Last week, I picked up Eternal Sonata a couple of days after it was released. Since I was busy with such heavyweight titles as Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Heavenly Sword, Bioshock and, soon, Halo 3, I didn't immediately start playing despite it being in my "Now Playing" list. However, one of my readers messaged me asking me for an opinion. I told him that I would have an opinion ready after the weekend concerning my first impressions of the game. As the topic title indicates, that opinion is ready for launch now. Eternal Sonata is the best next generation console RPG to date. The fact that I can say that with conviction after getting only 3.5 hours into the game so far speaks volumes for how much this game has grabbed onto me. With all due respect to Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Heavenly Sword, Bioshock and Halo 3, there is now about to be only one game in my Now Playing list. For the record, I do not consider Oblivion to be a RPG title. I consider it to be an action-rpg title, which means that I am calling it a psuedo-rpg. Even were I not, Oblivion had plenty of faults that would stand out like a sore thumb when placed side by side against Eternal Sonata. It is not fair for me to do a full review of this game when I am still just getting into it, but I did want to highlight some of the things that I have noticed very early on about this game that has flown beneath so many peoples' radars thus far in the hopes that I can spread the good word about this to anyone who is a fan of the rpg genre. 1. This game is breathtaking looking.

I considered games like Oblivion or The Darkness to be stunning achievements visually. They were remarkable testimonies to the potential of the new hardware generation. This game may well be even more beautiful than those were. I mean, it takes a lot to make a sewer (one of the first dungeons you explore) look like it came right out of a fairy tale. 2. The voices are excellent, and the sound levels are spot on.

One of my big pet peeves with regards to games these days is that, often times, the sound mixing isn't done quite right. In other words, voices have a tendency to get drowned out by the music and sound effects, making it almost mandatory to have intrusive subtitles turned on. This game doesn't have that problem. In addition, the voice acting so far has been great. Granted, you have issues with some lip syncing being off because the dialogue was originally in Japanese, but that is minor. 3. The characters grab you immediately. Sometimes it takes a little while to warm up to a cast of characters in an rpg. Not this time. These characters get you emotionally invested in them right from the start. I can't wait to see what happens to them next. I think this is in large part due to the how they are introduced, and the surprisingly deep issues being addressed by the storyline. The characters are introduced one or two at a time, and none of them are silent. Through the dialogue that is taking place, and the cut scenes given, you are instantly introduced to both their personalities and problems.

4. Surprisingly mature story themes keep the game from getting TOO kiddie feeling.

The issues that are being introduced right off the bat, such as a surprisingly intelligent discussion concerning taxation from Alegretto with Beat, make you blink a bit in surprise. Granted, the analysis and the conversations tend to be a bit on the black and white side (clear lines of demarcation between good and evil), but it fits with the Fairy Tale atmosphere. Later on, Polka shows Chopin something in the forest that is jaw dropping in her analysis and thinking. 5. The music is superb. The musical score is every bit as good as you would expect for a game based on the fevered dreams of a famous musical composer. 6. The battle system is not a step forward for rpgs...it is a giant leap. First off, it allows you to play cooperatively with other players on the same screen. This has now become an activity that the ChiliDragon and I can do together. It does this because you can assign up to four players to control some of the other characters. So, for example, if I am controlling Polka in battle, the ChiliDragon can control Chopin in the same room with me. We can talk in real time about our actions and yell at each other when one or the other of us screws up a round. This brings me to the next part of the battle sequence. It slowly scales up the difficulty of the gameplay. The combat round is divided up into "Tactical Time" and "Action Time". Tactical time is used before you make your first action when it is your turn. Action Time (which is set at 5 seconds) is used after you make your first move. As you progress and do more and more fights, the way the combat sequences plays out gets gradually more difficult. At Level One, for example, you have unlimited Tactical Time and five seconds of Action Time. Moreover, your action time only decreases when you are actually doing something. So, for example, you could move your character from the sun to the shade (you get different abilities depending on if you are in a light area or a dark area) and then stop the character completely to decide what you want to do next and your Action Time stops decreasing. When you reach Party Level 2 though, your five seconds of Action TIme happen regardless of what you're doing once you make your first movement. You still have unlimited Tactical Time to plan, but once you make the first move with your character the five seconds decreases no matter if you stop or not. So it is entirely possible to waste your turn. My guess is that once I reach Party Level 3, Tactical Time will no longer be unlimited. When you factor in the different abilities between light and dark, and the fact that some monsters also have different abilities when they move from light to dark, you have a surprisingly simple and yet strategically complex battle system that keeps you on your toes as you get better at the game. To make matters even more interesting, the game really encourages teamwork. It introduces an "echo" system that work a little like Limit Breaks from Final Fantasy. Your attacks are divided up between weak regular and strong special attacks. Hitting an enemy repeatedly with regular attacks builds up echoes, which make your special attacks exponentially stronger. So, a good team will have one person build up a bunch of echoes for another to use up. Now, these are early times for me in the game so far and the game could still end up tailing off and turning into a bit of a disappointment (see: Overlord), but thus far I think this barely hyped game has been the best release in months. Go pick it up and take it for a spin. You will not be disappointed.