Well its time for another monkeygames PSA about a great game that may have slipped under the radar but deserves your attention. The game in question is a Japanese style Role Playing Game called “Eternal Sonata” for the xbox 360.
Eternal Sonata was released on 9.17.2007 in the USA and may have been overlooked because of the hype and anticipation of Halo 3 being released just one week later.
Eternal Sonata takes place within the mind of Frédéric Chopin in the last hours of his life [Chopin contracted tuberculosis in 1849] This “world” helps to set the stage for one of the most compelling stories I have ever seen. There are several intriguing plot lines going on in Eternal Sonata and if you are a fan of good storytelling this is the game for you. Some of the plot lines include Philosophy of life and death, governmental corruption, revolution and poverty.
All the characters in Eternal Sonata that comprise your party are names after musical references, and the names fit perfectly both in personal conduct and on the battle field.
Eternal Sonata’s strongest element is its story. This may be a bold statement but the integration of music, thought and storytelling is something I have not seen since Cowboy Bebop [Bebop is still better, but Eternal Sonata comes close].
The game play of Eternal Sonata is a lot of fun as well. Much of the game takes place in beautifully surreal areas. The graphics look very good, and have a nice hand drawn 3d feel to them. Areas do seem a bit linear but there are some good puzzles to solve, and if you take the time exploration of each path in a forest, or dungeon it can yield some cool loot. No matter what area you are in most monster encounters are optional. There are no random encounters if you want to fight you can if you don’t just avoid the monster, either way its good to see random encounters in RPG’s going the way of the 8-Track!
When you do fight the battles play out in an active turn based system. The key word there is active, you can move party members around a 3d battle field, attacks are done with button combos, when you are not attacking you still need to be on your toes because you have the ability to block attacks, or counter them with a well timed button press. When attacking each hit goes into a combo meter, if you wait and build up this meter a massive bonus is given to your special moves. The combat system is one of the best active turn based systems I have seen in an RPG.
The list of character powers and abilities grow as you level. In the beginning you are given the option of selecting two special abilities, one light and one dark. The light and dark mechanic some into play on the battlefield. Some powers will only work when you move your character into a light source, others will only work if you are in the shadows [in sunlit areas monster or party member shadows count as dark as well] In outside areas the sun is constantly moving so the light and dark areas are constantly changing. There are also moments in Boss battles where the changing position of the sun, and movement of shadows can quickly turn the tide of a battle or allow you tank to fire off a much needed light based healing spell.
Now there is one issue with Eternal Sonata and this is mainly the long cut scenes, 15 to 20 minuets can be a bit much but they only serve to tell more of the story so its forgivable to an extent. Once you get through the prologue, and first chapter its not that bad. Over all its annoying to play for 15 min and then spend half an hour watching a cut scene.
So far I am about fifteen hours into this game, the story still remains interesting, and I still go out of my way to get into a battle. Eternal Sonata’s strengths lie within its intriguing story, and active combat system. If you are a fan of RPGs, good storytelling, combat, and off beat humor you owe it to yourself to play Eternal Sonata.