Beat be like: "Hey Retto, hey retto, hey retto, hey retto, hey retto..."
Beautiful graphics, though it has odd matting (the chars hold their arms out so they don't clip their outfits lol). I really enjoyed the gameplay a lot, and though I know that's usually the main point of a game but... The story is bad. Really really bad. So bad that it ruins the game. And the clips about Chopin's life...let me skip them. I mean I enjoyed them the first time but after that I just want to skip them...they also run too long.
Interesting game with an interesting combat system. Nothing amazing but do remember liking it.
If you haven't played a lot of games then you'll want to play only the greatest games. Eventually though you'll reach a point where you've seen the same formula for great games over and over, and while they're still great, you'll crave something different. That's when you play this game.
Is Eternal Sonata a great game? Probably not. It is unique, and most importantly, it's good enough. A lot of weird and experimental games are a pain to play but you'll never struggle to get through this game. The gameplay is perfectly serviceable so that you can see the truly one of a kind story. If playing something new and different is your primary goal then play this game.
Is Eternal Sonata a great game? Probably not. It is unique, and most importantly, it's good enough. A lot of weird and experimental games are a pain to play but you'll never struggle to get through this game. The gameplay is perfectly serviceable so that you can see the truly one of a kind story. If playing something new and different is your primary goal then play this game.
another hidden gem 2007 jrpg on the ps3 I somehow found at my local used game store... queue that meme from Phineas and Ferb about the 2 cents
but yah a really pretty and colorful game at a time when jrpgs were going through a bit of an emo phase and it also has fairly enjoyable core gameplay that's like a slower more strategic focused tales of Game
but yah a really pretty and colorful game at a time when jrpgs were going through a bit of an emo phase and it also has fairly enjoyable core gameplay that's like a slower more strategic focused tales of Game
polka my fashion icon
really enjoyed because its cutscenes beat is so silly
genuinely fun coop game
No niego yo que tenga un apartado artístico y sonoro destacable; aparte de eso, las referencias musicales y la especie de tributo a Chopin, no creo que deje poso por nada más. La trama termina siendo un sinsentido y los combates muy repetitivos.
as far as games that take place in the last few synapses firing inside a dying man's brain go, this is way more family friendly than bloodborne (at least until frederic chopin starts trying to line the inside of his piano with eyes)
Happy 15th anniversary to Eternal Sonata! I was only 13 when this game came out, but it blew my mind and it's been one of my absolute favorite games ever since. Such an underrated gem and an insanely creative fever dream (quite literally).
You'd never expect to play a turn based anime J-RPG about the dreams that iconic classical composer Frederic Chopin had on his death bed, but that's exactly what Eternal Sonata is.
The battle system is challenging and fun involving a unique light and darkness mechanic that still makes it one-of-a-kind to this day, the graphics are beautifully cell shaded and hold up even to this day being vibrantly colorful and detailed, the story is a deep, emotional metaphor for escapism and the acceptance of death and the OST is simply one of the best in the entire medium of gaming. Plus there's tons of cool classical music references all over the world and characters which makes it even more interesting if you're a big music lover. So much creativity and passion went into making this game and it shows by being such a one-of-a-kind experience even 15 years later.
I love everything about Eternal Sonata, it's a masterpiece and one of my absolute favorite J-RPGs and it's a shame there's never been a modern port because more people deserve to experience this underrated masterpiece and I myself would kill to replay it as well.
You'd never expect to play a turn based anime J-RPG about the dreams that iconic classical composer Frederic Chopin had on his death bed, but that's exactly what Eternal Sonata is.
The battle system is challenging and fun involving a unique light and darkness mechanic that still makes it one-of-a-kind to this day, the graphics are beautifully cell shaded and hold up even to this day being vibrantly colorful and detailed, the story is a deep, emotional metaphor for escapism and the acceptance of death and the OST is simply one of the best in the entire medium of gaming. Plus there's tons of cool classical music references all over the world and characters which makes it even more interesting if you're a big music lover. So much creativity and passion went into making this game and it shows by being such a one-of-a-kind experience even 15 years later.
