If you enjoy sweet, even sappy, JRPGs where the world shines like a
sort of CG animated Candy Land then Eternal Sonata is likely the game
for you. However, if you're somewhat ambivalent toward the more emotion
heavy JPRGs, or if you require a stiff challenge from your RPGs then
there is a good chance that Eternal Sonata isn't the game for you.
Eternal Sonata tells the story of Frederic Chopin's life and final days
on his death bed and a world that he may or may not be imagining in his
sleep. The game play takes place entirely in Chopin's sort of dream
world where mineral powder has recently become very popular amongst the
populous as a cure for just about everything. The central mystery of
the game revolves around the motives of those selling the mineral
powder that as you probably can guess might not be all it is cracked up
to be .
The connections between Chopin's world that you are provided glimpses
of from time to time and the world you spend your time playing in are
symbolic at best, and even it bit disruptive to the flow of the game as
you the player are bounced back and forth. The connection between those
worlds is largely irrelevant to how much you'll enjoy the game.
Fortunately, the characters in the dream world are a bit more
interesting than Chopin's own real life story, at least in terms of how
they are presented.
The characters that inhabit the world you play in are as bright and
spunky and yet manage to provide enough variety amongst them to keep
them each interesting in their own way in terms of both character and
combat. Along with Chopin himself there is a warm hearted and
mysterious girl named Polka, a pair of street urchins in Allegretto and
Beat, a crew of rebels and several other characters you will pickup
along the way. Depending on what point in the game you're talking about
there are up to nine characters you can choose from during your
adventures and you can a total of three at a time into battle.
The characters bright personalities are only outshined by the game's
graphics. Eternal Sonata is a gorgeous game. While it is a fairly
linear game and is somewhat limited in terms of space to explore this
gives Eternal Sonata a maliciously crafted feel. Most scenes and spaces
are beautifully animated with bright bold colors as if they were an
impressionist painting.
Provided you're not overwhelmed by the intense characters and graphics
it is hard not to smile or at least stop and admire the view now and
then. The only downside being that the characters clothing and weapons
do not change visually thru the entire game. You do equip a variety of
weapons, clothing, accessories, and armor but sadly they have no impact
on your characters outward appearance. With such beautifully crafted
characters it takes a bit of fun out of buying new items for them if
they never actually change their appearance.
The combat in Eternal Sonata uses an interesting light / dark system.
When moving thru the world of Eternal Sonata you can (for the most
part) pick and choose what enemy encounters you wish to have and what
encounters you wish avoid simply by walking into enemies or maneuvering
around them.
Upon encountering an enemy the battlefield will either be predominantly
light or predominantly dark with opposite patches in various places.
What special attacks are available to you are determined by the spaces
light or dark characteristics. Stand in a light patch and you have one
set of special attacks, stand in dark and you will have another set of
attacks. All characters have different light and dark special attacks
and will learn new such attacks as they level up. Additionally some
items can cast a light or dark aura around you and even the shadows of
enemies can provide dark palaces where you can use the associated
attacks.
Each character and enemy takes their turn maneuvering and attacking.
Each turn is allotted a set amount of time to attack. During your time
you can pull off as many regular and special attacks as you can before
time runs out. There is also an "echo system" where by a series regular
attacks of all the characters are added up and can be used to unleash
particularly powerful special attacks.
In addition to your characters leveling up your party can level up too.
The result of your party leveling up changes for each level you move
up. Each level provides both bonuses and some time limits imposed on
the entire party. In general each time your party levels up the combat
becomes increasingly fast and furious and the strategies you use will
change depending on those levels as well. The result is that the combat
remains fresh and exciting thru the entire game.
If there is a downside to the combat it is that the opponents you will
fight in Eternal Sonata are almost universally weak and highly
repetitive. While your enemies can use the light and dark spaces on the
battlefield to go as far as even morph into different creatures the
morphing almost seems like a contrivance to keep things fresh in terms
of the variety of enemies.
In truth even with morphing enemies your approach to them won't need to
change much at all. Also it is disappointing that as you progress thru
the latter half of the game you are simply presented identical
opponents to those you fought in the first half, and those really
aren't that much stronger.
It doesn't help that one character has an ability to take and sell
photographs that will provide you with an incredible amount of money.
Even if you just dabble in the photography system you'll be able to buy
more than enough weapons, armor, and healing items thru the entire game.
Unless you choose to skip a lot of encounters and race thru the game
your characters will level up fairly quickly. I am by no means a
seasoned RPG player and I was never once killed by any of the standard
enemies throughout the entire game. Nor did I feel that I was ever
really threatened by them.
The game does provide the option to play thru it again after you
complete it the first time at a notably increased difficulty level
although that hardly seems to make up for what is a surprisingly easy
first run thru. There aren't many optional activities and just about
any player should get thru Eternal Sonata in about thirty hours.
Another disappointment is the dialogue throughout Eternal Sonata. While
the characters personalities are fun and enjoyable the dialogue can be
odd and even grating. It can be odd when a number of times thru the
game the characters will have discussion pondering topics like
revolution or blind patriotism without seemingly anything initiating
the conversation. Of course after the very next plot event later the
discussion is suddenly very much on topic. It might be thought of as
foreshadowing but it the discussions happen so often, are awfully
specific, and it are so heavy handed it ruins many of plot twists thru
the whole game. It doesn't help that there aren't many plot twists to
begin with.
Additionally the dialogue between characters often seems a bit awkward.
The voice acting with different accents is great all around. However,
many phrases throughout the game are recycled ad nauseam such as
"suffering from a terminal illness" in the same discussion by the all
characters, even throughout the entire game. Perhaps it was a result of
the translation or just a difference between Japanese to English but
nobody ever just truncates a phrase like that to "dying". It doesn't
help that it even goes beyond phrases to where entire sentences (that
often seem a bit pretentious and melodramatic to begin with) are
repeated word for word as they go around the group and discuss the
matter.
One scene that should be particularly poignant involves a five minute
discussion between two characters. One character leaves and the other
remains behind and reflects on the discussion. The problem being that
while character reflects out loud about the conversation they just had
they also have a series of flashbacks that covers ever single word of
the discussion…. that you were just shown. The result being what feels
like someone stretching for time or squeezing every bit of emotional
turmoil possible out of the scene that you just saw.
The relationships between characters also come up a little short of
expectations if only because at thirty hours the game doesn't have
enough time to spend with them. There are subplots, romance, and pasts
galore hinted at for many of your characters but sadly some are
resolved in a rush and most others loose ends are just left hanging at
the end of the game. Additionally some of the predictions and ambitions
of one of the characters who plays a key role in the final scenes are
never explained at all. This gives the impression that while all well
meaning the game feels a bit rushed, but fortunately not incomplete.
Without loose ends is the music in Eternal Sonata. Eternal Sonata has
some of the catchiest, and probably some of the most defined music in
any game. Understandably this is because much of the music is Chopin's
own music. While other games will have vague orchestral themes for
various locations Eternal Sonata's themes are recognizable, memorable,
and with a sort of definition and clarity that few games have. It is a
wonder why more games don't simply adapt great existing classical music.
Despite being of a pushover, and slathered in a fair amount of
melodrama Eternal Sonata still plays great, sounds wonderful, and looks
outstanding, and the story is a memorable one. If you can handle a bit
of a sappy JRPG and are looking for a fairly easy but beautiful stroll
thru a quality JRPG Eternal Sonata is at least worth a rental.
