advertisement

Eternal Sonata Director Q&A

By Staff, GameSpotPosted Aug 7, 2007 5:12 pm PT

Tri-Crescendo's Hiroya Hatsushiba talks to us about his inspirations and plans for Eternal Sonata.

Currently scheduled for release in September in the US (and November in the UK), Eternal Sonata is a fantasy role-playing game set inside the head of Frederic Chopin. The game has impressed us more and more every time we've seen it. Intrigued by both its unique premise and some of its unique gameplay mechanics, we decided to fire off some questions to the game's director and Tri-Crescendo president, Hiroya Hatsushiba.

GameSpot: Eternal Sonata's premise is inventive to say the least. How did you come up with the idea of setting a game in Chopin's subconscious?

Hiroya Hatsushiba: People who play games and people who love classical music are not necessarily sharing [the] same type of interests. Most people in Japan know the name of Chopin; however, most of the people who know of Chopin think he is just some kind of a great music composer without knowing any more about him. Most of them have heard Chopin's music but not a lot could put his name to it immediately. By creating a colorful fantasy world in Chopin's dream, I was hoping that people would get into this game easily and also come to know how great Chopin's music is.

Evidently, Chopin's subconscious is no place to travel alone.

GS: Are any of the game's locations or characters based on specific chapters of Chopin's life or perhaps inspired by his music?

HH: The names of locations and characters are all related to music, but this doesn't mean those are directly linked to Chopin's real life. We made the setting and characters match the time when Chopin lived, but the world is purely fantasy.

GS: The game's combat system, particularly the light and dark gameplay mechanic that alters characters' abilities depending on whether or not they're in the shade, is something we haven't seen before. Where did that idea come from?

HH: The most important concept was to be able to learn the battle system quickly. We needed to simplify the controls as well. However, this reduces the potential variety within battles, so we came up with the idea of each special move in light and dark places behaving differently. Also, we created enemies that will change their forms depending on whether they are in light or dark places. I feel that we brought a new type of variety and strategy to the battles with this feature.

GS: Besides the language options, are there any differences between the Japanese version of Eternal Sonata and those being released in the US and Europe?

HH: The game is fundamentally the same, with localized text to match the territory. There are two differences in the North American and European versions. They are:
1. The North American and European versions have both Japanese and English voice-overs. The Japanese version has only Japanese voice-overs.
2. At the end of every chapter is a Stanislav Bunin performance of a Chopin piece for the piano, accompanied by a story of Chopin's life. In the North American and European versions, there is a slideshow of real-life pictures following in accordance with the story. In the Japanese game, there is a custom background for each performance.

GS: In Japan, a number of Eternal Sonata Xbox 360 faceplates were released alongside the game. Are any similar promotions planned for the US or Europe?

HH: We actually only made one faceplate in Japan and five faceplates have been made in the US. Currently, there are no plans for this kind of promotion in Europe.

Eternal Sonata's combat is both turn-based and real-time.

GS: Are you planning to release any additional content for the game on the Xbox Live Marketplace?

HH: Yes. We are planning on releasing the following:
1. Piano Key (Used to unlock all of the musical performances at any time. Without the key, you have to clear that chapter in the game in order to unlock the performance.)
2. Gamer Icon Packs (Customize your 360 profile with official Eternal Sonata character graphics.)

GS: Finally, what advice would you offer to someone about to play Eternal Sonata for the first time?

HH: You will be able to enjoy this game without any prior knowledge of Chopin or his work. People who are not interested in classical music can enjoy this game as well. I am sure you will become accustomed to the control system quickly. I hope players will love the atmosphere of this game enough to play it through.

GS: Thanks for your time.

121 Comments

  • Cantius

    Posted Jan 23, 2008 5:28 pm PT

    LinkFanatic24 : Since when did Japanese games have english subtitles?Um, never.

  • fuzzuywuzzums

    Posted Aug 30, 2007 1:46 pm PT

    I disagree, Frederic Chopin was an amazing composer. His works on piano are beautiful, he's set a few things we use today. I personally think the idea is great. It will be a great game (i hope).

