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Rating: 
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Eternal Sonata has got to be one of the greatest RPGs of this console generation. The story focuses on the famous pianist and composer Frederick Choplin who we see in his own dream world in his last moments of life. A lot of interesting characters join Choplin and things get even more interesting. I love how each character has his or her own talents and personalities and the graphics bring them even more to life. The battle system is a combination of real-time and turn-based strategy which is rarely found in RPGs. The use of the light and dark system to incorporate special attacks and build combos is ingenious. I suggest this game to any RPG lover out there. I cannot wait for the PS3 version which will have additional content such as characters, costumes, side quests and so much more. Please get your copy today!
Rating: 
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After playing the demo, I decided I could give this game a try, mainly because I find myself always wanting to try an RPG (especially if it is a Japanese RPG). I am glad I did. This game had much to offer.
The most interesting aspect of this game was its battle system. It is a combination of real-time and turn-based. Each character gets a "turn," and goes in order from the fastest to slowest. The character who is engaged in their turn has five seconds (later in the game four seconds) to fight the enemy. They can increase the time a little bit with every blow dealt to an enemy. Each normal attack can be used to build up a very simple, yet great, echo combo system. The combos acquired can then be used with the special attack, which varies from standing in a light area to standing in a dark area. Every blow that is dealt on your party can be blocked real-time for a substantial reduction in damage. Overall, the battle system was the most pleasing aspect of the game.
Moving on, we get to the story. The story revolves around Frederic Chopin, a renowned composer. The game starts in the "present," which is in the past when Chopin is on death bed. The world inside of Chopin's dream is what you play in. The cast of characters is delightful, each ranging with their own unique abilities; the only problem is that EVERY character and location, save for real word people, is named after a part of music (i.e. Forte, Allegretto, Waltz). The story progress along with Chopin existing in his dream. He constantly tells the participants in his dream that they are a fabrication of him. He begins questioning whether this world is still a dream as the game progresses.
There is a rather interesting twist in the game, which, suffice to say, really ruined the story in my opinion. I would disclose more information, but it is a major plot spoiler.
The voice acting was adequate and lacked the corny dialogue that many JRPG games have. The visuals suited the game really well. The learning curve was easy, but got steeper as the battle system got more complex after certain scripted events.
Overall, it was a great RPG to own, and I am glad that I purchased it.
Pros
+Battle system
+Graphics
+Character cast
+Soundtrack
+History "lessons" on Chopin
Cons
-Weird plot twist
-Annoying naming system
-Little replay value
Rating: -
Let me start off by saying if you like RPG's than you will enjoy this!
I did not expect much from this game however I am enjoying it for the most part. Basically it is a classic turn based style combat with a twist where you actually control your character during your turn as in swinging your sword and using specials.
A few of the characters can sometimes be downright childish but overall I liked most of them.
The story gets erratic at times (maybe due to japanese translation) but enjoyable.
The cut scenes are tedious...sometimes lasting 20 minutes!!! SOme are enjoyable and some are not.
You also get to learn about CHOPIN and his music which I enjoyed.
Your looking at about 15 to 20 hours of quick gameplay and 25 to 35 hours if you want to explore every thing and get all the achievements.
Bottom line is get this if you like RPG's!!
Rating: 
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I got this after seeing a few trailers and trying the demo at a game store for the most part this is a very entertaining game but also very frustrating as well. The beginning of the game has your characters relatively fighting weak opponents to start you off but after the basic tutorial and just as you start your adventure you face off against some powerful opponents that pretty much kill you off with three or four strikes. That is one of the most annoying parts I hated I would understand if they gave you the more powerful later in the game chapters but they start you off the bat with these miniature bosses like the king rat in the sewers or this boar in the forest in chapters one. The pros of the game of course are the beautiful graphics and background they have for the game as well as the music and effects. You can build up your experience thus gaining levels and hit points by fighting the weaker enemies in chapter one which I'm doing right now before having to go after the mini-bosses or meeting up with them in their location areas. I also like the fact like one reviewer wrote that you can change the audio from the English voice actors to that of the Japanese voice actors which is nice since some of the English voice actors aren't that great to listen to while they talk in the cut-scenes. I can only say if you're interested an trying out an RPG game for the Xbox 360 for a reasonable price this one is a good choice but expect some headaches along the way..
