Eternal Sonata (Xbox 360)

Eternal Sonata (Xbox 360)
Rating: 7/10
Time to Complete: 30 hours

I just finished playing through Eternal Sonata (Developed by Tri-Crescendo, Published by Namco Bandai Games). This was a classic JRPG (Japanese Role-Playing Game) with a great and unique storyline. The game is centered around a dream world of the composer Frederic Chopin as he lays dying. There are also narrative segments of moments from Chopin's life, complete with photos from Warsaw, Paris, etc. Who knew I would learn something playing this game?! The game took me about 30 hours to complete.

The Pros:

• loved the concept behind this game
• visually stunning, great music
• liked the use of light vs dark in the combat system, added some great strategy and some frustrating moments!
• you can often avoid combat by going around monsters, or gain bonuses by attacking them from behind
• character Beat can take photographs during battle, which can then be sold at shops
• encore mode - once you finish the game you can select "New Game +" and restart the game, allowing you to get additional achievements, new areas, etc

The Cons:

• very linear game play
• actually got so lost in some sections I had to consult a walkthrough guide
• Score Pieces are an interesting minigame system, but I have absolutely no musical ear or knowledge so these were mostly guesses based on what the notes looked like and the pattern they were in
• frustrating camera angles during combat - often times you can't see your character (they are blocked by the bad guy) so you use up your action gauge with missed swings
• with Beat's ability to take photos during combat, money is not an issue in this game and you can easily amass more than you will ever need to spend
• longest…ending….ever…. Wow, I actually started to loose interest, and I honestly could not explain the ending to you… and what was up with caterpillar and snail having a discussion?!

Overall I would recommend this game to any J/RPG fans. Now I have to decide if I should replay in Encore Mode for the additional stuff or play something else and then come back to this….