60%Xbox 360

This game is just outright bland. Like room temperature pepsi or watching paint dry. The game's story from beginning to the end is a flat line. There is no ups or down. it's just straight to the end. I played this game a decade and more than half ago I believe and never continued it. now that "modern games" are turning out to be a disappointment. Instead of saying there are no games to play I revert my attention to my backlogs and I've chosen to go back to my xbox 360 and since then I was having a blast especially finishing Forza Horizon 1 and 2 but this game. I didn't know or remembered why I even stopped playing this game. That is until I started playing it again. It didn't change... The dullness, boringness, that face they make which looks like they forgot to wear their glasses and squinting there eyes.. all of those came back. But this time I was determined to finish it so I can lay my xbox 360 to rest.

Story is no comment. I mostly skipped it because when I came back I literally forgot everything even their names. Character design is as anime as it gets it's like those cutesy anime that's just full of flower and pretty things. everything is vibrant which actually not bad in today's era if you ask me.

Music is not bad as well.. well considering this is the story of Chopin music should be the first thing they should focus on. BUT NEVER FORGET THE OTHER THINGS. LIKE THE STORY.

gameplay is confusing but is easy. I basically didn't grind to get my self stronger because as long as you know how the mechanic works and timing you should be good. And I actually like how forgiving the game is. But even that is over shadowed by the dullness of everything else.

This game is basically the thing you won't mention after a long time. There won't be any "hey do you remember eternal sonata?" or "hey do you remember the part where we had to play nocturne on a floor piano?" there is nothing memorable about this game. the ending is also confusing to me. but you can blame me for that one because I skipped most of the stories halfway.

But again this game is not bad but definitely not good. it's just boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggg

60%Emulated

Enjoyable at times but I felt catfished, thought the game would be about chopin's life, not an isekai where he's like a cameo character. Besides that, slow start, gets better after the 20 hr mark

60%PlayStation 3

A thought-provoking JRPG that focuses more on the historical context of Frédéric Chopin and recreating it in a more fantastical world. The characters and world around such a weird premise is masterful, and with the help of an all star sound team along with Chopin's catalog, this is easily one of the best video games sonically.

Though the same can't be said for the actual story and gameplay of the game. The story was interesting at first, but felt too splintered to tell a complete story from start to finish, leaving me with more questions at the end than answered. While I enjoyed the unique pseudo turned based combat and its light and dark elements, there are difficulty spikes that can make you struggle on an otherwise relaxing journey. I just wished I got to explore this world more and get to understand how it all intertwines, but instead you are railroaded from dungeon to dungeon with small breaks in towns and breathers onto a bigger story.

I enjoyed my time, even though sometimes I loathed treading through another dungeon. If you're a JRPG fan, this is a must-play for me.

(side note: the PS3 version has more content and rebalances the game to be harder and grindier than the 360 version, so that might be a cause to some of my frustrations)

80%Xbox 360

Eternal Sonata is a game that shouldn't be good, and yet somehow it still kind of is. I'm not saying it CAN'T be a good game, I'm saying it shouldn't. What with its exhaustingly long cutscenes filled with the most pretentious dialogue and awkward character animations you've ever seen, and how many of the game's collectables and secrets are invisible and beg the question how on earth they are supposed to be found naturally.

Yet in these regards, the game holds a unique charm that is a culmination of the game's strengths and the hilarious nature of the game's weaknesses. Though the cutscenes are long and even tiresome, the characters move so strange and the dialogue is so unnatural, that it's easy to make fun of it. But when you're not making fun of it, you're having fun with the game's surprisingly tactical combat system. It's a very rare mechanic that manages to blend turn-based combat and Action RPGs into one without suffering from the mixed results. The combat requires careful management of your accessories, moves and characters, and gets more and more fast-paced as you progress through the game that you have to act quick and have sterling reflexes. It makes the game pretty challenging, and does require you to grind to be at the best levels to face the bosses. But the game compensates for this as well by not having random encounters, and for having a huge roster of characters to play around and practice with.

