Eternal Sonata (2007)

I am on a journey to beat 360 random Xbox 360 games. Here's my next adventure.

Game number 25 was my choice and I decided to play Eternal Sonata. This is a turn-based JRPG released by tri-Crescendo. The game is centered around the life and works of the classical composer Frederick Chopin and he is actually one of the main playable characters. The world where the game takes place is actually all inside Chopin’s dreams, while he is lying sick on his deathbed.

While the story is overshadowed by Chopin and his death, the main story is actually about a war between two nations. You play as a myriad of characters as they discover an evil plot by the local Count Waltz. He is trying to turn all of his citizens into mindless soldiers to fuel his battle against the neighboring nation.

The main character of the story is probably a girl named Polka. She is a happy girl, from a small village by the coast. You learn in the first hour or so that she is able to use magic; which is taboo because only people who will die soon are able to use magic. Most people are afraid of her because they think she is sick and that her disease will pass on to them if she gets too close. Polka is a not-so-subtle mirror of Chopin himself because her death looms over the rest of the story just as much as Chopin’s.

There are a lot more playable characters and I didn’t outwardly hate any of them (which is an improvement over FF13). Most of the characters are children and a lot of the dialogue can seem childish from time to time, but the story was overall cohesive and I liked the characters that were here.

Last note on the story. Idk if it was just me, but the last chapter of the story got a little too philosophical and there were some story threads that were barely explained. I didn’t fully understand the ending of this game and personally thought that the game got a little too deep there.

One of the biggest things that I didn’t like about this game is that every 2-3 hours the game would hit me with EXTREMELY LONG CUTSCENES! This was always fine when the content I received was actually a cutscene about the characters in the game… but it often wasn’t.

You have to sit through 6-8 powerpoint presentations about different parts of Chopin’s life. These presentations were a mix between history and straight up speculation. It would discuss facts about Chopin’s life and then say things like “...Chopin wasn’t in the best of health and perhaps the attention to them by society aggravated his condition.” This game wasn’t a musical history PHD paper… but I felt like some of the statements made in the game were not backed up by any sort of source or statement from Chopin himself or his estate. Also, these cutscenes were really boring and did nothing to advance the plot. That is probably their worst offense.

The world of this game is absolutely beautiful. Every scene is done in a style that really impresses and I never found myself bored or annoyed by looking at the game. I think the art design team blew their job out of the water on this one. The same goes for music. I guess this isn't hard when you are making a game based off of one of the most famous composers of all time, but his works are utilized throughout the game and perfectly compliment the areas where they are present.

The combat system in this game may be one of the best combat systems I have ever played in a game of this genre. All the enemies show up on the dungeon maps (so no random encounters), which is always a positive. The fights themselves have a system where you get to control each player for a certain amount of time.

Let's say Chopin’s turn starts. You can move him freely around the encounter map and attack enemies, use items, or unleash special attacks. After 5 seconds (or 4 seconds later in the game) his turn is done and the next character gets to do whatever they want for a few seconds.

In addition to this, each encounter map has certain areas that are light vs dark and your characters, as well as enemies, will have different move sets depending on the type of area they are standing in.

Finally, each attack that successfully lands on an enemy increases the combo gauge. At any time you can use a special attack on an opponent and it will deplete the combo gauge. The attack will get a massive power increase if the gauge was high enough and managing this gauge is the key to beating boss battles.

Overall, I loved Eternal Sonata. The gameplay in this game is nothing short of fantastic and I would love to discover any other games that have similarly inspired systems. The story was also really fun and engaging throughout. The only gripes that I have are the absolutely awful Chopin history slideshows and that the game was definitely on the easier side. I have heard that the PS3 version of this game actually fixes the difficulty curve and makes the game much harder… so, even though I am a big Xbox 360 fan. Play this on the PS3 if you have the option. (9/10)

I spent 24 hours, 58 min, and 56 sec playing Eternal Sonata

I have spent 268 hours and 48 min on the Road to 360 challenge so far.

Next Game: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

From the research I have done, the PS3 version of this game differs from the Xbox 360 in ways that should probably clean up my biggest complaint in the game. This game happens to fall into a few hyper specific niches of mine, which lands it in my top 10 games of all time. Given that you may not feel the same way, I would still put this game at 3.5 to 4 for most people, it is pretty unique and I strongly recommend you go experience it before it becomes overpriced.

Everything below is quite long and detailed because I would love for more people to experience this game, but don't want someone to overpay for an old game that is not what they expected.

This game has one of the most beautiful soundtracks, and the names of the songs are very interesting. This is a game where you can go back and listen to the soundtrack and know exactly which scenes the songs were in. It would have been disappointing if the soundtrack was not great because the general story is that you are playing out a fever dream of Frederic Chopin on his deathbed.

