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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best RPG on the Xbox 360 since Oblivion!, 15 May 2008
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I will admit to not being the biggest JRPG fan, having never seen a Final Fantasy game through to it's conclusion, but I know what I like, and I loved Eternal Sonata, so much so that it made me actively seek out other Japanese RPG's for more of the same.
Everything about this game is a hit; the visuals are simply gorgeous, the whole game is wonderfully imaginative, the combat is fully engaging and fun, the story is an absolute delight, and despite a linear storyline there are still plenty to be done in this rich and beautiful game. It's definitely a game with replay value and it's a game that's an immense amount of fun to play.
I got through the game in about 24 hours in total, which admittedly is a little short, especially considering that Lost Odyssey, the most recent Xbox 360 JRPG is 60 hours long, but I'd say I fully enyoyed at least 22 of them. I definitely intend to play it again just because it's such a wonderful experience. You will be sitting through some rather long cutscenes, and the story does get rather preachy, but these minor problems did nothing to dent my utter enjoyment of this game.
Considering that I got this game for less than £20 from good ol' Amazon, in retrospect if I had known how good it was I would have gladly paid £40, and at £15 you would be hard pressed to find a better game. Every Xbox owner who enjoys a good colourful game with some real nice combat has no excuse for not buying this simply amazing game. 9/10 (rounded up to 5 rather than down to 4)
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23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic RPG, 26 Oct 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
Eternal Sonata is one of those games that delivers a refreshing twist to an already-outdone genre. When I first read that it was a RPG set in the dreams of the dying composer Chopin, I almost laughed. Such a crazy idea would never play out well! Or, will it?
Firstly, I'm going to talk about the graphics. Eternal Sonata definitely impresses on just about every graphical level; the cutscenes rival the very best Disney movies, and the in game cell-shading in a real-time world is truly breathtaking. The atmosphere in this game is truly astounding, little details like light flourishes through tree canopies, and floating petals from flower fields...It truly comes together to make a spectacular, dreamy world to play in. A minor annoyance is that the camera is fixed, and thus there's no freedom to look over the dreamy landscapes, and it leaves you wondering what beauty lies just beyond the paths you are forced to walk. A quick note, although the camera is fixed, never once does it become awkward, or get in the way. The camera is done just perfectly, in my opinion. Another note, this game runs as smoothly as butter, and there's never any frame drops! I want to say this has been recorded at 60fps but don't quote me. It's just smooth.
The story revolves around Chopin, and his party of followers that he meets whilst in his dreams. The voice acting isn't terrible, and definitely gets better as the game progresses, but this is after all a Japanese RPG, so we can forgive that aspect. Characters are so vibrant, and the personalities are so real, for once there's an RPG where you actually care about the characters! I suppose this is almost playing a book, with Disney film style graphics, there's real depth and character, and real involvement on the player's behalf.
Music? The score to this game features music composed from Chopin, as well as some specially-performed tracks, and overall the music is absolutely stunning. It's graceful, elegant and definitely beautiful to listen to. This is just another aspect where this game excels!
There's no more random encounters, either! All enemies are present in the world, so you have the choice whether to fight or not. The levelling system isn't the best, either. Save for a few boss battles, you never really have any trouble with enemies, even with the weakest characters. The battles are done very well too, mixing traditional turn-based techniques with a clever time limit which promotes quick thinking and a little button bashing. Overall, I think its a very good system and it makes for fun play during the long long hours spent on this game!
Overall, the game is stunning. Great visuals, stunning musical score, and a gripping story. There's fairly limited replayability, though. As once you know the plot and how the game ends, there's very little reason to go back other than to witness the sheer splendour of the environments once more. Definitely an RPG worth having.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another excellent RPG on Xbox, 23 Oct 2007
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
So what makes Eternal Sonata special?
The story follows Chopin, a composer on his deathbed drifting between reality and his dream world and his friends, a young girl named Polka, Beat, Algretto and Viola. It follows their exploits against the evil Count Waltz whose taxation of organic powders, forcing his citizens to buy mineral powders is pretty much the root cause of all the problems, although you'll see they all have their own reasons for visiting the count (except Beath who pretty much follows Algretto.)
The graphics are simply amazing. I personally liken them to Baten Kaitos on GC. They are quite cartoony, but are simply inspiring due to the variety and detail that has gone into every location. It probably has the best looking sewer and cities that I have ever seen, with waterfalls in the background, and people and animals all designed with care and attention to detail.
The game is turn based, but also action based at the same time-(a unique system to say the least.) When it is your turn to move (and this will depend on your party level) you have a certain amount of time to do what you want-i.e. standard attack, special attack or magic (and this varies depending on whether your in the light or dark, but then light and dark also affects your enemies attacks too!) When you defend you're given then chance to block, but you will need to have excellent timing. The fighting I personally feel is excellent.
As expected characters level up increasing attacks, magic etc, and you can buy weapon upgrades, and for extra depth find musical scores and take photos (you can only take photos with Beat.) The music is absolutely amazing. Some work from Chopin, (an actual french composer who composed most of the music used in the game-but you'll see more about the real composer in the game as it gives some information about him throughout) really makes the game special.
Personally this is a great game, and its depth will inspire and create new lovers of RPGs-but this is a really story heavy game- (and it can be tedious from time to time,) so if you aren't really into games for their stories, then I would probably stay away, but this is a great game and worth a shot if you're curious or a fan of RPGs.
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