One of my first Xbox 360 games was Eternal Sonata, Trusty Bell for Japan, and I remember liking the game. I looked past the very linear structure and overwhelming mediocre music and found that I really liked this game. The graphics and the very few tracks I did like were the selling point of me. I’m not too crazy about the idea of it being centered around Chopin, my favorite pianist but definitely not my first choice to base a story from, but it entertained me enough to keep me playing to the end.

The tracks I did like in this game ended up being the battle/boss themes and a few miscellaneous tracks here and there. My favorite boss theme is “Flickering is divided into light and darkness”, which I found the string section to be very exhilarating to listen to while battling bosses.

Eternal Sonata- Flickering is divided into light and darkness

As much as I want to say I found this soundtrack to be amazing and spectacular…it was far from it. The symphonic medium was the best choice here, but I felt that Sakuraba didn’t achieve that charm he normally has on his previous works on this game score.  Oh! I applaud the pianist they asked to perform Chopin’s music for the game. His name is Stanislav Bunin and he is Russian born, Moscow 1966, and has one of the most coolest mustache/hair doos that complements each other perfectly.

Chopin – Etudes for piano, Op. 10- No. 12 in C minor, ‘Revolutionary’ – ‘Fall of Warsaw’

I should make note that there is an orchestral arrangement of one of Chopin’s Etudes that came out to be pretty ridiculous (good way). The track is “Scrap and build ourselves -from Revolutionary-” built off of Etudes #12 for piano, Op. 10- No. 12 in C minor. The added title for this Etude that was given was ‘Revolutionary’ – ‘Fall of Warsaw’, which I can understand being a subtitle to this piece. I’m not sure if this title was written by Chopin himself or just an addition to the name given by his fans, but then again Chopin was a very nationalistic person towards his country of Poland. He was a very frail man, so fighting was out of the question, but one way he could deliver his support towards his country was through his compositions.

Eternal Sonata – Scrap and build ourselves -From Revolution-

Would I reccomend purchasing this soundtrack? Unless you’re a die hard fan and loved every track and willing to drop ~$30+, I would suggest moving on from this purchase. Here’s the link in case you want to buy it anyways, which I would like for you to do instead of downloading it…

Two of the building blocks of video games are the Pause function and the ability to save. When gaming started some thirty years ago very few games on consoles had a pause function and none of them had a save function! Now a days your game would be FUCKED if you don’t have any sort of save/pause function. So Now a days what makes saving good and bad, what advancements has the pause function made?
Save Function
Now saving in past was either on a memory card or on the cartridge, in present day saving is on a hard drive. Saving on a hard drive that’s inside a video game platform has its down fall especially if your system breaks **cough** Xbox 360 **cough**. When saving on a memory card or the cartridge if your system died you knew your games were SAFE! Now i feel that if my Wii or PS3 over heats there is the small possibility that it could be fucked and then i would have to send it in to Nintendo/SONY and hopefully they can recover my save files! Also with portable memory cards you can go to a friends house with just your memory card and play your save files on this game system!
Verdict: Cartridge and Memory card saving is better!

The Way saving should be if the memory cards were free

Pausing
Now pausing in video games has pissed me off! Back in the day when you paused everything would stop and you can go away get a coke or a hot pocket and come back and pick up RIGHT WHERE YOU LEFT OFF AND NO TIME IS ADDED! As some of you know I’m a gamer who LOVES RPG’s and the game clock in RPG’s is a big deal and to me and if my game clock is off by four or five hours and im near the begging of a game I will restart and replay so i have an accurate game clock! Now this fall i have been playing only two RPG’s on my PS3 and they are Eternal Sonata and Final Fantasy VII (PSN) and i have noticed two EVERY different ways of pausing. In FFVII you can only use the pause function in battle and it really only pauses the battle not the game clock, which on my first play through of FFVII some years ago i didnt know so i puased it and went away for a few hours come back and saw that my game clock was well 5 hours ahead! Well as a 12 year old kid i was pissed, i turned off the game and re-did everything up to the point where i puased for 5 hours, i had to go through the Temple of the cetra and **spoiler** Areis’ death! and that is how to my obsession with the RPG game clock. Flash forward 5 years latter and im playing eternal sonata (PS3) and pause and come back to see my game clock had also paused! I let out a joyful cry of glee and continued to play on and pause at my hearts content!
Verdict: Pausing should Stop EVERYTHING in a Game

THIS WONT PAUSE THE GAME CLOCK!