I love everything about Eternal Sonata, it's a masterpiece and one of my absolute favorite J-RPGs and it's a shame there's never been a modern port because more people deserve to experience this underrated masterpiece and I myself would kill to replay it as well.
Why does nobody talk about this game
Eternal Sonata was a unique game. Taking place in the dreams of Polish composer Frédéric Chopin while in his deathbed, it explored a magical world themed around music and actually featured the composer himself as a character.
As a game centered around music, it of course features a beautiful soundtrack, filled with Chopin's compositions as well as original tracks by Golden Sun's Motoi Sakuraba. But more memorable to me were the game's visuals: it featured some of the best art direction I'd seen at the time. The environment artists went all out in fleshing out the places seen in Chopin's dream world, with no amount of color being too much and no level of detail being excessive. Even places that should have every right to be mundane, like the interiors of ships and caves, glisten with bright palettes. ES's visuals aged very well, unlike many of its contemporary games.
The battle system is another thing that stuck with me, not only due to it having light and shadow as foundations for its mechanics, but also due to its use of time as a resource, taking place in turns, but feeling like an action RPG. It also gradually unfolded over the course of the game, as if gradually taking the training wheels off, giving you more freedom but also increasing the risk.
You'll notice I'm not talking about the story, though, and that's because it's... sort of lacking? There are some fun characters, as well as references to Chopin's life, but the overarching plot is dull and features what's perhaps the least intimidating antagonist in the history of JRPGs. There's also a... shall we say, controversial ending that I kind of enjoy, but a lot of people think left a foul taste in their mouth.
Even to this day, fifteen years later, though, I think there has been nothing quite like Eternal Sonata, and to me, that alone warrants checking it out if you have the opportunity. Just, uh, play with Japanese voices if you can. Trust me. You don't want to listen to the dub.
As a game centered around music, it of course features a beautiful soundtrack, filled with Chopin's compositions as well as original tracks by Golden Sun's Motoi Sakuraba. But more memorable to me were the game's visuals: it featured some of the best art direction I'd seen at the time. The environment artists went all out in fleshing out the places seen in Chopin's dream world, with no amount of color being too much and no level of detail being excessive. Even places that should have every right to be mundane, like the interiors of ships and caves, glisten with bright palettes. ES's visuals aged very well, unlike many of its contemporary games.
The battle system is another thing that stuck with me, not only due to it having light and shadow as foundations for its mechanics, but also due to its use of time as a resource, taking place in turns, but feeling like an action RPG. It also gradually unfolded over the course of the game, as if gradually taking the training wheels off, giving you more freedom but also increasing the risk.
You'll notice I'm not talking about the story, though, and that's because it's... sort of lacking? There are some fun characters, as well as references to Chopin's life, but the overarching plot is dull and features what's perhaps the least intimidating antagonist in the history of JRPGs. There's also a... shall we say, controversial ending that I kind of enjoy, but a lot of people think left a foul taste in their mouth.
Even to this day, fifteen years later, though, I think there has been nothing quite like Eternal Sonata, and to me, that alone warrants checking it out if you have the opportunity. Just, uh, play with Japanese voices if you can. Trust me. You don't want to listen to the dub.
sadly i can not review this game, i did no finished it. This is just my first impressions.
This game has a unique theme, and i really respect that. I just could not like the first dungeon, which made me just quit the game before 10 hours. The combat is creative and fun, the idea of a game about Chopin is great, but the history is so weird that some times i was suffering in the dungeon because it sucked, and i asked myself ''why are this characters even doing this? What is their ambition?'' When i could not answer this question, i just shelved it. I will return to it later on.
Tho it is a very fine game! And a good RPG by all means.
This game has a unique theme, and i really respect that. I just could not like the first dungeon, which made me just quit the game before 10 hours. The combat is creative and fun, the idea of a game about Chopin is great, but the history is so weird that some times i was suffering in the dungeon because it sucked, and i asked myself ''why are this characters even doing this? What is their ambition?'' When i could not answer this question, i just shelved it. I will return to it later on.
