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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: RPG Developer: Namco Bandai Publisher: Namco Bandai Reviewed By: Dale Kulas |
I finally accomplished what I thought was unachievable for me. I completed my first Japanese RPG; the 38 hour experience only took
me about eleven months! The game in question is Eternal Sonata for the Xbox 360, and with the PS3 director's cut version creeping up
in several weeks, I figured this would be an ideal time to write up my experience with the game.
I'm not a hardcore RPG freak by any means as I have only put serious play time into only several JRPGs before, most notably Final
Fantasy VI and Earthbound on SNES. Over the year I find myself enjoying the user-friendly western-RPGs more with hack 'n slashers
such as the Dark Alliance & Champions series on PS2, and Bethesda's Oblivion. Up until Eternal Sonata, I couldn't get into any JRPGs
in several years.
The downloadable demo was what got me into Eternal Sonata. Its take on a battle engine, remarkable graphics and unique storyline
was what hooked me in and got me to shell out the $60 for it. The story is a bit out there, and the developers must have been some
drifts into a dream world dominated by typical fantasy RPG characters. Frederic learns that the world is on the brink of all out war, and
teams up with a cast of stereotypical teenagers selected to save the world types.
I'm not the biggest fan of traditional JRPG battle systems where I must endure lengthy summon animations, wait my turn as I watch my
party gets the tar beaten out of them, or cross my fingers that they happen to dodge an attack. Eternal Sonata is thankfully more involved.
The battle system isn't necessarily turn based, but more of a turn/real time hybrid. Each character has several seconds to freely move
around and unleash as much punishment as possible, and each hit landed builds up an "Echo" meter that can increases in power as
the party culminates attacks. The more powerful the Echo meter, the more powerful each character's signature special attack is (all less
of a chore when grinding (thank goodness there is no random battles here!). On defense, before an opponent lands a strike, the player
has a brief window to "guard" an attack. Successful timing of the guard significantly reduces the amount of damage taken. This is
crucial for boss fights and tougher villains in the latter half of the adventure where timing is everything. All of these elements of fighting
combine for an incredibly satisfying battle system.
Another reason Eternal Sonata works for me is how linear it is. Some people may hear "linear" in an RPG and think that it's a bad thing,
and that is not the case here. I appreciate an RPG for once that doesn't have a mammoth over world, littered with random battles and
dozens of seemingly needless caves and labyrinths. There are a few dungeons later on that are quite daunting, but for the most part
Eternal Sonata is fairly straightforward. As mentioned above, it took 38 hours to complete, and I have read others complaining that is too
short in an era of games that offer what seems like an infinite amount of side quests to pad out game play. There is more to Eternal
Sonata in the form a "New Game+" mode that lets you keep all your experience and items, and throws in a few new side quests when
going through the story a second time.
Not everything is perfect about Eternal Sonata however. There are some serious pacing issues with the storyline. A lot of the cut scenes
are too long and drawn out, mostly in part because there are these short, yet noticeable two-to-three second pauses before each line of
dialogue. I heard some people say this is because of the game trying to load each line from the disc, but I disagree with that because
there are a handful of moments in the game where characters immediately chime in and cut each other off. So for whatever reason that
escapes me, it appears that the developers wanted the cut scenes to unfold this way, and eventually I got use to it, but for the better part
of the game I loathed it.
Not every piece of storyline has voice work, most chatter with NPCs, and some minor story arcs are dealt with via traditional text boxes.
That's all well and good, however, in Eternal Sonata's final acts, the text work become more prevalent over the voice work to the point it
seemed like the developers ran out of time with the voice actors. The result is that it takes away from the story feeling more epic upon
reaching its conclusion. Speaking of the ending, without giving too much away, is a confusing letdown. It resolves some of the plot, but
a lot of the story built with the remainder of the supporting characters has no resolution after investing so much time into it throughout
the adventure. Throw in some of the most bizarre credits sequences I have ever seen, and don't be surprised if you find yourself leaving
Eternal Sonata scratching your head.
If you haven't seen any footage are pictures of Eternal Sonata, than would prove a difficult task for my words to do them justice. The
environments are standard fare and aren't anything you haven't seen before (except for the Xylophone Tower, where illuminated
piano-key staircases light up the sky!), but it's the character design that drops the proverbial jaw, especially in HD. It's one of the most
artistic games I have seen since The Wind Waker. Aurally, with the game being centered around Frederic Chopin, it's no surprise to
hear a lot of his most famous works in the game. Eternal Sonata also offers up a fantastic score that kicks in and cools off at all the
appropriate moments. I have to give props to the casting department too, as they did a great job at hiring some quality voice actors.
There were a couple characters that get a little obnoxious to listen to later in the game (I'm looking at you Beat!), but for the most part the
cast is easy on the ears.
Despite some of the aforementioned shortcomings, Eternal Sonata is still a satisfying game. I had a fun experience throughout the
entire game without having to endure many grinding sessions to make sure that my characters were the appropriate levels. It does a lot
of things that I wish a lot of other JRPGs do. If you're too impatient, or don't want to shell out $60 for the upcoming PS3 deluxe edition
that features more playable characters, dungeons, and quests, than you can run across this game in most used shops for under $30.
me about eleven months! The game in question is Eternal Sonata for the Xbox 360, and with the PS3 director's cut version creeping up
in several weeks, I figured this would be an ideal time to write up my experience with the game.
