ideal waste of time - Eternal Sonata ending

09:03 pm - Eternal Sonata ending

So finally got off my lazy ass and went through the last two chapters of Eternal Sonata.

Spoilers for the entire game below the cut.

What I liked: The graphics are exceptionally pretty. The soundtrack is awesome. I suspect most people would disagree with me, but I liked the Chopin history lessons since I knew basically nothing about him other than some basic familiarity with his music. The characters were all likable and cute, although I often zoned out during their constant speeches about The Meaning of Life and whatnot. The entire game has a surreal, dreamlike quality, for obvious reasons, and I enjoyed it. As far as the gameplay, ES has your typical turn-based fare, but it's kind of in the Shadow Hearts sort of style, which gives it a little more pizazz. The last RPG I played before this one was FF12 and I was constantly nodding off during random battles since the gambit system is so hands-off so I really appreciated having to, ya know, pay attention to all the fights. In particular, after I unlocked the 32 Echo Meter combos the battles got a lot more fun.

And also? Jazz is fucking pimp.

What I didn't like: THE GODDAMN CAMERA ANGLES PISSED ME OFF A LOT. Like, during boss fights where I was fighting an enemy that hovers above the ground and the camera is positioned at an angle where it makes it REALLY FUCKING HARD to judge whether your character is actually positioned to land a blow on the enemy. I spent a handful of boss fights cursing the camera as I kept attacking the air AROUND the monster. Some of the dungeons were ridiculous. I mean, for fucks sake, Fort Fermata. The graveyard with the multi-colored candles. WTF, man.

And ok, every time Chopin had a monologue I had no idea what the hell he was talking about. Also, I wonder if the writers of this game moonlight as authors of self-help books or something because the preaching did get a little tedious at times. During the credits roll where each character showed up against the black screen to tell me something profound about life, my conditioned response of zoning out kicked in again.

Another thing, the status effects on nearly all of Jazz's weapons? LAME.

Finally, let's talk about Claves. And how I had her in my group for like ten fucking minutes and I did not use her at all in my party. I had absolutely no attachment to her whatsoever, and yet I was forced to sit though her FUCKING THIRTY MINUTE LONG MONOLOGUE AS SHE DIED. It was kind of like playing a Metal Gear Solid game only more brightly colored. Seriously, that bitch needed to die FASTER.

The Ending: Um... what? Seriously, guys did that make sense to ANYONE? But despite it being pretty damned nonsensical, it sure was pretty and I was stupidly glad that Polka was sent back to be with Allegretto. So I have a weakness for the mushy stuff. Sue me.


Overall thoughts: If you like games that take historical figures and do crazy things with them, (Shadow Hearts) then you'll like this game. If you like the old school RPGs, you'll probably like this game. If you like adorable characters and classical music bgm and dialog that waxes poetic about the meaning of life... well you get the idea. As I like most of these things (excluding the 'waxing poetic' part), I'm glad I picked it up.