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.

Sudeki (Xbox)

This is an older game, but I think it's worth a review for those who missed it (or, at least, a reprisal for those that may have forgotten about it).



Genre: RPG
Publisher: Climax
Developer: Microsoft
ESRB Rating: M for Mature
Price: 9.99USD at Fry’s
US Release Date: July 07, 2004
Equipment: First Gen Xbox, 25” Goldstar CRT, Microsoft Type S controller
Completion: Around 20-30 hours depending on exploring and side quests and character leveling.


As Seen In Illumina Daily Times*:
The land of light has been overcome by darkness of sky and soul. Please help.

You start out as Tal, son of General Arlo. He’s an excellent swordsman, but a little absent-minded. His attacks are melee and third person when in battle. Some are weak, but some gib opponents very nicely. His offensive casts can be devastating and his ability to shield all party members comes in handy as well. He has an increasing collection of swords as the game progresses, some very interesting, some basic. The chainsaw sword that can be purchased at Kamo’s is particularly fun and well worth the buy. His special ability is brute force. He pushes and pulls around large, heavy objects (and never once complains).

The next character you are able to play is Princess Ailish. She’s fairly down to earth with her friends despite her status, but retains a slight arrogance towards those she doesn’t really care for. Her attacks are ranged and first person when in battle. She is also the group’s healer. As long as you keep her alive and her SP replenished, your group should stay alive as well. (Setting all in the group to Defense helps too.) Her weapons are somewhat mediocre at first, but later on she acquires one that, at the very least, hits hard enough to knock opponents off their feet (very handy with spell-casting Arconites). Her special ability is dispelling. Anything hidden by magic, she can uncover.

Buki is your third character and your first big boss fight. Half human, half tiger, she’s very spiritual and an excellent fighter with her claws. Her attacks are melee and third person when in battle. While not a healer, she can cast regeneration for the entire party and she can call a wolf spirit into battle that causes damage and distraction to the opponents. Some of her weapons are very upgradeable, making them quite formidable. Her special ability is climbing. She just digs her claws in and away she goes.

The last character you become fully acquainted with is Elco. He is very scientific and his ion fluxinator is a very good weapon to upgrade and use throughout most of the game. Elco is also the oldest member of the group and the only one who is married. His attacks are ranged and first person when in battle. He has a cast called Nano Enhancement which improves the entire party’s attack quite a bit while it lasts. His offensive casts are lackluster and often not needed as long as his strongest gun is equipped. His special ability is his jet pack. As long as there’s a fuel supply, he can “platform jump” from place to place.

As these four characters, you travel through Haskilia searching for crystals to power a large force-field machine Elco has invented to protect Illumina Castle from Aklorian invaders. Each town you encounter is completely different from the last in design and presentation. There’s also chances to trade, rest, and upgrade your armor in each town. (Stick with the traders on the outskirts of towns for selling your bounty and learn what they like best. Kamo’s is the easiest place with the most supply to replenish your healing aids.) All of the people are interactive, each having a different nugget of information (or quest) for you. Like any town, some people are entertaining to speak with, some you want to smack. The voice acting of the random townsfolk seems a bit tongue-in-cheek (no pun—well, maybe a little) but those that are more integral to the plot or quests stepped up to the plate a bit better. Main character voice acting is pretty good, too (the only two that really bother me are Alexine and Kazel who you meet in Akloria). I fear some of the characters don’t realize they’re English anime, but they seem all right with that. The soundtrack to each town fits quite well and the ambience is decent. Graphically, you can sort of see the game’s initial Dreamcast hopes, but generally it’s not too bad if you like your animes in 3D.

Battle is fairly entertaining. It’s real time and you can switch between characters fairly easily, allowing you to cast a heal here, an enhancement there, or just blow enemies to bits. There’s no turn based play here. You hit while the hitting’s good and be aware that the enemy is going to do exactly the same. If you’re overwhelmed, you can make them back off with a sweep attack. If you need something from your menu, the fighting simply slows down so you’d better know what you want and where it is or you might end up dead searching for something. There’s also a quickshot menu that allows you to set up four items to be easily accessed with your D-pad so you can give Ailish a quick hit of SP or HP before having her heal the rest of the party (or Tal some HP before having him obliterate the enemy). When you kill your enemies, they can explode in bloody, chunky bits. Some of Tal’s casts executed on multiple enemies fills your screen with a lovely ocean of red.

The enemies are the only parts that are really recycled (and other things in Akloria, but I can't say much on that without giving a huge spoiler so you'll have to see and understand for yourself when you play the game). You notice a lot of similar frames with different bodies attached. Much as it works for Ford/Mercury/Mazda, Toyota/Lexus, and all of GM, it works well enough here. The experience is different and the tactics are different when fighting them. The AI isn’t too bad, either. Enemies have little trouble trying to kill you hard and your group follows you along like good little lambs.

The game controls feel fairly natural. There’s not a lot of confusion when learning them and you become comfortable with them quickly. Save points are scattered fairly liberally around so you don’t have to worry about five hours of play going down the drain because you have yet to be able to save and your cat just turned off your surge protector.

As the game progresses, the level of difficulty seems to grow accurately with your characters (pending you’ve stopped to do the side quests and get the XP from those quests and from all the fighting you end up having to do for those quests). You’re given points to buff attributes and you’re also given orbs along the way that do the same thing. (Tip: feed most of the orbs to Tal. Don’t ask. Just do it. You’ll thank me later.) There’s also a level cap. No level 99 for these guys. Level 30, that’s it. Every fifth level gets you an extra point to work with. (Something else to keep in mind.)

All in all, it’s an RPG. You’ve got your group with your hard hitters and your spell casters. There’s your inns and your traders and townsfolk. (“Fish! Fresh fish!” will always be something I’ll remember from this game.) You’ve got your quests and puzzles that you can actually decipher without banging your head against a wall. The characters have some character to them and the surrounding countryside has some too.

Nikoda Says:

Generally, I liked the game. I’ve played it through about a five times now because it’s just fun to play. You can get into it, but you can stop playing should something suddenly come up and you’re no worse for wear. I do wish a little more happened at the end, but the big question gets answered, so I guess I’m left to wonder if Tilly divorces Elco because he’s never home. Although, it would be nice to get a chance to run around and kill things with your shiny final upgrades. It’s a fun map to explore and a fun world to run around killing things in. The game isn’t ridiculously easy or insanely hard. Plus, you get to trade with a cantankerous duck from the Bronx and the narrator at the start and end sounds suspiciously like Dr. Who.

Final Verdict:


*not actually in game--I made it up to be "cute" or "funny" ;o)