Eternal Sonata is a truly majestic RPG game with a strong focus on music. The game follows the last moments of a dying Frédéric Chopin as he dreams up a fictional world where he himself features. As this new world starts to become Frederic's reality we follow the journey of many individuals, thrown together as allies, in their bid to find the answers to their questions.
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| This is one of the first areas you go to, and it looks incredible. |
Storyline and plot
The premise of Eternal Sonata is nothing if not original. The game developers wanted players to learn more about the life of FrédéricChopin, a famous composer and romantic pianist, but by telling his story in a sort of game format. It’s hard not to spoil too much of the storyline but the game flips continuously between two worlds; the real world and a fictional dream world. Within the real world, Chopin is lying on his death bed with his doctor, lover and sister all there, sometimes talking to one another. The playable part of Eternal Sonata isnot actually real; it’s simply a fictional world envisioned by a dreaming Chopin in the last hours of his life.
The world of Eternal Sonata is where you’ll be playing and despite the fact that Chopin does exist in this world as a playable character called Frédéric he’s not really the main character and, though he starts out being insistent that this is all a dream, as time goes by he becomes less and less sure of himself. The story starts by following the journeys of Polka and Allegretto, who tend to feel like the main characters since they are kind of the party ringleaders. Polka is a 14 year old flower girl who suffers from a condition that she will soon die from as a result of her magical healing powers. Unfortunately, the population of this world view this power of Polka’s with a deep suspicion which has left this good natured girl feeling isolated and tainted. Allegretto meanwhile is a 16 year old homeless boy who steals for a living and who looks after an 8 year old called Beat.
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| "It could also mean he's dead." Worst doctor, ever. |
The plot of the game follows closely behind the real world events that helped shape Chopin’s life. In 1830 a group of Polish rebels rose up and fought back against the suppression of the Russian government during the November Uprising. Similarly, within the game world you’ll soon discover that a rebel group called Adantino is fighting back against a fascist government that may or may not invade a friendly and prosperous nation. Sometimes the connections between the game world and the real world are vague and difficult to realize but after each chapter of the game there’s a little interlude of photographs and the telling of Chopin’s rather sad life story. These clips of his life are squashed between the far more action and story orientated game world cutscenes and the goings on of the rebel group Andantino and the personal journeys of Polka and Allegretto as they uncover an epidemic caused by constant use of ‘mineral powder’; a healing substance that may have some dire side effects.
Battle system and levelling
The battle system is unique with attacks changing depending on whether you stand in light or darkness, the ability to build up ‘echoes’ and release stronger attacks or combine up to six different attacks from all characters using ‘harmony chains’ adds devastating combos to the mix. As you might have noticed there’s a bit of a musical theme to the entire game and the battle system is no different.
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| Teamwork is a big part of the battle system if you want to achieve maximum damage. |
Levelling up includes a lot of grinding, especially if you’re playing through ‘encore mode’ which is when you replay the game. There are moments of almost non-stop fighting in some periods of the game which is frustrating when, truly, you don’t want to have another creature throw itself at you when you’re just trying to squeeze yourself through a narrow passageway. However, by avoiding enemies, like many RPG games, you’ll just find yourself too weak to survive against later enemies. In particular, the bosses are frequent and brutal. This is certainly a game where you can tell a boss from a regular enemy as they are
gloriously designed and vicious in their attacks. Some enemies, and bosses, are noticeably fast in their attack speeds and trying to block against them by tapping a button is extremely difficult. You’ll find it much easier to block against the slower, more lumbering enemies though they tend to hit harder as though wielding a warhammer rather than a couple of stilettos. To counteract against the incredibly dangerous creatures you’ll want to frequently upgrade your equipment; weapons, accessories and armour. Weapons and upgrades are supplied in generous quantities provided you properly explore and they make a noticeable difference to a character’s strength or defensive abilities so it’s highly recommended to keep bang up to date with what you're using.
Graphics and environments
The actual areas that you visit are all pretty linear where you have to stay on a set path, though there are some vast and open areas like grassy plains though in one, large area you’re only likely to find one or two treasures. The graphics themselves though are genuinely beautiful, original, varied and intriguing. It’s obvious from the start that you’re in for a real treat as you’re met with luscious greens, bountiful fields of flowers and mysterious, dark forests with colourful sparking shots of colour to highlight just how gorgeous they can make a magical forest look. The game will take you through forests, vast open plains, abandoned forts, lava filled caverns, medieval style towns and then into the very afterlife itself. It’s easy to become desensitised to how beautiful everything is because you’re just spoilt rotten with detailed, clear, bright and smooth visuals. Even when you’re taken out of this magical kingdom and brought back to the real world of an exquisitely adorned bedroom you’ll be stunned by the environment. How the creators of this game managed to make something so ordinary look so spectacular is beyond me. The characters, too, look great with unique and personality-driven outfits that would look at home in any Final Fantasy game.