  • Efrye666

    Posted Aug 23, 2007 5:28 am PT

    Yes, you're so right, stellos5! Why don't they just make another great game about a world endangered by an evil king terrorizing not only his own people but the poor orphan living in a little village in the woods too! And then the evil soldiers will kidnap the orphan's girlfriend... who shall become the evil king's bride! And then he'll discover the secret treasure of his parents, giving him super special awesome magical powers! And he'll go on a journey to defeat the king! And then he'll discover that he's his father! And then he'll destroy the evil spirit he's possessed with! And then he'll discover that his girlfriend is his sister! But he won't mind! And then it'll be so awesome! Better this music sh*t anyway! Classical music sucks ass, right? Right! Give me teh metal!11

    Seriously, if you don't like the setting of Eternal Sonata, that's pretty much your problem, and judging the story after a rather short demo doesn't seem too bright to me. I'm happy they decided to make a game about a topic they care about, instead of just going with the mainstream and making one of those heartless everyday save-the-world RPGs.

  • stellos5

    Posted Aug 20, 2007 11:52 am PT

    After playing the demo and admiring the video all I got to say is "WHAT A WASTE!" This game's graphics are amazing! The fighting is superb! Why waste all these great RPG features on a game about music and an old musician's subconscious? The game reminds me of Secret of Mana in terms of how it looks. But the setting and storyline could not of been any worse. Even for those who admire old music will find that this is a game that could of been an amazing RPG of our time, but instead was wasted on some random goofy theme. However, the doors that ES have opened in terms of RPG graphics and gameplay for the 360 will hopefully be capitalized on by some developers who want to make a game worth playing for RPG lovers.

  • gwigsmuff

    Posted Aug 17, 2007 8:51 am PT

    It looks pretty, I'm not really into turn-based combat at all, though. I like Chopin, though, so I'll definitely look into this.

  • Sam_Lowery

    Posted Aug 14, 2007 6:36 am PT

    1. Piano Key (Used to unlock all of the musical performances at any time. Without the key, you have to clear that chapter in the game in order to unlock the performance.)
    .
    Good lord, that sounds like something EA would do, I hope they don't charge for that.

  • UrFaceIzDum

    Posted Aug 13, 2007 5:09 pm PT

    i cannot wait til this comes out the demo can only hold me over for so long

  • rob3nelson

    Posted Aug 13, 2007 3:02 am PT

    Played the demo and was unimpressed. I loved the beautiful artwork and environments, but hated that it is not fully 3d. Nowadays, this is not good enough. Also, the battles were a joke. In every one, I found it easiest to attack the enemies using ranged attacks so the enemies couldn't reach you as easily. But, while strategically this makes the best sense, it soon got boring. If you're a kid, you'll love this game, else Blue Dragon seems to be the better bet. Although the enemies in it are easy to beat, at least there are a lot more viable options at how to defeat them., providing more variety and excitement, especially since the animations are pretty. All in all, though, both games aren't that great compared to any of the more recent Final Fantasy games, for example. If you enjoy turn-based RPGs like me, though, Blue Dragon will do. I read in Play magazine that virtually every famous software developer in Japan was involved in developing Blue Dragon. While this doesn't flatter Japan that much, it at least gives you an indication of which game is expected to have more of an impact.

  • rob3nelson

    Posted Aug 13, 2007 3:01 am PT

    Played the demo and was unimpressed. I loved the beautiful artwork and environments, but hated that it is not fully 3d. Nowadays, this is not good enough. Also, the battles were a joke. In every one, I found it easiest to attack the enemies using ranged attacks so the enemies couldn't reach you as easily. But, while strategically this makes the best sense, it soon got boring. If you're a kid, you'll love this game, else Blue Dragon seems to be the better bet. Although the enemies in it are easy to beat, at least there are a lot more viable options at how to defeat them., providing more variety and excitement, especially since the animations are pretty. All in all, though, both games aren't that great compared to any of the more recent Final Fantasy games, for example. If you enjoy turn-based RPGs like me, though, Blue Dragon will do. I read in Play magazine that virtually every famous software developer in Japan was involved in developing Blue Dragon. While this doesn't flatter Japan that much, it at least gives you an indication of which game is expected to have more of an impact.

  • SetsuOkun

    Posted Aug 12, 2007 9:55 pm PT

    language option is still too rare in the gaming world plz any dev that read this try not to forget players by adding this option

  • LinkFanatic24

    Posted Aug 12, 2007 1:06 pm PT

    I thought this game was fascinating when I first looked up info about it but I was terribly let down when I found out that the Japanese version didn't have English subtitles. And, of course, I figured that like almost every game from Japan they would end up getting rid of Japanese to put localized languages. It's already bad enough in the US but even worse in Europe where you get English with French, German, etc. There's almost no chance for Japanese. Since I can't stand Japanese games and TV shows dubbed in English I forgot about the game...until I randomly clicked on this article.

