About a year ago, Eternal Sonata was released onto the XBOX 360, a system starved of real depth in role-playing games, with some acclaim. Fans on the PlayStation 3, however, had to wait until this year to get their hands on this title re-released by tri-Crescendo with some additional dungeons and two additional characters that weren’t available on the 360 version. Was the wait worth it for this game that sounds fantastic on paper?

The short answer is maybe...

As with most RPGs, the story is core to success of the game. Eternal Sonata takes place within the mind of the great French composer and pianist, Frederic Chopin, while he is comatose in bed in his last days. The game flips between doctors checking on Chopin at his home in bed, and the world that exists inside Chopin’s mind. However, besides the cut scenes involving Chopin in bed and the fact that he is a playable character, all other relations to his life are null and void.

The main story revolves around a group of young adventurers on a quest to speak to a corrupt Duke who has enslaved his constituency with a manufactured medicine that is a cure-all and that eventually robs the taker of their free will and converts them into monsters. In this land inside Chopin’s mind, people who have magical abilities are all terminally ill (thus Chopin has powers himself) and everyone is trying to survive in an economy that is becoming increasingly dependent upon mineral powder manufactured by the government.

Sound familiar? It might be the general basis for any good RPG, government tyranny and a group of underdogs rise up to fight back and regain some of their basic rights. So, then, what is it that sets Eternal Sonata apart from the rest of the RPG genre? The music and the graphics are what gamers need to pick up the title to hear and see.

Despite not incorporating a more musical theme or through-line into the story, the sound in Eternal Sonata is amazing. Blending an original score from Motoi Sakuraba, renowned composer in such games as the Star Ocean titles and various hits for Nintendo, with original works from Chopin himself makes this game a musical symphony of brilliance. Throughout the game, there are musical interludes with Chopin pieces tied to photo slideshows that are amazingly soothing to listen to and unexpected in a video game. However, despite the musical masters working on this game, music itself doesn’t play any part in the story line. I was expecting to have to master score pieces or use melodically themed attacks in battle, but there really is only the mini-game of matching scores up with various townspeople in hopes of gaining some nice items ... nothing involved in knowing musical notes or music theory or even teaching how to play hot cross buns.

The other marvel in this title is the graphics, which I consider the real saving grace. The color palette and the detail are unprecedented within Eternal Sonata. The dungeons, shops, and general landscape are all painted in a beautiful Renaissance palette of vibrancy that take the breath away. The characters are designed with amazing costumes and the creatures are fully fleshed out with creative flourish. This is a very pretty game to look at and watch. The shortcomings on the graphics side seem to be in the very rigid arm movements of some of the characters like Beat and some of the NPCs, but beyond that nit-picky detail, the rest of the game is gorgeous.

The main quest of the story takes you on a very linear path from township to township in search of the Duke Forte who might be convinced to ease up on the taxes on his people and allow them to begin selling their goods again. You begin the story playing as Allegretto, a street-wise young man who takes care of the younger homeless children in his town and is great friends with Beat, a youngster who has a penchant for photography. These two are joined by Polka, a bright-eyed, positive young girl who only wants to be able to sell floral powder again. Polka and Chopin have the abilities to use magic for healing and damage, which also means that they are terminally ill in this world. As your journey progresses, you meet more people who are in need or on their way to talk to the Duke as well and your party grows.

The designers also made light and dark very important in the design of this game. Light and Dark effect everything from weapon strength, which special ability you can use, and even the strength of some of the monsters. In almost every area, there is some element of light (either sun or lantern) and darkness. Whether or not your players are standing in the light or darkness will determine which special abilities you can use. For example, Viola (a shepherdess) has the ability to cast a Cure All when she is standing in the sunlight, however, if she is in the dark, her ability changes to a devastating attack. Some enemies also can change shapes and become more powerful or weaker depending on whether they are in light or dark. The trick to this wonderfully thought out aspect is learning that all creatures and players cast shadows, so if you are planning on using that light inspired attack, make sure you aren’t standing in someone’s shadow.

