Customer Reviews

Eternal Sonata

5 star:		(45)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought this game with a little trepidation. I'm always afraid that I'm going to spend $60 on a game, get it home and have it suck. I was especially nervous about this game because I was looking for a co-op game to play with my fiance. I didn't want to have to worry about wandering around looking for fights to get into so the other person could play, I wanted it to be fun for both of us.

With that being said, let me tell you why I give this game 5 stars:

I am absolutely in love with Eternal Sonata. It's everything I could have ever wanted in an RPG. Some people may say it's a little short or that the game is very linear, but in my opinion these are pluses. I played FFVII and I never finished it. I really really wanted to finish it and be one of *those* people, but I got stuck and couldn't figure out where to go next. I'm not one for looking up walk-throughs online to find out where I should go next, I really just want to play the game not figure out what I need to do next. If I wanted a puzzle, I would play a puzzle game.

The battle scenes in this game are great and there are plenty to keep both you and a friend interested. The graphics are just amazing and I was really surprised to see that the game actually looked like the trailers. I love the animations on the special attacks, my fiance said to me "This game probably makes us look pretty impressive because of all of these flashy moves." The best part of battles is that you are actually cooperating. It's not just you and your friend controlling different characters. When your party levels you can start earning echos for each hit you make that isn't blocked. These echos can be stored up and any player can use them to make their special actions more powerful. It's great for building up the last hit on a boss or saving a character whose near death.

I'm also really impressed with the story for this game. It's historical and philosophical and fantastic all at the same time. You get to learn about Chopin's life and meditate about the reality of dreams. Not to mention having a game based on a musician makes for excellent score. Each chapter is based on a different composition of Chopin's. I love playing just so I can listen to the music...it's not repetitive or boring.

I would definitely recommend this game to people who enjoy rpg's and want to play with a friend or significant other. I think it's a great game for all ages and it doesn't have a gigantic learning curve, but it's got just enough mystery to make it fun to figure out.

Pros:

+Fairly good story
+Very inventive battle system
+Very good game; even better looking on the PS3
+A Great soundtrack

Cons:

-Very linear
-Slow story
-Lackluster voice acting
-There are moments when the game is just all out preachy

Eternal Sonata was released on the XBOX360 in 2007 and was largely overlooked by gamers. The game is now being given a second chance to appeal to most gamers. For the most part you're getting the same game you got a year ago with a few extras. It's a little hard to say whether or not it's worth getting a second time if you already played it before.

Eternal Sonata is largely focused on Fredric Chopin. He lies on his deathbed, unconscious and dreams of a world. In this world, those who can use magic are terribly sick and dying of illness. The citizens of this world are also in a bit of despair as Count Waltz continues an unpopular rule and stands against the people. The story is actually not a bad one. Unfortunately it isn't always presented as well. In the first place, the voice acting just isn't the best out there. Some of it is rather dry and emotionless. The voices themselves aren't bad, but the emotion is almost non-existent in most of them. The story also moves somewhat slowly, and that's strange given that Eternal Sonata is not a very long game. Also, some will probably not appreciate that the game eventually becomes incredibly preachy throughout its final moments.

While it may not present its story as strongly as it could, it's gameplay is still as strong as ever. The battle system for Eternal Sonata is one of the most inventive in the genre. It's a turn based game but adds an active element. When a character's turn comes up in battle, they all have what's called an action gauge. When their turn starts the action gauge counts down. During this time you can do whatever you like until it runs out. Mostly you'll be mashing on the attack button to get out as many hits as you can. You can also execute special attacks. It's a very easy battle system to grasp, but it's hard to master. This is because the battle system never stays entirely the same. You also have a party level that increases as the game goes on and it changes how the battle system works. For example, at Party level 1 the action gauge decreases only when you move, and stops decreasing when you stop. When you hit party level 2, however, the action gauge never stops. It adds a lot of variety to the game but also makes sure that battling is always interesting.

