Infinity+1 Sword: Difference between revisions

{{examples}}

* The Biggoron Sword in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]''. The sidequest required to get it had several [[Guide Dang It]] events in it, particularly giving the saw to the carpenter's boss, where it is only vaguely hinted that the gray-skinned man possessing the saw was his son, and to boot, he's in a location (Gerudo Valley) that is unlikely you would visit at the time you start the quest, so by the time you would finally get it, you would have missed out on using it in more than half the dungeons.

** Although it may be unlikely that a first-time player would do this, it ''can'' be obtained as soon as Link becomes an adult, so it is very useful.

* The Flamethrower from the SNES version of ''[[Zombies Ate My Neighbors]]'' (Sorry, Genesis players!). There's only one of them in the entire game (400 shots), so once you run out of ammo, that's that. And it's pure [[Guide Dang It]] to find. But it does fry up Giant Spider Bosses quite nicely!

* The UV 9 "Pulsar" ultraviolet laser rifle from ''[[Crusader: No Remorse]]'' can only be bought from Weasel once late in the game and takes a lot of cash. You need to restrain yourself from desintegrating enemies troughout the game to have the money to get it when it's possible. However, the thing can strip all the soft tissue from any living target in one hit and blows up the strongest robots in three shots that don't take a lot of energy compared to the more common [[More Dakka|plasma gun]]. Keep in mind that the micro missile launcher is even more destructive,but it's ammo is very rare [[Cruel and Unusual Death|and it's not nearly as much fun.]]

* ''[[Nethergate]]'' has Infinity Plus One spells. The Nether Circle spells can only be found in certain dungeons, and to cast them you must be able to cast the highest-ranked spell of their associated spell circle.

* An unusual non-weapon example, the "Fist of God" punch in ''[[God Hand]]''. Not only does it do 100 damage, it can be charged to do four times as much - and this is without releasing the God Hand, which adds another multiplier to the damage. A single hit from a fully utilised Fist of God can kill bosses in one or two hits! Appropriately, the move is only available through [[New Game+]] and costs 600 000 gold, which is about as much as an average playthrough of the game will net the player, making obtaining it a matter of either ignoring all the powerups to save money, or spending a rather long time in the casino.

* In ''[[F-Zero]] Maximum Velocity'', there is an Infinity Plus One ''car'' that also functioned as an Infinity Minus One as well. To get the Jet Vermillion, you had to A: beat every league(4) on Master difficulty. With the first 9 cars you unlock. You could also do B: race on the Championship Circuit 255 times. That is, all 5 laps, 255 times. You could also take a 3rd option: cheat. Either gameshark it or use the ingame password system. What makes this an infinity + -1 object is that the car itself is horrible on paper but awesome in practice, because of the one stat not listed in-game: The time it takes to decelerate after a boost runs out. Case in point: it's the car that holds the world records on every course but one, due to it's inability to make one jump for a shortcut.

* [[Gran Turismo|Gran Turismo 5]] features the [http://www.topspeed.com/cars/2012-red-bull-x2010-ar102912.html Red Bull X2010], created as a joint project between Polyphony Digital and Red Bull Racing. The idea behind the car was essentially "let's go build a race car that isn't bound by any stupid league restrictions!" The car features over 1400 horsepower and weighs only 550 kilograms, and can achieve lateral acceleration levels of 8.75 G's (in comparison, real-life F1 cars get anywhere from 2-4 depending on speed) and has a top speed of over 500 km/h. It is so fast that there is zero competition for it from any AI racers in-game and it is disallowed in all 'serious' online racing rooms. Acquiring the X2010 requires you to score at least Bronze on three time trials that feature the X2010 - the time is actually easy for anyone with simulation racing experience and a wheel, but scoring Gold is the hardest challenge in the entire game. Only a handful of people have gotten Gold for all three trials with a standard [[PlayStation 3]] controller.

* In ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'', each character has exclusive weapons, equippable only at Level 100, that are tailor-made to improve their unique aspects, and are usually the best weapons those characters can use (though there are some non-exclusive Level 100 weapons that are more useful). However, none can compare to Exdeath's ultimate weapon: Enuo's Scourge. Aside from its stats (which are good, but just as good as the other ultimate weapons), it has, like the other Exclusives, added effects based around the character. For Enuo's Scourge, those bonuses are Brave Point boost on block, and an effect called Riposte, which makes every attack a critical hit if done to a staggering character. Exdeath's abilities are based around blocks and counterattacks, meaning virtually EVERY hit he does will be done to a staggering opponent, reeling from their attacks being blocked. Boosting his Attack rating will make his critical hits do absurd damage, ensuring you'll be doing ''several thousand'' points of damage with each of his counters. And this is with a character designed to counter ''everything.''

