Better known as Trusty Bell to the kids on the street, Namco Bandai's action-RPG is set for a worldwide release this Summer on the Xbox 360. Though missing in action since its Tokyo Game Show debut last September, we recently got our hands on Eternal Sonata, complete with fully English text and voice overs. And while the new screenshots don't offer a glimpse, we also got to check out all ten playable characters in Chopin's journey. From our brief time with Tri-Crescendo's epic in the making, it's clear that Eternal Sonata is every bit as incredible as it looks.
At the heart of Eternal Sonata is a turn-based, yet real-time battle system that is stable enough for more traditional JRPG fans, while packed with enough frantic action to keep the rest of us awake. Ditching both random encounters and even mana, the key element of Eternal Sonata's battle system is time. Each member of your party receives about five seconds per turn that can be utilized to move, attack, or cast as many spells as you can possibly work in.
Balancing out the latter is the Echoes system which garners more powerful spell effects with a damage multiplier gained by using only melee attacks. Party-based spells, or Harmony Chains as they're called, are also dependent on Echoes and can be chained up to six times for massive damage.
While technically impressive from a visual standpoint, there are no load times to speak of when jumping from exploration to battle. The battlefields themselves turn the lighting effects into a gameplay mechanic as certain abilities can only be accessed while standing in either light or darkness. Enemies are affected by this catch as well, morphing in real-time into completely different creatures which can have either positive or negative repercussions depending on the circumstances. Eternal Sonata also makes due without an overworld map and while we're told that you can venture back to previously explored territory, we were not shown just how that travel works.
Throughout those travels you'll be meeting and recruiting a cast of up to ten playable characters, all of whom keep up the musical motif. You may already be familiar with Chopin, Polka, Allegretto and Beat, but if you're sick of them come release day you'll be glad to know that you won't be stuck with them all the time. Parties can be fully customized and while certain situations call for specific characters, you can replace all four if you'd like. The cast looks to be extremely varied from the adorable forest-loli Salsa and her twin ring blades to Bass, the bishonen knight that wields, well, a gigantic sword-bass. Though all the characters sport weapons that double as musical instruments, the short-skirted hottie Falsetto was seen dealing damage barehanded.
Like most folk, Eternal Sonata had us at hello with its luscious visuals and charming style. Having played it, our appreciation for this title has gone from distant admiration to serious adoration. It may not reinvent the wheel of Japanese RPG's, but thus far Tri-Crescendo has managed to create one that has the ability to capture the hearts of those who typically wouldn't bother with the genre.