The battle system also has special moves that characters can use, but they change based on whether or not you're in the light or the shade. Some enemies will also change form depending on if they're in the light or the shade. It adds some strategy to the game, but in the end Eternal Sonata still feels like a button mashing affair. Along those lines, the game is not that hard. When you really grasp the battle system and learn it, accumulating large amounts of damage becomes consistent.

There isn't a whole lot that's been added to the PS3 version, but some of it is rewarding. Characters can change their costumes, there are now two new playable characters who were unplayable in the 360 version and a couple of new dungeons. On the other hand, Eternal Sonata is still short and largely linear game. It's nice that there are a few more extras than the average port but they still don't make a huge difference in the gaming experience as a whole if you have the 360 version. In short, if you haven't played Eternal Sonata and you want to, the PS3 version is the better choice. If you've already played through the 360 version, however, there's not much here to entice you to play through it again.

One huge noticeable difference between the PS3 and 360 versions, however, is by far the visuals. The animations are smoother and more vibrant on the Playstation 3. Eternal Sonata was already an incredible looking game to begin with, but the Playstation 3 brings out a lot more in the visuals.

Musically, Eternal Sonata still has some of the best in the industry. You'll even hear some of Chopin's own music at certain moments and get a little bit of a historical background on him. Eternal Sonata's biggest strength is easily its soundtrack.

In the end, Eternal Sonata is still a good game. If you have it on the 360 it's not really that different, nor does it include enough new content worth making it worth a second buy, but for those who haven't played it, it's another chance to play a pretty good game.

After having played the 360 version, I found this version not that different, even with the additional features exclusive to this one. After playing through it, I found myself just repeating almost everything in the 360 version. Of course, that's to be expected, but I guess the additional features didn't really do much.

As expected from some JRPGs, the game isn't THAT challenging, but maybe that's because I've played the other version before. To be honest I was confused at first, but now, I pretty much finished this version way under leveled compared to when I finished it before. I am however, happy that it's not much of a challenge. I find it annoying when I have to grind just to continue on with the storyline. In terms of controls and interface however, I find ES' to be one of the easiest to navigate, most beautiful to look at, as well as the most interesting to toy around with. I like how, in battle, most moves can be executed at the touch of a single button. That however makes it a bit easy for players, but I don't mind. Like I said, less grinding, more on the story please.

The story, I think, is one of the best I've actually seen in most JRPGs. While the main story of Polka and her magic powers may seem cliche, it's Chopin's story that I focus on. I admire how the developers made a story based on the life of a famous composer in real life. Not only do I find it as a form of appreciation for the said composer, but it actually made me appreciate Chopin, as well as classical music, more. The prospect of leaving this world upon your death and venturing to a new one is, for me, a dream come true. And this IS a role-playing game, so I might as well play that role, for my own entertainment. To be honest, I don't understand why a considerable number of people didn't like this game's story. There are actually some weak elements in the story, and I find the lack of humor to be one of the down sides... Not that I require every JRPG I play to be funny, mind you. And, as much as I hate mentioning it, I rarely see a person dying, and still be able to give a 30 minute-1 hour death speech to nobody in particular. And up until now, I'm sad that I managed to finish this game fast. Real fast. It seriously needs more game play time.

As much as the game doesn't push the PS3's graphical limits much, I found this game's graphics to be quite enchanting. It's as if, you're being invited into a world painted on canvas with vibrant, fresh paints. The characters move realistically for me: no awkward movements, and all moves are executed smoothly. I was most excited about the addition of Prince Crescendo and Princess Serenade as playable characters, and to be honest, that was the part I enjoyed most. These little additions are exactly what made me get the PS3 version.

And like before, the music is nice, but not exactly ground breaking. I mean, all right, I hear Chopin's pieces, as well as some by Sakuraba, and they fit the scenes they're incorporated into. But only very few of these pieces got stuck in my head. It does, however, put good emphasis on classical music, and I like that.

Overall, Eternal Sonata still is one of the greatest JRPGs I've seen in a while (or for the next-gen consoles at least). If you're looking for a nice RPG with lush anime-like graphics and an interesting storyline, I really suggest you get this game. Now.

