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Eternal Sonata Review for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

Eternal Sonata Review for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

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RPGs, at least those on home consoles, are slowly being phased out. It seems that we’re getting fewer and fewer true role-playing games, and while the two dominant portable systems on the market provide plenty of role-playing fun, the dearth of such games on the Xbox 360, Wii, and PS3 is certainly disappointing. When we do get quality RPGs, it’s a big deal; no huge surprise, then, that Eternal Sonata, previously released on the Xbox 360, has found a second home on the PS3. While it’s been out for quite some time on the 360, Eternal Sonata is still a fantastic JRPG, and if you’re a fan of the genre, you owe it to yourself to check this game out.

Eternal Sonata screenshot

The story starts out strangely: Frederick Chopin is dying, and you’re transported to an alternate reality that exists within his head. In typical RPG fashion, you’ll join up with a variety of unique characters in your quest to defeat an evil force. It’s not a great story, but what it lacks in any originality it makes up with charm and personality. Every character is named after some aspect of classical music; for example, the villain of the game is Count Waltz. Additionally, the character development is phenomenal and more than makes up for any problems with the story itself. You’ll find yourself growing very attached to all the characters you encounter throughout your journey, and the development team has accomplished something truly impressive with the individuality that each character seems to possess.

There are a few quirks along the way, however; for example, you may have heard about the historical narration that’s injected in the game’s story. Tying in the title’s plot with Chopin’s life might seem interesting, but it only serves to mess up the game’s pacing and end up being more boring than anything else. That said, the themes the game touches on are startlingly relevant, which, combined with the wonderful character development, negates any storytelling problems that may pop up.

Eternal Sonata plays out in fairly straightforward RPG fashion: you control a party of characters and travel from location to location, interacting with NPCs, exploring the environment, and engaging in battles. Eternal Sonata sports a battle system that makes me believe the RPG genre has a lot of life left in it; far from implementing simple turn-based combat or a more real-time system (such as the Tales series of games), Eternal Sonata combines the two for what ends up being an incredibly frantic yet surprisingly deep battle system.

Eternal Sonata screenshot

Each battle participant, from your party and the opposing one, takes turns during battle. When it’s one character’s turn, you control that character and have the option of moving, attacking, and performing a variety of other actions. Everything you do depletes the character’s action bar, so the strategy during battles is in deciding how best to utilize each character’s action bar. Careful positioning of characters is important, and the real-time attacking is great. There’s also a real-time defend move, which is great for keeping you on your toes during potentially drawn-out enemy sequences. But this move can be so difficult to pull off that you can’t consistently count on it; this becomes a bit annoying during tough battles, where your victory or defeat could depend on successfully pulling off a block.

The game then complicates things even more by mixing in the light/dark theme into the battle mechanic. Each character — including foes — have two sets of abilities: one when they’re in the light, and another when they’re in the dark. These ability sets can be drastically different, and you’ll find your characters changing significantly in usefulness depending on if they’re in the light or not. Taking advantage of the light and dark is an effective and surprisingly deep battle strategy, and while it might seem a little gimmicky, it actually works quite well.

Eternal Sonata screenshot

The battle system is innovative and fun, but just as large a component of Eternal Sonata is the absolutely beautiful artistic design. In fact, Eternal Sonata reminds me a lot of Okami; while the art direction is obviously different for both, the commonality between the two titles is the importance art has on the overall game experience. You get the sense you could be looking at a painting; colors, light, and overall style are absolutely beautiful.

Eternal Sonata screenshot

The game’s graphics do far more than simply give you pretty pictures to look at as you play through the game; they go a long way in creating a very surreal, believable world. The way the visuals work in conjunction with the plot theme of an alternate reality is incredible; there’s a level of immersion present in Eternal Sonata that doesn’t come across very often in other games. I certainly wish that the environments had more of an interactive element to them, but that doesn’t change the fact that playing Eternal Sonata makes you feel more in-tune with the game than most other titles out there.

Not surprisingly for a game based off a famous musician, Eternal Sonata also features a fantastic musical score. Interestingly, Chopin’s music itself isn’t used very often; it’s not a huge problem, however, because the music created for this game is quite good. Additionally, the voice acting is well-done. Some lesser characters don’t feature quite as good voice work as others, but across the board the voice acting is good.

Fans of Eternal Sonata’s first time ’round may be disappointed to find out that the PS3 iteration doesn’t feature a whole lot of new content. There are two new playable characters and a handful of new dungeons, but I’m hard-pressed to say that these items make the game worth purchasing over again. That said, if you’ve never experienced this beautiful, immersive game before, the PS3 version is probably better than that of the 360, so there’s never been a better time to check out what all the fuss is about. There are a few minor problems, from sometimes-weird enemy A.I. to occasional frustrations in battle, but, overall, Eternal Sonata is a great JRPG and a must-play for any RPG fan. During a holiday season rife with shooters and action titles, I doubt you’ll find as solid a traditional RPG as Eternal Sonata.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.7 Graphics
The environments are lush, beautiful, and amazingly artistic. Eternal Sonata looked great on the 360, and it looks even better on the PS3. 4.0 Control
Executing attacks, navigating menus, and traversing the over world are all easily done. An intuitive interface helps as well. 4.3 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The voice acting isn’t always consistent; for the most part, however, it’s good, and the game’s music is epic and unforgettable. 4.2 Play Value
For an RPG, Eternal Sonata isn’t particularly long — it clocks in at around 30 hours — but it’s a deep, rewarding, and completely entertaining experience while it lasts. 4.4 Overall Rating – Great
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • Experience new quests, battles, and events that will shed new light to the dramatic and evolving storyline.
  • Now players can play as Crescendo or Serenade and even change some of their favorite character’s costumes.
  • Enjoy amazing, high-definition, anime style cel-shading and high quality textures to truly deliver an awesome next-gen experience.
  • Battle using a unique, hybrid turn-based/action RPG system that combines free-roam and turn-based action.
  • Adjust your battle strategy in the ongoing struggle between light and darkness.
  • Up to 1080p (Full HDTV).

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