Tho it is a very fine game! And a good RPG by all means.
I want to like this game I really do but its pacing is glacial and I couldn't get far without getting bored. Gameplay is actually pretty neat but only if you can stomach the pace.
So I get to the end of this thing and find out there was an invisible door in the middle of nowhere that I was supposed to head into to get the true ending. I actually enjoyed this game until that point. I hate that kind of shit.
i wish chopin was real
documentário extremamente factual e rigoroso sobre as maiores empreitadas artísticas e os mais terríveis medos da humanidade
A thought-provoking JRPG that focuses more on the historical context of Frédéric Chopin and recreating it in a more fantastical world. The characters and world around such a weird premise is masterful, and with the help of an all star sound team along with Chopin's catalog, this is easily one of the best video games sonically.
Though the same can't be said for the actual story and gameplay of the game. The story was interesting at first, but felt too splintered to tell a complete story from start to finish, leaving me with more questions at the end than answered. While I enjoyed the unique pseudo turned based combat and its light and dark elements, there are difficulty spikes that can make you struggle on an otherwise relaxing journey. I just wished I got to explore this world more and get to understand how it all intertwines, but instead you are railroaded from dungeon to dungeon with small breaks in towns and breathers onto a bigger story.
I enjoyed my time, even though sometimes I loathed treading through another dungeon. If you're a JRPG fan, this is a must-play for me.
(side note: the PS3 version has more content and rebalances the game to be harder and grindier than the 360 version, so that might be a cause to some of my frustrations)
Though the same can't be said for the actual story and gameplay of the game. The story was interesting at first, but felt too splintered to tell a complete story from start to finish, leaving me with more questions at the end than answered. While I enjoyed the unique pseudo turned based combat and its light and dark elements, there are difficulty spikes that can make you struggle on an otherwise relaxing journey. I just wished I got to explore this world more and get to understand how it all intertwines, but instead you are railroaded from dungeon to dungeon with small breaks in towns and breathers onto a bigger story.
I enjoyed my time, even though sometimes I loathed treading through another dungeon. If you're a JRPG fan, this is a must-play for me.
(side note: the PS3 version has more content and rebalances the game to be harder and grindier than the 360 version, so that might be a cause to some of my frustrations)
Eternal Sonata is a game I've wanted to play for years, but simply didn't have the means to. Now that I have, I am so glad I got the opportunity.
There's a lot to like about this game, from its charming visual style, its gorgeous music, colorful cast of characters, and battle system that is, for the most part, a joy to engage with. I do think for those with less tolerance for doing the same things over and over, the battles can get pretty tedious however.
The story is quite...unique, I'll say. It was originally the one thing that put me off of the game, but I slowly came to terms with the "it's a dream" plot and ultimately ended up liking that more than I thought.
The tedium near the end of the game is probably the only thing I'd say I really disliked about the game overall, and as a whole I really enjoyed it.
There's a lot to like about this game, from its charming visual style, its gorgeous music, colorful cast of characters, and battle system that is, for the most part, a joy to engage with. I do think for those with less tolerance for doing the same things over and over, the battles can get pretty tedious however.
The story is quite...unique, I'll say. It was originally the one thing that put me off of the game, but I slowly came to terms with the "it's a dream" plot and ultimately ended up liking that more than I thought.
The tedium near the end of the game is probably the only thing I'd say I really disliked about the game overall, and as a whole I really enjoyed it.
A fun game that's been lost to the annals of time. While it was nothing special to write home about, the couch co-op with the battle system was fun, and I remember liking the story!
Pretty great old school turn based RPG. Cute graphics, good characters and story. Only reason I dropped it was I hit an insane difficulty spike with some mid-late game boss, otherwise its one of the best RPG's on PS3.
Ein RPG, das Musik zum Thema hat, muss einen wahnsinns Soundtrack haben, oder?
... ODER?
Ja.. ich war auch enttäuscht.
... ODER?
Ja.. ich war auch enttäuscht.
I originally put this game down pretty early on.
Came back to it some months later and finished it in like 2 days, turns out it's pretty good.
