Intro:
Alright, first off... if anyone's wondering how I got to play the demo, the demo is available on the Japanese XBOX Live and oddly enough... it's completely in English . It even lists the game as Trusty Bell (the Japanese name) yet the game menus say Eternal Sonata and at the end... it shows the English game box and lists the NA release date. Quite weird, but actually playing the game is better than downloading some lame trailer . Anyway, time to my blabbing on about this game.
Eternal Sonata, if you've never heard of it, is a Japanese RPG for the XBOX 360 that is based on the late Chopin and is set in his dreams hours before he died. You play as characters with music-themed names with what seems like preset roles. In this game, they gave you a warrior, healer and ranged fighter.
Graphics:
The game itself is quite visually pleasing. The graphics are a bit cartoony, yet they're so vibrant and well done. I don't think anyone will find this game to be lacking in the visual department. The demo takes you through a grassy path area, to a town and then into a dark forest. All of these areas are great looking.
Gameplay:
The battle system is kind of different. It's somewhat like a mix between Chrono Trigger and Kingdom Hearts. You walk around on a map where the camera is completely controlled by the computer and the enemies are visible on the screen. They can be easily dodged, but they will also pursue you for a short time if you get close enough. You have to pretty much run into the enemy to engage in combat. When you're in a fight, you get placed in a circular "arena" like place set in the environment. Players and enemies each go one at a time and each person gets a set amount of time to perform as many actions as possible. With this system, you are able to attack a couple times, run away and then use a ranged attack. You can also get behind a mob and attack from the weak point. You can also reposition yourself for line-based attacks so you'll hit multiple enemies.
The game also features a reactive blocking system. To block and reduce damage significantly, you simply press 'B' whenever the game puts a "BLOCK" icon on the screen. This is practically a must for some of your characters as they do not take damage well.
There are also light and dark spells, which change between the two depending on where you are in this arena. Light spells can only be used while... you guessed it, standing in the light. Dark spells can only be used while in the shadows. Enemies will also sometimes change their form, attacks and power while in the light or shadows. This is where the game can become complicated. For example, your healer, Polka, can only use her heal while in the light. Well, that doesn't sound too bad, right? ... right?
The game actually requires a lot more coordination between your characters than you may expect in the beginning. For example, your only healing spell that Polka has casts on the nearest party member (from what I could tell) that's in the radius that needs healing the most. If there's no one, it just casts on herself regardless of how much health she has. Because of this, you need to make sure your characters will be in the (I believe it's 20 yard) range when Polka is standing in the light, or else they'll have to rely on item-based healing.
Well, what's wrong with relying on items? You are only allowed a set amount of items to carry on you for use in battle. You switch between items using the LB and RB buttons. Every action that you can do will trigger your turn timer (i.e. the amount of time that you have to complete your actions) except for switching the item using LB and RB.
I ended up getting to the end of the dark forest place and had to fight this huge boar thing. It kicked my butt (after a long fight), but I think I figured out what I was doing wrong... unfortunately though, I'd have to start the entire demo over, and that's a bit too much for me .
Issues:
So, what did I not like about the game? I didn't care much for the healing system. A range is alright, but I prefer choosing the target of my heals. The heals are also very weak as they did maybe 180hp when my characters have around 1200-1300hp. With a missed block, the boss mob could easily take out 500-700hp a turn for example. Also, you cannot move the camera in battle. The worst part about this is, they typically start you off with a bad camera angle and you cannot see any of the enemies. Because of this, your first character to act will have to guess where to go and probably waste time finding the proper enemy to attack first.
Closing:
Do I think this game has potential? Yep, but the lack of camera control is annoying as it hampers battle and map movement (you also cannot control the camera on the map). The music is nice in the game (it's Chopin).
EDIT: Oh, another thing that made me think of this as Kingdom Hearts is how when you enter a new area, they run the camera in an area and then the title of the area appears in the center of the screen.
EDIT 2: Oh yeah, I heard there was supposed to be a Gundam Musou demo somewhere.. that's the whole reason I was on my Japanese XBL account as I couldn't find the demo on my normal one . I want to bust up some mecha as Gundam 01 Wing Gundam.
EDIT 3: I actually threw some section headers in here to make it look a little less like a blob . Also... anyone want some pictures? I'd have to use a cam to take them as my TV tuner card doesn't work with Vista (go AMD/ATi!)
