Pretty, artistic, unique, and with a wonderful battle system that does away with MP and SP in favor of an amazingly fun combo system that kind of works like a fighting game: The more combos you do, the higher your "Harmony Chain" (think of charging what MP/SP normally is) goes up, the max level being 32. Technically, you can do special moves at any time, but the power will be so weak there's really no point unless you really build up the Chain--especially once your battle level goes up to the point where you can do special team combos, for up to 6 special moves all at once (!). The battle system evolves as the game progresses so as not to overwhelm you all at once with the end-game battle system that's very tricky to work with, but not unfair or convoluted at all. The soundtrack, ripped straight from Chopin, is quite pleasing. The voice acting may be God-awful for a lot of the characters (Beat, Salsa, and Polka are nails-on-a-chalkboard annoying), but you can switch to Japanese with subtitles if you like. But either way, the dialogue is boring, as are the lifeless, overlong and often pointless cut-scenes. Another drawback is the nearly entirely linear storyline. The only major side-quest you can do is the painful secret dungeon, and although the rewards for exploring it can make your characters almost invincible, its structure is horrifically frustrating due to a complete lack of a map for the maze-like structure and an almost unchanging tileset and terribly uninteresting enemies (you're fighting... pirates and walking turnips here?) for each floor, with absolutely no landmarks to go by. Worse, to beat it, you're required to hunt down quite a few items to gain the right to beat the boss of the place. To top it all off, the final boss isn't all that difficult if you got the ultimate weapons and armor all throughout the dungeon, and once you beat him you achieve a character who, very disappointingly, is just worthless. You do get a big achievement and unlock the most complex but by far the most powerful battle level to use for New Game+ and the final boss. Speaking of the final boss, it screams "We're out of development time and ideas, so let's throw something nonsensical together." Not only is the final boss completely uninteresting and just plain random, it doesn't even make any sense how you end up fighting him. It just happens, and there's no way anyone could predict it coming--and he's one of the easiest bosses you'll fight, even if you had never walked into the secret dungeon. Then you get the ending, which is just anticlimactic. Nothing really happens in the mundane forty-five minute ending, and a bunch of questions presented in the story remain unanswered. But, despite the annoyances, the game is kept interesting by the artistic style, pretty visuals, Chopin soundtrack, fun and evolving battle system, and an overall pleasant story, sans the unsatisfying last couple chapters and the ending.… Expand

Shallow gameplay. A lot of button mashing and no customization. Boring flow of story.

Absolutely beautiful game with engaging, delightful characters, an interesting plotline, a fun battle system and a real feeling of being different. The historical grounding of the game is interesting too, as are the segments about the real life Chopin.

Very beautiful graphics and musics. Interesting story and hours of fun.

I am really liking this game. It starts a bit slow, but it begins to develop quickly. I find my self almost addicted to the simple yet fun battle sequences. I also like the story so far. It moves kind of slow, but it is well done in my opinion. I also like the simularities to Radiata Stories. You can tell the same artists worked on both of these games. Some characters in Eternal Sonata look remakably simular. Anyway this is a great game for RPG fans. I hope to see more RPGs like this on the 360.… Expand

This game is absolutely excellent. The story is wonderful, the visuals are good, the music is spectacular and the gameplay is solid and changes throughout the game to make things more interesting. This game is engrossing and probably the best way to describe it is "charming". The characters are extremely likable (or dislikable for the villians). Definitely pick this one up.

One of the best in-game music soundtracks to date... must buy if you enjoy classical music

Brilliant graphics, excellent sound, amazing battle system!! I went into my local video game store looking for a rpg to keep me ocupied over the summer this was on sale 2nd hand for less than £5 so i thought why not setting my expectations low i was first amazed then realised i must be dreaming as this cant be as good as i thought. i was right it wasnt it just kept getting better and better!! The story is a political story like many other rpgs, a king is poisoning his subjects and you end up being the one to stop him. it also has bits of the famous polish composer chopin life story which is informative and interesting with some of his composisions played in the background the voice acting is on par with other jrpgs on the 360. the combat system lets people gradualy into the game becoming more complex throughout the game keeping you intresseded and challenged throughought. this is by far the best jrpg on the 360 to date cannot find fault with it.… Expand

Excellent graphics and a good battle system fail to make up for a sub-part plot, straight-out annoying characters, and a terribly linear game. Rent it, beat it in 18 hours, and return it.

