Eternal Sonata for PS3

[Valkysas]

it happen.

I happy.

[Chad]

Re: Eternal Sonata for PS3

Wow. I did not see that coming.

[Misty]

Re: Eternal Sonata for PS3

Wait....what?

Now I've got a difficult choice to make!

[Chrono]

Re: Eternal Sonata for PS3

I found the demo to be boring as hell and looked like every other jrpg to date, have fun!

[John Mora]

Re: Eternal Sonata for PS3

I liked the combat slightly, but playing that for 50 hours with the generic story and characters would grate. I won't be buying.

[Toaster]

Re: Eternal Sonata for PS3

I'm with Mora on this one.

Pass.

[marcus]

Re: Eternal Sonata for PS3

The story and characters are anything but boring and as far as characters goes it's one of the better jRPGs. It's still pretty standard Japanese fair...

Spunky, hyperactive teenage hero? Check.
Quiet, reserved female mage? Check.
Young but intelligent kid who uses a bigass gun? Check.
Older but depressed male character with the stern face? Yep.

But the game puts interesting spins on all the "generic stereotypes" that sort of keeps things in this level above every other game.

Hyperactive teenage hero who's prone to violence and hits his buddy? yes.
Female mage who has a terminal illness and will die? Hello.
Intelligent kid with a personality disorder? Whatsup.
Depressed male character who's also going to die and is depressed because the world he loves so much is all made up in his head? Yo.

It's a really bright and cheery game with sacharine sweet characters and cheery voice acting but you're constantly getting pounded by the main theme: The world is not real, and two of the main characters WILL die.

That, and the ending is 50 minutes long... seriously from start to credits. You can tell by watching it that it's a touching and personal story and the writers made it from the bottom of their hearts by the ending alone. And don't let that crappy demo fool you; the game has a "party leveling" feature which boosts the difficulty the more powerful you get and because the rules in the field are always changing, the game is radically different at the middle than it ever was at the beginning.

Considering the fact that there's no other RPGs available (except Persona 3... go play that) I felt it was a really good purchase.

p.s. Blue Dragon is also available but that game felt really disappointing.

[John Mora]

Re: Eternal Sonata for PS3

Another part is the writing of the RPG. An RPG can have all the character and production values in the world, but if everyone talks like their dialogue was written by a 9th grader (FFX) then it sours the whole thing and I can't take it seriously.

[marcus]

Re: Eternal Sonata for PS3

Obviously we have different tastes but I thought the writing in both this game and FFX was pretty down to earth. A problem that seams to plague most jRPGs (which probably stems from most anime) is that characters speak like they're writing a text book. It sounds really robotic and terrible. Considering the fact that the main characters are kids, I think they talk pretty natural.

Although honestly, I'm basing my opinion completely after a Japanese copy with my buddy translating over my shoulder. I didn't even understand half the game but the animators made sure to incorporate fluid body language and crazy attention to detail so even without my friends help I understood most of it to a certain degree.

But the ending... I really want to see it in english...

[John Mora]

Re: Eternal Sonata for PS3

So it could be horrible.

[Toaster]

Re: Eternal Sonata for PS3

Obviously we have different tastes but I thought the writing in both this game and FFX was pretty down to earth. A problem that seams to plague most jRPGs (which probably stems from most anime) is that characters speak like they're writing a text book. It sounds really robotic and terrible. Considering the fact that the main characters are kids, I think they talk pretty natural.

As long as it's believable I'm ok with that. I don't expect to hear a 7 year old to start talking like Balthier. I think I'd be more creeped out that anything.

Unless she's the "trys-to-act-like-an-adult-smart-little-girl" stereotypical stock character. But even then's it's unacceptable. I want to believe. But I don't want it to be drivel, either.

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: Eternal Sonata for PS3

They pulled the PS3 listings. So this goes back to "unconfirmed" but the cat's still out of the bag.

[Goufunaki]

Re: Eternal Sonata for PS3

Wait....what?

Now I've got a difficult choice to make!

Achievement points, Misty! Achievements!

[marcus]

Re: Eternal Sonata for PS3

They did an article on that in Game Informer or something. Basically, if you were to choose between a ps3 release and a 360 release, most gamers would jump to the 360 simply because of achievement points... although Sony recently announced that they're setting up their own achievement system (although I believe it's not mandatory like Microsoft makes it).

[Goufunaki]

Re: Eternal Sonata for PS3

Yeah, they're gonna do something similar, except some games will make it actual items to use for PlayStation Home. Only thing I remember is a character from Killzone displayed in a window, but I like the idea of decorating your virtual home with items you unlocked. I think random people can come and see them so you can show it off, or you can have it more private for friends or just yourself.