Came back to it some months later and finished it in like 2 days, turns out it's pretty good.
PS3!!!!!!!!!
I so badly want a port on PC so I can play this again
I don’t know how else to put this, but Eternal Sonata is probably one of the best (if not THE best) RPG’s of this generation (yes next-gen is now this gen it’s been almost four years now C’mon). The best part about Eternal Sonata are the graphics, story, music, and unique battle system.
To make this as easy as possible to understand I’ll start with the story. ES does something different that I’ve never seen in a game before and that uses a fictitious story with something that’s nonfiction. ES is about the famous pianist Chopin from the early 1800’s; ES follows the life of Chopin during when he was struck with tuberculosis, left Warsaw, Poland due to the war with Austria at the time. While the real Chopin is sick in bed you enter into his mind, and into the world which he created while trying to recover. Chopin is now Frederic and you run into several unique and lovable characters while trying to defeat the evil Count Waltz. Forte Castle (where Waltz lies) is supposed to represent Austria and Chopin wants to go back and defeat the evil leader so he can go home. The reason why Chopin runs into these colorful characters is that they all have separate reasons to see the Count (I won’t explain why due to spoilers). After you beat each chapter stills of Europe will play as well as a piece of Chopin’s music and pieces of his life will be told. Everything flows and ties in perfectly and it makes it one of my favorite RPG stories of all time.
Now I’m going to go right into the battle system with this being the meat of the game. ES doesn’t have a random battle system (THANK GOD!) since I think we’re finally beyond that. Every enemy you see is in real time and you can avoid them if you want (like in numerous other RPGs). Instead of having magic, ability points, and some sort of super attack ES does away with all that. You have a battle counter which lets you decide what you need to do after this runs out your action counter (about 5 seconds) counts down when you start moving and you use the A button to attack with your main weapon. Magic or Special Abilities or whatever you want to call them are on your Y button and use can use these as many times as you want throughout your turn. So, if you attack until your turn is just about up then hit the Y button you can do some devastating damage. Of course, you have items that heal, poison, revive KOs and there are tons of them, but there’s nothing special about these that you haven’t seen before. When it comes to guarding you have a “CHANCE” button (B) and if you hit the button when it appears on screen you will block the enemies attack greatly reducing the damage by about 90%. Sometimes the button will stay longer than other times, but it’s all about timing and this helps keep the action up.
When you get your party leveled up battle rules change from losing time on your counters to being able to chain special attacks, to moving faster in battle. Every time you hit an enemy you “queue” up power and then when you use your special attack it’s that many time more powerful. Every character gets two abilities: Light, and dark. On the battlefield you’ll see shadows and light areas; when you are in a dark area you’ll use a dark attack, and when you are in a light area you’ll use a light attack. This is really great and can help keep things mixed up. Watch out though some enemies transform into stronger monsters when they are in the dark.
The level design in this game can vary sometimes since some of the game has labyrinthine dungeons that require a FAQ to even remotely understand how to navigate. A lot of these are partly due to puzzles that require a lot of backtracking that gets really get under your skin.
Now that the battle system is out of the way to let’s talk production values.
Eternal Sonata uses some outstanding music, especially when Chopin’s pieces are used. The graphics are just absolutely gorgeous with bright color palettes, and unique architecture I’ve never seen in a game before. Eternal Sonata is also one of the JRPG’s that also includes Japanese voice acting and I highly HIGHLY recommend this over the American voice actors. Just turn the English subtitles on and you’re good to go since the Japanese voice actors fit the characters better and are just superb. The game is easier than most JRPG’s, but maybe this is a good thing. Everyone wants a stupidly hard RPG that takes over 100 hours to beat and that’s not always necessary.
Eternal Sonata will take you 20-30 hours to beat depending on your play style and even has a “game finished” save so you can go back from the beginning at whatever level you finished. It’s sad to know Eternal Sonata got great reviews but had poor sales so I hope you pick this up and experience the best RPGs of all time.