The visuals and perhaps the battle system are the only things this game has going for it. The dialogue was the worst self-indulgent tripe I have ever had to endure in a game. I'll give the creators the benefit of the doubt that something was lost in translation. The characters were horrible, the creatures and fights were repetitive, and the game was painfully linear. I just finished the game and all I have are 110 gamer points to show for it with (11 achievements not found)...so it's cheap on points too. If you are looking for a game for your pre-teen child then this might not be a bad selection but otherwise it's a colosal waste of money and time.… Expand

Chopin's dream...this game is all about that, but in a very good and imaginative way. The game is a long hommage to this amazing pianist and composer. And what a beautiful one it is! The graphics are very detailed. The character design is simply flawless. The soundtrack is composed of Chopin and variations from his works and it's simply well done, and of very good taste. The battle system (Turn based + action) begin simple and level up of it's own. It's make combat very interesting and fun in the long run. The story is amazing, because it revolved around a real person: Chopin. But also because the dialogs/voice over are holding it. You get caught in the emotion of the game, and that's a very good thing. If you love RPG, don't miss this game. It's one of the finest I played since a long time (FFX).… Expand

One of the best games for the 360. Who ever complains about the dialog is an idiot.. Put the voices on Japanese and subtitles. Way different, and it's not just the awesome graphics that make this game what it is.. It's the unique 4 player fighting, and awesome story with Twists everywhere.

Good game, with an engaging story line, educative musical information and decent enough battle system, however is let down by the tediuous out of battle controls. Also, after not playing the game for a good while, i realized there was no actual journal or quest log telling me where to go or what i was doing.

This game has very uniqe game play and with a strong story it build my intension of rating it to a 10.Eternal sonata is one of the best JRPG for xbox360 so far to and has really brang my hopes up for more JRPGS. Eternal sonata has very different things from other rpgs and is a game to buy!

Is it just me, or do the game's designers really feel that they need to explain everything in such great detail that it's actually kind of insulting to the gamer? I don't need someone to elaborate on why Claves told the pigeon to go somewhere else. I get it. Seriously. The story, when it doesn't feel like the game is trying to treat you like a baby, is passably entertaining. Everything else is just good. Nothing to write home about. Just good.… Expand

The graphics are simple, but solid. Anyway, they're not ugly, though they hardly take advantage of the 360's power. That said, the gameplay is active and fun, for what it's worth. Not a AAA, but a grounded title that does what it sets out to do. I was personally surprised by how much I enjoyed myself. Few RPGs have that effect on me.

Beautifully drawn characters in a lush, colorful landscape. Movie-class camera work and lifelike animations. The story is cute but overly simplistic and somewhat eccentric. Extremely linear plot. The Chopin/sonata concept is original but unfortunately just serves as a wrapper around a very average game. The combat system is a frustrating button masher better suited for a beat-em-up. The system "levels up" and degrades even further throughout the game. Combat encounters can easily be avoided but this will leave the party too weak for the bosses. Progressing the story thus necessitates countless repetitive encounters in order to reach sufficient character levels. This shallow arcade-style combat system is a poor match for the peaceful and philosophical pacing of the story. With a better system this game could have been a gem.… Expand

I can't believe i'm the only one who thinks this game is crap. Visuals are mediocre at best and the artistic design is so boring and generic it hurts. Towns and dungeons especially suffer from poor design, making you lose all the excitement about discovering new places (they all look pretty much the same). Only character design makes the cut. For a game based on a musical theme, music is surprisingly disappointing. The story and writing are so dull and clichéd it is ridiculous, and they will make you want to smash Polka's head against a wall in no time. There is absolutely NO customization for your character development except choosing the skills you want to bring to battle (wow) and your equipment. The battle system is boring, with little strategy involved: it basically consists in button-mashing most of the time and normal battles provide no excitement or challenge at all. Boss battles really do, but the biggest impact on the outcome of those will be pressing a button in time to defend against attacks, suddenly turning this JRPG in some kind of ridiculous rhythm/reflexes minigame. The light and dark system makes very little impact on the battles, except when it comes to healing. The controls in battle are clunky, the camera is awful (often hiding where the f**k enemies are), and this combined will make absolutely no guarantee that the game does what you want it to do (especially if you want to play Viola, who loves to miss arrow shots for apparently no reason). The only positive feature I can think about is the inclusion of japanese voices (kudos for that). Being a JRPG fan, I was extremely disappointed by this game and i would recommend to avoid it unless you are that type of jrpg fan that plays every genre game even if it is crap. If that's the case, good luck.… Expand