Gaming Signal: REVIEW: Eternal Sonata

REVIEW: Eternal Sonata

MY RATING:

Over the holiday break I had a chance to play through the Japanese-style RPG titled Eternal Sonata from developer Tri-Crescendo. It sounds odd - you're inside the fantasy world crafted by the mind of composer Frederic Chopin during his final living moments. The story is sweet, endearing, somewhat mature (Chopin is dying, after all) and often inscrutable. The gameplay itself is quite fun and moves along quickly despite some Japanese RPG conventions. And hands down, this is the most beautiful looking game I have played in years.

The art direction is simply amazing, with stunning hi-def backdrops and amazing character models. Somebody lovingly spent countless hours building the art of this game, and it really shows. Items that are reminiscent of music and orchestras are subtly weaved throughout the environment. Sometimes the fantasy art is a little over the top but most of the time it is simply perfect. If you are a fan of good art, you'll drool over this game from start to finish. The musical score (inspired by Chopin's pieces) is awesome as well. It flows perfectly form mood to mood and fits the story better than almost any other game I have played in recent memory. It reminded me of Diablo 2 in how well the music fits the game.

The game itself and RPG elements are quite enjoyable. Unlike so many Japanese RPGs, there are no random encounters. You see every monster on the screen and can avoid them or fight them depending on your whim. You always feel rewarded with reasonably quick levels and new abilities to go along with those levels. The boss battles are also very fun and challenge you without being frustrating. There is also plenty of loot (although the best stuff either comes from set treasure chests or from merchants.) The game has a quasi-turn-based system that allows you time to become familiar with the characters abilities and how to use them before moving into a pure action-mode. It ramps up the difficulty and the abilities you can use very well, never overwhelming you with choices. And by the end you find yourself working the system like a master conductor (sorry, had to work that in somewhere.) However like other JRPG games, you don't get to assign skills or abilities when your characters level up. I've never quite understood why this is - making the characters mine through customization is what allows me to assume the role, isn't it? However, I admit that game balancing is easier and the designers didn't have to worry about me gimping one of the main characters.

Unfortunately the game isn't perfect. The voice acting is at times terrible (although the voice of Chopin is done very well.) My biggest gripe is the numerous, seemingly interminable cut scenes that do nothing but repeat themselves. You get the plot driven home to you at least a dozen times by different characters in long, drawn-out cut scenes that I found myself wanting to skip regularly. You have no idea if you are going to see a critical betrayal or major plot twist or if you'll just see another meaningless filler. Blech. The rendering of the characters during these cut-scenes is so outstanding I admit to watching merely to see their outfits.

Like many RPGs, you also end up with far more treasure and gold than you can use. This isn't necessarily a problem, but I can't help but feel that perhaps this wasn't exactly what the designers intended. I honestly wonder if they didn't make a mistake on one part. One of the characters can wield a camera instead of a weapon in combat to take Polaroid photos which you then sell to merchants. Sounds good, except the amount of money you are given for these photos is tremendous. For example, nearly the best sword in the game costs 1200 gold but one photo along netted me 5000 gold. I was able to take a bunch of photos early one and sell them such that I never worried about money again and yet have plenty to spend on powerups, healing potions, and items. Not that I minded, but it did seem like perhaps somebody missed a decimal somewhere.

And finally, the 360 achievements awarded are totally lame. After finishing the game completely, I managed to get 120 out of 1000. Wha? I looked online and learned that you can only get the rest by playing the game through completely a second time. With monsters 1.5x harder, no less. The bulk of the achievements are obtained by doing obscure things that have nothing to do with the game - including getting 321 points for one achievement for simply collecting 32 of these useless 'EZI items' during at least 2 playthroughs. Now I'm not an achievement whore by any means, but I still find this very disappointing. The game isn't worth playing twice, sadly. I did see that an extra area not part of the story is unlocked by finishing the game is available in Encore mode but I didn't play it. By that time I was done with the thing.

Overall I had fun and enjoyed some aspects enough to keep me going to complete it. That says a lot really, and why I give it 3 stars despite some reservations about certain aspects.