Today we archive a game that is very dear to my heart. Eternal Sonata is one of the forgotten JRPG classics that released back on the Xbox 360. Despite being a flop in Japan, the Xbox 360 is actually a great console for JRPG lovers since Microsoft tried to appeal to the Japanese market by stimulating the development of several big Japanese RPGs like Infinite Undiscovery, Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Tales of Vesperia and also Eternal Sonata. Later Eternal Sonata came to the PlayStation 3, but for a long while it was Xbox 360 exclusive and has never been ported to another generation of console.
That's why this is yet another one of those games where it feels like its my duty to archive it since such a beautiful gem deserves to be remembered and not forgotten and lost to time.
Eternal Sonata tells the tale of the last minutes of Frederick Chopin's life as he is experiencing the last dream he will ever have. This dreamworld is gorgeous with vibrant colors and even more colorful characters. The fun gimmick is that all the characters and places are named after things with music like Polka, Beat, Jazz or Tuba. It always makes you curious what the next character or place will be named.
In this dreamworld we get to learn more about these characters like Polka who is a girl who can use magic, which is seen as something bad in this world. Together with a band of others we set out on a great adventure to save the dreamworld from the evil Count Waltz. And through our journey this "dream" will start to look more and more like reality and Chopin will even start to question what is reality in general. What stands out most with this game is its gorgeous art style and you only need 5 seconds to realize how beautiful it all looks. The vibrant colors, the cute character designs, the fairytale-like environments, it all is such a feast for the eyes.
The combat system is also awesome where its a mix between real-time and turn based as you get to take turns in controlling your characters, but can move them around the battlefield directly and dish out attacks by proper button presses. There are plenty of new weapons and equipment to find and unlock and a lot of skills to customize and play around with.
Probably the worst part about the game is that there are a few dungeon areas that are very repetitive, annoying or simply confusing like Fort Fermata, Lento Cemetery or the final dungeon. Other than that its a great JRPG with memorable and loveable characters in a world and art style like no other. The large influence of music and history makes it complete and I hope that its memory and symphony can live on in my archives.

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