How do you feel about Eternal Sonata (360/PS3)?

[Deleted member 431]

I was just listening to Chopin's Nocturnes and remembered this game's existence. IIRC it was one of the first JRPGs released that generation and scored pretty decently. The concept was incredibly imaginative with the game taking place in a dream world in Chopin's head while on his death bed with Chopin actually being a character in the game lol. I played it for a bit but didn't get too far in it and remembered enjoying the combat for the most part.

How do you feel about this game? Would you want a remaster? The graphics and art style seem like they'd look great in 1080p or 4K.

 

[The Unsent]

I liked it for the presentation and the gameplay, and if can you brave the batshit, long winded story.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Isn't it basically an isekai?

 

[The Unsent]

Isn't it basically an isekai?

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Maybe, Chopin is dying and in a coma, he appears in 'JRPG land' but it's quite ambigious whether he's been sucked into another world, or it's just in his head and a fever dream.

 

[Comic Obsessed]

One of the prettiest JRPGs from last gen. Would love a Switch remaster.

Isn't it basically an isekai?

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What the hell is an "isekai"? Is this a recent buzzword or something?

 

[antitrop]

I feel like I enjoyed it more than it deserved. Like, I was willing to overlook a lot of obvious flaws because I liked the presentation.

 

[BasilZero]

I always wanted to get it but never got the chance, hoping for a modern port of it on the consoles and PC.

One of the prettiest JRPGs from last gen. Would love a Switch remaster.


What the hell is an "isekai"? Is this a recent buzzword or something?

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It means a story genre of a regular person getting transported to another world that has Fantasy/Sci-Fi elements like Magic, monsters, etc. Its honestly one of my most favorite genres alongside Shonen.

Its not even a new thing - ERA just discovering it cause of Forspoken/Project Athia.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I only remember it because of the 20-minute long character death scene that has multiple flashbacks inside of it, including one flashback to earlier in the same scene.

 

[Deleted member 17627]

Still one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. Just look at this:

A well orchestrated soundtrack, and a really innovative battle system as well.

But the characters and story were...awful. Like I don't say that about a lot of games, but yeah, it was bad.

The game is still such an absolute delight to experience. I think a good way of putting it is this: it was the last of the PS2 RPGs, despite not being on the PS2.

 

[EvilBoris]

I really liked it, I can't remember much about it , but I liked those little bits where it hits played a piece by Chopin and gave some random info about the story of his life

 

[Minthara]

My biggest memories of this game are Viola being extremely broken if you stood all the way across the arena and one character having a death scene that felt like it went on for 30 minutes.

 

[nihilence]

I believe my wife really likes it.

 

[The Unsent]

Still one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. Just look at this:

A well orchestrated soundtrack, and a really innovative battle system as well.

But the characters and story were...awful. Like I don't say that about a lot of games, but yeah, it was bad.

The game is still such an absolute delight to experience. I think a good way of putting it is this: it was the last of the PS2 RPGs, despite not being on the PS2.

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I guess it was the first HD Cel Shaded RPG I played so I have a bit of a soft spot because of that, and it's just a memorable experience.

 

[Gevurztraminer]

One of my favorite jrpgs. Only played the 360 version without the extra content, would love for that version to come to pc/modern platforms.

 

[Infernostew]

The visuals and battle system are great, the characters and story not so much. Definitely worth a playthrough and one of the more memorable jrpgs from that gen.

 

[Tigerfog]

The battle system was super cool, as per Tri-Ace standards and the graphics and music were fantastic.
Too bad the story's pacing is a trainwreck.

 

[Nocturnowl]

I played through 75% of this on PS3 and I still couldn't tell you if I thought it was good or bad.
It just kinda existed, with this strange turn based action real time combat involving light and shadow that somehow worked just well enough.

I wouldn't really recommend it but damn if that standard battle theme wasn't tops



I feel like it's mainly remembered these days for still looking really nice visually and having the most inane death scene in video game history

 

[daybreak]

I've never been able to play it and I desperately wish it was on Xbox backwards compatibility so I could.

 

[Turin]

I played it in 2009 or 2010 and remember enjoying just getting to play an okay JRPG with decent presentation on PS3. There was an agonizing lack of that on PS3 at the time(and FF13 really disappointed me).

Never beat it though. Doubt I missed out on much, honestly.