The game also changes the rules of its combat through the mechanic of Party Levels, which take away certain privileges and replaces them with new ones, that make the combat feel the same, yet feeling faster and with more potent damage output. The game's combat has a surprising level of depth that makes it feel fresh even as the game goes on, and with a fair amount of challenge. Oh, and Viola. I can't stress enough; Viola is the best party member, hands down. Her standard arrow attack requires quick action and great sniping skill, but is well worth the risk because of the OBSCENELY high strength of her arrows.

It also goes without saying that the game looks and sounds beautiful. For a world existing within the mind of Frederic Francois Chopin, they made sure to nail the crisp detail of nature and sounds that Chopin most likely adored. And the score by Motoi Sakuraba is handled excellently.

That being said however, there are some general grievances I have. Playing this game without a walkthrough is not a fun experience at all, as beating the late-game bosses requires some of the best accessories that you would never think to find because of the obscure and cryptic methods used to find them. The Trading Sidequest for instance requires you to trade items with certain throughout most of the game, and it requires you to have these specific items at the ready. If you don't, you won't be prepared to trade until much later when you have the chance to free-roam. Furthermore, it still requires some backtracking and you won't even know who or what you're supposed to be trading with. It's ridiculous. And of course the concept of a fantasy world in Chopin's mind as he faces his death is a bizarre but fascinating premise, and yet the story is more interested to explore the lore of this random fantasy world and so Chopin himself becomes a side character in his own mind.

Overall, this game is truly ridiculous, but quite fascinating as well. The sheer level of detail gone into the look, sound and combat of the game manages to save it from being a stupid, irritating mess. You may disagree that it's still that even in the game's final state, but I at least had fun and was whimsically charmed throughout. Even if it was by the awkward character animations.

50%Xbox 360

This was one of the first games I got for my XBOX 360, and I had high hopes for it. While the art style is a delight, the gameplay and story aren't quite what I hoped they would be.

80%PlayStation 3

8.5/10
The dungeons are weak, some story elements are not as fleshed out as I would like them to be and the game can be repetitive but the plot and characters are fun, the combat and RPG mechanics are fairly simple but enjoyable and quite challenging at times. Add that to extraordinary production values and art direction and you've got yourself a very solid action JRPG.

70%PlayStation 3

While Eternal Sonata is not per se a bad game, it comes with a lot of flaws which where acceptable at it's time of release, but are hard to ignore in comparison to later JRPGs of that generation (like Ni no Kuni). The positive aspects first: The graphics hold up pretty good due to the usage of cell shading and the environments look very beautiful. It comes with the japanese audio track (in addition to the english voices) and the synchronisation is very good. If you like classic piano music, you can add that to the plus list too.

While the battle system is very "interesting", it was not too much fun for the most parts of the game. It unlocks more features while progressing in the story and only was starting to be satisfactory for me in the last 20% of the game, when your characters got a movement boost and you could chain special attacks. At that point I was already pretty much fed up with the game. The story was more on the weak side and the pacing of the storytelling (especially the lengthy cutscenes) was sleep-inducing. Many of the areas are build like mazes to artificialy lengthen your playtime (and there is no map!).

I would have liked the game much more, if I had played it back in 2008, because I was really thirsty for PS3 JRPGs back then (I played the demo of Eternal Sonata, but never bought the full version back in the days for some reason). Playing it today and comparing it to games like the before mentioned Ni no Kuni, I would only recommend it to hardcore JRPG fans, who have already played through all of the better releases of the time. Trophy hunters should be aware, that the game came out before the introduction of trophies to PSN and there never was a patch to introduce them (the Xbox 360 version comes with achievements though).

80%Xbox 360

Set within the dreams of a dying Frederic Chopin, Eternal Sonata is a JRPG that tells the tale of the final journey of the beloved 19th-century Polish pianist and composer. Developed by Tri-Crescendo, upon first glance, one would be forgiven to mistake Eternal Sonata for a game from the Tales series. It uses a similar cell-shaded look for its characters, and the environments the player explores over the course of the game likewise exude a very Tales-esque vibe, but where the similarity is most striking is in the game's excellent combat system. Like the modern Tales games, Eternal Sonata's battles take place in an isolated battle arena within the environment. Although the battles take place in a turn-based system, Sonata uses none of the menu-driven gameplay most people associate with turn-based JRPGs, instead relying on real-time action where combos and carefully timed special attacks are the key to success. The fact that the game is turn-based has the advantage that the player is able to control up to three different characters per battle, rather than relying on the AI to handle friendly characters. It makes for a system that is easy to pick up, but one that also rewards strategic play, and careful party construction.

