Game Review: Eternal Sonata

Ay yo waddup?! Awesomecake in da heezee!!!11!!1!one!!

That's what the kids say nowaday, right?

Anyway, you’ll have to forgive me, as it’s been a while since I last played this game. I did try and get my hands on it again, but it’s surprisingly hard to get hold of around these parts. I’ve always loved the game since the first time I played the (limited) demo, and it’s always stuck with me as a hidden gem. I’m now awesome and blogging awesome things and stuff, I thought I’d start with this.

So, without further ado, here is my review of Eternal Sonata. The game is for both PS3 and Xbox 360. The PS3 version has some extended content, letting you play as a few additional characters at one point. I played the Xbox version. Shame really.

The First Hour

Probably the most boring thing I have ever done. It simply doesn’t give the game justice. The first two or so hours is part monologue, part tutorial and part introduction to the main characters. You get a good feel for the battle system, but not much else. The locations don’t show off the true face of the game too well, and if it was all I played, I probably wouldn’t recommend it. But, after you push though the long winded introduction, it becomes well worth it.

The Story

It’s not great. In fact, at times it’s downright creepy. Right at the start, you end up playing as a 14 year old girl following a random 40 year old man into a forest in the middle of the night. Seems legit.

But getting past that, it’s a very generic story. A rag tag group of people team up to stop the bad guy, and have a few hiccups along the way. Same stuff, different dev.

The story feels like it’s just there to compliment the rest of the game. It’s not great, but it works. There are a few things that weren’t really expanded on that should have, like the idea that Polka can use magic, and thus has a limited life span. They didn’t really show her using much magic, and the magic attacks you can use are so pathetic it’s a wonder they added them in. They could have made her a stronger character, making her use different kinds of magic and that in turn affecting her health, but beyond the idea that she can use it, and will die, it seems to have been overlooked.

Other characters, however, were really strong. People like Jazz, Falsetto and Claves had a great story, and it almost felt like a whole game in itself playing as them in their small chapter. It seems like they created the overall story before the characters, and when they made the characters, they gave them massive back stories that they couldn’t work on enough.

Although simple, it is still a good story. There are some interesting twists , some of which I expected, but not at the points they were at. There were also several points where I felt the conclusion was nearing, but they pressed on, which helped keep the interest up.

The Gameplay

The battle system is simply brilliant. But it seems like it was unrefined, and left unfinished, which is a sore disappointment.

It revolves around using time as a form of currency. You spend time making moves, and everything you do costs time (except using items). It adds a creative strategic edge to the battles. You can get a tiny bit more time by attacking an enemy, but it seems like a system that was only added to lengthen turn times while attacking, and doesn’t account for much. Later in the game, you also unlock a meter that charges as you attack. You can then spend these “Echos” on special attacks which cost loads of time, but have massive areas of effect and deal huge damage. The more Echos you charged up, the better the special you could use. There is a trick to it though. If you used a special right at the last second, even though they costed over 2 seconds, you could still use them. It’s not a very good idea in the long run though, as most simple combos became a string of normal attacks with a special finisher, and things became rather repetitive.

Another cool thing is the idea of light and dark attacks. Every battle stage/arena had light and dark areas, and each enemy casted a shadow. If you were in the light, you did light attacks, and in the dark, dark. Every enemy had an affiliation and a weakness, so you really had to plan where to stand before you attacked an enemy. This system also applied to the special attacks, and with some characters, you would have a light attack with low damage and massive range, or a dark attack with massive damage and low range. It’s a simple idea made into a very clever and engaging system.

The problem is that it all changes later in the game. You have a system of levels called “Party Levels”, and you level up at certain parts in the story. Each time you level up, you gain one thing, and lose another. But the problem I had, was it never felt like I wasn't gaining anything past Level 2. You earned 1 more second on your timer, and the Echo system for special attacks, but from then on, as soon as you made your first move, your timer would start going down. You lost the ability to stop and think, and instead had to start rushing in. It made the game become far more hack/slash than it needed to be. On another party level, you lost time, dropping it to just 4 seconds, and the timer started as soon as you turn did. It felt like I was being punished for working my way though the game and it outright ruined the battle system for me by the end of the game. I feel like the system could have been one of the best out there if it had had a little more love and attention.

All of the characters feel different. Each has their own weapon, and each weapon has its own style of play. I found myself constantly mixing and matching characters to suit the situation, which is a great thing, as in most games you end up sticking with the favourites and dumping the rest.