 

[Jebusman]

This and Blue Dragon made it really feel like the 360 might get better Japanese support than the Xbox did.

It didn't really pan out that way, but it was fun to dream.

I never ended up beating the dungeon where

Spoiler: character spoiler

you revive Claves, which also makes you suffering through her obnoxiously long death scene all the more obnoxious

I've never been able to play it and I desperately wish it was on Xbox backwards compatibility so I could.

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I don't know how this hasn't happened yet. It was such a major part of Microsoft's push for the 360 in Japan, I would've thought this was a high priority title to get working just for the sake of what few japanese xbox players they have left.

 

[EarlGreyHot]

Great game, don't really remember the story.

Made it all the way to the final boss but never beat it for some reason.

 

[Deleted member 17627]

Also, I'm going to be forever mad that Tri-Crescendo got to make three great games (this, Fragile Dreams, Digimon Re:Digitize) and instead of establishing them as a new development arm, Namco just put them on supporting bigger games and we haven't gotten anything new from them since.

Which is weird because Namco doesn't even own them?

 

[Deleted member 431]

Also, I'm going to be forever mad that Tri-Crescendo got to make three great games (this, Fragile Dreams, Digimon Re:Digitize) and instead of establishing them as a new development arm, Namco just put them on supporting bigger games and we haven't gotten anything new from them since.

Which is weird because Namco doesn't even own them?

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Really would like a copy of Fragile Dreams but it's quite expensive these days for a used copy.

 

[Deleted member 679]

Still one of the most beautiful games I've ever played. Just look at this:

A well orchestrated soundtrack, and a really innovative battle system as well.

But the characters and story were...awful. Like I don't say that about a lot of games, but yeah, it was bad.

The game is still such an absolute delight to experience. I think a good way of putting it is this: it was the last of the PS2 RPGs, despite not being on the PS2.

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This really does look excellent, damn. Kinda want to play it now.

 

[Buff Beefbroth]

The beginning of the end of my love for JRPGs.

Possibly the most exhausting, drawn out, and tiresome scenes I've ever witnessed in any visual medium ever. It being so exaggerated and obvious started making me hyper-aware of the trope in other games like it. Constant exposition and repetition of the same things over and over. Fuck off already!

Beautiful visuals though.

 

[Liam Allen-Miller]

I guess it was the first HD Cel Shaded RPG I played so I have a bit of a soft spot because of that, and it's just a memorable experience.

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The game definitely has some rim-lighting and shadow ramping on the characters, but it's not really cel-shaded. It's all texture detail.

 

[Deleted member 37151]

I really liked learning about Chopin, and it looks great. Some of the voice acting and characters were awful, though.

 

[fiendcode]

Also, I'm going to be forever mad that Tri-Crescendo got to make three great games (this, Fragile Dreams, Digimon Re:Digitize) and instead of establishing them as a new development arm, Namco just put them on supporting bigger games and we haven't gotten anything new from them since.

Which is weird because Namco doesn't even own them?

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Don't forget Baten Kaitos. When is Nintendo going to buy that IP and let Monolith Kyoto and tri-Crescendo bring it back?

 

[The Unsent]

I only remember it because of the 20-minute long character death scene that has multiple flashbacks inside of it, including one flashback to earlier in the same scene.

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That scene is nothing.. the whole story was batshit insane, the very final scene

Spoiler

a caterpillar talking to 'Mr.Snail' in space, with no context

It's just a bizarre work of art I guess.

 

[Zafir]

It was an alright game, gameplay was enjoyable enough. The cutscenes can be pretty tedious though. Just constantly over explaining. Doesn't really trust the audience to try and understand themselves, and instead beats you over the head with its themes from what I remember of it. It also jumps the shark at the end...

Its not even a new thing - ERA just discovering it cause of Forspoken/Project Athia.

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At least from my perspective I've just never heard the term used.

I obviously knew it's a common theme among games/anime etc, but just didn't know there was a term for it, lol.

 

[lightning16]

I enjoyed it back when I played it. I remember the gameplay being fun.

 

[eXistor]

It's not completely awful, but there just wasn't enough there to keep me interested for more than an hour or 10.

 

[P-Bo]

Beautiful game, but its head is far up its own ass.

Was also the first game to make me rage quit, and never look back.