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| Warning: Bridges may be more fragile than they appear. |
Characters
The characters are a mixture of irritating and awesome. It’s great to have such a diverse array of characters that feature strong, female leads who are not overly sexualized and who have some of the strongest personalities out of the trope. Jazz, the leader of a revolutionary group, does appear to have his own point of gravity however; at least, judging by the fact that all the female adult characters are perpetually trying to get him to notice them. There’s quite a bit of crushes going on in the game, two main characters have an unspoken teenage love thing going on and one of the little boys has a crush on a loudmouth elf girl. Perhaps the most interesting character however is Polka who is arguably the main character despite the fact this game is all based in Frederic Chopin’s dream and that he is actually a party member. By the end of the game you’ll be left intrigued and confused at Polka’s story and endeared to her innocent, but doomed, character who so closely resembled Chopin's late younger sister.
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| Awkward silences are... awkward. |
There are a great deal of characters in the game though you only control them on the battlefield, depending on which 3 party members you prefer. At times during the game your party will be separated and added to, often changing up who you will get to use though by the late game you'll have access to everybody. For the exploring parts of the game you'll control either Polka or Allegretto for the majority of the time. All the characters make frequent appearances in cutscenes and everybody has a defined existence in the game so even though you're not necessarily playing them it doesn't really matter. The PlayStation 3 version of the game, along with other features, comes with additional characters who are some of the strongest in the game. The characters are all designed very well and have unique, interesting personalities and backgrounds that tend to coincide with the ‘real world’ revolution. All the characters are notably named after various instruments or terms in music such as ‘Salsa’, ‘Crescendo’ and ‘Viola’ which is a nice touch.
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| By this point I'm just putting pictures in because the game is so pretty. |
One of the drawbacks of the characters tend to be what they’re actually saying. Dialogue, especially in cutscenes, often includes preachy, pseudo-philosophical observations on the human race that tend to be repetitive and depressing. The attempts at humour are also quite often childish and can fall a little flat on adult audiences. In all fairness however, the comic relief of the game is usually provided by in-game children like Beat, who is 8 years old, and Salsa, also 8 years old though not technically a human.
Music and sound
For a game that starts with a musical premise it certainly does not disappoint. Some of the game’s music are Chopin’s original compositions played by pianist Stanislav Bunin but a lot of music are different pieces written instead by Motoi Sakuraba. It’s all very atmospheric and majestic and changes depending on which location you are in, the music is non-intrusive to the gameplay and never gets boring because it’s just so well-orchestrated. The battle music is quite possibly the only thing that will start to grate on your nerves but this is mostly due by how often you’ll be flung into battle due to the need to level up all the time.
Music aside, the game itself also sounds nice, the voice acting in the frequent cutscenes is superb though a lot of dialogue is also text based so you’re not listening to them chat all the time. Each character has a voice that suits their personality perfectly and whereas some are airy and girly you’ll also get people who are serious and down to earth so there’s a good mixture. You’ll often hear the characters shout phrases in battle when finishing up a combo attack and when starting and finishing the fight. Their comments are taken from a list of several and it can admittedly get repetitive after several battles, though it’s not exactly a game breaking issue.
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| Ok one last picture, because... pirates! |
Conclusion
Eternal Sonata is a game that you just have to complete due to the incredible but saddening ending scenes that provide a feeling of deep satisfaction. It is beautifully designed with a captivating storyline and a highly engaging atmosphere. Even if you're not a fan of turn based JRPG games you'll still find it a great deal of fun. The battle system is unique and interesting with a lot of different attacks, the tactical use of time and the light/shadows of the battle area. It’s not an easy game if you don’t keep levelled up but it’s not boring or hard enough to ever stop playing. There's plenty of chests and things to find in the environments and a great deal of NPCs and dialogue plus hidden features and encounters that true explorers will track down so the environments never feel empty or undernourished.The ability to ‘learn’ how to read sheet music by playing score pieces with NPCs is a strange but nice feature and the emphasis on music as a whole is pretty successful. If you enjoy battling, exploring and plenty of introspective storyline then you’ll thoroughly enjoy this game.Score: 8/10
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