* The driving forces behind the events of the ''[[Soul Series]]'' of fighting games are the twin swords Soul Calibur and Soul Edge. The Soul Edge was a legendary sword sought after by countless warriors. Unfortunately, said sword is actually an [[Artifact of Doom]], whose hobbies include devouring souls, slaughtering innocents, and becoming its wielder's [[Super-Powered Evil Side]]. The Soul Calibur was a sword created to destroy Soul Edge. The swords are often the ultimate weapons of the characters. Ironically, the motives of many characters revolve around destroying one or both of the swords, rather than claiming them as their own.

* The Sniper Rifle and Laser sight in ''[[Left 4 Dead 2]]'' can be considered one such weapon. The base Sniper Rifle kills any non-special infected in 1 shot, and most specials in 2 or 3. It also has semi-auto fire capability. The problem is, if you walked and fired with it (which, given the game's gauntlet crescendos, will be very often) the accuracy is so pathetically diminished you'd be wasting more ammo than with a full automatic rifle. However, getting the Laser sight almost completely erases this problem, and it effectively becomes a shotgun (the only other non-special weapon that can cause a kill with one shot to anywhere on the body) with 300 bullets (the tier 2 shotguns all have only about 130 bullets). Did I mention it can also pierce through several infected at once? Unfortunately, while the Sniper Rifle spawns resonably in most levels, the Laser sight is an extremely rare commodity. One level does have a scripted spawn for both, at the same place, but at that point you're almost done with the campaign anyways.

** In The Passing campaign, there's the [[BFG|M60]], a huge machine gun that never has to be reloaded, kills common infected in a single shot, and can shred a Tank fairly quickly thanks to its firepower and no reloading required. The only downside is the gun cannot have its ammo replenished and it can only be found once or twice in the whole campaign.

* The Aldrin Springblossom corvette in ''[[X (video game)|X3]]: Terran Conflict''. It's faster than any fighter except the Spitfyre (also built by Aldrin), has the shielding of a small capital ship, and has the cargo capacity required to kill capital ships by either [[Macross Missile Massacre]] or [[Death of a Thousand Cuts]] from ammo-consuming guns (most weapons are [[Energy Weapons]]). Getting it requires you to finish the first plot, then laboriously gather up weapons to fit it with (it can't mount standard Commonwealth or Terran weapons).

* The sword Hymir's Finger in ''[[Drakengard]]''. It is only unlocked by completing the [[Inevitable Tournament]], accessible in a side-story unlocked for the third ending, in under five minutes. It is a gigantic [[BFS]] that, when fully upgraded, deals about twice the damage of the second-most damaging weapon in the game and one-shots two thirds of the game's enemies, has one of the longest reaches, can hit multiple enemies per swing, and knocks over enemies with every blow.

* Starting in "[[Dynasty Warriors]] 3" all the playable characters can obtain an extra fourth weapon aside from the normal three. These weapons in any version can be a real case of [[Guide Dang It]] as each character must play on one particular stage, completing a series of various tasks. This must also be done on the hard difficulty setting, which makes things even more challenging. Each weapon would give HUGE stat boosts to various different stats, which are different for every character. Also some of them added an element to the characters moveset. But of course that wasn't enough for [[Koei]], so instead they decided in the Dynasty Warriors 3 Xtreme Legends update to add in fifth weapons! Same rule of obtaining them, but on a different stage, and this time you have to do it on the new VERY HARD DIFFICULTY! Good luck getting them all!

* ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' has Relic weapons that literally take ''years'' to get, and that's if you have a crapton of money. [http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Relic_Weapon#A_Word_of_Warning The upgrade process is so convoluted] that the developers have [[Word of God|actually stated]] that only the most insane players can get them.

