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    Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity

    Game » consists of 8 releases. Released Nov 23, 2012

    A new entry in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series for 3DS.

    Short summary describing this game.

    No recent wiki edits to this page.

    Overview

    The five playable Pokémon in Gates to Infinity
    The five playable Pokémon in Gates to Infinity

    Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity (ポケモン不思議のダンジョン マグナゲートと∞; Pokémon no Fushigi no Dungeon: Magnagate to Mugendai no Meikyuu, "Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Magnagate and the Infinite Labyrinth") is the fourth installment in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon crossover series of roguelike role-playing games, developed by Spike Chunsoft and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. It was first released in Japan on November 23rd 2012, followed by a release in North America on March 24th 2013, and finally in Europe and Australia on May 17th and May 18th 2013 respectively. Considering the two duos Blue/Red Rescue Team and Explorers of Darkness/Time as four separate entries in the franchise renders Gates to Infinity the sixth Pokémon Mystery Dungeon game to be published for a Nintendo handheld console, and the ninth overall entry, including the trio of Japan-exclusive WiiWare titles Pokémon Fushigi no Dungeon: Ikuzo! Arashi/Mezase! Hikari/Susume! Honoo no Boukendan.

    As in previous Pokémon Mystery Dungeon installments, the player takes direct control of a person who has been turned into a Pokémon, and is transported into the Pokémon world where he/she immediately finds a sidekick companion who becomes an invaluable friend to the protagonist throughout their adventures together. This time around the playable Pokémon are Pikachu, Snivy, Tepig, Oshawott and Axew. For the first time in the franchise's history, there is no personality quiz to determine the player's Pokémon - instead, at the start of the game the player must directly select which Pokémon to use.

    Local Multiplayer is a first for the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Series
    Local Multiplayer is a first for the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Series

    Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity debuts a slew of new features for the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon franchise. It is the first game in the series to include Pokémon from the Unova Region, and also the first one in the series to include polygonal graphics to be released outside of Japan. Gates to Infinity is also the first in the series to incorporate an augmented reality mechanic, by using the Nintendo 3DS's back-facing camera to interact with real-world objects. Online functionalities have been implemented in preceding titles, but Gates to Infinity premiered a co-op multiplayer for the franchise: a two-to-four-player local multiplayer game mode which it dubs "Companion Mode". Another new functionality is the ability to revive other players' Pokémon by using StreetPass.

    Gameplay

    As with the titles that preceded it, Gates to Infinity's gameplay features a crossover of two gameplay styles, merging the Mystery Dungeon franchise's staple strategic mechanics with the Pokémon universe.

    When in a dungeon, Gates to Infinity adopts a turn-based gameplay which has the protagonist, along with a party of allies, traverse several randomly generated dungeons consisting of various floors, each with only one exit which leads to the next floor. All movement within dungeons is grid-based, and any attack, or move from one grid-tile to another, counts as a turn. The dungeons are populated by items, traps and rival Pokémon, the latter of which have a chance of joining the player's party upon being defeated (if there is an available slot). When outside a dungeon, the player's Pokémon can freely roam around Post Town, accompanied by its sidekick Pokémon, visiting shops, accepting quests, and managing party members, among other activities.

    As in most Pokémon games, the Pokémon in a player's party can evolve, which causes their stats to increase. Also as in most Pokémon games, stats consist of Hit Points (HP), Attack (Atk.), Defense (Def.), Special Attack (Sp. Atk.), Special Defense (Sp. Def.) and Speed (Spd.). The player's Pokémon starts at level 7, instead of level 5 as was the case with other games in the series.

    New Features and Changes

    Magnagates

    Your morning cup of joe will open portals just fine
    Your morning cup of joe will open portals just fine

    The eponymous gates lead to special dungeons where the player can control a Pokémon other than the default one. Some of these special dungeons house Legendary Pokémon such as Lugia, Ho-Oh and Kyurem.

    These portals can be opened by selecting the "Discover a Magnagate" function in the main menu. The game then uses the Nintendo 3DS camera and the console's augmented reality capabilities to detect circular objects. When one is detected, a portal materializes on top of the item, and the player's Pokémon jumps in.

    Direct Character Selection

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    For the first time in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, the main character can be directly selected from a character-select menu.

