Beautiful art design and a gorgeous soundtrack creates a world that should be experienced by everyone.
Eternal Sonata, a Japanese RPG that is the current high-point of its genre on the Xbox 360, is a masterful work, that manages to craft endearing characters and a masterful story in the most unlikely of scenarios. The story sounds ridiculous out of context: Frederic Chopin is on his deathbed, and the game is a dream he has in his final three hours of life. But the environment and characters are so vivid, that the dreamworld comes to life in a way that no one could ever expect.
The detail put into this game is simply stunning. The visuals are some of the best seen on the Xbox 360: not in the traditional sense, but in an artistically beautiful one. Eternal Sonata manages to avoid the bloom and filters most game designers toss around their creations nowadays to create a gorgeous environment you'd find in a bright painting. One cannot say enough about the visual style: this game is almost worth buying just on the graphics alone.
The visuals combined with the sound make for a truly awe-inspiring experience. The score, composed by Motoi Sakuraba, has some of the best music I've ever heard in a video game. This isn't your "Halo 3" rock-style music -- Sakuraba used Chopin's music as inspiration for a sweeping sound that simply must be experienced. The last song after the credits is so beautiful, that I wish the soundtrack were released to the states so I could buy it up. The score fits into where it's needed in the plot as well, beyond its beauty. It fits the moods and environments to a key, and silence is utilized just as much as the gorgeous sounds from Sakuraba's compositions.
The plot focuses on multiple threads, but many of these contain plot spoilers: instead, I'll focus on Chopin's aspect of the plot, something that has for the most part been thrown around in reviews. Chopin has dreamed up this dream world, and if one pays attention, it's easy to see how he did so. Town names include "Forte" (the loud dynamic sound in music) and "Baroque" (referring to the Baroque musical period). Characters include "Polka" (a dance) and "Allegretto" (a moderately fast tempo in music). On a deeper level, the game explains events in Chopin's real life, and the game makes small, almost un-noticeable connections between the two. But if one looks closely at the characters and the plot, the game rewards the player by allowing them to see the true genius nature of the game, and it is a privilege to watch unfold.
The combat in the game, common like it is in many RPGs, is masterfully implemented. It starts the player off very easy, allowing them time to get used to the basics, and then slowly makes the combat faster and harder, making the game a great transition for those used for turn-based RPGs looking for a change to action ones.
Praise aside, the game does have its faults. The game only reaches a maximum of thirty hours, though it took me barely over twenty. This is considered short for an RPG, but I enjoyed a linear path to take for once. I know that may sound sacrilege, but the environments and the sound is just so beautiful, one hardly notices the linearity of the gameplay until the end. What I did notice, was that many times, despite the masterful story, I felt like themes would be shoved down my throat while I was unwilling. The themes of war and the "fight for the little guy" are so stressed, that by the time the game has the audacity to lecture you during the credits, you already don't care -- you just want to know what happened to your characters.
This game was truly a pleasure to play, and I can't recommend it highly enough. It isn't perfect, but if all you have is a 360, I can say that this is a must.