into English. Whew, that’s good because this game has a lot more dialogue.

•  Then you should, keep going.
  (You can stop the second video after Siris wakes up in the chamber - around 2:30 - unless you’re just super curious about gameplay. Feel free to watch the whole walkthrough if you want, but it’ll take a while. I’m gonna give a shortened, plot-only version here.)

After the opening scenes, the gameplay is a lot like the first game. You fight your way through a different castle in a series of one-on-one duels. This is the Vault of Tears, the prison of the Worker of Secrets. When you get to the top, you find a Deathless named Thane waiting to stop you from trying to open the vault.

• (You can stop after Siris wakes up in the chamber again - around - 6:40)

Now, Siris must work his way through the castle to three different seals, fighting their guardians and unlocking them.

At some point (usually after the game is over, but chronologically, it’d have to happen before the end scene) if the player manages to collect the set of Vile armor and weapons, Siris can actually open up the tomb of the Vault of Tears, resulting in this small bonus scene with TEL.

• (Low quality again, but I couldn’t find a better one. This scene heavily implies that this castle belonged to Siris back when he was Ausar the Vile, and that it’s the tomb of his wife… Aww…)

Anyway, once all the seals are activated, Siris can open the prison at the top of the tower! If he returns to the site of the second seal though, there’s a special boss named Ryth. The ending video I found has Siris go fight Ryth before heading up to unlock the vault. 

• (This player has the highest blade in the game, so he cuts through the bosses like they’re nothing. That’s not typical, but it’s much faster to watch!)

And CONGRATS AGAIN! You’re now cleared to read Infinity Blade: Redemption, which can be found by clicking here. May Brandon have mercy on your soul. (Who are we kidding? He totally won’t. Prepare for feels.)

I may do a storyline thing like this for Infinity Blade 3 if people say that they want it, since I’m assuming people might want to know how it all ends. These posts take a lot of work though, so if there’s no interest, I won’t.

Hope you enjoyed this! Welcome to the Infinity Blade Fandom!

[bartbug]

Feather, you... you are amazing. Just wondering, have you finished IB3's storyline yet? I've kind of gotten stuck at act IV with Isa. But so far, It has been wonderful.

[FeatherWriter]

I have finished IB3! I lucked out and ended up getting three weapons that were way over-leveled for Isa in my game, so she sliced through all of her opponents like they were nothing. I actually had the most trouble playing with Siris because I had to buy all of his weapons all the old fashioned way and couldn't find any good ones randomly! 

 

It certainly is a wonderful series! And so so beautiful! I know there's an expansion that came out on Halloween, but I haven't had a chance to check it out yet.

[Galavantes]

I don't have anything that runs iOS so I can't play the games. The novels are pretty great though. Feather I would totally support a write up of IB3

[Ausar]

IB3 has kinda enraged me. Freaking Ausar Rising and you didn't explain anything? ARGH!

 

But I still love the series, though I still want some info on. 

Galath and Ausar's original alliance

Edited December 20, 2013 by Ausar

[freezedragon]

The game is all right. There could be a better story line but the Gameplay is amazing.

[MathEpic]

I would love to get into Infinity Blade.  Unfortunately, my tablet is an Android device.  I cannot play the game, so I am missing a lot of context for the written stories.  I know I could watch a youtube video or something, but that is just not the same.

 

Until the game is no longer an Apple exclusive, I will have to remain an outside observer.

[FeatherWriter]

I would love to get into Infinity Blade.  Unfortunately, my tablet is an Android device.  I cannot play the game, so I am missing a lot of context for the written stories.  I know I could watch a youtube video or something, but that is just not the same.

 

Until the game is no longer an Apple exclusive, I will have to remain an outside observer.

 

Well... did you read the original post? That's why I created this guide, for people like you who can't play the games but want to enjoy the story! You're the target audience right here!

[MathEpic]

Well... did you read the original post? That's why I created this guide, for people like you who can't play the games but want to enjoy the story! You're the target audience right here!

I know that I am theoretically the target audience for this sort of thing. Unfortunately, playing a game and watching "let's play" videos are two very different experiences. I feel that some essential context is lost in the transition. Specifically I lose one of my main reasons to care.

When I play a game I want the main character to succeed because his/her/its goals are my goals as long as I am trying to win. (Except for those games that play with that expectation, but that is a whole different can of worms.) This is one of the greatest assets video games have as a storytelling medium. When I watch a video I only have the personalities ofthe characters to get me invested.

I don't think I can experience the Infinity Blade story properly without actually playing the game. I thank you for your efforts, and I am sorry to have been so obstinate. I really do appreciate that you went out of your way to help me enjoy the story. (Upvote)

[FeatherWriter]

That's fine! Just making sure you didn't misunderstand! I can totally understand how you feel about that!

[el_warko]

As an aside, I think I read somewhere that if a Brandon novel does not invlove earth it is part of the cosmere.  Does the Infinity Blade story mention earth at all.  If not, does a certain gentleman who dresses in black make an appearance anywhere?

[Swimmingly]

I believe it's actually a far-future SciFi scenario, where all the "magic" is just sufficiently advanced technology.