To make this as easy as possible to understand I’ll start with the story. ES does something different that I’ve never seen in a game before and that uses a fictitious story with something that’s nonfiction. ES is about the famous pianist Chopin from the early 1800’s; ES follows the life of Chopin during when he was struck with tuberculosis, left Warsaw, Poland due to the war with Austria at the time. While the real Chopin is sick in bed you enter into his mind, and into the world which he created while trying to recover. Chopin is now Frederic and you run into several unique and lovable characters while trying to defeat the evil Count Waltz. Forte Castle (where Waltz lies) is supposed to represent Austria and Chopin wants to go back and defeat the evil leader so he can go home. The reason why Chopin runs into these colorful characters is that they all have separate reasons to see the Count (I won’t explain why due to spoilers). After you beat each chapter stills of Europe will play as well as a piece of Chopin’s music and pieces of his life will be told. Everything flows and ties in perfectly and it makes it one of my favorite RPG stories of all time.
Now I’m going to go right into the battle system with this being the meat of the game. ES doesn’t have a random battle system (THANK GOD!) since I think we’re finally beyond that. Every enemy you see is in real time and you can avoid them if you want (like in numerous other RPGs). Instead of having magic, ability points, and some sort of super attack ES does away with all that. You have a battle counter which lets you decide what you need to do after this runs out your action counter (about 5 seconds) counts down when you start moving and you use the A button to attack with your main weapon. Magic or Special Abilities or whatever you want to call them are on your Y button and use can use these as many times as you want throughout your turn. So, if you attack until your turn is just about up then hit the Y button you can do some devastating damage. Of course, you have items that heal, poison, revive KOs and there are tons of them, but there’s nothing special about these that you haven’t seen before. When it comes to guarding you have a “CHANCE” button (B) and if you hit the button when it appears on screen you will block the enemies attack greatly reducing the damage by about 90%. Sometimes the button will stay longer than other times, but it’s all about timing and this helps keep the action up.
When you get your party leveled up battle rules change from losing time on your counters to being able to chain special attacks, to moving faster in battle. Every time you hit an enemy you “queue” up power and then when you use your special attack it’s that many time more powerful. Every character gets two abilities: Light, and dark. On the battlefield you’ll see shadows and light areas; when you are in a dark area you’ll use a dark attack, and when you are in a light area you’ll use a light attack. This is really great and can help keep things mixed up. Watch out though some enemies transform into stronger monsters when they are in the dark.
The level design in this game can vary sometimes since some of the game has labyrinthine dungeons that require a FAQ to even remotely understand how to navigate. A lot of these are partly due to puzzles that require a lot of backtracking that gets really get under your skin.
Now that the battle system is out of the way to let’s talk production values.
Eternal Sonata uses some outstanding music, especially when Chopin’s pieces are used. The graphics are just absolutely gorgeous with bright color palettes, and unique architecture I’ve never seen in a game before. Eternal Sonata is also one of the JRPG’s that also includes Japanese voice acting and I highly HIGHLY recommend this over the American voice actors. Just turn the English subtitles on and you’re good to go since the Japanese voice actors fit the characters better and are just superb. The game is easier than most JRPG’s, but maybe this is a good thing. Everyone wants a stupidly hard RPG that takes over 100 hours to beat and that’s not always necessary.
Eternal Sonata will take you 20-30 hours to beat depending on your play style and even has a “game finished” save so you can go back from the beginning at whatever level you finished. It’s sad to know Eternal Sonata got great reviews but had poor sales so I hope you pick this up and experience the best RPGs of all time.
Gorgeous, original but a bit incomprehensible.
Frederic François Chopin was a famous Polish pianist who passed away on October 17, 1849 to to pulmonary tuberculosis. Who would have thought that last piece of rather morbid information would lead to such a unique and gorgeous game?
The story idea to Eternal Sonata is that on his deathbed, it is said that Chopin had a dream. During this period Chopin appears in another world in which everything is named after a musical term, this includes the other people that Chopin engages with in his fantasy adventure. This includes characters like Waltz, Tuba, Jazz, Falsetto, Viola, Rondo and Polka. The last of which is where his, and your dream to reality adventure starts. Polka is a young girl who was cursed from birth. She is going to die. Everyone dies, but Polka's fate is more known then others as she has the power of magic which will kill her sooner rather then later. Before she dies however, she wishes to accomplish something to help people. Chopin believing this is all a dream and that he too will soon die decides to accompany her on her quest.