THIS WILL!

lately, i’ve been into classical music. especially by Chopin. this is most probably influenced by the game Eternal Sonata, which i’m currently playing. in this game the lead character is Frederic Chopin who was facing his tubercolusis and is facing his death.  while he was sleeping in his bed, with his wife(?) and doctor beside him he had a dream of being in the world of eternal sonata. at first he was sure what he’s seeing is only his dream, but as his advanture continues he began to think this dream is indeed a reality. after all is your dream is real enough that you can feel the pain and happiness in your dream, will you still be able to distinguish which is real and which is a dream?

so, because of this game i started to find more info and melody composed by Chopin. the songs, which was made into the game’s chapter name is very good. the titles are : The Revolutionary Etude (Etude Op. 10, No. 12);  Raindrop (Prelude No. 15 in D Flat); Fantaisie impromptu (Op. Posth. 66); Grande Valse Brillante (Waltz Op.18); Nocturne (Op.15); Tristesse (Etude Op.10 No.3); Heroic Polonaise in A Flat Major, Op. 53).

if you wanted to hear it, you can download itu from www.classiccat.net

Picture of Chopin

Chopin from Eternal Sonata

Two videogames have been driving me absolutely bonkers lately. One won’t just let me complete it (three achievements to go!); the other won’t even let me move forward.

LEGO Batman. Sure, I “beat” it months ago, but every now and then I pop back into it to grab some missed items and trying and unlock everything. And I’ve gotten just about everything…that is, but three collectibles. Now, one of them is painstakingly annoying to obtain. Trust me, I tried three times in a row last night. In one of the Penguin’s villain levels, you have to guide your characters down an icy slope, going through five specific flags to unlock the hidden canister. Sounds simple enough, yes? The problem is that if you miss even one flag you are then dropped into the level’s final boss battle room and cannot return to try again. Meaning you must replay the level again and again and…again. I’ve had zero luck so far. Insert heavy sigh.

And then we come to Eternal Sonata, a bizarre RPG that isn’t really my favorite thing in the world, but I liked it enough to get to the middle of Chapter Three. It has my gang running around a pirate ship of…evil pirates. I don’t know. The storyline is a bit murky to my memory at the moment. Anyways, my dudes are about all LV 19s, and we hit the ship’s main boss: Captain Dolce. To put it simply: she slaughtered us. An online walkthrough suggested that our party be all LV 22s at least before tackling Dolce. That means, if I want to move forward, I have to now waste a good couple of hours just wandering the ship’s floors, fighting generic minion after minion after minion.

I know this blog is called Grinding Down, but grinding is not something I yearn to do. Time is precious, and this sort of roadblock only wants me to put the game back on the shelf and move on to something a little more forgiving.

It’s back, and it’s the same size, same quality, and same level of badassery as before. It’s the weekly recap feature that some like to call ShoNTell.

PLAY
…

Eternal Sonata (360): A cutesy, fluffy Japanese role-playing game that’s bizarrely set in the mind of Chopin, and resorts to excessively simplistic brawler combat, unimaginative levelling-up and a whole host of tired J-RPG clichés, just shouldn’t be that good. And in this case it wasn’t. Eternal Sonata was very, very average, only saved by sparkling presentation, and by not suffering from the excessive padding that J-RPGs tend to. Sadly, that all went out the window with its ending, in which its characters bombarded me with deprecating comments about myself and humanity in general for half an hour. Hey, Eternal Sonata, if I was planning to do some soul-searching, I sure wouldn’t play a J-RPG. Also, if you’re going to be all preachy, maybe you should practise what you preach, you average game, you.