** Mythic weapons are worse. To start, it requires climbing a [[Bonus Dungeon]] to get a weak version of the weapon, killing a bunch of [[Bonus Boss]]es, some of which appear at the end of another [[Bonus Dungeon]], followed by collecting things that require completing the same content over and over (with one item in particular that has the drop rate of a Pink Tail, yet THIRTY THOUSAND is needed), and this is followed by a series of [[Fetch Quest]]s and [[Bonus Boss]] battles all leading to get three items that also have a Pink Tail drop rate. And if these items don't drop, the whole series of [[Fetch Quest]]s needs to be restarted. This is capped by a final [[Bonus Boss]] where if failed, will require another set of the three items mentioned earlier. The kicker is that the Mythic weapons are seen as ''less'' useful and ''less'' powerful than the comparably easier to get Dynamis relics. We're still trying to find out what the developers are smoking, because there are time-sinks, and then there are ''[[Bottomless Pits]]''.

* In ''[[Ratchet and Clank]]'', one could simply purchase the [[Fun with Acronyms|R.Y.N.O.]], the most powerful gun in the game... for a whopping 150,000 bolts. The price for the different versions of R.Y.N.O increases with each game.

** In ''Tools of Destruction'', one cannot even buy the R.Y.N.O. IV and must run around looking for pieces of the blueprint. The reason for this is because Gadgetron deemed the weapon too dangerous and not only discontinued it but scattered the blueprint throughout the galaxy (the guy who gives you the thing in exchange for the complete blueprint even casually mentions it's banned in '''three''' galaxies). Seeing as how this same company had no problems with making and selling a ''portable black hole launcher'' (point away from face), it should come as no surprise the new Rip Ya a New One is a major [[Game Breaker]].

* The Terminator Armour suits in ''[[Dawn of War]] 2''. {{spoiler|There are 3. One you get in a main quest mission. The other 2 you can get in 2 side quest missions, that are the most difficult missions in the entire game (the last mission is a walk in the park after this). One involves killing an insanely powerful Warboos after going through waves and waves of looted tanks and nobs. This is the easy one. The hard one involves killing an Eldar Avatar of Khaine that is invulnerable to all melee weapons and some ranged ones, after going through scores off Fire Prism tanks to get to him. And both of them have at least 100 times more hit points then all your units combined. And they heal.}}

** Though there're serious discussions about "are Terminator Armour better than Power Armour", especially Avitus. One of the reason for this is another IPOS: Neverending Hail of Destruction. This godly Heavy Bolter can do ungodly amount of damage to almost everyone (except against Monstrous Creatures or vehicles of which the punishment is reduced, but your team will have other stuff to counter these problems anyway). If you bring it to the final battle and turn on Focus Fire frequently, Avitus can basically hold a section of the line on his own.

* The Trident of the Red Rooster, from ''[[Ancient Domains of Mystery]]'' (aka ''ADOM''), is unquestionably the best weapon in the game; it grants immunity to every element as well as see-invisible and a massive mana boost, has especially awesome damage and accuracy with useful slaying properties, and also automatically returns when thrown. It is also necessary for the [[Multiple Endings|best endings]]. Unfortunately, it is gained after finishing a series of [[Guide Dang It]] sidequests, many of which are also pretty [[Luck-Based Mission|Luck Based]]. It's kind of amazing anybody's ever collected it at all.

* In the Roguelike ''[[Shiren the Wanderer]]'', the most powerful sword in the game cannot be found in dungeons or on monsters; it has to be created by finding the most powerful sword you ''can'' find in dungeons or on monsters, upgrading it to the maximum level, and then have a blacksmith upgrade it ''again'' to turn it into said sword. That's ''still'' not the best weapon in the game though. The REAL Infinity+1 Sword is the result of many dungeon runs and a painstaking amount of [[Item Crafting]]. After getting the sword, you need to acquire every weapon in the game that has a special property and fuse it to the sword with Fusion Pots in order to get what you want. And you ''really'' need to tell the difference between a [[Breakable Weapons|normal pickaxe]] and an [[Unbreakable Weapons|indestructible pickaxe.]] Since the entire process probably requires you to complete everything in the game, and the use of warehouses means that this can only be used in the main dungeon that you will have already completed, this is also an example of [[Bragging Rights Reward]]. (And possibly [[Too Awesome to Use]], unless you're playing the SNES version and have a Dividing pot and two Withdraw scrolls.) But hey, at least you got yourself a sword that has a [[No Swastikas|swastika]] on its hilt and a blade that looks like an impossible energy burst, right?

