Eternal Sonata

 PlayStation 3
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 139 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 95 out of 139
  2. Mixed: 31 out of 139
  3. Negative: 13 out of 139
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  1. daguis
    Sep 22, 2011
    4
    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 isI 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 rythm/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
  2. asdasd33a
    Apr 15, 2014
    0
    I like JRPGS I love video games but this game ooohhhhh my god.
    I start it up it shows some opening cut scenes with terrible dialogue. So far so good. I get to fight some beginning enemies. Usual button mash. Then soon I get to the first boss. The fight takes 5 minutes and during any turn I am at risk at unfair death because boss could/would take multiple turns to my 1 and unless I pressed    I like JRPGS I love video games but this game ooohhhhh my god.
    I start it up it shows some opening cut scenes with terrible dialogue. So far so good. I get to fight some beginning enemies. Usual button mash. Then soon I get to the first boss. The fight takes 5 minutes and during any turn I am at risk at unfair death because boss could/would take multiple turns to my 1 and unless I pressed every single split second guard prompt I am dead. This is with my reaction time being above average. Ok. lets continue. Same thing repeats terrible cutscenes more button mashing and now next boss. This one I find out I can not beat at my character level .... So I spend 15 minutes running back and forth leveling by killing that same poor single design enemy. Come back and impossible battle is now total push over. 10 hours into the game same patern repeats. The difficulty is either below easy or impossible. Every boss fight is a chore. Every dungeon has a single enemy design and is a straight path. Also did I mention that there is no retry option so on death you have to load the game and loose whatever progress you have made ...    … Expand
  3. Ahmedeus
    May 4, 2021
    2
    Worst RPG I have ever played. And I played a lot of rpgs, but this one has the oscar. Except the cell shading and the music the rest is garbage

Awards & Rankings

42
#42 Best PS3 Game of 2008
51
#51 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2008
29
#29 Most Shared PS3 Game of 2008

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 34 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 34
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 34
  3. Negative: 0 out of 34
  1. GameSpot
    85
    A year later, this captivating role-playing game is still gorgeous to look at and fun to play.
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  2. Gaming Age
    67
    In the beginning, the lengthy and frequent cut scenes really started to grate on my nerves, but after the 6 hour I started to really take an interest in certain characters, and the game felt like it just took off from there.
    Read full review
  3. IGN
    87
    Although sometimes awkwardly paced and linear, Eternal Sonata is an RPG that everyone should consider checking out, especially for the unique premise and touching music.
    Read full review
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