While the combat and general gameplay mechanics are excellent, where Eternal Sonata truly shines is in the way it presents its ethereal dreamscapes. The game tells a surprisingly mature story, revolving around the themes of life and death, and making the most out of the time allotted to each of us. While this may sound heavy-handed, the game generally manages to insert enough moments of levity to keep its tone from becoming pretentious or overly sentimental. Sonata's ensemble cast possesses a well balanced mix of different skills, personality types, and character designs, most of which are interesting, and instantly endearing. Standout characters are the archer/shepherd Viola, the tomboyish martial artist and rebel lieutenant Falsetto, and the game's main protagonist, Polka, a 14 year old girl who, like Chopin himself, is dying of an unspecified illness, giving her the power to weave magical spells.

Of course, a review of a game based around the last hours of the life of Frederic Chopin would not be complete without mentioning music. Music being a constant theme throughout, in its subject matter, visual design, and even certain aspects of gameplay, much of the game's impact would fall flat without a strong soundtrack to accompany it. Luckily here, too, Eternal Sonata delivers: the game's soundtrack, which consists of compositions by Chopin himself, as well as an original score by Motoi Sakuraba, is stunning, and perfectly complements the lush, ethereal world that exists within Chopin's dreams.

The game's main flaws lie in the fixed camera, which can lead to occasionally frustrating situations in the final stages of the game, such as when the player fights bosses that are so large they are able to block the view of what the player's characters are doing. In addition, in the game's final dungeon (discounting the optional dungeon that is available only during a second playthrough), at times the camera seems to have trouble keeping up with the player, leaving your character dangerously close to the edge of the screen, without being able to tell what you are running into. In a game where sneak attacks are often an important strategy if one wishes to get through a battle unscathed, this can occasionally lead to unwelcome encounters that could have been easily avoided if not for the awkward camera angles.

One of the best JRPGs available on the Xbox 360, at roughly 35 hours Eternal Sonata is comparatively short. Nevertheless, within that time it manages to deliver a sweeping, compelling tale of friendship, love, life, death, and the search for meaning, set in a stunningly beautiful world that is populated by characters that any fan of JRPGs will grow to love. Like the best games of its genre, it never wears out its welcome, and will leave you satisfied, although wanting for more. Highly recommended.

80%PlayStation 3

A very unique JRPG with some minor flaws. The story is based around the death of Frédéric Chopin and mixes Fantasy with the real life of Chopin. As almost always in a JRPG the story is quite melodramatic, but it touches some very serious topics like: suicide, death in general and power. It gets quite philosophical in some points. I liked that a lot. Between chapters you learn about the real life of Chopin, how he needed to escape from Poland and the state of mind he was in when he composed some of his pieces. Very interesting. I also like that a lot. The game also the most evil kind of anime villain: The one where the camera only show the (anime) eyes at very close range (Sephiroth style). You know if this happens that you are in deep trouble (story-wise :)
Gameplay-wise it is basically a dungeon crawler (in the very broad sense). You progress through different areas and need to find you way through different kinds of dungeons. Going side-paths is rewarded with the genre typically loot. Although the areas are very diverse the mechanic wears off at the end of the game. At least it never gets unfair, save points are fairly placed throughout all of the dungeons. The game requires heavy grind (at least with my party) and boss fights are not good balanced. Some bosses are very easy, some are super hard. You come to a boss and he wipes the floor with party. You then grind a lot, maybe 2 or 3 levels +. You come back with strong confidence: "Haha sucker, we are strong now. I will kick your ass". He wipes the floor again with your party. You grind more. (actually I like that a lot, grinding with a goal :slightly_smiling_face:. At some point you will make it after 3 or 5 retries. There is some kind of luck involved in that. You hope that the boss will not constantly use his strongest skill that can drain the health of your party very quickly and you can't heal yourself out if it.
The fighting system is pretty cool in my opinion. You have light and dark skills and the area you are fight in has light and dark spots where you only can use either of your skills. Also with game progression the system is made harder through a party level. For example: At the start you x seconds thinking time before the real-time battle begins. In the last level you have 0 thinking time. This keeps it very challenging although the basic of fights do not vary at all throughout the whole game. But it also does something which I really hate in an RPG: I takes away some characters from your party before mandatory boss fights. Characters do only level up while you use them. So you have to grind the character level up of a secondary character to make it through the boss fight, although you don't really want to use him.
The game looks very, very pretty with its anime style (although this is an old game from 2008 on the PS3). It aged very well.

