[Multiplatform] Trusty Bell, aka Eternal Sonata

I find it quite disturbing that this upcoming RPG doesn't have its own thread.
(Well, I made one for the music, but let's talk about the GAME!)

By now I think many of you are familiar with the concept:
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/713/713699p1.html

As he lay dying, famous classical pianist and composer Frederic Choin began to dream of a fantasy world where the terminally ill were gifted with magical powers. Here he met a girl named Polka who was likewise afflicted. Her friend, Allegretto, is searching frantically for a way to save her.

In spite of the novel concept, it's entirely possible that the game could very well delve into traditional RPG storytelling that'll have very little to do with Chopin at all. But I'm sure players won't mind.

There were several stunning pictures released of the game at its announcement. However, the Tokyo Game Show brought us a shiny new trailer:
http://www.xboxyde.com/leech_3030_en.html

Seeing these graphics in motion is a treat; the game looks stunning. The combination of Chopin's pieces with Motoi Sakuraba's music appears to be perfect. And the battle scenes reveal some very curious things going on.

But there's more to it than this.
Namely:
http://www.rpgfan.com/news/2006/1463.html

That's right. Namco Bandai America has announced that this game WILL come to North America, under the name of Eternal Sonata!

Even though I don't have an XBox360, I'm still intrigued by this title. It's such an interesting premise that I WANT it to work. And, of course, I do want to hear that music.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Oh hawt. I'm so glad it's coming to the US This seemed like one of those titles that would just go poof into obscurity.

But fears laid to rest, here's reason #3 (alongside Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey) for buying a 360 eventually...

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Woah, no post on this RPG? This is one of the rare occasions I actually WANT a 360!

http://kotaku.com/gaming/onions-and-...?autoplay=true

http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=3237

The game now has a demo available via Xbox Live in Japan. The nifty thing is that if you have a Japanese live account you can download the demo and play it under your US account in full English. Yes, English, including voice acting, which from the video sounds on par with VP2 and Grandia 3's quality. Check out the videos, gameplay looks nifty.

The music in this game sounds excellant, composed by Motoi Sakuraba from VP1 and 2.

I want this game.

Most amazing jew boots

I downloaded this tonight. The voice acting is the usual grating anime type, but the music is good and the combat system reminded me of Star Ocean, only a little more polished. It'll all come down to how good the story is, which of course you can't tell from the demo.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Do you think this game might be considered an insult to Chopin, since its kinda using him to sell a game?

There seems to be some people out there who think so, what do you guys think? Over reaction or its true?

How ya doing, buddy?

Wow, this actually looks pretty interesting. If I got a 360 at all, I'd probably pick this up.

Kairi Li: I'd say if anything, it would bring awareness to him and his music. Classical composers aren't exactly on the cutting edge of popular culture these days.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I think it's an insult to Chopin because it looks like a bad game =I The demo is very disheartening (at least from what I saw of the video). Given, though the reviewer was worth a chuckle, he couldn't play for shit~

Anyhow. My brother's been ranting about this for months, and this is what he was making a big deal out of? Puh-lease. NEXT~

FELIPE NO

Well, what was bad about the game that you saw? The gameplay? What was wrong with it? It seem to play pretty smooth me from the gametrailers.com videos.

Though yeah, if the game is bad, it prob would be an insult, but what if its a good game?

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

It doesn't seem to really have any nifty, brand-spanking new gameplay mechanics. Seems to reek of past gameplay. Plus the character-types are bugging me immediately. Reminds me too much of Grandia 3, which is a bad thing.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Well its still just a demo and trailers, but I see what you mean. Thought since my RPG libary isn't as big as others here, this might be new to me. Still, I rather not judge a game for re-using mechanics others have.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I'll admit that this game isn't anything groundbreaking in the genre, however seeing that it's either this or Enchanted Arm for next-gen RPG fans, the game isn't bad either.

The gameplay is solid as well as the graphics are captivating and the music is well done. Now as long as it has a decent storyline, it'll make for a decent play through just to see what direction JRPGs may go in the next-gen.

The only beefs I have with the game are these two things.

1) Some sort of circle (like Arc the Lad) that shows your character's attack range would be nice.

2) MAPS!!! For both exploration and battle

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

It's not bad. It borrows heavily from Grandia and some recent Tales games, but it's hardly bad, Gech. Better than G3, that's for certain.

