Console Gaming: Eternal Sonata
Actually, as of now I am on current gaming hiatus, but I have managed to pull out an old backlogged game (which I am playing on and off for now) from two years ago, which is Eternal Sonata. I think that there’s no need for introductions on this game since it’s quite old (released June 2007 for the XBOX 360) so a quick fact sheet / impressions list is in order:
Quick fact sheet on the game
- Eternal Sonata is also known as Trusty Bell: Chopin’s Dream in Japan
- The game is developed by Tri-Crescendo (of Baten Kaitos fame) and is published by Bandai Namco
- The game features the life of pianist Frederic Francois Chopin amidst a fantasy world backdrop that he is inhabiting while asleep.
- The titles of the game chapters are also titles of Chopin’s famous piano pieces.
- The game’s background music is done by famous Japanese videogame music composer Motoi Sakuraba (Valkyrie Profile, Star Ocean).
One of the things I love about Eternal Sonata is its beautifully rendered graphics. Done in anime / cell shaded style, the game features a stunning interpretation of Chopin’s dream world as well as the character designs and costumes (why, even the NPCs are very well-detailed!). For a two year old game, Eternal Sonata can still claim the ‘Best-looking Japanese RPG of all time’ award.
Another good thing about the game is its combat mechanics. Eternal Sonata is a combination of the turn-based and action battle system. How? The players control a maximum of three characters while in battle and like the usual turn-based RPG, players and monsters take turns in attacking each other. After a player takes control of one of his characters, a time counter will start (well, actually it depends on the party level activated — but more on that later) and can actively control the character in the map, as in the case of the Tales of / Star Ocean / other action RPG titles. Players can issue commands to their characters such running over to the monster and attacking, either by using the normal attack or the character’s special skills. To further understand the innovative combat mechanics of the game, here is a breakdown of the important battle features found in Eternal Sonata:
- Tactical Time — This is the time alloted for players in planning out their course of action in the battle. For a level 1 party, the tactical time is not enabled, thus players are allowed to think through their strategy as long as they do not move their character. For level 2, the TT is pegged at five seconds and becomes shorter whenever the party level improves.
- Action Gauge — This is the bar situated at the leftmost part of the screen. The gauge is a timer wherein players can control and command their characters until the gauge is depleted. For a level 1 party, the gauge is timed at five seconds and also becomes shorter as the party level progresses.
- Commands — During the ‘player phase’ (characters can be actively controlled in combat), players can freely move their characters around the battlegrounds and/or issue them commands by pressing A (normal attack), Y (special attack), X (items), or B (block).
- Normal Attacks — As mentioned, pressing the A button will command your characters to do a normal attack and this builds your party’s ‘echoes’. Depending on your character’s weapon, a single attack can add 1 or more echoes per attack (special characters such as Salsa can add 2 echoes per attack because of her dual weapon).
- Echoes — This is the collective chain combo counter from your characters’ normal attacks. This is displayed at the rightmost part of the screen. Up to 32 echoes can be collected by a player. Echoes determine the strength of a special attack after a player commands it, whether it is an offensive attack or a healing spell.
- Special Skills — Pressing the Y button will command your characters to unleash an offensive or defensive skill. Skills are assigned in the character menu screen. At most, players can have 4 special skills during a battle which is further divided into two sets — light or dark. Skills in the ‘dark set’ are usually offensive skills while the ‘light set’ are usually healing/defensive skills. The characters do not have SP / mana needed to cast special skills so they can be cast anytime as long as your active gauge is still in effect.
- Light and Dark Areas — During combat, the positioning of your characters in the battlefield is crucial to your survival. For example: Your character steps on a ‘dark’ area in the field, he will only be able to use the special skill assigned to his dark set, while ‘light skills’ are usable when your character steps in a lit area. The light/dark area also applies to the monsters as some of them change form (becoming even stronger at times) when they step to a certain area. Sounds complicated in paper but this feature is very easy to follow when you’re actually playing the game :)
- Items — Items that you can bring in the battle should be assigned first in your character selection screen under the item assignment menu.
- Blocking — While in ‘enemy phase’, players will (obviously) be attacked by monsters. The block (B) button is then activated. Before a monster attacks, the icon ‘Chance!’ will pop out, signalling the player’s chance to block the attack. A properly timed block will reduce the damage taken from the monster. This actually takes a while to master, as different monsters have different attack patterns. However, this feature adds challenge to the combat and is actually fun to do :P
The game’s combat mechanics makes the game really fun to play. It’s so fun that I don’t mind repeatedly killing re-spawning monsters in cleared areas. I’m not a ‘grinder’ so powerlevelling is a tedious chore to me but this game is an exception. Although, I must note that the dungeons in the game are exasperating to play. Most dungeons will take loads of time to complete as you have to keep going back and forth the area to find the right exits (or complete some side quests). This is one of the game’s fatal flaws. Patience is a must if you want to complete the game ;)
Anyway, since this entry is becoming too tl;dr, I will save the impressions on characters and the game’s story / plot in another post. Please watch out for it :D