    This is a departure from the series' staple method of choosing a Pokémon depending on the answers to an introductory personality quiz.

    Polygonal Environments

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    The fully polygonal 3D environments and character models are another departure from series standards, as Gates to Infinity will be the first fully 3D Pokémon Mystery Dungeon game released for a handheld console (the Japan exclusive WiiWare titles had polygonal graphics).

    New Online/Connectivity Functionalities

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    The game includes online functionalities which had never been featured in a previous Pokémon Mystery Dungeon title, such as an online local co-op mode that supports up to four players, and the ability to save fainted Pokémon via StreetPass connectivity.

    Online options that had been present in other games, which are mostly asynchronous multiplayer features such as Wonder Mail, are also present in Gates to Infinity.

    Lower Level of Difficulty

    Several alterations to the franchise's core mechanics both soothe punishments for failure and streamline already existing features, compounding a game that is easier to complete than previous Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games.

    • Hunger is no longer a factor in the majority of dungeons, and it only starts being implemented once the main storyline has been cleared.
    • Players will no longer lose any items when their party is wiped out inside a dungeon - items are only taken away if the player attempts to steal from a Keckleon shop and is defeated by the irate shop-owner.
    • IQ points, a factor from previous Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games which affected several skills and stats, have now been replaced by Team Skills, which apply to the team as opposed to each Pokémon individually.
    • Wonder Orbs are now also usable during boss fights.

    Locations

    Post Town

    Post Town is the game's main city, where the player can shop for items, recruit new members, talk to the townsfolk, etc. Shops and offices at Post Town include:

    Post Town
    Post Town
    • Quagsire Assembly: Here the player can manage party members;
    • Scraggy's Savvy Moves: Here Pokémon the player has recruited can either forget moves or remember ones that have been forgotten;
    • V-Wheel: At this spinning wheel, owned by a Victini, the player can change the day's V-Wave, which is a "mysterious wind" that boosts the power of a Pokémon type;
    • Azumarill's Request Board: Here the player can take requests before venturing into dungeons.

    Pokémon Paradise

    Pokémon Paradise acts as the player's base. When it is first encountered it is but a barren wasteland, but it can be built up using items found on expeditions.

    Dungeons

    Dungeons are areas divided by floors, which the player must explore and complete in order to progress in the game. They are filled with items and enemies.

    Plot

    The opening dream sequence
    The opening dream sequence

    One day, the game's protagonist has a dream where a voice calls out to him/her, tasking the dreamer with the deed to save the Pokémon world. In the dream the main character is met with a reflection of his/her own face, and then this reflection turns into a Pokémon.

    After having this dream, the protagonist wakes up falling from the skies as a Pokémon, quickly crashing on the surface of a foreign region. When the newly-transformed protagonist comes to, another Pokémon is worriedly trying to help this crash landed outsider. This Pokémon will become the protagonist's invaluable friend and sidekick throughout the game's main story.

    Reception

    The game currently holds a Metacritic score of 59 out of 100, a reception which the online review-aggregator labels as "mixed or average", thereby making Gates to Infinity the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon game with the highest metascore yet. However, it has the lowest Metacritic user score a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon game has garnered to date, scoring a "mixed or average" 6.8 out of 10. This is down from previous Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games which had received a "generally favorable" user score ranging between 7.7 and 7.8. Overall fan reaction and critical reception of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games has been disparate ever since the franchise's first installments. For every new installment online aggregators demonstrated polar opinions between professional scores and user scores.

    PublicationScore
    Destructoid8/10
    Game Informer6.75/10
    GameSpot5.0/10
    IGN4.5/10

    Gates to Infinity came under criticism by both fans and professional reviewers for its lower level of difficulty, in comparison to previous entries in the series. Several changes to some of the game's core gameplay mechanics indicate the game's difficulty has been toned down from previous Pokémon Mystery Dungeon installments, potentially with the intent of appealing to a broader demographic.

    Destructoid's Chris Carter found Gates to Infinity a welcome addition to the franchise, praising it's "beautiful-looking" visuals, but remarking it's not the best in the series, making note of the toned down difficulty by calling it "an easier adventure". Reviewers of the opposing take on the franchise often found the game to be tedious, such as Heidi Kemps, writing for Gamespot, who labeled the game's dungeon crawling as "dull" and "simplistic", despite its cuteness.

