Eternal Sonata

Guide Note

Eternal Sonata is a role-playing video game developed as a timed exclusive for the Xbox 360. It is due to be released on the Playstation 3 at a later date and will reportedly feature several enhancements and exclusive content.

Fast Facts:

1. Developer: Tri-Crescendo
2. Publisher: Namco Bandai
3. Genre: Role-Playing
4. Mode: Singe Player
5. ESRB Rating: Teen (T)
6. Release Date:
   1. Xbox 360: September 17, 2007
   2. PS3: TBA

Chopin is on his deathbed, waiting for his time to end and while he's waiting he joins an alternate reality that is already in progress. Chopin must discover what he is searching for in this journey. His friends are from all backgrounds and include a magic user and some strange creatures. The story touches on important themes such as blind devotion to the government, separation of fact from fiction, social persecution, and other themes. The fictional narrative is broken up by narrated segments about Chopin's life and the politics of his own time.

There are no random encounters, so you can see every monster. If you don't want to battle you can simply avoid them, although often times you will be forced into battle. Combat is an mix of turn-based and real-time warfare. For each battle there is the inclusion of an action bar. Each character has a limited amount of time to complete his or her turn before it ends. During that turn you can move throughout the battlefield. But each action depletes your bar. As your party level increases the action bar actually decreases, making battles more difficult as time goes on. Light and dark, or rather shade or no shade, also plays a part in battles.

You have different skills for each lighting and change depending on how close you are to your enemies and your positioning in regards to the enemy (front, behind, etc). You can even stand in an enemy monster's shadow and gain shade abilities. Enemies also have the same abilities, but you can real-time block their attacks with a well-timed button press. One other interesting part of this game is the ability to take pictures during battle and later selling them for a profit with Beat.