50%PlayStation 3

This game suck

60%PlayStation 3

Very good combat, fun environments and interesting plot.
Unfortunately characters fall flat, the dungeons are mostly annoying and it takes forever to walk anywhere.
The plot has some promise but it never manages to do too much interesting stuff with it, somethings feel forgotten midway through and doesn't make sense.
But it's an enjoyable time nonetheless!

60%PlayStation 3

65%

80%PlayStation 3

A very beautiful and well paced game that I really enjoyed all the way through. I haven't actually played the newer Tales games, but I have seen gameplay and after playing this game I am very excited to play those. The battle system was probably my favorite part about this game by far, I loved how as you got further through the game the battle settings would get different making you adjust throughout your entire playthrough. Battles honestly never got old for me, and I really enjoyed grinding to a higher level. The graphics and musical score were also some highlights of the game, the worlds you traversed were very beautiful and lush, saturated with colors. The story was also pretty decent and dealt with some mature themes underneath what looks to be a childish story at first. The ending really throws a curveball, and I really was not expecting it at all which was a change from most JRPG's. The major downfalls of the game would probably be the heavily recycled enemy design and lack of major customization through multiple means. Most enemies you will see 3 or 4 times throughout the game, just reskinned and not even with new attacks, they just do a lot more damage. Equipment doesn't really have a great deal of customization for a newer gen JRPG either. Simple every time you go to the next town you buy the new equipment that just ups you base attack or defense by a little. Not being able to carry all your items into battle was also unnecessary, you get a limited amount you can take into battle, which yes adds somewhat of a challenge, but can just be really annoying honestly. Overall a great JRPG, not quite top tier in my opinion, but it was pretty damn close.

70%PlayStation 3

Truly beautiful game with excellent music and battle system but strange storyline and some underwhelming cutscenes with cheesy voiceovers.

60%PlayStation 3

Excellent soundtrack and somewhat interesting combat, but that's about it. Plot is pretty poor despite the interesting premise and certain scenes are pretty laughable.

70%PlayStation 3

Good game, great music, quite a challenge (PS3 version - heard the 360 one is easy in comparison). Last boss was disappointingly easy compared to the 2nd to last boss.

80%PlayStation 3

Great art direction and music. Love the premise, but unfortunately the Chopin stuff doesn't go beyond the beautiful painting cut scenes. It's like they just tossed him into the midst of an otherwise mediocre JRPG. It could have been Mr. T with the same outcome. Story is drab, characters childish and annoying. Battle system is a lot of fun, but ultimately I got pissed off at the blocking mechanic. Later in the game, if you miss blocks, you will die. It started feeling really cheap. So I quit. But glad I checked it out.

90%Xbox 360

Loved the game as a whole. Multi-player in battles, ala Tales was great for playing with the woman.

70%PlayStation 3

A weird weird game. That went on for far too long. Had this been a 10-15 hour game I would have been happy, but I definitely feel that portions were stretched out to add to the playing time. (A 10 level dungeon, a maze, etc.).

The game has an interesting premise, but never really delivers. The characters are all quite bland. Save point based saves: you can't just save anywhere.

The battle system is interesting though: you have a limited amount of time to use your character: during that time you can do anything (move, fight, use items or magic, etc) but once the time expires you must wait until it is your turn again. Whether you (or the enemy) are standing in light or shadow can change your attack - but even this interesting battle system can't save the game from its length.

60%Xbox 360

+ Great visuals
+ Interesting characters
+ Battle System is fun
- Story is a bit boring
- Ending was a big let down
- items in battle can be used on wrong person by accident