Opinions on Eternal Sonata

[OrpheusTelos]

Well, title says it all. Looking at current-gen JRPGs I haven't played yet, and I'm wondering if Eternal Sonata is worth checking out. I've heard kind of mixed things on it, so I thought I'd turn to my fellow Escapists and see what you all thought of this title.

 

[hermes]

I was not impressed by the story and the characters. The combat is fine, though...

If anything, it would be advisable as a JRPG because of the lack of attention the genre got this generation. Or you can wait a little more for Ni No Kuni...

 

[hazabaza1]

Awful. Just plain terrible.
The combat itself is... meh, it's alright. But the story, the characters, the voice acting, the non-combat gameplay... all really bad.

 

[Comocat]

I didn't much care for it, it's one of a handful of games I played for about 10 hours and then sold back to GameStop. The idea that it is a dream by a dying 19th century composer is kind of interesting, but other than being intriguing, it didnt really add anything to the game. If you liked Blue Dragon I would say this game is slightly better than blue dragon, but that isnt really saying much.

This review summarizes my views

http://www.gamefaqs.com/xbox360/934162-eternal-sonata/reviews/review-129168

It's visual treat and the battles are fun but otherwise there is not much substance to the game.

 

[Ryotknife]

Story is bland

combat is decent

the characters vomit rainbows so much that i feel that I need to punch a puppy just to preserve balance. Also meh voice acting.

That said....for a JRPG this generation it is not terrible. Other than the sugar coated-ness, it didnt do anything to annoy me.

 

[Tazzy da Devil]

I really liked it, it's one of the few JRPGs I've managed to finish. Not because I have anything against JRPGs, I actually really like them! But they're very long, and this one managed to hold my attention long enough for me to beat it! Plus I really liked the story, but that's probably because I really love cutesy things.

 

[OrpheusTelos]

I was not impressed by the story and the characters. The combat is fine, though...

If anything, it would be advisable as a JRPG because of the lack of attention the genre got this generation. Or you can wait a little more for Ni No Kuni...

Can't wait for Ni no Kuni.

 

[krazykidd]

It's worth it , especially since it is cheap . It's a game you have to play twice to fully understand though . Without spoiling it , the game isn't about what you think it's about the first time through . Also the foreshadowing is pretty good.

 

[4RM3D]

Pros:
- Beautiful world
- Awesome soundtrack

The rest is mediocre at best. I would only recommend it to die-hard RPG fans.

Instead, try Tales of Vesperia or Resonance of Faith

 

[Girl With One Eye]

I really enjoyed this game, I didn't expect much from it and was pleasantly surprised. It's quite cheap now so it's definitely worth a play.

 

[BlueKenja]

It's worth it for the combat and soundtrack, story is pretty bad (but an original idea with Chopin's dream thing) and the voice acting is terrible and it's waay to cutesy.

But once you get to the final boss...well that cutesy balance tips a lot more towards the dark...

 

[Dragoon]

Pros:
- Beautiful world
- Awesome soundtrack

The rest is mediocre at best. I would only recommend it to die-hard RPG fans.

Instead, try Tales of Vesperia or Resonance of Faith

Pretty much this, I thought it was just fairly average and just got a little bored with it an hour in. Those other games thoguh are definitely worth a play along with Tales of Graces F.

 

[RyQ_TMC]

The cutscenes. Oh God, the cutscenes. If one starts, it's OK to go and make tea, because there's a good chance it will be the characters loudly announcing their respective character traits (of which each has exactly one) over and over again for 20 minutes.

Other than that, the combat is quite nice - tries to mix turn-based and ATB up, and I think it does well - although little enemy variety means the grind gets tedious after a while. At one point, I got stuck in a small level with a boss I was unable to beat. Took me good 3 hours of running around and fighting the exact same two enemies over and over again before I beefed up enough.

The characters and story suffer from cliche storm, but aren't gratingly bad. Overall, in another generation, ES would be right in the middle, quality-wise. It feels like the devs wanted to play it safe and made a generic JRPG.

In the current generation, though - yeah, it's worth a try to cover your basic nutrient requirement.

Pros:
- Beautiful world
- Awesome soundtrack

The rest is mediocre at best. I would only recommend it to die-hard RPG fans.

Instead, try Tales of Vesperia or Resonance of Faith

I can never get through the first few hours of RoF because the Gun Fu gets decidedly tedious quickly. Yes, it looks cool for the first time, but after 20 battles, I kinda had enough of my characters showing off their moves.

 

[Kekkonen1]

I found it to be a quite charming little RPG (although I strongly recommend using the original Japanese voices) that I had alot of fun with. Don't let it being cliché stop you, some of the best JRPGs have been ripe with clichés and tropes. It is certainly miles better than Ni no Kuni that everyone seems to be waiting for.

 

[Sack of Cheese]

I remember I had a great time with it.
Everything was very well-done, the battles were exciting, story was somewhat intriguing. Everything except for the dialogues which were overly cheesy and try hard.

I had a better time with Lost Odyssey, if you have an Xbox maybe checking out that game as well.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

There are decidedly better JRPGs this gen that have come out. The mannequin style animations really took it down a notch for me. What console do you have?

 

[4RM3D]

I can never get through the first few hours of RoF because the Gun Fu gets decidedly tedious quickly. Yes, it looks cool for the first time, but after 20 battles, I kinda had enough of my characters showing off their moves.

It has a steep learning curve. Because the gameplay is completely different from any other RPG out there, you don't have a reference to hold on to. The game manages to stay challenging, even at the end game, which is pretty impressive. It's true the battles have less variety than other RPGs, mostly because you lack skills. But in reality those other RPGs become just as repetitive because you are spamming the same skills every time anyway. Even Tales of Vesperia suffers from this in the end game. Albeit not as bad as most RPG games.

RoF has some of the best and most challenging combat I have played in any game, ever.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

I can never get through the first few hours of RoF because the Gun Fu gets decidedly tedious quickly. Yes, it looks cool for the first time, but after 20 battles, I kinda had enough of my characters showing off their moves.

It has a steep learning curve. Because the gameplay is completely different from any other RPG out there, you don't have a reference to hold on to. The game manages to stay challenging, even at the end game, which is pretty impressive. It's true the battles have less variety than other RPGs, mostly because you lack skills. But in reality those other RPGs become just as repetitive because you are spamming the same skills every time anyway. Even Tales of Vesperia suffers from this in the end game. Albeit not as bad as most RPG games.

RoF has some of the best and most challenging combat I have played in any game, ever.

It's not the learning curve ov RoF that made me stop playing. It was just too monotonous. The story didn't start for a few chapters too so it felt like it dragged on. The game is actually easy to pick up, but again, its too repetitive. It took me very little effort to find a strategy to defeat the enemies too. For me it was that the game wasn't challenging enough. I'd put it in the same category as Neir for "could've used a bit more time".

 

[4RM3D]

It's not the learning curve ov RoF that made me stop playing. It was just too monotonous. The story didn't start for a few chapters too so it felt like it dragged on. The game is actually easy to pick up, but again, its too repetitive. It took me very little effort to find a strategy to defeat the enemies too. For me it was that the game wasn't challenging enough. I'd put it in the same category as Neir for "could've used a bit more time".

Well okay. I actually found I had to revise my strategy every so often when the game introduces new difficulties, like the introduction of heavy armored enemies and the abundant use of status effects (by the enemy). Then there are also a few levels where the terrain and the places you can hide become more important. The game forced me to make more strategic decisions than with most standard RPG games.

Oh well... to each their own.