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killersleven

Hi I'm just wondering for the people that have played this game, would it be worth getting even if it costs 60 bucks? This game really looks fun, yet I don't want it to be one of those rpgs that you could rent and beat in 7 days. In other words some replay value from it would be nice, and I hope some of you have played it to tell me about it. I don't want to buy a 60 dollar game just to beat in a week and leave on my shelf.

Thank you so much in advance.

Link: http://eternalsonata.namcobandaigames.com/

I played the demo and I thought it was really fun, yet if the game is really short I won't waste the money.

Cereal&Milk

SOURCE | ARS Technica

Game Review: Eternal Sonata (Xbox 360)
By Frank Caron | Published: September 28, 2007 - 10:57AM CT

As I sit here at writing this review for Namco-Bandai's recently released Japanese RPG Eternal Sonata, the dark and haunting echoes of Chopin's Prelude in D flat major fills my room. I find myself at a loss; Eternal Sonata could be boiled down to a standard and rather short JRPG affair that's incredibly linear and full of genre cliches. However, this imaginative tale of the dream world Chopin was said to have inhabited during his bed-ridden battle with tuberculosis is one that deserves pages and pages of scholarly analysis; there's just so much to the story of this game and its narrative approach and its content that dismissing it as a simple cell-shaded JRPG seems unjust.

Strictly from a gameplay perspective, Eternal Sonata is a mix of action and turn-based RPG conventions true to the style of Tri-Ace games like Star Ocean. You'll move your character in real time on your turn, and the concern for position leads to some strategically-focused gameplay, but the game still maintains the turn-based traditions. Light and shade play a role, as I mentioned before, and the dynamic play of the two via enemy shadows and moving environmental effects such as clouds and fireflies creates some unique battles. Moreover, as you level your party, the system grows more complex and allows you even greater freedom and power at the cost of thinking time. There are essentially six variations of the battle system found within the one game.

As far as RPGs go, Eternal Sonata is linear and the story is driven by a rather traditional use of adventure motifs. You have the standard band of children looking for wholesome and innocent adventure, unaware of the fact that they are merely inhabitants of Chopin's dream world. When Chopin shows up and denounces the characters' existence, things begin to take a strange turn, and the story begins to toss around philosophical ideas so far beyond the scope of its glossy finish that you'll be deceived if you take the game only at face value. There's so much to mull over with this game that the gorgeous art style will be the least of what persists in your mind after a feverish play session.

Within the first twenty minutes of playing, you'll come to question the debate of reality versus dream states, death, existential qualms, and more. Critics treating this as a "kids game" must have skipped the story sequences, because behind the colorful veneer of the title is philosophical musing that pays homage to the complexities of Chopin.

And really, Chopin is the star of this game. In many ways, Eternal Sonata is a contemporary cultural rendition of art, culture, and history, using the pop-medium of video games as a vehicle for educating the gamer. Real life details and pictures related to Chopin are a key part of the game during the brief biographical interludes spread across the game's seven chapters. Morever, each chapter deals with one of his songs, all of which are accessible through the in-game menu. And while the fictional narrative concerning the game's cast takes place in Chopin's dream world, you're constantly reminded of reality through the eyes of on-lookers at the real man's bed side.

The character development system is perhaps the weakest point of the game, in that it's too old-school. The characters that you gather in your party can be equipped with various items, but aside from leveling up, there's almost no customization to be found. New moves are learned at specific levels, and each character fits a specific unchangeable archetype. In spite of the fast-paced and action-packed battle system, the character development is shallow, boring, and uninteresting.

Aside from that, though, Eternal Sonata is an incredible game. I almost regret singing the praises of Blue Dragon last month because Tri-Crescendo's title is easily the best Japanese RPG to hit a current generation console so far, but it's more than that. There's so much richness to the artistic masterpiece that is Chopin's dreamland that one will enjoy the fact that the game promotes multiple play-throughs and saves some content for the successive runs.

It may not have the scale, scope, depth, or complexity in play that some would expect from this era of games, but what it lacks in those areas is more than made up for with a story mingling philosophy and culture together with an aural and visual presentation that works as effectively as the artistic mind it's based on.

Verdict: Buy
System: Xbox 360
Price: $59.99
Rating: Teen
Developer: Tri-Crescendo
Publisher: Namco-Bandai

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hksmrchan

lord mog said it was pretty good

Runahs

Its a great rpg but more on the short side so I say rent it. If you get close to beating it but dont just rent it again 17-25 dollars beats 60. D:

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Arri

I've been wondering this as well...

Theres so many new games going out soon its hard to pick and choose which ones to get!

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TheRequiem

Agreed
Theres NFS Pro Street.
Eternal Sonata
COD4 (Of Course)
*** Creed.


Is Sonata Online? I herd somewhere it was.

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Lord Mog

It's not just good: It's AWESOME.

If I had to, I'd buy a Xbox 360 all over again just to play it, it's simply amazing. And it's exactly what the 360.

I do hope a MMORPG will come out.

*** Creed... HAHAHA!

And uh, I believe it's online for extra features, not actual multi-play.