    "The game is fundamentally the same, with localized text to match the territory. There are two differences in the North American and European versions. They are:
    1. The North American and European versions have both Japanese and English voice-over"

    OH YES! Now it's a must buy for me. I think I'm going to get this game instead of Rainbow 6 Vegas when I buy a new 360 game.

  • vampirex-2

    Posted Aug 11, 2007 10:13 pm PT

    wow this game is so awesome !!!

    i buy xbox360 because of this game

  • AnDrEwH2oPkiLlr posted Aug 11, 2007 7:24 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    AnDrEwH2oPkiLlr

    Posted Aug 11, 2007 7:24 pm PT (hide)

    voice acting for blue dragon is horrible play the demo n youl see wut i mean it aint even funny i mean i think even enchanted arms is a better rpg gme than dis.

  • AnDrEwH2oPkiLlr posted Aug 11, 2007 7:14 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    AnDrEwH2oPkiLlr

    Posted Aug 11, 2007 7:14 pm PT (hide)

    dis game going to be awsome!!!! way better dan some jappaneese boys rpg xample blue dragon, eternal eternal eternal eternal sonata all da way my gamertag is Shorty dA kid sent me a friend request.

  • Squall_sebas

    Posted Aug 11, 2007 6:47 pm PT

    @MrSickVisionz"Blue Dragon actually did extremely well in Japan."

    Extremely well for a 360 title, but I don't think Sakaguchi was happy by selling 80k+, on launch when he has sold millions when FF (number) was released, it's a nice start though, I hope blue dragon and eternal sonata sell well around here but... I think it's unlikely, however It'll be good If I have to swallow my words in the future

  • r0dm4n12

    Posted Aug 11, 2007 10:08 am PT

    imo blue dragon as nothing to do with this ;P its an rpg yes. but i tried it and i would say its no good compared to this one. i played eternal sonata demo 4 times. i cant wait for the games.

  • MiasmaRising

    Posted Aug 11, 2007 3:26 am PT

    This looks interesting, to say the least.

  • kappareign

    Posted Aug 10, 2007 9:32 pm PT

    this game looks so BEAUTIFUL

  • habit0422

    Posted Aug 10, 2007 6:34 pm PT

    Mr sick is right, Although 360 sales in japan are low, Im willing to bet the developers know this and planned it to sale better outside of japan just by numbers. This wouldn't be a surprise as many have noticed a changed in japans gaming cultures shift toward "casual games". Also if you look at square's Final Fantasy series you will see a decline in sale in japan, and a rise here in the US. So it wouldn't be a surprise if a AAA square game came to the 360 which is strong in the US.

  • MrSickVisionz

    Posted Aug 10, 2007 6:15 pm PT

    @Hitamaru: "Y'don't see Square Enix all of a sudden making Final Fantasy 13 on Xbox 360. Cause rpgs PHail badly on it."

    But you do see Bio-Ware making "game of the year" RPGs for it and all of those titles sell very well. Oblivion sold very well as well. The X-Box didn't have alot of RPGs but it didn't have crap ones. All the ones it got (Knight of the Old Republic 1 & 2, Jade Empire, Morrowind) were well recieved by critics and gamers alike. 360 is getting even more.

    Blue Dragon actually did extremely well in Japan. The # of 360s sold in japan and the number of Blue Dragon games sold in japan is a very high percentage. And thats japan were the 360 is tanking. When it comes here and to Europe, it'll be exposed to a customer base over 11 million strong rather than one with less than one million.

Eternal Sonata Quick Links

Summary | Reviews | News | Previews & Features | Images | Videos | DLC & Expansions | Downloads | Answers | Hints & Cheats | Forum | Check Prices

Check Prices: $28.99 – 39.89

GameStop $29.99 SHOP ›
Deep Discount.com $28.99 SHOP ›
Best Buy $29.99 SHOP ›
advertisement
advertisement
Click Here
Eternal Sonata Boxshot Enlarge the boxshot
Eternal Sonata

Game Stats

  • Rank:
    1,065 of 79,297
    (down by 176)
    X360 Rank:
    181 of 1,940
    Tracking:
    3,315 Track It»
    Wishlists:
    2,222 Wish It»
  • Player Reviews:
    197
    Player Ratings:
    2766
    Users Now Playing:
    679
  • Number of Players:

    1 Player

  • Top 5 User Tags:
    1. eternal sonata
    2. rpg
    3. tri-crescendo
    4. sonata
    5. namco
  • Teen Rating Description

    Titles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language. Learn more

Full Game Details »Close
Also on

Games you may like…

Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.

See More Similar Games
advertisement