Note: Although this amazon account is by sukotsuto, this review written by a745 using sukotsuto's account as proxy to write the review.

To begin with, I'm been playing RPGs for many years now; it's the only genre that I play.

The battle system is great; it gets increasingly difficult, so you are always learning. You have regular attacks and special attacks. Both use an action gauge to predict how many attacks you will have. Special attacks are measured by how much time they take to complete. So lets say the action gauge is 10 seconds and a special attack takes 2.7 seconds; therefore, you have a rough idea how many times you can use that attack. Movement also used the action gauge, as well as using items.

As the game progresses, character levels are not the only levels which increases. You also have "party level" which will increase to a max of six. I'm on level 4 right now, indicating where I am in the game at the moment. As you increase in "party level" the action gauge will decrease faster and faster and continue to decrease even while you stop. If I remember correctly, the first two "party levels" stops the action gauge when you are just standing still. So as the "party level" increases the battle system becomes more difficult. I don't like this personally, but it keeps things interesting I guess. The last "party level" is annoying I've heard. The attack button will disappear and reappear on the screen and you will have to press them in order to attack. So you won't just be sitting there mindlessly pressing buttons. You'll have to pay attention.

To defend you will have to press the circle button when you are prompted by the "defend" icon which shows up during battle. If you press it at the correct time, you will defend. Don't worry, it's much easier that it sounds. Each monster will have a certain rhythm which isn't that hard to figure out at all. You will also be able to defend against boss attacks as well. Defending drastically reduces the amount of damage you receive. Later, at "party level" 4, you will be able to counterattack only regular attack. The "counterattack" icon will also appear just like the "defend" icon.

Lastly, there are "echos". Using regular attacks will build up "echos", which drastically increases the power of "special attacks". So you have two characters, or one, use regular attacks to build up "echos" and the third character will use their special attack and unleash massive damage. Later, at "party level" 4, you will also be able to use "harmony chains" which you will get when you build up at least 24 "echos".

The monsters can be repetitive. For a PS3 game, I expected better graphics, but in all fairness, its a relatively old game. I think the player should get an option of both a battle camera and field camera. When in battle you get a general overview of the battle field and you sort of have to remember where the monsters are, because if you do too much running around, your action gauge will run out and your turn will just end. No attacks. No items. A camera would have helped. But I guess this ALSO adds to the difficulty of the battle system. In the field, the camera is way too high up. I've missed chests because of this.

You will notice as you play, that the game is very linear. You are in a dungeon, you solve the little puzzles, then you have long cut scenes. You are in a dungeon, then long cut scenes. After being in the dungeons, you long for the cut scenes...lol. Leveling up can take a while, but if you fight everything you come across, you don't have to spend hours leveling up. When you leave a room and reenter while solving puzzles (and the puzzles are mainly around how to get chests), the monsters will reset, if you fight all of them again, instead of avoiding them, you won't have to spend hours leveling up, which is why, when you're finished with the dungeons, you long for the cut scenes...lol. For me its a much needed break.

Now for the plot. The plot isn't unheard of. But there are some good twists. It doesn't live up to the twists and turns of a Final Fantasy game, but good nonetheless. A general gist: two nations might be going to war; there is an underground group fighting against what is considered the "evil" nation; the "good" nation doesn't want to go to war; and the "evil" nation is raising an "evil" army...lol...to fight the good nation. There is a twist about how this army is being raised.

You get a choice of Japanese or English voice acting. I chose the Japanese voices because it sounds more authentic. You also get to choose between English and French text. I have Japanese voice and English text/subs.

If you are an RPG player, the characters are not ones you haven't come across before. The dumb blond girl, who is the main female, and wants world peace and speaks with a whisper. The cocky male main character, who like the dumb blond girl; his little brother; the kind of stern and cold female characters; and the joker, who is a girl.

