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Beautiful Animation And Storyline Gameplay Could Use Some Work
I got this after seeing a few trailers and trying the demo at a game store for the most part this is a very entertaining game but also very frustrating as well. The beginning of the game has your characters relatively fighting weak opponents to start you off but after the basic tutorial and just as you start your adventure you face off against some powerful opponents that pretty much kill you off with three or four strikes. That is one of the most annoying parts I hated I would understand if they gave you the more powerful later in the game chapters but they start you off the bat with these miniature bosses like the king rat in the sewers or this boar in the forest in chapters one. The pros of the game of course are the beautiful graphics and background they have for the game as well as the music and effects. You can build up your experience thus gaining levels and hit points by fighting the weaker enemies in chapter one which I'm doing right now before having to go after the mini-bosses or meeting up with them in their location areas. I also like the fact like one reviewer wrote that you can change the audio from the English voice actors to that of the Japanese voice actors which is nice since some of the English voice actors aren't that great to listen to while they talk in the cut-scenes. I can only say if you're interested an trying out an RPG game for the Xbox 360 for a reasonable price this one is a good choice but expect some headaches along the way..

An ambitious story with interesting gameplay
Eternal Sonata is certainly one of the more interesting JRPGs (Japanese Role Playing Game) I have ever played, although that may be apparent from the box art. How many games are there where you get to control Frederick Chopin? It is a solid game overall, and, given the dearth of JRPGs on any of the next-gen systems so far, I would say it is a must buy for fans of the genre.

Story: The story is a bit odd, to say the least. As Frederick Chopin lays dying, you are given control of the characters who inhabit a dream world he has created in his final moments. Or is it a dream? That question hangs over your head during the main plot, which involves a struggle between your characters and the ruthless machinations of a young king. The main plot is not anything special, but the "dream/not a dream" plot gets pretty interesting at the end. Unfortunately, the cut scenes accompanying the main plot are incredibly long at times. This would be fine if the story was more interesting, but alas, it is not. The ending of this game is not the most transparent one I have ever seen, but it was certainly interesting.

Interspersed throughout the game are cut scenes which relate important incidents in the life of Chopin. These scenes feature music composed by Chopin, and photos of several European locales where he once lived. These might actually be the most enjoyable parts of the game, as you not only get to learn about the life of the composer, but you are also able to enjoy some of his compositions and check out some beautiful cities in Europe.

Gameplay: This game features a hybrid turn-based/realtime battle system. As you walk around the main map, you will see enemies on the path before you. If you touch them, you will begin a battle. You can take three party members into battle with you, and you will face between one and three opponents. Your characters and your opponents take turns fighting each other based on the speed of each character. Once your character's turn begins, you have a limited amount of time to attack your opponent before the next person's turn starts. You can use regular and special attacks. If you use enough regular attacks in a row, you can build up "echoes" which allow you to perform a more powerful special attack depending on how many "echoes" you have built up.

The gameplay system is different, but the limited amount of special attacks and battle options makes the combat rather shallow compared to other JRPGs (the Tales series, Baten Kaitos, etc.). As the game progresses, you gain the ability to perform combos using multiple characters, which does make combat more entertaining. Unfortunately, you do not get this ability until the end of the game, although you retain this ability in a subsequent playthrough.

Graphics: The graphics look very, very nice. Many of the backgrounds are pre-rendered (similar to what Tri-Crescendo did in their Baten Kaitos series), and while that means that you cannot shift your point of view to better take in a scene, cities and forests are lush with detail. The character models look nice, but are a bit wooden at times. The cut scenes featuring locales where Chopin once lived are stunning in HD.

Sound: The cut scenes featuring Chopin's music are wonderful, to say the least. As for the rest of the game, the music is typical JRPG fare, with bold, synthesized strings encouraging you to defeat your enemy in battle. It is, again, similar to the music in Baten Kaitos, which Tri-Crescendo also worked on. Although the characters are, for the most part, nothing more than typical anime/manga stereotypes (young hothead hero, annoying small boy, annoying small girl, smooth voiced older hero, etc.) the voice actors do a fine job with their roles. Patrick Seitz does an especially good job as Chopin.

Overall, this is a solid RPG, although the gameplay and the story are somewhat weak compared to other games in this genre. The game is also somewhat short, taking between 20-30 hours to complete. There is a second quest, which adds additional side quests, has a higher difficulty, and allows you to use higher level combos from the very beginning, but I was not willing to play through this game again just for some meager additional content. It would be a great rental for anyone new to the world of JRPGs, and it is a good way to kill time for the rest of us as we wait for Tales of Vesperia to be released on the 360.

Good game
This game its good, better than others RPG, its long, it could be better but its ok, i love it and i bougth it, if u dont know if u want to buy the game o dont i really recomend it, buy it!!!

Cool Game for Anime Fans
Cool game so far. I wasn't sure what to expect but after playing it for the first time my jaw dropped to the ground after I saw the exquisite anime/3d styled graphics. The game has an interesting story about a young girl with real-time rendered cinematics to tell it. So far I am on a journey through a fantasy countryside (bird's eye view Diablo-style) and occasionally run into a baddie and then the screen zooms into battle mode similar to Final Fantasy battles.

I would recommend this game to anyone who, 1. Likes fantasy, 2. Likes anime (the sweeter side of anime - not ninjas, etc), and 3. Likes third person style games. One additional note is that you can change the cinematic/game play audio to Japanese with English subtitles - awesome if you like to hear the foreign language.

Awesome new generation RPG, great storyline, perfect for classical music lovers
I've always been an avid RPG gamer, and Eternal Sonata is by far one of my favorite RPG games. The only potential drawback to this game is the fact that the graphics are nothing too special. I would say that they are comparable to many PS2 RPG games. Nevertheless, that does not detract much from my love for this game.

The storyline is quite poignant once you get into it, but I will try to prevent including spoilers in this review. The battle system is very unique with dark/light strategy depending on where your character is standing and real-time stamina. Some argue that the battle system is messy and hard to follow, but that is hardly noticeable after practicing a few battles.

This game is perfect for RPG gamers who also happen to like classical music, particularly Chopin's works. I've played the piano for over 12 years, and Chopin's compositions have been some of my favorites. At the enc of each chapter, the game plays a beautiful song and shows some biographical information about Chopin. Thus, this game is not only a game but also a music culture enhancer.

I just couldn't have enough of this game and had to do a replay with the New Game + feature. Discover an even deeper storyline the second time through!

Overall, this game has been one of my favorites due to the combination of excellent gameplay as well as overall content.