eternal sonata: thread of love (or hate).

[hyp]

hate it or love it, it ships today!  i should have my copy tonight or early tomorrow from lamestop.  anyone else picking this up?

here's a gametrailers review (8.6) while you wait:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24973.html

[demi]

gonna check my store today, i doubt they'll have it

i want i want i want

[MrAngryFace]

buh its out this week? Coulda sworn it was next! In any case its MINE!

[Vizzys]

eternal sonata or blue dragon

i must decide

[Mupepe]

i'm picking it up wednesday, but i won't play it til i'm done with blue dragon

[hyp]

eternal sonata or blue dragon

i must decide

that's a tough decision.  from the sound of it, both are really good.

[bluemax]

Pass. The demo was awful and I already have the hotness that is Blue Dragon.

Another wacky Jappy RPG with shit camera and shit action combat.

[hyp]

Pass. The demo was awful and I already have the hotness that is Blue Dragon.

Another wacky Jappy RPG with shit camera and shit action combat.

the blue dragon demo wasn't too hot either.  but if you're a turn-based purist i can see how the game may not appeal to you.  nonetheless, it's getting decent reviews across the board.  i actually liked the combat, if it's the majority of the game as people say it is, i'd prefer it be interactive.

[demi]

BLUE DRAGON IS THE HOTNESS

BUT THE ACHIEVEMENTS ARE CALLING ME

ETERORNAL SONATA!!!!

[hyp]

still waiting for my copy of blue dragon =[

[hyp]

gamespot: 8.5

The Good:
    * Magnificent visual design makes even the most mundane places look beautiful 
    * Stunning musical score 
    * Inventive battle system is both tactical and packed with exciting action 
    * A great cast of warm, charming characters will draw you into the story.

The Bad:
    * Story is completely linear 
    * Photography element makes money too easy to earn.

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/rpg/trustybellchopinnoyume/review.html?tag=tabs%3Breviews&page=1

can't believe gerstmann gave skate a 7.5 though.  he's a fucking weaksauce gamer that's for sure.

[demi]

ETERNAL SONATA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mr. Gundam]

This has a battle system like Tales and Star Ocean, right?  :'(

[demi]

Like Star Ocean, with Valkyrie Profile's form of attacks (one per button)

Or Radiata Stories

[Mr. Gundam]

Hmmm... I hated SO3's battle system, but this game looks hot. I guess I have until next Spring to make my decision on picking it up... I can just have my 360-owning friend download the demo so I can try it out.

[tiesto]

I'll tell ya, battles are definitely a lot smoother than SO3's. Worth trying the demo, very nicely done and it's got some absolutely gorgeous graphics.

[hyp]

it's herre

[hyp]

according to the manual:

Up to three players can simultaneously take part in battles if you have more than one Xbox 360 controller.  You can change controller designations in "Player Controls" in the "Options" heading in the Main Menu.  The number indicated by the Xbox Guide button determines player numbers 1-4.

sounds like a cool feature that i wouldn't use.  but hey, at least they added it.  reminds me of my secret of mana days (multiplayer w/ friends was the shit)

[Ichirou]

I like the faceplate.  It's cute.

[The Sceneman]

who did the music?

[The Sceneman]

Motoi Sakaruba

Pretty mean game composer, did the music for the Baten Kaitos games. Im pumped up to play Dragon Quarter as the soundtrack is done by Hitoshi Sakamoto who is pretty much my favourite

[FatalT]

I'll be picking this up at the end of the week.

[AdmiralViscen]

I'd be getting it if that TRU sale wasn't gimped.

Next summer it is.

[hyp]

so far, so good.