* According to the game info in ''[[Breath of Fire I]]'', the hero's best weapons are, in order: Dragon Sword, [[Penultimate Weapon|Emperor's Sword]], [[Infinity-1 Sword|Tri-Rang]]. The player will realize during gameplay that the order actually goes: Tri-Rang, [[Awesome but Impractical|Emperor's Sword]], [[Disc One Nuke|Dragon Sword]].

** The Tri-rang is the 2nd strongest of the 3 weapons, but is the lightest AND hits everyone on the screen. To get it, take Adult Nina (and her Great Bird form) behind a tower at the top of the world map. No level grinding, no epic sidequests, just find the tower, press B, pick up Uber-weapon. Of course, if you didn't read the FAQ, you [[Guide Dang It|won't know it's there]].

* ''[[R-Type]] Final'' features several extremely powerful ships which require ''two hours'' of game-time with the previous ship in the series, meaning by the time you get them you're probably good enough that they're entirely useless.

* The eponymous ''[[Heavy Barrel]]''. One always felt compelled to collect the pieces to get it - though playing without it was more fun than playing with it.

* Almost all of the ''[[Ace Combat]]'' superfighters have hard-to-achieve requirements, usually including [[New Game+]], but they are [[Game Breaker|Game Breaking]] enough that the demands are almost justifiable.

** The Falken in ''AC5'' only required the player to destroy several hangars located in out of the way locations in missions to obtain.

* The later ''[[Syphon Filter]]'' games has a funny example in the E.P.D.D, which is a long-range, sure kill, stealth weapon with infinite ammo that you can only unlock by getting the best rating in certain tasks, such as performing non-lethal KOs or stealth kills. Why is it funny? Because in the first game, it was called the Air Taser and served as your ''default [[Emergency Weapon]]''. Unsurprisingly, less broken weaponry like combat knives and short-ranged tasers were used in its stead in later games, but they still kept it as a hidden weapon, making this one of the rare instances that an item found itself on both sides of the power spectrum.

* ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'''s Patriot is simple -- just clear the game. ''[[Metal Gear]] Solid 4'''s on the other hand ''requires'' a no Alert, no Continues, [[Technical Pacifist|No Kills]] (of humans; tranquilizing an enemy who falls to his or her death counts, but GEKKOs and Scarabs don't), no recovery item (normal and {{spoiler|iPod}}-assisted natural regeneration is fine), no special item (Stealth Camo or Bandanna), [[Speed Run]] on [[Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels|The Boss Extreme]]... where ''everything'' that's not a "Now Loading" screen (but the "Press Start" prompt ''does'' count!), between-Acts install time (including the "Press Start" prompt), and a post-Act results screen counts towards the 5 hour time limit. Yes, ''even the Start menu and the [[PlayStation 3]] home screen''.

* ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' has not one, not two, but THREE (in post-Gamecube versions, ''FOUR'') of these. The Infinite Rocket Launcher and Chicago Typewriter are available for a million PTAs at any merchant after completing the main game once, and getting a five star rating on every level in Mercenaries earns the Handcannon, which can be upgraded to do the most damage of any weapon in the game and have infinite ammo. Beating the game on Professional mode earns the Plagas Removal Laser.

** Technically, every weapon can become one of these when fully upgraded. When all upgrades are bought, a ridiculously expensive one becomes available. For instance, the Striker gains an ammo capacity that takes roughly an hour to empty, the SMG gains damage equal to several pistol clips per bullet, and the Broken Butterfly magnum gains damage rivaled only by the Rocket Launcher and the Handcannon. Restarting the game with a [[New Game+]] using these weapons is terribly fun. Oh, and bear in mind the Handcannon is terrible without all its upgrades. Without them it uses an ammo that is very hard to find, selling the ammo to make money for the upgrades is a simpler option.

* Not a weapon, but the [[Mobile Suit Gundam|Haro]] equipable part from ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' can turn any mech into a game breaker or HPHGCP in Alpha Gaiden, which is capable of doing the same. Same for the W-Up unit in the few games it appears in, because it grants a buff dependent on how many parts slots a mecha has. Mount one of these things on a four part slot mech and watch the carnage. It's even worse in Impact, where you can get TWO and mount them on the same unit.

