Eternal Sonata... Good Or So Not-ah?

[The Ceej]

A couple weeks ago, when buying Mega Man 9, on the PlayStation 3 Store, I noticed a demo for a game called Eternal Sonata. I figured it looked like an RPG that might be good, and considering they let me demo it for free, I decided to download it.

I played it tonight. Yeah, so I don't have a lot of time for gaming. The premise is that, on his deathbed, Chopin kept going to and from reality. In this other world to which he kept going, he noticed a sick girl and a boy that was helping her. I don't know what that has to do with the part I played, but I guess I'll find out later.

So, the demo starts out with three characters, Allegrato, Polka, and Beat, who have to go through this forest, fighting onion monsters. It was relatively challenging, partly due to the fact that it was a new system. An interesting system. I'd be willing to learn it. Then, there's a town, and a night forest. In the night forest, there are some really hard birds to fight. I died in the third battle. After the game over, it told me the game came out this month.

I looked online, and, apparently, it comes out next week. But, it's already out on X-Box 360, so anyone who's played it, please tell me what you know without spoiling it.


I'm interested in knowing how much it will cost, and more about the system. I'm pretty sure the story is okay, so I'm not worried about it. The main deal-breaker I ever have with RPG's is the battle system. Too many of them, these days, are just action games with a story. I know this one has a unique battle system, but I want to know more about it.

And, maybe, I can just wait for the price to go down. Eventually it'll get to twenty bucks? Right? Right?

So, Eternal Sonata? What do you know?

[Bunny]

The voice acting is horrible and the storyline leaves a lot to be desired. The battle system, which is arguably the best feature the game offers, suffers from a few pitfalls, mainly found in the way skills are organized. It also evolves as the story progresses, which would be a nice touch if the changes weren't so bizarre, disappointing, and imbalancing. It has a certain degree of balancing issues, mainly found in some of the characters that are on your side but doesn't limit itself to making you fight ridiculous fights against bosses that do thousands of damage to your characters, killing anyone unfortunate enough to have the fewest amount of health (in this case, mostly the sick girl mentioned in the previous post).

Some of the characters have limited usability which is unfortunate sometimes. Beat, for instance, doesn't really do well in the battle system but will provide your main source of income throughout the entire game via pictures that sell for outrageous sums of money. Polka, the sick girl, is only useful if you need healing to be done and suffers from low stats in about everything else.

Basically, do not buy it at full price. I think they are selling it for, what, $60? Yeah, not worth the money at all. I'd say ~$30 would be a good price to pay if you're willing. The battle system is about the most unique and interesting thing about it, so if you're into paying that much for a single feature, go for it.

[Momiji]

I've been tempted to buy it for Xbox 360, but I rarely play console games as it is. I don't know enough about it other than it looks somewhat interesting.

EDIT: So Not-ah. Haha, I get it. Took me a second.

[XxSephirothxX]

I thought the demo was decent, but I'm not sure I've seen one person or reviewer say the game was especially good. There's better out there.


I've been tempted to buy it for Xbox 360, but I rarely play console games as it is. I don't know enough about it other than it looks somewhat interesting.
I imagine Vesperia would be a better choice, though it hasn't gotten universally positive marks.

[Momiji]

I thought the demo was decent, but I'm not sure I've seen one person or reviewer say the game was especially good. There's better out there.


I've been tempted to buy it for Xbox 360, but I rarely play console games as it is. I don't know enough about it other than it looks somewhat interesting.
I imagine Vesperia would be a better choice, though it hasn't gotten universally positive marks.

Yeah, I've been considering that as well. But as I said, I don't play console games much, especially not time-consuming RPGs.

[Roto13]

I don't think I'd be able to take those god awful characters for much longer than the demo lasts. Certainly not their character designs.

[Tasura]

It's the RPG that's gotten the least amount of play time out of me, other than Ephemeral Fantasia. And, for me that's saying something, since I mainly only buy/play RPGs.

[Markus. D]

If Zeromus_X reccomends to do so or not to.

I'd follow that reccomendation :o!

[The Ceej]

Too bad Zeromus_X has not yet made a recommendation.

I like Bunny's answer best, so far:


Basically, do not buy it at full price. I think they are selling it for, what, $60? Yeah, not worth the money at all. I'd say ~$30 would be a good price to pay if you're willing. The battle system is about the most unique and interesting thing about it, so if you're into paying that much for a single feature, go for it.

Though, $30 may be a little steep. Something tells me, with the reviews you've been giving and citing, this game will drop to $20 in a matter of months.