+ soundtrack rocked my balls off
+ the best cel-shaded style graphics on the 360 to date, some very breathtaking environments
+ combat is fun and strategic enough to keep it interesting.  as you level up your party, different options open up that alter the rules of combat.  for example, when i reached level 2, instead of my combat timer draining after each movement, i could switch to realtime and have it start ticking right after my first action.
+  @ the graphics, never a hitch in framerate, zero, nil, nada.
+ practically zero load times, interface is quick, intuitive, and snappy, just how i like it.
+ although a bit slow, the story is engaging and interesting enough for you to want to watch the long cutscenes
+ save points are a plenty, never a need to backtrack to find one
+ no random battles, approaching an enemy from behind means rape time (advantage in combat, just like persona 3)
+ decent level of difficulty.  my characters have died a few times with stupid mistakes like having my back turned.

+ or - the game is very linear.  aside from branching paths in your current area that can lead to hidden treasure, there's pretty much only one way to go to advance the story.

- takes a while for the game to pick up... lots of back story and cutscenes right off the bat.
- voices can get tiring since they love to announce their special attacks, i'm playing the english dub and some of the voices are a bit "piercing" to the ears (punch to the balls piercing)
- subtitle text is too big
- the kiddyness of this game could turn people off
- no free camera, it's all scripted (though your view is never obstructed)
- finding hidden items is a bitch, a lot of the time it's just luck... you have to wait for an exclamation bubble to pop up instead of just scouring the town by hitting the action button on every piece of furniture you find.

my gripes are pretty minor, overall the game is delivering.  can't say enough about how beautiful the game looks.  lots of color, definitely something that has yet to be seen on the 360.  i only got about 2-3 hours of game time in, so i'm looking forward to leveling up my party and seeing the other special attacks and combat strategies available.  i'm taking it real slow so i can absorb the story and find all the hidden items.  imo, it's worth at LEAST a rental if you like jrpgs.

[hyp]

hey maf, i saw you playing some ES last night... what do you think so far (hoping you got past the intial SLOW ass cutscenes)?

[Mondain]

It's meh. There are some incredibly good sides to it and some incredibly poor aspects.

The cel-shaded graphics are splendid, not to mention that everything is rendered in real time. They don't slow down, just a little bit after you win a fight in certain dungeons but it's really insignificant.

The music is incredibly good, and is in the same vein as Valkyrie Profile 2 and Baten Kaitos. The game is really soothing and allows you to relax.

Now the bad. Battles suck. Yes the fighting system has some good ideas, but in the end any fight just consists of mashing the A button to build up points that allow you to unleash a huge special attack or a cure with the Y button over and over again. Items are harder to unleash with the X button, but special cures that are unleased with the Y button are easy to do when you're short on time amid the fights. You have two different special attacks depending on whether you're located in light or in the shadows, but it's a gimmick. Being forced to mash the A button continuously makes breezing through the biggest dungeons a really, really tedious feat since you always make the same fights over and over again.

There are like twelve different monster designs with multiple palette swaps and about two different beasts per dungeon. Essentially when you bump into a monster, you'll be lead to the same two or three enemies located at the exact same position, and this occurs about twenty times over the course of a dungeon. It makes the fighting unfun. Sometimes you don't know where you need to go to slash the beasts because the camera doesn't show some of them on screen and it makes you waste turns. Bosses aren't fun to fight since of the lack of mandated strategy, and most of them are just thrown around without any backstory to them.

Although the atmosphere is charming, the game's story is a complete incoherent mess. The plot is hard to figure out at times, the characters are really bland and unlikeable, save for Chopin which isn't used that often anyway. Pick most any PS2 console RPG and it has a story that's much better than ES'.

Cutscenes suck. They unfold sloooowly, the dialogue is full of transparent moralizing, and the characters featured in them are barely animated; mostly they just stand around and their mouth and arms move very little. The faces barely move and don't express different emotions.

In the end it remains OK, and I guess that the biographical details on Chopin in the interludes are sorta cute, but in the end Eternal Sonata is still a waste of time. It's similar in many aspects to Baten Kaitos but is very mediocre in comparison. There are far, far better games to play instead in late 2007. Most of us played a truckload of console RPGs and know better.

Blue Dragon is so much better than this game that it's not even funny.

[hyp]

hey mondain, long time no see