Eternal Sonata A.K.A Eternal Cutscene

Oh hello children, remember me? One of the many reasons I haven't posted is because in the last two or three month not one ounce of good music has come out. So, I went into to hiding and now I have popped back on the grid after doing some feverish research the last month or so. By feverish research I mean religiously playing Eternal Sonata to get it out of the way before I start Lost Odyssey. Anyway, I figured I would share my game experience with you nerds to provide some insight.

Eternal Sonata is a solid game, it isn't anything world changing and you aren't going to pee yourself in excitement when you play it but is a lot of fun. It is a dungeon style RPG with lots of different characters and a decent plot. Just like most games there are things this game does well and things that will make you want to punch a baby. First of all this is more of a G rated RPG, PG at worst. I know what you are thinking but hey, Kingdom Hearts was pretty fun and this time I don't have to control Goofy's stupid ass. Probably the first thing, this being the first major RPG released on 360 it is Beautiful and I mean it. It is one of the prettiest things next to sitting on top of buildings in Assassin's Creed. Also it isn't glitchy, all camera angels, fighting and all that jazz is very very smooth, solid game play. Next thing of note is the battle system. It is similar to Star Ocean where it is turn based, but also active. So you can move around your enemy but you have a limited time to execute commands. Something new is the battle system evolves through something called party levels. Every so often your party level will increase, decreasing the amount of time you have to make decisions and act but increasing the number of special attacks you can do and speed and other things of that nature. I really like this mechanic because the fighting doesn't get old, it changes itself up to keep you interested. You also get new special attacks as your level increases. The last thing I really like is that it is really long. Being in a RPGless desert since 360 has come out I am glad they didn't forget that RPGs are supposed to take time. This game has a solid 25 hours of game with an optional dungeon and optional second play through. If you like this game you won't have to swap it at GameStop for something else that quickly.

OK now, don't get me wrong, I like this game but, there is some things that REALLY annoy me about it. The first is in the title, the game has A TON of film time, especially in the beginning, every ten steps and its a fucking cutscene. For the first two chapters it is enough to make me leave the room in frustration only to come back and find more movie time. The good news is you have the option to skip it. Also this game is based on a DREAM that Fredrick Chopan. (This Polish prick over here) is having. Mr. Chopan was a famous piano player in the 19th century. So some asshole decided, 'Why don't we base the entire game around this guy an then we can integrate a music lesson and some meaningless French history between every chapter.' Here is my problem. WHY?! I understand the game is about music, in fact everything in the fucking game (characters, places and shit) is named after musical terms; but why him? Why not just some guy, or like someone more famous? Personally, the thought of it was enough to make me not even want to play the game. However, it sounds a lot worst then it is. Do yourself a favor and just imagine Freddy here as a regular dude and skip the boring history cinemas. My only other thing and this is really knit picky, when you get a new weapon or armor your character still looks the same. Come on, even Final Fantasy 7 showed the change for weapons. Also several baddies repeat themselves with higher levels and different colors, this also irks me, I think that is just laziness by the programmers.

This is a good game overall and if you are looking for something to play for a while and have missed RPGs for new gen consoles almost to a point of tears, buy this. It is a good sleeper hit for 360, but buy lost odyssey first, I mean, lets be honest.