The story can get tangled up in itself as it progresses and more characters come and go, which is pretty standard for the genre. I only felt it was a major misstep near the end, because the game felt quite rushed and unexplained. The PS3 version has extra chapters which supposedly fill in the gaps, which is why I have purchased and backlogged it. There are times where you could spend time leveling your party only for it to feel like a waste when they leave, but in almost every case, the character will return.

This is quite a colorful game, and the art style means it has aged well, even though it is not quite cartoony. The visual design makes up for most of the "dungeons" being quite linear, because they are a joy to take in. In one particular dungeon, the designers seemed to want to make up for the simple navigation in the other areas, and created a hellish labyrinth. I got stuck here in middle school and returned multiple years later with a guide (which you should use too), so look out for the old aqueduct ruin type place. The fact that the game still is 5 stars should show you how memorable the music, scenery, and characters are though.

The story follows 2 main groups of 2 characters, and they eventually meet along the way. There are a ton of other playable characters that have moments in the spotlight, and eventually stick around to join your party for the longhaul. The main themes are Frederic Chopin coming to terms with the end of his life, contrasting industry and nature, and one other main issue for Frederic that I won't spell out to avoid any major spoilers. English voices are cheesy at times, but I never found them to be poorly done. I will probably play through the PS3 version with Japanese voices and subtitles.

Gameplay makes fighting and grinding constantly enjoyable. This is basically a turn based action rpg. As you progress, the game takes off some training wheels 1 at a time, but not in a frustrating hand-holding way where you feel artificially limited. And when you complete the game you can always do a new game + where you choose between a new unlocked difficulty and the last difficulty mode you reach on the first playthrough.

Combat occurs when you run into an enemy, or are run into by an enemy in the overworld. (Hitting from behind or getting hit from behind allows back attacks like in many other games) Combat takes place in a circular battlefield, and once your party fills out, you can bring 3 characters into each fight. Each character can be controlled by a different player, which gives this game some fun co-op possibility, even though only one player controls navigation through the overworld. Each character is pre-set into a specific role, and leveling up boosts stats to further fit the role; you as the player do not have any customization as far as stat distribution. Equipment consists of a weapon and 1 piece of armor, but much of the items are also character specific. Basically, just equip every new piece you find in chests in the overworld.

Once a fight starts, the game indicates whose turn it is. The basics are you can move, attack, use items, and use special abilities. Each is mapped to a different button, and you select your item that is consumed (when pressing B or O) by using the bumpers (L1 & R1). Characters have two different special abilities depending on whether they are in the dark or light. (This can be sunlight, shadows, nighttime, candlelight, etc) Abilities can be healing, ranged and physical attacks, buffs and depend on the character. More are unlocked as they level up. Many monsters also change form based on light and dark. As the game progresses, it becomes a more integral part of each fight.

There is an action gauge that determines how long a turn is for each character, and you are free to do whatever you like until it has run down. Initially only actions such as attacking, using a special, or using an item run down the bar. As the training wheels come off, the action bar is more easily run down. The first is that moving now reduces the action bar. Then, the action starts counting down like a stopwatch once you first move or take action. The final step is that it begins counting after a very small buffer period, even if you have not taken action. While all of this sounds anxiety inducing, it is not actually that much of an adjustment. It mainly serves to keep gameplay fast and combat oriented, rather than constantly defending and setting up buffs for one character to do all of the damage (although you still can do this in a roundabout way). In order to offset the difficulty increases related to the action gauge, the game adds in a combo system as the training wheels come off. Each hit with a standard attack adds one hit to the combo-meter. It is displayed in powers of 2 (starting with 4) by stars on the bottom (left?) of the screen. Once you have built up at least one star, you can consume it by using a special ability. This consumes all of the stars you have built up, and for each extra star consumed, the power of the ability is amplified. At first this is limited to 3 stars (16 hits), but can make its way up to 64 hits. This system, in a way, lets you follow the typical JRPG boss method. Use one character that has a very fast basic attack to build up hits. Use a healer to build up hits slower and use items. Use an attacker to consume a fully charged combo on the boss. If healing is needed, use the healer's special to consume the combos instead.

This game has a great loop in the combat system, which never really got old for me. There are also side quests, scores of music that you find and can combine to unlock special items from certain NPC's, and one character can take photos in battle which you can sell for varying amounts depending on the quality of the photo (see pokemon snap rating system).

Sorry for the very long-winded description/review, but hopefully this gives you a clear enough picture to decide if you want to give this unique game a shot. As always, reach out if you would like anymore detail!