    DLC

    Downloadable content for Gates to Infinity will include "new dungeons to explore, new items and new Pokémon to interact with". While Japan 12 DLC dungeons have been released, ranging in cost from 150 to 300 yen ($1.60 to $3.20), only 7 dungeons have so far been released in the US, with prices ranging between 2.00$ and 3.50$.

    These additional can be purchased as soon as the "DLC" option in the main menu is unlocked, but can only be played once the player has completed the game's main story.

    Below is a list of additional DLC dungeons with an officially announced US release date. The difficulty level listed for each dungeon is as determined by the game's official website.

    Launch Day DLC

    Poké Forest

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    • Description: Poké Forest is full of money, in the form of coins and gold bars. Enemies are powerful though often sleeping, in which case they can be avoided.
    • Price: Free for download until April 30th 2013, and 2.00$ starting May 1st 2013
    • Difficulty: Not specified
    • Floors: Not specified

    Pika Land

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    • Description: A dungeon inhabited by many Pikachu, where "moves level up more quickly than usual", and where items not discoverable in the main storyline dungeons can be found.
    • Price: $2.00
    • Difficulty: ♦♦♦
    • Floors: 12

    Mt. Travail

    No Caption Provided
    • Description: Mt. Travail is yet another dungeon where Pokémon's moves "level up more quickly". Valuable items in this dungeon include Training Switches, manuals, and seeds.
    • Price: $2.50
    • Difficulty: ♦♦
    • Floors: 20

    Skill Treasury

    No Caption Provided
    • Description: Skill Treasury is plentiful with Treasure Boxes, which pack valuable items. It is possible to acquire every Team Skill from the Treasure Boxes in this dungeon.
    • Price: $2.50
    • Difficulty: ♦♦
    • Floors: 15

    April 4th, 2013 DLC

    Ivy Park

    No Caption Provided
    • Description: Ivy Park has a high population of Snivy. The dungeon also features the Grass Tile, which permanently boosts the stats of a grass type Pokémon while in the dungeon.
    • Price: $2.00
    • Difficulty: ♦♦♦
    • Floors: 12

    Scalchop Beach

    No Caption Provided
    • Description: Scalschop Beach has a high population of Oshawatt. The dungeon also features a Water Device.
    • Price: $2.00
    • Difficulty: ♦♦♦
    • Floors: 12

    Kecleon Bazaar

    No Caption Provided
    • Description: The Kecleon Bazaar dungeon features many Kecleon Shops, where players can purchase rare items such as TMs.
    • Price: $2.50
    • Difficulty: ♦♦
    • Floors: 20

    Ultimate Wilds

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    • Description: Spanning 99 floors, Ultimate Wilds is the longest, and allegedly hardest dungeon available for Gates to Infinity. It is also the most expensive, at 3.50$. Upon completing the dungeon, players are rewarded with the Courage Crown, a special in-game item.
    • Price: $3.50
    • Difficulty: ♦♦♦♦♦
    • Floors: 99

    April 18th, 2013 DLC

    Axe Rock

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    • Description: Axe Rock is a dungeon that abounds with Axew and other dragon-type Pokémon.
    • Price: $2.00
    • Difficulty: ♦♦♦
    • Floors: 12

    Mount Tepid

    No Caption Provided
    • Description: Mount Tepid is a dungeon populated with fire-type Pokémon, and particularly abundant with Tepig. It contains Fire Devices, items which permanently boost stats of fire-type Pokémon.
    • Price: $2.00
    • Difficulty: ♦♦♦
    • Floors: 12

    Treat Road

    No Caption Provided
    • Description: Treat Road debuts a new edible item: Donuts. In this dungeon, players will be able to find Mini, Big, and regular Donuts. Pokémon also earn Exp. Points when eating these DLC-exclusive items.
    • Price: $2.50
    • Difficulty: ♦♦♦
    • Floors: 20

    Strongest Trail

    No Caption Provided
    • Description: Strongest Trail is, like Ultimate Wilds, promoted as an endurance run, spanning several floors populated with strong Pokémon. Completing Strongest Trail will reward the player with an exclusive in-game item, Persistence Crown.
    • Price: $3.00
    • Difficulty: ♦♦♦♦♦
    • Floors: 60

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