I'm fully with Slayer on all his points, though. Music's nice, graphics are charming, and the battle mechanics are fun.

And your two beefs are well founded, Slayer. It can be both hard to see the enemies right off the crack in the battles, so a map indicating their position would be nice. And a range would be nice, since there are slightly different ranges for each hit in a combo attack. I've had it so only the third hit of a sword combo would hit, for example. Range markers would be supreme.

Also yeah, JRPG pickings are going to be slim when this drops, but Blue Dragon will be out by that point as well.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

It is true that Blue Dragon will be out by then also however I haven't heard many good things about BD, and at a time when MS was counting on it so heavily to establish themselves in Japan. Reviewers even said that BD was perhaps one of Uematsu's worst scores of his career (not horrible, just average).

I'm not judging the game before I play it for I'm a sucker for graphics, artstyle, and RPGs so I'll probably end up getting BD either way, after all it didn't get many scores below a 7/10 either ^^

As an aside I don't know who's all played it but I find Eternal Sonata to have more in common with Radiata Stories then that of Grandia 3, anyone else feel the same?

I was speaking idiomatically.

Name: Eternal Sonata (トラスティベル/Trusty Bell)
Console: Xbox 360/PS3
Genre: RPG
Japanese release: 06/14/07
American release: September 2007

Trailer 1: (also available to download via japanese xbox live marketplace/130 MB):

YouTube Video

Trailer 2: (also available to download via japanese xbox live marketplace/125 mb):

YouTube Video

Characters:

Chopin

Sex: Male

Age: 39

Japanese Voice: Mitsuaki Madono 真殿光昭

"I can basically use all kinds of magic. I am dreaming up this world, after all."

His full name is Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin. Born in Poland in 1810, he is known as the "poet of the piano". Of weak constitution, he nevertheless has a deeply sensitive and subtle personality. In particular, the loss of his 14-year-old sister Emilia to tuberculosis left a deep scar on his heart. Chopin can see traces of her in Polka, also 14 and destined to die. While knowing that the world in which he meets Allegretto and Polka is just a dream he is having on his death bed, gradually he becomes more and more confused by how real the world feels. He begins to question where his true feelings lie. All the words he speaks come out as poetry.

Allegretto

Sex: Male

Age: 16

Weapon: Sword

Japanese Voice: Hiro Shimono　下野紘

"It doesn't make sense! In this world the people with shining hearts are the ones who suffer! ...That's supposed to be okay?!?"

A boy who works as a bread thief in the port city of Ritardando to provide food for poor children. Though he knows what he is doing is wrong, his strong sense of justice refuses to let him abandon the children. He uses rough language and occasionally even hits his young friend Beat, but in reality he is deeply emotional, and thinks of his young friend as a little brother. With the contradiction of a world where the gap between rich and poor lying especially hard on his mind, Allegretto sets off on journey. He is captivated by Polka, who makes light of her own tragic fate while living each day with earnest, and resolves to save her.

Polka

Sex: Female

Age: 14

Weapon: Umbrella

Japanese Voice: Aya Hirano　平野綾

"I want to use this limited life of mine to give everyone happiness."

A girl who lives with her mother in the village of Tenuto, on top of a hill overlooking the port of Ritardando. She makes her living by selling Floral Sealing Medicine, extracted from Tenuto's unique flowers. However, due to the circulation of cheap government-recognized Ore Sealing Medicine, lately she has been unable to sell any medicine at all. In a world where magic is a side-effect seen in those cursed by a fatal and incurable disease, death is always close to a magic-user such as she. Added to such a cruel fate are rumors flying about that the disease is transmitted simply through contact, leading Polka to be shunned by humanity and causing her to lose all trust in others. However, after meeting Chopin, she decides to use what little remains of her life to help others.

Beat

Sex: Male

Age: 8

Weapon: Clarinet Gun

Japanese Voice: Yumiko Kobayashi　小林由美子

"Why is bread this expensive? If it were a little cheaper, we could just buy it..."

Works as a bread thief with Allegretto in the port city of Ritardando. Beat calls Allegretto "Niichan" (big brother) and adores him like an older brother. A camera that is the only surviving memento of his father is his treasure. Beat is short for his age and is bothered by his height. Sporting a bright and cheerful personality, he is able to talk to anyone and everyone freely. Though he does not usually think very hard, in many cases his sincere words come surprisingly close to the real truth.