If you have played an RPG before, you have most likely experienced turn-based battle systems. Eternal Sonata deals up something new into this well-honed style of battles by introducing a “tactics timer” into each battle. When you first start out on your quest, each character’s turn won’t begin until they move in a direction or do some kind of action, starting the “tactics timer” on a countdown until the next turn. As you progress in levels and your Party Level increases as a whole, your time becomes shorter and shorter and will at one point start to tick away whether you are doing actions or not. If you are not careful, your turn can be done before you got off any attacks or cures. There is also “chance” involved in the defense of battles. When enemies attack, there is a prompt for pressing circle at the right time to block the attack and take less damage, or when your Party Level gets higher, you can carefully time a counter attack with the X pressed at the right time. This two nuances to the familiar turn-based battle, keep the players attention throughout the game and force them to keep on top of all aspects of their characters development.

The story line and map design are probably the weakest points in this game. The maps are very straight forward and linear, and, despite being beautifully drawn and enticing the player to explore, there is no deviating the set path. Sure, there are hidden treasure chests along the way, but most are easily spotted because the path breaks away or there are creatures guarding it. Without freedom to explore, I felt like a crucial part of this RPG was missing. In most of the titles out today and the newer titles coming, freedom to choose your path is big. Playing a pre-laid out path that doesn’t even offer small detours is losing it’s appeal to the gamer. The story was also nothing extraordinary in Eternal Sonata. There are tons of games in this genre that will give the gamer a 30-40 hour trip into government excess and the rise of the underdog. Eternal Sonata delivers another repetition of this theme. The characters are somewhat endearing, but their dialogue can often be flat and repetitive and heavy-handed in exposition. Better writing and better voice acting might have saved this aspect of Eternal Sonata, however, with weaknesses in both areas, the gamer is left wanting something more.

Overall, Eternal Sonata is a good RPG. It’s not great, there is nothing revolutionary about the story elements, there are no musical-challenge based quests; instead the gamer is introduced to cute characters and an alright story in a game that looks amazing and sounds great. It is worth the play time just to see the graphics and hear the amazing score on this title.

Gameplay: 8.0
Although the play is very linear and stifles the level of exploration familiar from other RPGs, the innovative battle system and the graphics make up for the shortcomings. It is also easy to get immersed in the cute and mildly political story line despite the feeling that you’ve heard it before.

Graphics: 9.0
This game is beautiful! There is no other way to put it. The level design and intricacies of detail are amazing. The incorporation of light and shadow into the gameplay and battle scheme is a great new addition to RPG battles as well. Character design is sharp and very unique; however, the only thing that I wanted was weapon changes or costume changes with upgrades. I thought that with all the time put in on making this game stunning visually, a detail like that wouldn’t have been forgotten or passed over.

Sound: 9.0
The score features original pieces by Motoi Sakuraba and works of Frederic Chopin as well. To listen to this game is pleasure enough. The voice acting is so-so at best during any of the many cut scenes and can be repetitive with some of the voice characterizations. But, overall, the music makes up for any fault in voice acting.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
The linear story and path design creates an straight forward path to victory, however, the increasing battle difficulty as you progress in levels can create challenges that won’t let you check out of this game.

Concept: 7.3
The innovation in this game is the evolving turn-based battle system. Instead of being a straight forward turn-based system, your party is required to make all moves within a specific time and there is also the “chance” of blocking or counterattacking with the proper timing of a button push that will keep the player engaged in the battles. There is also the unique light/dark aspect of enemies, attacks and weapons. However, I expected to have more music involved in the gameplay though. The story is based on the dreams that Chopin was having while dying in bed, yet the only real musical element are the names of the characters. You don’t get to explore music in any way, instead music is involved in Eternal Sonata as just great background accompaniment.

Multiplayer: 6.5
The multiplayer is available for up to three people, basically it just allows control over the battles. There is still only one player who moves in maps...my only question was why add it at all? Perfect for friends who want to sit around and watch their friend control the game and step in every other minute or so for battles... 

Overall: 8.0
Eternal Sonata is a good RPG, not great, but good and worth the play. The graphics on the PS3 looks amazing with an incredible level of detail to minutia in every scene. With a new approach to turn-based fight system that keeps you into each battle with timers and “chance” defense and wonderful character design and a good story, the player gets an enjoyable 30-40 hours out of this game that won’t probably blow them away, but won’t leave a sour taste in their mouth either.