 

[Flevance]

Didn't spend much time on it, thought it was so boring

 

[Firima]

Gorgeous game with a good combat system and a story that is serviceable until you finish the first half of the game, then it just goes off the rails and becomes something truly execrable, resembling less of a narrative and more of an encoded cry for help from the developers to come rescue them from whatever Misery scenario they were being subjected to in order to force them to finish this game.

It's the only time I've ever been angry at a game's ending, and going back through it to get rid of my odd achievement number was rough. As soon as I got the last EZI piece and that 321-point (!!!) achievement, I turned the console off. Not the game, the console. Didn't even save.

Fuck this game.

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

It's trash.

 

[XVerdena]

I loved this game.

 

[Suede]

I remember really enjoying it. It was back when JRPGs were kind of in low supply so I appreciated them when they did come along. I'm not sure if I would ever replay it though. I mainly remember it being pretty and having some decent music. I think Viola was my favourite party member because of her long range attacks.

 

[rochellepaws]

It was an average game with a pretty aesthetic, beautiful soundtrack and a really imaginative premise. I want to like it more than I do but really appreciate the idea behind it.

 

[JoeyJungle]

This and Infinite Undiscovery are two games I always forget existed. Always been interested in playing both, hope they get some kind of port.

 

[Kromeo]

Alright game, the dungeons and towns are honestly better than we've seen in Tales games for a long time, dialogue was going too much for Shakespeare at times though and it got a bit tedious

Combat was fun but a bit too lacking in depth for a game that length

 

[Parcas]

It was ok i remember it started ok and got worse and worse by the end nothing much made sense.

 

[Jonathan Lanza]

Beautiful game
Painfully repetitive. There is virtually no variation between how you fight from encounter to encounter. What you do on the first boss is what you do on the last and it's got absolutely nothing to pick up the slack. Just a really boring game to play.

Also has one of the most hilarious end credits in video game history in which the characters verbose begin explaining the metaphors in the game to you, the player.

 

[Kris1977]

I absolutely loved it. This and enchanted arms early in the 360 days were absolute gems.

 

[Jebusman]

Also, I'm going to be forever mad that Tri-Crescendo got to make three great games (this, Fragile Dreams, Digimon Re:Digitize) and instead of establishing them as a new development arm, Namco just put them on supporting bigger games and we haven't gotten anything new from them since.

Which is weird because Namco doesn't even own them?

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Tri-crescendo always came across more as a support dev than a company who wanted to break out on it's own. The vast majority of their credits were sound programming for tri-ace games, or co-production duties.

Eternal Sonata and Digimon were the only two things they've ever did solo (Fragile was co-production with Namco). Honestly they were more the exception than the rule for them.

This and Infinite Undiscovery are two games I always forget existed. Always been interested in playing both, hope they get some kind of port.

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At least Infinite is backwards compatible on Xbox platforms so it's still playable (and purchase-able) today. Eternal just seems to have been left behind.

 

[Lime Blockade]

Sad it was like one of the few Bamco games that weren't made BC with the Xbox One. Would have been a good excuse to go back and finish it.

 

[litebrite]

I remember liking it and hoping it would become BC on Xbox so I could play it again someday.

 

[Deleted member 17627]

Don't forget Baten Kaitos. When is Nintendo going to buy that IP and let Monolith Kyoto and tri-Crescendo bring it back?

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I'm still confused of that IP is Namco's or Monolith Soft's. Not like it matters much, we got KOS-MOS and TELOS in Xenoblade 2.

Tri-crescendo always came across more as a support dev than a company who wanted to break out on it's own. The vast majority of their credits were sound programming for tri-ace games, or co-production duties.

Eternal Sonata and Digimon were the only two things they've ever did solo (Fragile was co-production with Namco). Honestly they were more the exception than the rule for them.

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That's a fair assessment, but it did feel like there was potential there. Would've been nice to have another Tri-Ace like developer, which is funny since Tri-Ace itself was former Wolf Team folk wanting to go solo away from Namco lol.

 

[texhnolyze]

A remaster, please.

 

[fiendcode]

I'm still confused of that IP is Namco's or Monolith Soft's. Not like it matters much, we got KOS-MOS and TELOS in Xenoblade 2.

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Bamco owns the IP, it didn't go with Monolith. Just like Xenosaga.