Eternal Sonata

Rating Teen Genre role-playing Publisher Namco Bandai Games External Links Official Eternal Sonata Website

Eternal Sonata is a new RPG with some creative gameplay concepts and a very imaginative story. The premise is based on the life of the famous pianist, Frederic Chopin. In real life Chopin was a brilliant composer, yet he almost continuously suffered from illness. The game picks up as Chopin lays on his deathbed, drifting between the real world and a dream world. In the vivid dream world Chopin discovers what seems to be a fairy tale. In that world those with incurable illnesses also have magical powers. Chopin meets one such girl, Polka, who is shunned by nearly everyone for fear of her magical abilities and the terminal illness that such power indicates. Chopin befriends Polka and sets out to help her in her quest to use her abilities to help others and also find answers to the strange happenings in the dream world.

As you get into the game it’s easy to fall into the beautiful and colorful scenery. Cutscenes immerse you in both the real world and the dream world and really help to build the story. As you progress, some cutscenes include a historical perspective into the life of Frederic Chopin. It’s almost, dare I say, educational but don’t let that scare you away. Getting a roving history lesson while you game proves to be effective in driving some of that knowledge home. You also get to hear some of Chopin’s masterpieces as you clear each chapter, which can be played at any time.

As you might expect, music plays a huge role in almost every aspect of the game. The characters and locations you visit are all named after musical terms. Even some of the weapons and magic spells evoke musical imagery. In addition to Chopin’s piano pieces in between chapters, there is a wealth of beautiful music that serves as the background score for.

Clearly, this is well done, both visually and musically, which serves as a great foundation. The gameplay builds on that foundation constantly. As you explore the dream world and play the game it’s easiest to compare Eternal Sonata to Final Fantasy. You move from town to town and also through various paths between the towns. In the towns you have the standard RPG features like the shops where you can buy weapons, armor and items. Each town contains numerous buildings to explore and people to talk to so that you can learn as much as possible about the world.

Unlike RPGs with random combat, in Eternal Sonata you are able to see the enemies that you confront. In many cases you can bypass them entirely if you choose to, but this obviously keeps you from gaining more experience points and building your characters. However, not all combat is unavoidable, especially if you intend to progress. The combat system itself is really cool and unique, as far as I’ve seen. It’s somewhat of a hybrid of real time and turn based battle. You can move freely around the battle arena to attack enemies. However, on each turn you only get a limited amount of time. The clock starts as soon as you make your first move, so you really have to plan things out. There’s a generous learning curve, so in the beginning you get plenty of the time to learn the aspects of this system and how best to use it. As you progress, you must think fast to be effective in combat.

The concepts of light and dark play a large role in the combat system. All of your characters have special attacks that differ depending on whether or not you are standing in light or shadow. Your enemies also have differing abilities depending on where they attack from. This really adds a whole new level to combat. For instance, many light abilities can be used to heal yourself or your party. So if you need to heal you have to use attack time to get into the light or use an item to make it light where you are standing. At the same time, enemies can hit you with darkening spells or items to make it impossible to use your light attack. It’s one more thing to think about in combat and another aspect of the battle environment you need to be able to use correctly to be effective.

As the story moves forward, you meet other characters that join your party, giving you a wider range of abilities. From there the key is to maintain a balanced rotation so that no one falls too far behind. In certain situations, it is important to make sure a certain character’s special abilities are in the mix. An example of this would be Beat’s special ability, which amounts to him carrying a camera and using his turn to take pictures of the battle scene and the enemies. A good picture, especially of some of the bosses, can bring in thousands in gold and really make it easier to buy equipment.

The only real complaint I can make is that Eternal Sonata is highly linear. There aren’t really any side missions or even path choices to make. As you move between towns you’re generally confined to a straight path. And yet, it is a minor complaint and the fun of the game more than makes up for it. Eternal Sonata is a great addition to the RPG world. The visuals are mesmerizing and the music is classically beautiful. On top of all that you even get a little bit of a history lesson along the way on the life of one of the world’s most famous composers.