So Close!

Lee Babin

Eternal Sonata (ET) is a difficult game to review. It does many things right but at the same time wastes a good amount of its potential by failing to make several key aspects of it work properly. Your initial impression of ET will likely be one filled with awe and astonishment. When I first fired up ET I immediately thought to myself that the next generation of role playing games (RPG) had finally arrived. As I made my way through the game, that sense of awe did not diminish but instead certain elements I have come to expect from my RPGs did not come forth and show themselves in a very impressive manner which in turn created a negative impact for me on all of the well done elements. Eternal Sonata is a prime example of getting the hard stuff right and failing to nail the fundamentals.

The gameplay in ET is rather well done. All worlds are connected in real time ala Final Fantasy X and there is no real overworld to speak of. If you want to walk somewhere, you will find yourself physically passing through an area to get there. The scope of the land feels legitimate too, passing through areas feels as though you really are walking through an area though the size of the lands is scaled down to avoid boredom.

The battle system in ET is where the game truly shines. It is sort of a mix of an action RPG with that of a turn-based RPG. Your team-mates and their opponents take turns attacking; however, when it is a particular unit's turn, that unit is given a certain set of options. First, you are given a certain amount of time to decide how you want to act. During this time, your attack timer bar will not go down and you can decide what you want to do. As the game progresses, the amount of time allotted to you in the phase is reduce (and eventually eliminated) but it helps you ease into the battle system.

When you do decide to act, you can perform as many actions as you want providing you have time left in your action bar. The action bar decreases in real time with no limit to what you can do until the bar is gone. The game allows you to run around the battlefield in real time while using one button to attack, one to use special attacks and yet another to use items. The interesting and strategic part comes from allowing you to use as many special attacks as you want. Special attacks are powerful but require a certain amount of time to complete.

By using regular attacks, you build up "echos" that make your special attacks more powerful. You can also share echos amongst party members. So, you could have your first two attackers simply attack and build echos and then have your final party member unleash a super powered special attack. The whole system feels very fast paced while at the same time remaining quite strategic. Overall, ET does a fantastic job of keeping its battles fast, furious and fun.

Graphically ET is a delight to witness. It is certainly one of the most aesthetically pleasing games I have yet to come across and easily the most beautiful RPG I have yet to see. The artwork is stunning and the areas you will explore will have you blinking at how amazing they look. Play this on a HDTV and you will be blown away.

Character art is stunning as well. Each character has their own style and feel and the intricacy that went into each of their character designs is amazing. Each character has sort of a "theme" to them with details going as far as even the color of their eyes. Without a doubt, ET showcases what is possible in the next generation arena of RPG graphics.

The music in ET is equally pleasing. Pulling together the usual assortment of nicely orchestrated music and introducing a bevy of piano based songs straight from the real life protagonist's repertoire, ET pleases in every aural sense. I am not sure who they had playing the piano but Chopin's pieces (not easy ones to play by the sounds of them) really come to life and present a magnificent ambience to the storyline.

Now, if all of these fantastic elements came together with a captivating plot, ET would have been in the running for game of the year in my opinion. However, the storyline for ET is where it falls flat on its face. So much so in fact that it completely changed my appreciation for the game.

ET starts out interesting with a storyline revolving around real-world Chopin and his last hours before death. He enters a world he cannot comprehend on whether it is real or simply a dream world; induced by his illness. While in his dream, he encounters intriguing team-mates and discovers a fantastic world.

It all sounds great but the execution is awful. Despite a mysterious beginning, the story never really gets going. Fetch quests abound that have you bounding all over the world but never really moving the plot along. Suddenly, the ending is there, nothing is explained and the game finalizes in perhaps the most pointless ending scenario ever developed. I actually sat there afterwards wondering if what I had just seen could actually be the ending since it was so terrible. This one aspect ruined what is essentially an amazing game experience!

Overall, despite its shortcomings and ridiculous story / ending, I would still recommend ET to RPG veterans. The game is fun, looks and sounds amazing and is relatively short and easy. You can enjoy this light hearted romp with very little overhead and imagine what will be in the future with technologies such as what this game shows available. ET will forever remain in my head as the first truly ground breaking (Japanese Style) RPG for the next generation and I truly hope the development team will learn from its mistake and make sure the fundamentals are in place for their next project.

Related:

• Official Site