Eternal Sonata (Xbox 360)

Eternal Sonata

Genre: JRPG
Developer: tri-Crescendo

Publisher: Namco Bandai

ESRB Rating: T for Teen

Price: $34.99 USD (Xbox 360)
US Release Date: September 14, 2007 (October 21, 2008 on PS3)
Equipment: Xbox 360, 32” Vizio LCD @ 720p.

Completion: Completed main campaign in 35 hours.

I know what you’re thinking. An RPG about Frederic Chopin on his death bed… He dies in the end, right? Maybe. Feel free to suspend your knowledge of history for the rest of the review.

The game begins with a remarkably youthful looking Chopin on his deathbed and rapidly transitions to a dream world where we start to meet the actual main characters.

That’s right Chopin fans, he isn’t the primary character in his own game. He is an important character. Being the main character falls to Allegretto, Beat and Polka, who fit right into your Japanese RPG stereotypes. Without getting too far into the plot, it rocks an RPG framework. Your teenage heroes must go out and save the world / their people / something important. In doing so they learn about themselves. It is nothing ground breaking but it is a solid framework to build on.

The combat is reasonable and you are eased into it. You have a choice of regular melee or special attacks, and you can use as many of either, if you have the time. When you reach your first combat instance you are given a tutorial on how to do the basics of fighting. There are several levels of proficiency you unlock as you proceed through the game called Party Class Levels. The higher the Party Class Level, the more you have to contend with during combat. Starting at Level 1 you get an unlimited amount of Tactical Time so you get to stand around and think about what you are going to do for as long as you damn well please. The Action Gauge only runs down while you are moving or hitting things, and that’s about all you can do.

As your Party Level progresses, you run out of Tactical Time and your Action Gauge gets shorter, but you get access to blocking and counter-attacks as well as the Echoes meter and Harmony Chains. Regular attacks charge the Echoes meter up in groups of 4 and 8, up to a maximum of 32. When you use a special attack after charging up the Echoes meter, you get a damage bonus. If you have charged it to at least 24, you can trigger a Harmony Chain. This allows you to execute up to six special attacks in a row, two from each of the characters in combat. Devastating, if you pull it off.

A word about light. This is important to the world of Eternal Sonata, as it determines what kind of special attack you can use. The characters all have a list of special attacks they can use, but you are only allowed to carry two each for light and dark onto the field of battle with you. If you are standing in the shadows, you can use your dark attacks, in the light your light attacks. This has no effect on melee at all.

Controls are easy to use, all you really need are the ABXY buttons and a directional stic. Refreshing. There’s a music mini game where you find pieces of music laying around (no, really) and then play them with NPC’s that are scattered around the world. You get to play composer, which is kind of cool, but the pieces of music that go together don’t always make sense. Once you play the music correctly, the person you were playing with is so happy they give you some equipment.

Saving is done at save points, which are sprinkled liberally around the countryside. I never felt like I was unreasonably far away from where I had last saved, nor were they every few feet. One of the most interesting features that I have never seen in a game before was the ability to turn on more controllers and let other players control characters during combat. Nobody ever really mentions this and when I found it, it blew me away. I do not have four controllers to test this with, but it looks like you could actually have one person control the world map and let three others deal with combat instances. It’s not exactly seamless drop-in multiplayer in the “classic” sense, but it is quick to use and if it gets your girlfriend playing, all the better.

The graphics are really strong. The real world, and you only see one room in the real world, suffers quite badly from the Next-Gens and is basically just different shades of brown. All the way from Auburn to Buff. In Chopin’s dream the world is lush, vibrant and often simply beautiful. The characters are well designed and easily recognizable from one another. The characters clothes however are static and do not change with their armor, though I understand they will have dress-up available in the PS3 version. There is no blood, ever. Even when somebody gets stabbed. The animations have their hiccups. When the characters are moving, in combat or in cutscenes, they generally look great. When just standing around they never seem to put their arms all the way down. They just hang there in space, held out from their body just a little like they’re trying to form an A. I’m not sure if it was a stylistic choice or not.

Speaking of style, this game is clearly from the land of anime. Everyone has giant eyes, skinny limbs and is cell shaded. This is done very well and is scaled with age. Chopin looks more like he’s in his late 20’s but Allegretto and Beat both appear approximately the age they’re supposed to be – 16 and 8, respectively.

The sound is excellent. The soundtrack is beautifully put together and fits into the game well. It is unsurprisingly based on Chopin’s works. Sounds in combat and in the world are crisp. The American voice acting is good, most characters have voices that really seem to work with their bodies. There are a few exceptions to that, such as Salsa and her magical changing accent. It’s no deal breaker, but it just doesn’t stand up to the quality of the rest of the game.

Shini Says:

All in all, I enjoyed this game. I like me some JRPG and it filled that niche really well. The combat was occasionally frustrating but the first time you do 250,000+ damage and heal everyone in the party in a single turn it is well worth it. If you like anime and RPGs then this game is for you. If you are a music nerd this game will make you feel really clever because you get what Claves’ name means. The Encore Mode, while ratcheting up the difficulty noticeably, maintains playability of the game without becoming unreasonably hard. Encore mode is probably in the 50-60 hour range to complete and has a few extra side quests and weapons. Good news for anyone who wants all of the gamer points or achievements the game has to offer or wants a longer game.

There are interludes between the chapters where you are shown a slideshow of places Chopin lived and a narrator… narrates his life. I found it interesting. A little depressing, too. The photography is excellent.

That said – I am still not sure exactly what happened in the ending. It was a good ten minutes of confusion before you get to the real ending of the ending. You just need to keep watching until it tells you to go away. It does tie everything up pretty well, but I still feel confused by it.

If you’re hankering for some JRPG, get this game. I give it a four out of five.