Grinding was almost a challenge. The enemies in the field feel very well balanced with the level of your characters. In most battles I found myself actually trying to win. It wasn’t a case of simple button bashing to get the job done. Every enemy was tough, and while the AI wasn’t the best, it did feel well made.

The menu system is abysmal. Everything is all over the place, and it seems that the only thing worth getting is equipment from the shops. The system for stacking items both in and out of battle is a mess, and overall it feels like the entire menu system was an afterthought. The only time I ever really used it was to save, which took forever to find the right tab and option, or to change my skills, which was a chore in itself.

The field gameplay is rather standard. There are a few trivial puzzles here and there that aren’t worth mentioning, and there is more than enough collect and return missions around. The side missions aren’t too interesting, but some are worth playing.

The Graphics

They aren’t great. But they don’t need to be. The graphics have a sort of western animation meets Japanese kawaii anime feel. They didn’t try once to make anything even slightly realistic. Instead, it feels like the music makes it feel. You walk around, and everything is bright, beautiful and magical. Everything also has a theme of music. Sometimes its instrument shaped plants. Sometimes it’s animals with little bells on them. Everything around you makes a sound, and the creators have taken that idea and pushed it as far as possible.

The animations are pretty smooth, and each character has a completely unique look. The style of the characters also keeps in tune with the musical theme (pun intended). All of the characters have music related names, and each carries an instrument of some kind as a weapon (besides a few characters). Overall they are well placed and well designed.

As I said, the graphics aren’t great. It’s seems too bright, and almost looks like a failed cell shading engine. But when it all comes together, with the effects, and the music, it’s simply amazing to watch.

The Sound

The music is the absolute first thing that hits you in the game. It’s simply magical how the music seems to work with everything around you. As the music gets higher, flowers bloom, lights shimmer, and birds sing. When the tone turns gloomy, everything slows down, the wind stops, and the birds are silent. It’s a wonderful tiny thing that makes the game feel so pleasant to be in. Almost every song is a huge classical symphony, with each note matching every moment ingame. I remember being completely mesmerised by one part where you are simply walking up a long path in an open field. As you start, you see some wind blow, and the music is very calm. As you progress, the music picks up, and near the end of the path, it’s like you’re sat in a grand hall listening to a magnificent piece of music. There are gusts of wind carrying petals, birds flying around, and everything just felt so magical.

The story is based around a man by the name of Frédéric François Chopin, who was a brilliant composer and musician  The music draws inspiration from his works, and if you compare the two, you can get a true sense of the love and thought that went into every piece of music.

They made a game based around music, and they pulled it off flawlessly. They nailed the key idea, and that’s something hard to find nowadays. Many companies will spend lots of time telling people about the key idea, but never really refine it to its maximum potential.

The Experience

For me, the game was a breathtaking experience. If you separated everything, save the music , and put them in other games, they would be subpar at best. But they didn’t, and everything works together flawlessly. Alone, everything feels like it would be a small part of a far more grand design, but when they all mesh together, it feels like you’re watching the grandest of undertakings unfold.

I’ve played games that made me smile, and I’ve played truly immersive games. But no game can compare to mesmerisation Eternal Sonata created for me. I just wanted to sit back and watch everything unfold. You need to look past the things like the unfinished battle system, and the terrible menus, and see the game as a whole to fully appreciate it.

If you can, I urge you to try the demo. It doesn’t give the best feel for the game, but it gives you a nice feel for the battle system, and lets you understand what i mean by saying everything works together beautifully.

The Cake

The game is well a baked mix (lol i’m so punny) of great visuals, a grand story, and epic music, that all combines into one amazing game. It’s often overlooked because of the small studio it comes from, and the fact that the game is based around music more than anything else, but I think it’s well deserving of its pedestal.

If the battle system had been refined just a bit more, and the visuals made slightly better, the game would get top marks. But, all things considered, it still gets a great score.

I’m going to award Eternal Sonata 6 slices of cake.

Don’t eat it all at once.

The Future

There isn’t really anything I can put here. The game wasn’t really open ended, and I feel like it ended in a nice, peaceful note, which is hard to come by in today’s AAA game dominated market.

The only real thing I see going anywhere is the brilliant battle system. If it was refined a bit more, it could certainly become one of the greats. Saying that, it already is in my heart, and it’s inspired a battle system you’ll end up seeing in one of my own games.

All in all, it’s a great game, and well worth a play. Thanks for reading. Until next time.

~Awesomecake