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At the age of twenty, Polish composer Fredric Chopin left home for Paris. Already hailed as a prodigy in his homeland, Chopin established a successful career as both a teacher and a composer until his death at the age of 39 when he succumbed to tuberculosis. Eternal Sonata is a role-playing game that takes place in the mind of Chopin as he lies on his deathbed.
Eternal Sonata features 10 playable characters, each as colorful and unique as the game’s cel-shaded look. Each of the characters have their own distinct look and have music related names. Beat is a young boy armed with a weapon that makes him good in both ranged and melee combat, while Allegretto is good with a sword. Other characters feature names like Jazz, Salsa, March and Polka. Even more unique is that all of the characters suffer from some sort of terminal disease that gives them powers. Odd, yes… but in some strange way, it works and makes sense.
Combat is a major part of the game and another of its unique aspects. What helps to make it different is that it is neither real-time nor turn-based, but an amalgam of both. Characters must wait for their turn to attack, but once their turn comes up, they have a few seconds to attack and move. The timer is short and may even change depending on how deep into the game you are.
In addition to basic attacks, characters can perform special attacks whose use is determined by where they are standing on the battlefield. The types of spells characters can cast are directly influenced by if they are standing in sunlight or in the shadows. For example, if Beat uses a special attack in the sunlight, it will produce a ranged fire attack. If this same ability is used in the shadows, it allows him to take a photograph of the enemy that can later be sold. The light and dark natures of abilities are radically different and add a whole new dimension to combat. A light attack may heal a character, while a dark attack may do damage. Some enemies may even have their own sources of light or darkness, affecting your ability to perform certain actions. As overwhelming as the system may seem, it is pretty easy once you get the hang of things.
The game’s story takes place as a dream Chopin is having on his deathbed in the last three hours of his life. The story will shift between the real world and dream world and will give different pieces of insight about what is going on in Chopin’s head and where their real world influences may lie. Death and illness also tie into the lives of the characters in the dream world since, as previously mentioned, they are all suffering from terminal illnesses. While it comes with the obvious downside of death, terminal illnesses have the upside of magical powers. Unfortunately, the terminally ill aren’t well liked, which serves as one of the things holding our crew together.
Visually, Eternal Sonata is easily one of the more stylistically different and colorful games available on the 360. Everything is cel-shaded and though the style itself isn’t anything new, the game’s art style and color palette, along with the HD resolution, give it an appealing look.
Eternal Sonata looks to plug up a big hole in the 360’s lineup and should beef up its RPG lineup. Combat is engaging and the story has that odd mix of depth and quirkiness that makes Japanese RPGs so engaging. Eternal Sonata will be available later this year. |