I must say though that in all my years of playing RPGs, I've never come across such stupid characters in my life. The characters are built to be so innocent it seems, even for the brothers who are like Robin Hood characters. They're a bit preachy, especially the dumb blond. They don't understand, or it takes them a long time, to come to the correct answer, even though the answer is staring them in the face. This can be SO ANNOYING. And it seems like when they come to the correct answer, they don't believe it and have to meet the "evil" people to double check and make sure. The game is set up where the two nations are distinct. The "good" nation is in snow, the prince and princess where white, and everything seems to be about life and green stuff. The "evil" nation is darker. The duke (if I remember correctly) wears black. All his minions are evil. Yet, the main characters, still look for "good" in all people, even though the game is set up in such a way where you, the player, knows that there are "good" people and "evil" people in the game world. Very simplistic. It seems as if the script writers us the characters to create doubt about the clear distinction between "good" and "evil" in the game, which I think they fail at.

Chopin life is sort of the compass for the game. You get bits of how his life progresses. There is an interesting inquiry into what denotes reality. I love learning more about Chopin. During the game you can find "score pieces", which come in pairs. You will meet NPCs in the game with whom you can play music with. If the pieces matches up, you will get items.

Should you buy this game? Yes. But it's by no means an emphatic yes. Overall, it's a good game so far. I don't regret buying it. In fact, I'm glad I did. I've wanted it for a while. Maybe, my expectations were too high. I've wanted it since it came out on the XBox 360.

So BUY it.

I bought this game for two reasons: 1. It is one of only a handful of RPGs available on the PS3, and 2. The visual style is appealing.

Visual Style. While the character models are impressive, the remainder of the game's visual elements are relatively lackluster. Environments are fairly boring and feel VERY closed-in. Creature designs are simplistic. Battle animations and particle effects are standard fare.

Gameplay. Roaming around the world is not very exciting. The environments are nothing great to look at, and you are incredibly limited in where you can go and what you can do. Enemies are visible in the environment -- the sort of 'touch-an-enemy-to-enter-combat' style of gameplay. Battle is mildly interesting, but quickly becomes extremely repetitive. With a limited number of creatures and creature combinations, you begin to feel like every battle is the same (and it gets to be that way). On the play balancing side, it appears the game did not undergo sufficient testing: some areas I can sail through, easily winning every battle, only to get completely and utterly trounced by the boss at the end of the area. (This then requires me to spend quite a bit of time in that area, fighting countless low-experience-earning battles in order to level up to a point at which I can defeat the boss.) On the other hand, some areas are incredibly difficult to begin with, but the boss is extremely easy to beat.

There are a few interesting concepts included in the battle system, but they don't come close to offering the flexibility in battle tactics that many other RPGs do...like I said, every battle in this game is the same.

One of my biggest beefs is that in regular battles, while typically easy and formulaic, you do balance on the edge of being defeated. As such, just a bit of bad luck can wipe you out quickly (even though you would have normally been able to win). That may not make much sense...but I found that if I did not use a healer to heal my guys EVERY turn, I could die very quickly. (Maybe I just needed to spend 10 hours leveling up...I don't know.)

Story and Characters. Two words: over-dramatized and inconsistent. Themes are revisited multiple times (with characters appearing to come to the same epiphanies more than once throughout the game). The story moves very slowly (you are often diverted to what would normally be a side-quest, but what is mandatory in this game -- the diversions bear no relevance to the story and can take many hours to complete) and there are few surprises along the way. Cut-scene dialogue is slow and painful.

Overall, it's a mildly entertaining game. The character models and shaders impressed me enough to keep playing.

