Eternal Sonata is built on a remarkable premise: the entire fantastical world is the dying dream of composer Fryderyk Chopin, and the player moves through it alongside characters named after musical terms like Allegretto, Polka, or Beat. The story of a land where sick people gain magical power, and of a medicine that has become the only livelihood for the poor, tackles questions about death and the meaning of suffering, yet presents them in a colorful, pastel-bright form. Between chapters, short segments about Chopin's real life appear, accompanied by piano pieces, a device no other Japanese RPG had dared to use.
Combat is a hybrid of turn-based and action systems. On their turn, a character has limited time in which to run, attack, and use abilities, and light and shadow play a key role: each character has two sets of special attacks, and it matters whether they're standing in a lit spot or in shadow, which also shifts as the battlefield changes. The system escalates as the game progresses, adding combo scores and the ability to chain hits between party members, so later battles demand real positioning. On the Xbox 360, this was one of the most beautiful games of the console's early years thanks to its strongly stylized visuals resembling a hand-painted picture, which age far better than the realistic titles of the same era. The music combines original compositions by Motoi Sakuraba with Chopin's works performed on piano.
The game was received warmly, especially for its atmosphere and visuals, with criticism aimed at occasionally naive dialogue and drawn-out passages. An expanded version later came out for a rival console with additional characters and chapters, but it was the Xbox 360 release that helped Japanese RPGs settle onto a platform that was then mostly western. Today Eternal Sonata is a pleasantly unusual experience for players wanting something other than heroes with big swords from the genre, and its musical framing makes it a title unlike anything else you'll come across in the console's catalog.
Game 73 of 259 for Xbox 360
