Microsoft finally has a dream of a JRPG on it's system

I got Eternal Sonata used at gamestop in one of there after Christmas sales. I had heard about the game and was interested in playing it. The game is one of the most unique JRPG’s that I have played in a while it is literally both turned base and action all rolled into one. And while the story is the strangest I have ever seen even in a JRPG, strange enough to make me wonder the size of the joints they were passing around during story sessions, especially with the wacked out ending. The whole experience is worth checking out.

Story.
The great composer Fredric Chopin is on his death bed but before he dies he has one last dream. In this dream world people who get sick with an illness have the ability to use magic before they die. He befriends a young girl named Polka who has this disease and decides to accompany here on a journey to Forte castle to see the ruler of the country count Waltz about his high taxes. Along the way they encounter many other characters including Allegretto and his young friend Beat, a sheep herder Voila, and the two guardians of Agogo forest Waltz and Salsa. He also gets caught up in a conspiracy that will throw two kingdoms into war, and discover why the count is being so generous with his new drug called mineral powder seems there are some negative side affects.

Yeah the story is pretty out there and while I would complement them on using Fredric Chopin has the hero instead of the usual emo teenager who has to carry the burden of the world on his world like most RPG’s. Unfortunately Chopin really isn’t the main character rather a tag along the hero and main character that a lot of the story follows is Allegretto who is the usual emo teenager who has to carry the burden of the world on his shoulders. Still the story is out there enough to keep you interested but then it’s not the story that you should be playing this game for.

Graphics.
With the next generation HD graphics all focusing on realism it’s nice to see a game that takes a step back and goes towards the surreal.. The game is one of the nicest looking animated cel shaded games I have ever seen, the whole game looks like it could easily be an animated movie in it’s own right. The surroundings in each area are also all top notch fantasy world surroundings, there isn’t a place in the game that has some type of eye candy.

Sound.
The last JRPG I played on the 360 was blue dragon which could probably win the award for most obnoxious sound track in a video game, especially with the boss music. Fortunately the music in the game is the complete opposite of that, with beautiful moving sound tracks and melodies that fit the situation, the music is beautiful. Most of it original and some of them are of course Chopin’s work. Has for the voices if you have ever heard an anime dubbed by either viz or Bandai then your familiar with Ocean and there usual line up of voice actors. They do a top notch job on this one though and the English voices rarely grate.

Game play
This is a Japanese RPG and it has the similar trappings of one. The battles are fought in there own arenas, it’s turned based sort of, buying new weapons and armor in every town you meet, and there is of course over the top battle spells. But Eternal Sonata does not play like a typical RPG when it comes to combat. On the field when you encounter an enemy how you touch it and how it touches you will determine how you start the battle. If you sneak up on it and touch it the battle starts with your characters attacking the back of the enemy. If the enemies touch you in the back they get the first attack. Now this isn’t an entire menu driven turned based RPG this is part action. And by that I don’t mean Paper Mario press A or B to dodge or counter when it’s the enemies turn (all though that’s in there) during your turn the game plays has an action game.

When it’s your turn a timer will go down has you move around the field pressing the A button lets you do regular moves. Doing regular moves will earn you echo points for every 4 solid hits you get on an enemy, it allows gives you a few more seconds on the clock. Pressing Y will let you do a melee or magic attack, the more echoes you have the more powerful the attack is. Later in the game you will be able to combine the special attacks into harmony chains. Whenever you have over 24 notes you will be able to chain 3 of your characters super move into one giant attack, you can tell you have this ability because your character will stop and say some sort of silly spell line before doing the attack, pressing Y at the right time will keep your attack going. These Harmony chains are the best way to bring down big bosses at the end of the game. The battle system is intuitive and a lot of fun to work with.

But if your worried about it going to fast don’t be, the game actually easies beginners in to the battle system. The battle system changes for every chapter throwing something in while making it a little bit more difficult. At the beginning you get no echoes or chains but the timer will only move if you make a move and you have 5 whole seconds. Has you move on you will get less time to think before each turn begins, and then less period per turn but your characters will access abilities if used right will damage enemies faster and bring about battles end quicker.

Now I do have a few complaints though most of them are minor. First off the game is really linear, despite it looking like it has a huge over world the game takes you place to place by holding your hand and once you clear an area in a chapter it’s really hard if not impossible to get back to it. Meaning doing side quests and looking for stuff is a one shot affair you miss it’s gone in till your next play thorough (it does have a new game+ option thankfully). Fortunately there is no magic points to heal your party so has long has you make sure you beat up an enemy occasionally you won’t ever worry about actually getting stuck in a chapter.

Next is the camera which is also a minor complaint. I didn’t have a problem with it 99% of the time, but that 1% was during boss fights, especially the ones towards the end were the game moves really fast. The problem with large bosses is that is easy to loose character behind them. Even worse is that sometimes you can’t tell if your characters are hitting them or not, and while a miss swing may not seem to be a bit deal, it is when you loose a 1 second out of 4 before the enemy is able to beat up your party it’s a big deal.

Finally the game is a bit on the short side for an RPG. It’s a little less then 20 hours for one play through. For those of you who are looking for something that will keep you busy for months are going to be a bit disappointed when Eternal Sonata ends in a little less then a week.

Achievements.
The game has a good set of achievement points to keep you busy. Most of them are on side quests and 2nd new game plus savings. They will take awhile but don’t ask you to level up your characters to the extreme that blue dragon did. Rather they go around doing side dungeons and looking for stuff.

Final Recommendation.
The 360 version of eternal sonata runs 30-40 dollars now and if own a PS3 then the supped up version is out state side at a cost of 60 bucks. The game is definitely worth the money all though if you own both consoles you will have to ask your self weather or not the extras in the PS3 version are worth the 20 dollar asking price.