Rating: -
Eternal Sonata is certainly one of the more interesting JRPGs (Japanese Role Playing Game) I have ever played, although that may be apparent from the box art. How many games are there where you get to control Frederick Chopin? It is a solid game overall, and, given the dearth of JRPGs on any of the next-gen systems so far, I would say it is a must buy for fans of the genre.
Story: The story is a bit odd, to say the least. As Frederick Chopin lays dying, you are given control of the characters who inhabit a dream world he has created in his final moments. Or is it a dream? That question hangs over your head during the main plot, which involves a struggle between your characters and the ruthless machinations of a young king. The main plot is not anything special, but the "dream/not a dream" plot gets pretty interesting at the end. Unfortunately, the cut scenes accompanying the main plot are incredibly long at times. This would be fine if the story was more interesting, but alas, it is not. The ending of this game is not the most transparent one I have ever seen, but it was certainly interesting.
Interspersed throughout the game are cut scenes which relate important incidents in the life of Chopin. These scenes feature music composed by Chopin, and photos of several European locales where he once lived. These might actually be the most enjoyable parts of the game, as you not only get to learn about the life of the composer, but you are also able to enjoy some of his compositions and check out some beautiful cities in Europe.
Gameplay: This game features a hybrid turn-based/realtime battle system. As you walk around the main map, you will see enemies on the path before you. If you touch them, you will begin a battle. You can take three party members into battle with you, and you will face between one and three opponents. Your characters and your opponents take turns fighting each other based on the speed of each character. Once your character's turn begins, you have a limited amount of time to attack your opponent before the next person's turn starts. You can use regular and special attacks. If you use enough regular attacks in a row, you can build up "echoes" which allow you to perform a more powerful special attack depending on how many "echoes" you have built up.
The gameplay system is different, but the limited amount of special attacks and battle options makes the combat rather shallow compared to other JRPGs (the Tales series, Baten Kaitos, etc.). As the game progresses, you gain the ability to perform combos using multiple characters, which does make combat more entertaining. Unfortunately, you do not get this ability until the end of the game, although you retain this ability in a subsequent playthrough.
Graphics: The graphics look very, very nice. Many of the backgrounds are pre-rendered (similar to what Tri-Crescendo did in their Baten Kaitos series), and while that means that you cannot shift your point of view to better take in a scene, cities and forests are lush with detail. The character models look nice, but are a bit wooden at times. The cut scenes featuring locales where Chopin once lived are stunning in HD.
Sound: The cut scenes featuring Chopin's music are wonderful, to say the least. As for the rest of the game, the music is typical JRPG fare, with bold, synthesized strings encouraging you to defeat your enemy in battle. It is, again, similar to the music in Baten Kaitos, which Tri-Crescendo also worked on. Although the characters are, for the most part, nothing more than typical anime/manga stereotypes (young hothead hero, annoying small boy, annoying small girl, smooth voiced older hero, etc.) the voice actors do a fine job with their roles. Patrick Seitz does an especially good job as Chopin.
Overall, this is a solid RPG, although the gameplay and the story are somewhat weak compared to other games in this genre. The game is also somewhat short, taking between 20-30 hours to complete. There is a second quest, which adds additional side quests, has a higher difficulty, and allows you to use higher level combos from the very beginning, but I was not willing to play through this game again just for some meager additional content. It would be a great rental for anyone new to the world of JRPGs, and it is a good way to kill time for the rest of us as we wait for Tales of Vesperia to be released on the 360.
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