Eternal Sonata or Eternal Cutscene?
Posted on February 24, 2008
Filed Under: Play
Tagged: namco bandai, rpg, video games, xbox 360
I decided to pop Eternal Sonata into the Xbox over the weekend. Also known as Trusty Bell: Chopin’s Dream, it’s a Japanese RPG (JRPG) from Namco Bandai and Tri-Crescendo that was named “the best video game about [Frédéric] Chopin ever created” by Mike Fahey at Kotaku.
From the game description:
On his deathbed, the famous composer Chopin drifts between this life and the next. In his final hours, he experiences a fantastical dream where he encounters a young girl facing a terrible destiny and the boy who will fight to save her. On the border between dreams and reality, Chopin discovers the light that shines in all of us in this enduring tale of good and evil, love and betrayal.
Despite the game’s critics, I decided to add it to my rental account because:
1. The demo on Xbox Live was a bit odd—but decent.
2. I needed to take a short break from shooting, driving, and commanding my minion horde.
3. I haven’t played an RPG since I finished Ultima IV back in 1985 on my Apple II Plus (holy crap that was 23 years ago).
Although I’m about 2 hours into the game, I’ve only had a chance to “play” for about 30 mintues, 20 of which involved pressing the A button. Otherwise, the game has essentially been an over-scripted movie. The opening scene alone was like 15 mintutes long which immediately spilled into a brief lesson from the main character, Polka, in smashing onions with an umbrella. This apparently sets the stage for the remaining battles throughout the game.
In fact, one of the cutscenes I sat through this morning was so long, my wireless controller automatically turned itself off because of inactivity.
That’s just wrong.
Granted, the game is absolutely beautiful. The colours, shading, and light are extremely well done and a welcomed change from the Xbox 360 brown that so many game developers use. The music is also outstanding, especially the pieces by Chopin.
...but the game is painfully slow...and contrived...and insanely repetitive....and omg if the characters don’t shut up and let me play, I’m done with this.
They should have called this game Eternal Cutscene.
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