With such an emphasis on a musical theme, where would Eternal Sonata be without good music to actually accompany it? Fortunately the music is fantastic, including in many areas some of Chopin's music. However the bulk of the game is made of original scores, and although reminiscent of Chopin's work, they are a lot more modern and fit the theme of the game perfectly.
Sound and story idea aside. Eternal Sonata is a gorgeous game visually. By this I do not mean the graphics are good in a technical sense, but rather in an artistic. No detail was spared when creating the world of Chopin's journey, even the smallest path from point A to B is a wonder to look at with a boundless array of colors used to infuse it with life. Flowers of all colors and shapes, waterfalls in ingenious places, leaves and petals in the wind are just some examples. Back when this was released on the 360 it really blew me away.
Gameplay wise Eternal Sonata is an action turn based RPG. Now usually as you travel further in an RPG the enemies get stronger to keep the game challenging. While this is true for this one as well, there is an added twist. The battle system itself evolves getting increasingly harder, yet at the same time more open. At the start of the game per each characters turn they have a set amount of time in which to perform actions from attacking, using special attacks or items. However this only moves down when you are moving and stops if you do, enabling you to plan your next move. As you progress other levels in the battle system are unlocked, so the timer doesn't stop once it starts, the time you get decreases. But there are bonus ingredients as well like being able to link several special attacks in a chain known as harmony attacks, speeding the battle speed up etc. There are 6 levels in all which are all slowly introduced so at no point do you feel overwhelmed.
The game is fairly short for an RPG at about 30 hours long, but for a game that is still value for money. Not only that but if you are after the achievements you will have to play it twice to get all 1000, as some only unlock on the second play through, which also becomes hard mode from a clear game save making it more challenging for those that found the first ride to easy.
Now for all the praise here, I have issues with this game in a few ways. Firstly, some of the dungeons your party travel through are quite large towards the end of the game. Yet there is no map, not even in the main menu in which you can get your bearings from. In the one optional dungeon in the game I got so frustrated at how confusing it was, I had to draw my own. Not a good sign.
Secondly, whilst nearly all the voice acting in the game is fantastic and a pleasure to listen to, one party member you receive will make you want to perforate your ear drums with hot knitting needles to avoid hearing it again.
Lastly, the ending to the game was not as well thought out as the rest of the title, and makes as much sense as a chocolate castle in the Sahara desert. Seriously, it's total bollocks..
However despite these few minor niggles, Eternal Sonata is an experience worth playing through and one I do recommend people try.
+ Gorgeous artwork, designs and color usage.
+ Lovely music.
+ Fun battle system.
+ Unique story Idea.
- Dungeons are long but no map.
- Voice acting is hit and miss.
- Ending is a load of nonsense.
Frederic François Chopin was a famous Polish pianist who passed away on October 17, 1849 to to pulmonary tuberculosis. Who would have thought that last piece of rather morbid information would lead to such a unique and gorgeous game?
The story idea to Eternal Sonata is that on his deathbed, it is said that Chopin had a dream. During this period Chopin appears in another world in which everything is named after a musical term, this includes the other people that Chopin engages with in his fantasy adventure. This includes characters like Waltz, Tuba, Jazz, Falsetto, Viola, Rondo and Polka. The last of which is where his, and your dream to reality adventure starts. Polka is a young girl who was cursed from birth. She is going to die. Everyone dies, but Polka's fate is more known then others as she has the power of magic which will kill her sooner rather then later. Before she dies however, she wishes to accomplish something to help people. Chopin believing this is all a dream and that he too will soon die decides to accompany her on her quest.
With such an emphasis on a musical theme, where would Eternal Sonata be without good music to actually accompany it? Fortunately the music is fantastic, including in many areas some of Chopin's music. However the bulk of the game is made of original scores, and although reminiscent of Chopin's work, they are a lot more modern and fit the theme of the game perfectly.