** Some of the unlockable mecha pass into this, like Great [[Game Breaker|Zeyormer]] in J, [[Getter Robo|Shin Getter]] and [[Badass|San]][[Large Ham|ger]] [[Everything's Better with Samurai|Zonvolt]] and his [[This Is a Drill|Thrud]][[Big Fancy Sword|gelmir]] in Alpha Gaiden, the [[Mecha Expansion Pack|HM]] [[Martian Successor Nadesico|Black Selena]] in [[Super Robot Wars Reversal|R]], and the [[Chest Blaster|Gespenst]] [[Dynamic Entry|Type]] [[Super Prototype|S]] and [[Katanas Are Just Better|Visaga]] in [[Super Robot Wars Original Generation|Original Generation.]]

* It is the ultimate weapon of one of the main villain rather the hero but Gilgamesh's drill sword Ea is undoubtedly the most powerful weapon in the ''[[Fate/stay night|Fate]]'' series. So powerful that it is dubbed "The Devourer of Worlds" and is the only known "Anti-World" class Noble Phantasm. If not for Gilgamesh's cocky personality and dislike for using the sword, he could have easily obliterated everyone.

** On a smaller scale before Gilgamesh's introduction, we have Excalibur [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|the Sword of Promised Victory]]

== Non-video game examples ==

* Played straight in ''[[Soul Eater]]'' with Excalibur, a sword that gaves you wings of light, the ability to move at a blinding speed and is so sharp it can cut through space and time. However, he is so obnoxiusly annoying, that no one (but the chosen one) wants to have him as a [[Equippable Ally|partner]].

* The Sommerswerd, the Sword of the Sun, from the ''[[Lone Wolf]]'' series. You get it in the second book, which seems somewhat game-breaking, but its later [[Rule of Cool|awesomeness]] makes up for it by far. To get its full potential out, you require certain Kai skills during that book: Sixth Sense gets you a description about how the sword improves your Sixth Sense, and having Weaponskill (with the sword) gives you the "extra" CS bump of + 10 instead of + 8.

** You can get the + 10 without Sixth Sense.

* The White Sword in ''[[The Fabled Lands]]''. Has +8 attack and you cannot ever lose this sword, even if you are robbed captured or killed.

* ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' has [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=48583 Sword of Kaldra]. If you combine it with [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=48582 Shield of Kaldra] and [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=47449 Helm of Kaldra] it gets even better.

* ''[[Homestuck]]'' features five Infinity +1 Weapons for the [[Weapon of Choice|strife specibi]] of each of the humans plus Vriska - the [[Drop the Hammer|Warhammer of Zillyhoo]], the [[Magic Wand|Quills of Echidna]], the [[BFS|Royal Deringer]], [[Wave Motion Gun|Ahab's Crosshairs]], and the [[The Gambler|Fluorite Octet]]. By way of extensive [[Stable Time Loop|weird time shit]], Jade obtained and sent John miniatures of the Warhammer, Quills, Crosshairs and Deringer, plus the ''[[Con Air]]'' bunny rebuilt as a cyborg, as a birthday present in response to a Skaia cloud vision where he was being confronted by [[Big Bad|Jack Noir]]. Problem is, [[Klingon Promotion|Jack gets his hands on the present first]], [[Kill'Em All|and that's pretty much where everything started going downhill for everyone involved]]. Later, the kids procure the properly-sized versions of the weapons through further application of weird time shit.

** John goes [[Up to Eleven]] by alchemizing two Infinity +1 Swords together: the Warhammer of Zillyhoo + the Fluorite Octet = [[Gameplay Roulette|The Pop-A-Matic Vrillyhoo Hammer]].

* This was spoofed with the "Sword of a Thousand Truths" in the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft", which parodied ''[[World of Warcraft]]''. Of course, Blizzard being Blizzard, they actually added a sword with this name to the game after the episode aired, although they later renamed it to "Gladiator's Slicer".

* In ''[[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien]]'', Azmuth created Ascalon—a sword capable of manipulating the primal forces that govern reality. It grants its wielder a [[Sword Beam]], a suit of [[Powered Armor]], the ability to tear holes in reality to teleport anywhere, various other superpowers...{{spoiler|but abusing its power can lead to an [[Earthshattering Kaboom]].}} And even this terrible weapon wasn't enough {{spoiler|to permanently kill [[Eldritch Abomination|Diagon]]}}.