Need for Speed: Undercover (360): Yup, from one classic to another. There wasn’t anything drastically wrong about Need for Speed: Undercover, but there was almost nothing right about it either. Even the series’ typically entertaining B-movie cut scenes felt soulless. Why has this series felt such a burning need to reinvent itself over and over? Need for Speed: Undergound 2 remains one of the best, most enjoyable racers ever made, simply because it had no aspirations to be anything more than a simple, arcade-style racer with tons of things to do, and a genuinely impressive car customisation mode. Undercover suffered from trying to eat parts from lots of different racer pies, unable to decide whether it was Burnout Paradise or Gran Turismo 4 throughout its single-player campaign. This series needs to return to its Pimp My Ride roots before it loses all of its caché.

I got a need for speed, whoa-op!

Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3): I’ve already talked at length with Joe about this game on this week’s Big Red Potion, but one thing I do need to say, now that I’m free of the spoiler-free shackles – SPOILER – is that the Scarecrow scenes were awesome. OK, so like the rest of the game they were highly derivative, in this case of other mind-bending games like Eternal Darkness and Metal Gear Solid 2, but they still provided a welcome break from the perfunctory hit-and-run gameplay. My only criticism with them is that I’d have liked to have seen more variety within the actual gameplay within them, but narrative-wise they were just top-notch. The initial one, which was set in Arkham Asylum’s morgue, was especially creepy. The cacophony of all those freezer doors banging, mixed in with the Scarecrow’s booming, persistent demands for me to leave, gave me a critical case of the heebie-jeebies.

AND…
—

8-bit Conviction: Eidos Community Manager Mike Oldman did some reimagining of some classic 8-bit games, based on the stylistic signposting that will be employed in Splinter Cell: Conviction. My favourite has to be Pac-Man: “EAT AND LEAVE” – my life motto, funnily enough. Art @ mycoldman on Flickr

8-bit Professor Layton: To continue the 8-bit reimagining theme, here’s a wonderful interpretation via Nonsak of what Professor Layton would look like on the NES. It’s splendid and all, but all it’s really made me do is start pining even more for Diabolical Box, which doesn’t come out until later this month, despite it already being out in the US. Post @ Tiny Cartridge

—

Stupid UK. Stupid Nintendo. Stupid… everything – sho out.

     Eternal Sonata is one of the few Japanese RPGs to grace the U.S. on the Playstation 3 after being launched on the XBOX 360 a year prior. Eternal Sonata is great turn based RPG that combines stunning visuals and audio with an in depth story to become a true gem that many overlook. The game centers on musical composer Frederic Chopin and fictional story in which in his last hours of life on his death bed, he dreams up a fictional world in which the player interacts within. The game’s theme is centered on the music of Chopin and although very linear, it is still a treat to play.

Graphic and sound:

Eternal Sonata is one of few games to use cel-shading and achieve amazing visuals that are vibrant, lush, and a work of art. The environments and characters are all 3D elements rendered with cel-shading that gives the appearance of 2D. The game has such fantastic visuals that the player will just want to wander around and look at everything, but unfortunately the linear nature of the game prevents the player from exploring outside of the preset paths.

Eternal Sonata has one of the best soundtracks of an RPG outside of the Final Fantasy series. The soundtrack consists of many of Chopin’s musical compositions and is a delight to listen to with a surround sound system. The sound effects are the average run of the mill with annoying character speech at times during battle. Either the characters should be silent during battle or their speech should be varied, since it becomes redundant very quickly and detracts from overall gameplay.

Gameplay and controls:

Eternal Sonata is a single player campaign story that allows for two more players to join in and participate in the combat sequences locally.  The combat consists of turn based battles where gauges fill up determining which character fights within the sequence. Players and enemies maneuver around a free-roam 3D battlefield to score hits on each other using weapons and magic. Depending on whether the battle is during the day or night will determine what type of magic is available and the damage done for both the player characters and the computer controlled enemies. The party can grow to up to 12 playable characters, but only three can fight within a battle sequence at a time. Serenade and Crescendo are playable in the Playstation 3 version, but were not playable in the XBOX 360 version. There are also two extra dungeons and customizable clothing for the PS3 version.

