Symphonic Bliss
I try to like JRPGs, I really do! The outstanding art design prevalent in them and the epic story scope always get me hyped about different JRPGs, but, in the end, I just get bored with them, and unfortunately, the same happens for me in “Eternal Sonata.” First off, let me say that the animation style in this game is great. It really makes you feel like you’re playing a Japanese anime. The story is also, in my opinion, outstanding albeit a little cookie-cutter. I think the main draw to this game for me was the idea of an overwhelming prevalence of music. I’m a musician, so I always enjoy games with good music, so when I heard that a game was coming out where the entire story involves the life of Frederic Francois Chopin, I immediately became interested. The combat is pretty entertaining, a cross somewhere between traditional turn-based RPGs and RPGs like “Tales of Symphonia,” where the entire combat sequence takes place real time. The characters abilities are interesting and enjoyable to watch. I’d always find myself looking at the bottom right corner every time I leveled up, hoping to see that I learned a new ability. The voice acting is so-so, with the typical over-exaggeration that Japanese games are known for. All of this however, cannot escape the fact that this game is a JRPG which means that the story progresses slowly, and you’ll often times spend your time grinding levels in order to be strong enough for the next dungeon. I really wanted to finish this game, and I thought I would, until “it” happened. I had one of my friends over, and I wanted to show him the game, so I started a new game so he could see the game from the beginning. We had a fun time playing for a couple of hours, but then we were done, so I went to a save point, pulled up the save screen and saved. It wasn’t until the next time I turned the game on that I realized what I had done. Usually when you start a new game, when saving the cursor defaults onto a new file, and I assumed this was the case for “Eternal Sonata” as well. Unfortunately, this is not the case, so I mistakenly erased my entire 15+ hours of playing. After that, I couldn’t replay the game, I just couldn’t. Don’t let my story discourage you from the game, however. “Eternal Sonata” is an outstanding game, with very few problems, and it definitely is worth playing.