Sound and story idea aside. Eternal Sonata is a gorgeous game visually. By this I do not mean the graphics are good in a technical sense, but rather in an artistic. No detail was spared when creating the world of Chopin's journey, even the smallest path from point A to B is a wonder to look at with a boundless array of colors used to infuse it with life. Flowers of all colors and shapes, waterfalls in ingenious places, leaves and petals in the wind are just some examples. Back when this was released on the 360 it really blew me away.
Gameplay wise Eternal Sonata is an action turn based RPG. Now usually as you travel further in an RPG the enemies get stronger to keep the game challenging. While this is true for this one as well, there is an added twist. The battle system itself evolves getting increasingly harder, yet at the same time more open. At the start of the game per each characters turn they have a set amount of time in which to perform actions from attacking, using special attacks or items. However this only moves down when you are moving and stops if you do, enabling you to plan your next move. As you progress other levels in the battle system are unlocked, so the timer doesn't stop once it starts, the time you get decreases. But there are bonus ingredients as well like being able to link several special attacks in a chain known as harmony attacks, speeding the battle speed up etc. There are 6 levels in all which are all slowly introduced so at no point do you feel overwhelmed.
The game is fairly short for an RPG at about 30 hours long, but for a game that is still value for money. Not only that but if you are after the achievements you will have to play it twice to get all 1000, as some only unlock on the second play through, which also becomes hard mode from a clear game save making it more challenging for those that found the first ride to easy.
Now for all the praise here, I have issues with this game in a few ways. Firstly, some of the dungeons your party travel through are quite large towards the end of the game. Yet there is no map, not even in the main menu in which you can get your bearings from. In the one optional dungeon in the game I got so frustrated at how confusing it was, I had to draw my own. Not a good sign.
Secondly, whilst nearly all the voice acting in the game is fantastic and a pleasure to listen to, one party member you receive will make you want to perforate your ear drums with hot knitting needles to avoid hearing it again.
Lastly, the ending to the game was not as well thought out as the rest of the title, and makes as much sense as a chocolate castle in the Sahara desert. Seriously, it's total bollocks..
However despite these few minor niggles, Eternal Sonata is an experience worth playing through and one I do recommend people try.
+ Gorgeous artwork, designs and color usage.
+ Lovely music.
+ Fun battle system.
+ Unique story Idea.
- Dungeons are long but no map.
- Voice acting is hit and miss.
- Ending is a load of nonsense.
Most mindnumbing battle system ever designed.
Eternal Sonata is about the last dream Chopin ever had, and in doing so creates a rather interesting universe that hasn't been quite done in a JRPG. While Eternal Sonata does have some facts about Chopin's life, the majority of the game doesn't really dive deeply into any of it, rather going for metaphors, atmosphere, and character interactions as any kinda of substance for Chopin's traits and/or life experiences. The game also heavily focuses on music as it's central theme, and Chopin being Pianist, makes this all fit rather perfectly.
The combat system is akin to most Tales of games, focusing heavily on arena based combat along with using music/rhythm as a base for many attacks throughout the game. The game is also heavily stylized, meaning that while the game is fairly old, it still looks pretty great; although it does suffer greatly from stilted animation.
This is a very weird game, and overall feels more remember-able because of it. Certain aspects either don't make sense, are heavy on symbolism, or a combination of both. The actual base game itself can certainly feel rather average at times, but it's always highlighted by the strangeness of this game, thus pushing a bland experience into a charming one.
The combat system is akin to most Tales of games, focusing heavily on arena based combat along with using music/rhythm as a base for many attacks throughout the game. The game is also heavily stylized, meaning that while the game is fairly old, it still looks pretty great; although it does suffer greatly from stilted animation.
This is a very weird game, and overall feels more remember-able because of it. Certain aspects either don't make sense, are heavy on symbolism, or a combination of both. The actual base game itself can certainly feel rather average at times, but it's always highlighted by the strangeness of this game, thus pushing a bland experience into a charming one.