I'm not a hardcore RPG freak by any means as I have only put serious play time into only several JRPGs before, most notably Final
Fantasy VI and Earthbound on SNES. Over the year I find myself enjoying the user-friendly western-RPGs more with hack 'n slashers
such as the Dark Alliance & Champions series on PS2, and Bethesda's Oblivion. Up until Eternal Sonata, I couldn't get into any JRPGs
in several years.
The downloadable demo was what got me into Eternal Sonata. Its take on a battle engine, remarkable graphics and unique storyline
was what hooked me in and got me to shell out the $60 for it. The story is a bit out there, and the developers must have been some
drifts into a dream world dominated by typical fantasy RPG characters. Frederic learns that the world is on the brink of all out war, and
teams up with a cast of stereotypical teenagers selected to save the world types.
I'm not the biggest fan of traditional JRPG battle systems where I must endure lengthy summon animations, wait my turn as I watch my
party gets the tar beaten out of them, or cross my fingers that they happen to dodge an attack. Eternal Sonata is thankfully more involved.
The battle system isn't necessarily turn based, but more of a turn/real time hybrid. Each character has several seconds to freely move
around and unleash as much punishment as possible, and each hit landed builds up an "Echo" meter that can increases in power as
the party culminates attacks. The more powerful the Echo meter, the more powerful each character's signature special attack is (all less
of a chore when grinding (thank goodness there is no random battles here!). On defense, before an opponent lands a strike, the player
has a brief window to "guard" an attack. Successful timing of the guard significantly reduces the amount of damage taken. This is
crucial for boss fights and tougher villains in the latter half of the adventure where timing is everything. All of these elements of fighting
combine for an incredibly satisfying battle system.
Another reason Eternal Sonata works for me is how linear it is. Some people may hear "linear" in an RPG and think that it's a bad thing,
and that is not the case here. I appreciate an RPG for once that doesn't have a mammoth over world, littered with random battles and
dozens of seemingly needless caves and labyrinths. There are a few dungeons later on that are quite daunting, but for the most part
Eternal Sonata is fairly straightforward. As mentioned above, it took 38 hours to complete, and I have read others complaining that is too
short in an era of games that offer what seems like an infinite amount of side quests to pad out game play. There is more to Eternal
Sonata in the form a "New Game+" mode that lets you keep all your experience and items, and throws in a few new side quests when
going through the story a second time.
Not everything is perfect about Eternal Sonata however. There are some serious pacing issues with the storyline. A lot of the cut scenes
are too long and drawn out, mostly in part because there are these short, yet noticeable two-to-three second pauses before each line of
dialogue. I heard some people say this is because of the game trying to load each line from the disc, but I disagree with that because
there are a handful of moments in the game where characters immediately chime in and cut each other off. So for whatever reason that
escapes me, it appears that the developers wanted the cut scenes to unfold this way, and eventually I got use to it, but for the better part
of the game I loathed it.
Not every piece of storyline has voice work, most chatter with NPCs, and some minor story arcs are dealt with via traditional text boxes.
That's all well and good, however, in Eternal Sonata's final acts, the text work become more prevalent over the voice work to the point it
seemed like the developers ran out of time with the voice actors. The result is that it takes away from the story feeling more epic upon
reaching its conclusion. Speaking of the ending, without giving too much away, is a confusing letdown. It resolves some of the plot, but
a lot of the story built with the remainder of the supporting characters has no resolution after investing so much time into it throughout
the adventure. Throw in some of the most bizarre credits sequences I have ever seen, and don't be surprised if you find yourself leaving
Eternal Sonata scratching your head.
If you haven't seen any footage are pictures of Eternal Sonata, than would prove a difficult task for my words to do them justice. The
environments are standard fare and aren't anything you haven't seen before (except for the Xylophone Tower, where illuminated
piano-key staircases light up the sky!), but it's the character design that drops the proverbial jaw, especially in HD. It's one of the most
artistic games I have seen since The Wind Waker. Aurally, with the game being centered around Frederic Chopin, it's no surprise to
hear a lot of his most famous works in the game. Eternal Sonata also offers up a fantastic score that kicks in and cools off at all the
appropriate moments. I have to give props to the casting department too, as they did a great job at hiring some quality voice actors.
There were a couple characters that get a little obnoxious to listen to later in the game (I'm looking at you Beat!), but for the most part the
cast is easy on the ears.
Despite some of the aforementioned shortcomings, Eternal Sonata is still a satisfying game. I had a fun experience throughout the
entire game without having to endure many grinding sessions to make sure that my characters were the appropriate levels. It does a lot
of things that I wish a lot of other JRPGs do. If you're too impatient, or don't want to shell out $60 for the upcoming PS3 deluxe edition
that features more playable characters, dungeons, and quests, than you can run across this game in most used shops for under $30.
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