[Iarwainiel I]

These are the first games I've played that have this type of format, so plz excuse my noob-ish-ness. (I'm mostly a Bejeweled and Plants-vs-Zombies gamer - hey, what can I say? :-)

 

The thing I'm enjoying most about IB is the story, and I rushed "Siris" through IB2 as fast as I could to get to IB: Redemption, which I just finished.

 

I'm here with a question for Feather & the rest of you -

 

I wasn't any good at the "XP Bonus" tasks in IB2, so I never did those Negative Bloodlines (though I did so successfully in IB1). I figured, why bother since I won't get past the first bloodline.

 

Also, I got to the Worker's prison faster than I had expected ... had to hock a bunch of gems just to get good enough equipment to finish the game. I never defeated the [whatever you call the monster with the Vile Sword in his head], and never got the rest of the Vile Armor or any of the Gem Set.

 

Do I need to have done those things in order to understand IB3 and do well in it? I know I can't port the actual equipment from one game to another, but maybe I need some kind of skill that I would have picked up while obtaining it?

 

I'm really only good with the Light weapons - my blocking is with Heavy is, to be honest, really lame. It seems like Isa is shown with a Heavy weapon, so maybe it's more important in IB3 than previously?

 

So my main question is: Should I go back through IB2 and build up more skills, before moving on into IB3?

 

Thanks, all, for your input!

Edited June 18, 2014 by old aggie

[FeatherWriter]

Fret not, I didn't end up doing most of the extra stuff in IB2 either. You don't have to in order to play through well. Isa actually has the same three weapon sets as Siris, though hers play a little bit differently. Her Heavy weapons are polearms, her Light weapons are double handed swords mostly, and her Dual weapons are small knives and claws. There's a good demonstration of her fighting style here.

 

Ugh, Heavy weapons are SO HARD to use. I think it's mostly the fact that blocking and dodging work in opposite ways and my muscle memory for dodging gets in the way. I love the Dual weapons honestly, though I tend to use whatever's highest leveled. I'm trying to get Isa to level up a Heavy weapon spear right now and I keep dying so muuuuuuch•

[traceria]

Now I feel much better equipped to read the stories.  Thanks!  I'm a weird gamer (I use that term loosely).  I can handle some games that require reflexes, but not many.  I managed to make it through both Portals but did terrible if jumping was involved and had to have my husband beat the end of Portal 2 because I stink at quick and accurate reactions.  I also can't play platform games.  In college, my roommate brought in her Nintendo (whichever one was out then) and would play one of the Mario Bros. games.  I'd sometimes play with her as Luigi, but basically, I would die A LOT and she would get enough extra lives to drag me along with her.  All that to say, I won't ever be able to play IB or it's sequels, but at least I can read the novellas now with some context!  Thank you! 

[Iarwainiel I]

Well, after several days of frustration, I've decided to just give up on IB3. It's a shame, because the actual storyline is really interesting and complex. But evidently CHair (the app developers) chose to make this game waaaaay harder than IB1 or 2 - many of the titans/bosses can't be stopped except with a "perfect" parry or block, and I'm just not good at those. Also, my poor level 10-12 characters are constantly facing enemies that are level 30-40, or even 100. If you try to go back a level (like you could in IB1 or 2), once you defeat one enemy at that lower level, the very next one you face is right back up to level 30-40. I read online where CHair is trying to push people to do in-app purchases to get better gear, etc., and that's why the game is so hard. It makes me sad, but life is too short to spend hundreds of hours trying to get through the initial levels of this game.

 

My reason for posting now: I'd appreciate it if anyone can (with appropriate spoiler tags, of course) provide a better explanation of the plotline of IB3 than is given on the IB wiki (http://infinityblade.wikia.com/wiki/Infinity_Blade_III). I had expected some kind of explanation of the "Holy Band" ring, but haven't seen much on that so far. The "IB Origins" video hints that the Infinity Blade actually has a corrupting influence - that by having it / wielding it, a person would become corrupted by evil - but there's not much information on that either.

 

Speculations are welcome! ( - an IB3 book from BS would be even MORE welcome!)

 

... and thanks, Feather - your encouragement here led me to much enjoyment in the first 2 installments of IB. :-)

Edited July 6, 2014 by old aggie

[Zerovirus]

Y'know, it's interesting that Galath's idea of a perfect world is a world of immortal demigodly-good martial fighters wearing incredibly fantastic armor and bearing incredible melee weapons, beating each other and/or fantasy monsters down in a melee slugfest, and whenever the world deviates from that standard Galath wipes it out and starts over again. I've always got the (distinctly headcanon) impression that Galath's original world collapsed in some sort of apocalypse and ever since then the guy's been trying to rebuild it and recreate the world of his childhood, or something.

 

I wonder what Galath's original civilization was like, for the Infinity Blade setting to be merely a paltry shadow of that world, according to Galath?

[Iarwainiel I]

From what we know of Galath, I had been hypothesizing that he represents an author: he has full control over all the other characters, directing what they will do and say and even what their personalities are like. Of course the IB wouldn't kill him since, from his PoV, it's "fiction."

 

But after thinking about it, maybe he's more like a game designer, and the Siris character somehow evolved and developed to the point where he could step at least partly out of the "game" and impact Galath's real reality - sort of like an inverted Tron, or Professor Moriarty from STNG.