Though parts could be better, the charm of this game is a breath of fresh air these days.
Then, after playing...
Half Life 2, ep. 2
Bioshock
Crysis
Call of Duty 4
Assassin's Creed
Grand Theft Auto 4
Dead Space
Fallout 3
and plenty more...
...I began to notice that, while these games are certainly engaging and innovative in their own way, they're grim, dismal, and my nerves could only take these games for hours at a time.
Now, I'm a lover of games, and all the games I've listed are deeply immersive, but it's like being a fan of movies, and the only good movies coming out these days are horror movies, intended to shock your nerves silly and get your twitch reflexes into overdrive. Sure, they're good, but christ...can't anyone make an immersive RPG these days?
And, the last attempt at playing an RPG on the 360 was Lost Odyssey, and while I feel it told a good story, immersion was about a deep as a puddle, and gameplay felt has fast and fun as riding ten miles on a unicycle while wearing wet socks.
Anyway, Eternal Sonata, turns out, was the game I should have purchased ages ago. In a lot of ways, it's a modern day JRPG done just right, and in other ways, it's about par for the course.
First, the par for the course part.
The story, while having moments of interest, is needlessly convoluted at one moment, and then becomes derivitively simple and predictable the next. But, having played many JRPG's, this doesn't seem to wreck the fun of the game, it just raises a few eyebrows from me, wondering if there's a point to the narrative.
Though, the core idea, Chopin's final dream, is wonderful, and the world itself, is delightful and wonderful. The characters are likable enough, as long as you approach this game as a children's story played through a game, you shouldn't have any problems. If, on the other hand, you're the type who is proud to be the first to point out "but a parsec is a measure of DISTANCE, not TIME!", then you're gonna take issue with some plot lapses.
Anyway, ideas, story concepts, characters even, seem to always take a backseat in video games to one, all important thing...
...Immersion.
If a game can hold my attention, and be completely enjoyable through the process, I can forgive it for trying to convince me that a utopian city can exist underwater, or that north koreans in the future will insist on calling me a "yankee dog." It doesn't matter...what matters is "was it fun to play?" Let's face it...Crysis, as a movie, would fail. (Don't believe me? Go watch "Doom", then come back and argue with me some more.) But, as a game, it's a hell of alot of fun to play.
And Eternal Sonata is a blast! The world and character design is lovely. The art direction is fantastic, the music is delightful and blends in with the actual Chopin used at times wonderfully, and the combat is fun, and puts some different twists on what we're all used to. Even the inserts about Chopin's actual life are fairly interesting enough to read about, enough so to forgive the fact that it's taking me out of the game to read them.
Honestly, while there's alot on the seamless story and shallow plot front to wage war against this game with, I still feel that the strengths of this game, it''s fluid level design, fun combat, and lovely world that never breaks it's own illusion, are things that other modern day RPG's should all look at. It's fun to play, and keeps your interest. And, with this current trend of "realistic, gritty" games coming out, games as charming and fun as Eternal Sonata are a breath of fresh air in a gaming world riddled with too many bullets and too little beauty.