Controls for the game are the typical RPG control set, very easy to use, and the game even walks the player through all of the combat functions through the first Chapter of the game. Camera is mostly fixed in most character navigation, but can be adjusted in combat.

Overall thoughts:

Eternal Sonata is one of those rare gems that gamers often overlook because the big name game review sites discredit them. Although the game is linear, it is still fun to play with stunning visuals, an impressive soundtrack, and a decent story line. I highly recommend purchasing this game whether new or used and add it to the collection; you won’t regret it if you are a traditional RPG fan.

Pic

Been off on summer holiday for a couple of weeks now so thought it would be nice to do a post on things I’ve been up to, as I’ve kind of been neglecting this blog – gonna try and change that from now on though.

I guess I’ll start with some gaming. Still have a huge pile of games to get through. I have a funny story though – me and my friend both bought Final Fantasy 7 a couple of months ago but never really got round to playing. So now that summer has come we decided to try and finish – the plan was to set up a couple of TVs next to each-other with our Playstations and finish the game in one sitting. We lasted 2 hours. He had also brought his 360 round and we started playing that. In the end i didn’t continue with Final Fantasy but instead played around 12 hours straight on Eternal Sonata – my friend never really got into this game so I’ve done most of the work on it. I love the game although some points of the story get kinda boring it has a great art style and i like the characters. Since then though I’ve been playing ff7 more and have started to get into it.

I’ve also been watching a lot of anime. From the currently airing series I’ve been watching:

• Aoi Hana
• Kanamemo
• Sora no Manimani
• Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei

Really like all of these. Aoi Hana is different to quite most of the stuff i generally watch but I’m really getting into it – I love the artwork in some of the scenes – the opening song is also really good:

Kanamemo is kind of stupid – the last episode was a musical? but i still can’t help myself watching it and laughing throughout though.

The Zetsubou Sensei series is one of my all time favourites and this latest one is just as good as the others. I’ve also been watching several old series aswell. I finally got round to finishing Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann – I’d been stuck on episode 7 for ages but managed to get myself back into but it is a damned good series I just couldn’t stop watching it after I started, I have to say this is probably one the best things I’ve watched. Also been re-watching Yakitate!! Japan another one of my top favourites – I want to be a baker so this is like the ultimate anime for me. I started Legend of the Galactic Heroes which I’ve heard good things about – only seen the first episode though so can’t judge it yet. if anyone wants to follow what I’m watching then I keep track of it here.

One thing I’ve been really lazy about this summer is learning Japanese – the first few days went well but then i kind of slipped out of it.It’s funny though, i woke up this morning thinking i really should get back to learning – then i switch on the laptop to find a whole post about it on DannyChoo, If that isn’t a sign i don’t know what is. So starting tomorrow I’m going back to it full gear. I will do i separate post on the methods I’m using and also my progress.

I’ve also been lazy about this blog I’m going to aim for at least one post a week from now on – as I do enjoy it but it can be hard just getting myself to actually get round to writing stuff.

Well that’s all for now – next post in a few days… hopefully.

Genre : RPG

Editeur / Développeur : Namco Bandai Games / Tri-Crescendo

Sortie : 2007

Supports : - 

Versions : – –

Sauvegardes : Memory Card

Nombre de Joueurs : 1 à 3

Prix Payé : 9 €

Mon Avis : Pas encore joué.

[BEWARE, SPOILERS AHEAD]

Today, most role-playing games deal with heavy themes and main characters who have more problems than Windows Vista had on release (Zing!). Let’s look at a few examples.