When I first heard that a game like Eternal Sonata was going to be made, I did think it was weird. I love the composer Chopin and I love the company making the game, but the idea behind it was weird to me. Different and completely new. When it was close to the game coming out, I started to read more and more about it, saw the graphics, trailers and joined an affinative site to share my love for this game.
But when I got the game and place it in my 360 for the first time, I fell instantly in love with it. The gameplay, the battle system, the music, characters, everything about it was just amazing.
I was excited to see they included little information about Chopin himself, as a man and as a composer throughout the game to learn more about him. The voice acting was amazing for me. I got excited when a new character spoke, because I recoginized them from something else they did.
Then when I heard about this version coming out I knew I had to have it.
The extra graphics, storylines, playable characters, plus 5 new Chopin pieces just blew my mind.
The graphics in this version are just breath taking beautiful, so bright colorful and lush. The music is of course just amazing.
To be honest, this game reminds me alot of a Tales game by Namco Bandai, but just a little different. Any Tales RPG fan and RPG fan should try this game out. ^^

I usually dont write reviews but for this one I had to step up.
Normally I do all my gaming on PC but decided to take a break and check out an rpg for ps3, and this one totally took me off guard.
Right from the start, gameplay and combat was smooth and easy to get into, but somewhere around chapter 3 something started to happen...I finally started watching all the cutscenes then got all interested in the plot and the characters...Anyway after restarting and really paying attention from the getgo, I found the concept of making a game based around the condition of Chopin in his final hours was really weird (in a good way) and educational...and the graphics are really nice. Since this my first rpg for the ps3, and since I'm going for the second playthrough, I would highly recommend this game

I'm both a fan of Frederic Chopin because I'm a pianist and a gamer for life. But it took me over a couple of years before I decided to purchase this game. I've heard and read many good feedback about this game but now here's my feedback on the overall experience even if I haven't finished it yet.

Honestly, from the onset, I was slightly bored with the long cut scenes and the pacing of the story. It's very thorough, though and my expectations were in the area of delving into the real life of Frederic Chopin. Nevertheless, the presentation of the game was top notch (graphics, music, character design, etc.)

BATTLE SYSTEM
Initially, I found the fight dynamics and control to be awkward because it seemed like the designers couldn't decide between a real-time and turn-based setup. There were a lot of instances when it's the turn of the certain character and I would mistakenly start firing away out of instinct (maybe my subconscious was interpreting the game to be a real-time action game rather than a turn-based one) But don't worry, once I got that worked out, and my mind trained to the system, there was no longer any confusion on how to control the battles. A big plus though is the depth of the tutorials that are provided in-game. I wouldn't have been able to learn it otherwise. The moment I learned the nuances of the battle system, I immediately got engaged to applying the strengths of the system, and I immediately overcame the initial hurdles. As a result, the fights/battles became so much fun and addicting. One thing I don't like though, is the intro to every fight scene which have the characters giving out their spiels. A second gripe I have with the battle system, is the configuration of the location of the enemies, a lot of times, no matter how big the battle area is, half of the time, you still have to figure out where they are in the battle area because they're so far off from the characters, and this is not a good thing because the moment you start moving, you timer starts ticking away before you're able to execute your attacks. I was able to work these things out, since the battle were beautiful anyway, so I forgave the shortcomings of this particular design flaw.

GRAPHICS
The graphics are just gorgeous. This is cell-shaded but it looks so well polished and detailed that sometimes you simply have to stop and pause to appreciate the beauty of the scenery. The frame rate is absolutely perfect.

LOADING/SAVING SAVE FILES
This is probably the only bad part of the game. I don't know why the saving and loading of the save files seem to be really slow and time consuming. They could have improved on this by leaps and bounds.

MUSICAL SCORE
I'm a music person and I found the soundtrack of this game to be completely luscious. Although, I would have wished that used a more Chopin-esque style in the music since the music style is still very 'video-gamey' and I was expecting it to be otherwise. But other than that, the music is brilliant, original.

CHARACTER CONFIGURATIONS/ITEMS/LEVEL UPS AND UPGRADES
This is very simplistic but I'm happy with it because the system doesn't distract the gamer from the story. This is not the strength of the game but it surely compliments with it overall.

I have another gripe regarding the leveling up pace of the game. At a certain point, right after you reach the Agogo village, the enemies at that area become so difficult to battle with. The growth requirement of your characters is very steep, and you'd be using a lot of healing items to get through a lot of levels of battles.


So there you have it. I'm still not finished with the game but I'm already dying to finish it because the game is just so gorgeous.