Alright, first off... if anyone's wondering how I got to play the demo, the demo is available on the Japanese XBOX Live and oddly enough... it's completely in English . It even lists the game as Trusty Bell (the Japanese name) yet the game menus say Eternal Sonata and at the end... it shows the English game box and lists the NA release date. Quite weird, but actually playing the game is better than downloading some lame trailer . Anyway, time to my blabbing on about this game.
Eternal Sonata, if you've never heard of it, is a Japanese RPG for the XBOX 360 that is based on the late Chopin and is set in his dreams hours before he died. You play as characters with music-themed names with what seems like preset roles. In this game, they gave you a warrior, healer and ranged fighter.
Graphics:
The game itself is quite visually pleasing. The graphics are a bit cartoony, yet they're so vibrant and well done. I don't think anyone will find this game to be lacking in the visual department. The demo takes you through a grassy path area, to a town and then into a dark forest. All of these areas are great looking.
Gameplay:
The battle system is kind of different. It's somewhat like a mix between Chrono Trigger and Kingdom Hearts. You walk around on a map where the camera is completely controlled by the computer and the enemies are visible on the screen. They can be easily dodged, but they will also pursue you for a short time if you get close enough. You have to pretty much run into the enemy to engage in combat. When you're in a fight, you get placed in a circular "arena" like place set in the environment. Players and enemies each go one at a time and each person gets a set amount of time to perform as many actions as possible. With this system, you are able to attack a couple times, run away and then use a ranged attack. You can also get behind a mob and attack from the weak point. You can also reposition yourself for line-based attacks so you'll hit multiple enemies.
The game also features a reactive blocking system. To block and reduce damage significantly, you simply press 'B' whenever the game puts a "BLOCK" icon on the screen. This is practically a must for some of your characters as they do not take damage well.
There are also light and dark spells, which change between the two depending on where you are in this arena. Light spells can only be used while... you guessed it, standing in the light. Dark spells can only be used while in the shadows. Enemies will also sometimes change their form, attacks and power while in the light or shadows. This is where the game can become complicated. For example, your healer, Polka, can only use her heal while in the light. Well, that doesn't sound too bad, right? ... right?
The game actually requires a lot more coordination between your characters than you may expect in the beginning. For example, your only healing spell that Polka has casts on the nearest party member (from what I could tell) that's in the radius that needs healing the most. If there's no one, it just casts on herself regardless of how much health she has. Because of this, you need to make sure your characters will be in the (I believe it's 20 yard) range when Polka is standing in the light, or else they'll have to rely on item-based healing.
Well, what's wrong with relying on items? You are only allowed a set amount of items to carry on you for use in battle. You switch between items using the LB and RB buttons. Every action that you can do will trigger your turn timer (i.e. the amount of time that you have to complete your actions) except for switching the item using LB and RB.
I ended up getting to the end of the dark forest place and had to fight this huge boar thing. It kicked my butt (after a long fight), but I think I figured out what I was doing wrong... unfortunately though, I'd have to start the entire demo over, and that's a bit too much for me .
Issues:
So, what did I not like about the game? I didn't care much for the healing system. A range is alright, but I prefer choosing the target of my heals. The heals are also very weak as they did maybe 180hp when my characters have around 1200-1300hp. With a missed block, the boss mob could easily take out 500-700hp a turn for example. Also, you cannot move the camera in battle. The worst part about this is, they typically start you off with a bad camera angle and you cannot see any of the enemies. Because of this, your first character to act will have to guess where to go and probably waste time finding the proper enemy to attack first.
Closing:
Do I think this game has potential? Yep, but the lack of camera control is annoying as it hampers battle and map movement (you also cannot control the camera on the map). The music is nice in the game (it's Chopin).
EDIT: Oh, another thing that made me think of this as Kingdom Hearts is how when you enter a new area, they run the camera in an area and then the title of the area appears in the center of the screen.
EDIT 2: Oh yeah, I heard there was supposed to be a Gundam Musou demo somewhere.. that's the whole reason I was on my Japanese XBL account as I couldn't find the demo on my normal one . I want to bust up some mecha as Gundam 01 Wing Gundam.
EDIT 3: I actually threw some section headers in here to make it look a little less like a blob . Also... anyone want some pictures? I'd have to use a cam to take them as my TV tuner card doesn't work with Vista (go AMD/ATi!)