Credits to Wikipedia

There is also a demo available for the japanese xbox live marketplace. It takes you through a forest, through the (main?) town, where Polka lives, and into another forest where you fight a boss before it ends. Surprisingly if you download the demo through a japanese account and play it on an english one, the demo will be in english as well.

After playing through the demo on 1080i, I must say I'm very impressed by the graphics. The voice acting is decent (Allegretto sounds a lot like Luke from Tales of the Abyss), but personally I prefer Beat's japanese voice. It's more fitting. Polka sounds fine though. Aside from that there isn't any other voice acting in the demo.

The battle system is a nice touch. Feels a lot like Tales of the Abyss again, with a mix of real time and turn based action. Each character is given a short period of time to perform as many attacks (which raises a combo counter) as possible, and when the time's over it's the next characters turn. After the time is over for all allied cahrcters, the enemies are given an equally short time period to perform an attack.

The combos and attacks are beautifully detailed, as are the enemies. A lot of things seem to fit into place. Pressing triangle brings up an inventory menu where you can heal your own characters with items, and so forth, like usual RPGs. My only complaint is that there should be an option to set square to a specific item for using in battle.

Most amazing jew boots

How's the music?

FELIPE NO

Sorry I wasn't aware this thread already existed.

Originally Posted by Gechmir

It doesn't seem to really have any nifty, brand-spanking new gameplay mechanics. Seems to reek of past gameplay. Plus the character-types are bugging me immediately. Reminds me too much of Grandia 3, which is a bad thing.

INNOVATION INNOVATION INNOVATION

The music's pretty good. Chopin's material is in it, obviously, and a lot of it's fitting. Motoi Sakuraba's Valkyrie Profile 2 themes were impressive as well. Can't complain about it really. Usually if music isn't good, it's the first thing pointed out. Yoshi's Island DS ring any trusty bells?

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Elixir

The music's pretty good. Chopin's material is in it, obviously, and a lot of it's fitting. Motoi Sakuraba's Valkyrie Profile 2 themes were impressive as well. Can't complain about it really. Usually if music isn't good, it's the first thing pointed out. Yoshi's Island DS ring any trusty bells?

This game has tracks from VP2?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Uh.. no.. I don't think you're following.

Pieces of this game's music was composed by Motoi Sakuraba, a japanese composer whose known for Shining Force, Valkyrie Profile, and Star Ocean's music.

He also did the music for Tales of the Abyss, which this game plays and feels akin towards. I could've sworn the english voice actor of Abyss is the same as Allegretto in this game, but his profile hasn't anything linking him to Eternal Sonata (BUT HOLY SHIT HE DID THE VOICE ACTING FOR PIXY IN ACZ, FUCK YEAH), and as far as I know there's been no information on whose exactly doing the english Eternal Sonata voice acting for each character.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Jesus like i didn't want a 360 for this enough, now i have to learn Motoi is doing the music for it.

I can't get money fast enough D:

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

FYI, if you don't own a 360 and happen to own a PS3 (nobody actually bought one of these right?) there are some strong indications this will eventually show up on that platform as well. The information is from the ESRB which is usually a good source for unannounced games.

link

Shouldn't really surprise anyone with hardly anything from 3rd party publishers being one platform exclusive this generation.

How ya doing, buddy?

Yeah, I was reading about that somewhere as well. Apparently, Eternal Sonata was never exclusive to the 360, and it's also going to be released for the PS3 too. The only difference is that the PS3 version will be released later, and the 360 will get it first.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Mucknuggle

How's the music?

Recordings by andrewfee from neogaf, afaik it's all the music available in the demo (which in turn is the same as was shown at last year's Tokyo Games Show which again means that they were likely the first compositions for the game). Also it seems correctly playable only in iTunes (it's in 192kHz), other players capable of MPEG4 Audio I tried played it too slow/low pitched.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Ah crap I hope they don't pull the whole "PS3 version will have extras" like RE4 did. The 360 needs more exclusive RPGs.

Anyone able to convert those? Not even my audio editing program can open those sound files.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Kairi Li

Anyone able to convert those?

iTunes was. =P Here you go.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Interestingly enough, no "Only on Xbox 360" logo. I wonder if this means anything.

Upcoming PSP port confirmed, why lie, etc etc

Jam it back in, in the dark.