(UPDATE 2)
I've been playing this game for almost a month now and the game surprises me even more. I'm actually enjoying this more than Final Fantasy XIII. Yes it has its faults like when assigning newer weapons and such. It's kind of tedious to try to trace and determine if the upgrades you're doing is the right choice or not, but other than that, the story is just gorgeous.

Oh, and the battles are simple, yet quite challenging. I've died many times over different parts and I like that somehow.

This is my second review of this game. My first review was written when Eternal Sonata first came out for the XB360, roughly three years ago. I was browsing my local game store and came across this version for the PS3. I decided to buy it and play on my PS3.

Well, after six weeks, and approximately 77 hours of play-time, I have finished the game. I do not recall the XB360 version being this challenging! Browsing through various game forums confirmed my belief that the PS3 version is indeed more challenging. I have been playing Japanese Role Playing Games ever since the first Playstation console came out. I've had my share of fighting tough Boss battles. And the battle with Tuba at the bridge in this game has to rank as one of the more challenging ones. Along with Mikumari in Xenosaga II. Tuba is not quite as tough as Mikumari, but he certainly will make you feel accomplished once you do beat him.

The main character in the game is the composer, Frederic Chopin. On his deathbed, he starts to dream. And the story takes place within his dream. He joins Allegretto, Beat, Polka, Viola, and others in trying to stop the villain, Count Waltz. Yes, the characters are named based on music. We also get some flashbacks and glimpses into the real life of Chopin.

The battle system is basically turn-based, but you are under pressure because your turn is limited by time. The countdown starts as soon as its your turn. Just as you can interrupt the enemy's attack by counterattacking, they can do the same to you. Strategy is important because your enemy can "block", or guard against your attack. If you can, try to get behind them before attacking. Speed is very important. The faster you can press the attack button, the X button, the more damage you can do. Needless to day, after almost 80 hours of playing this game, the X button on my controller is showing some wear. The battles are definitely frenetic and fast-paced compared to most role-playing games.

There are numerous sidequests in the game. One has you collecting Score pieces, basically pieces of music. You can then play what you have together with various NPCs throughout the game for rewards. There are a few bonus dungeons in the PS3 version to keep you playing longer. The main sidequests is called "Mysterious Unison". This is a very long and challenging quests that takes place later in the game.

The story itself is involving. While not as good as the likes of Xenogears, Xenosaga, Final Fantasy, etc., it is more than good enough. And hey, it's great to play along as Frederic Chopin! Playing the role of a real-life character is satisfying on its own. Although it is highly doubtful that the real Frederic Chopin was ever any good at fighting dragons, wizards, zombies, and such. I am sure if Chopin could see this game, he would be amused and entertained. In the game, his main weapon is a French baston (cane).

The graphics are great. No surprise there. The soundtrack is outstanding, featuring some of Chopin's compositions. The renowned pianists Stanislav Bunin played the pieces for the game's soundtrack. The game is also educational, in that we are introduced to one of the greatest composers to have lived. Through various flashbacks, we are told the story of Chopin's short life. He died at a young age of 39 after fighting with tuberculosis.

I highly recommend this game. This is a true, classic Japanese Role-Playing Game. You will not regret it. Just be forewarned that there are three very difficult, very challenging battles in the game. One with Tuba at the bridge, and two with the arch villain, Count Waltz. It will take more than a few tries to get through these battles. But please do not give up. The ending scenes are a treat.

I just completed this game a few days ago, and I must say that Eternal Sonata is an amazing game for the Playstation 3! One of the best actually!

The story is very compelling and will get you hooked the moment you fire up the game!

The graphics and animation in every part of the game are INSANE!!! Very colorful, extremely sharp details, its practically an RPG gamer's eye candy!

The characters, voice acting, dialogue, and setting are all spot-on perfect! You cannot look away from any of it!

But the best part about this game is the soundtrack! I was blown away by the intence music! The music is one of the reasons why this game is so amazing!!

Overall, this game is a perfectly crafted RPG for the Playstation 3. Well worth the money!!