Lost Odyssey:

Look at me brood

The main character, Kaim, is an immortal. He is cursed to wander the earth forever, unable to die. Everyone he ever becomes attached to he loses. At one point he is reunited with his daughter, who he thought had died. Shortly thereafter, she proceeds to die in his arms. Depressing! Lost Odyssey also deals with the theme of identity because, surprise, surprise, the main character has amnesia and slowly pieces together the memories of his incredibly long life. Hint: They’re not happy memories.

Fianl Fantasy VII:

Amnesia is cool

This is Cloud Strife. He’s another depressing hero with amnesia. He joins the army, but instead of becoming a super commando like he always dreamed, he fails and becomes an anonymous grunt. On a mission to his home town, his hero, Sephiroth, goes crazy and burns the town to the ground and kills everyone, including Cloud’s mother. On top of all this an evil corporation is sucking the very life out of the planet, slowly killing it. The worst part is that Sephiroth also straight up murders one of Cloud’s best friends/love interests.  Good times, right?

Eternal Sonata:

He's not taking a nap

Meet Frédéric Chopin (yes, the Polish composer). He’s dying. This entire game takes place inside his head. The game world is some fever dream he is having on his death bed. It gets mad points for having an original set up, but it’s still depressing. None of the characters exist. They’re all figments of Chopin’s imagination. When he fianlly passes away in the real world at the end of the game, they cease to exist. Starting to see what I’m getting at?

The Wticher:

Bad ass

Hey, look, another brooding hero with amnesia. I wonder if he has a tortured past. You bet he does! Kidnapped as a child, and raised to slay monsters, Geralt doesn’t lead a happy life. People hate him because he’s different. Everything in his world is a shade of gray, with no clear cut right or wrong choice. “Hmmm should I murder the witch, or the corrupt towns people who hired me to murder the witch.” Keep on truckin Geralt. I’m sure things will turn out ok eventually (That’s a lie. I’m lying).

Don’t even get me started on Dragon Age: Origins and it’s “new shit” (Seriously, look at their advertising campaign). No one is happy when an evil army called the Blight rises up and starts stabbing every thing that moves right in the face. While I have only seen videos of it, the dark fantasy setting does not lead me to believe the main group of characters will be walking around in bright sunny fields while laughing about how care free they are.

So what’s up with all these games being so serious and depressing? Where are all the bright and hopeful RPGs? You know, the ones where the main character smiles at least once.

For one thing, most role-playing games are epic in scope and story. To be epic, there needs to be bad stuff going down. This bad stuff usually threatens the world in one way or another, and the end of the world is a pretty serious topic. As  a result adult themes are injected into the game to help make it more believable, and the main characters usually suffer as a result. If saving the world were fun, everyone would do it, right? Surprisingly, saving the world can be a good time.

Peace yo

Ness is the hero in Earthbound. He fights off an alien invasion while going on a crazy adventure with his friends. His weapons include baseball bats and yo-yos. Best of all, he hasn’t forgotten about everything that has happened in his life before the game began. He’s just a kid having fun.

While I think Earthbound is one of the best examples of a “happy” RPG, it certainly isn’t the only one. Shiren the Wander is all about Shiren and his ferret questing to get to the top of Table Mountain. The game is hard as hell, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t just a fun adventure. The Disgaea series are a bunch of silly strategy RPGs filled to the brim with humor and murderous  exploding penguins.

Then there’s Pokemon, another game about being a kid and going on adventures. It also happens to be one of the best selling RPG series of all time. And lets not foget how adorable some of these things are.

Look how freakin adorable I am

Role-playing games don’t need to be super serious and dark to be good. Unfortunately, most games in the industry tend to be grim and gritty, and RPGs are following that trend. Lets try not to forget that a bright and fun adventure can be just as good as its more “maturely themed” brethren.

]]> http://raniz.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/eternal-sonata-forsta-intrycken/ Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:40:29 +0000 Raniz http://raniz.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/eternal-sonata-forsta-intrycken/ http://atrixtaicho.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/vidya/ Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:05:31 +0000 Atrix http://atrixtaicho.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/vidya/

Avagy mivel játszottam/játszok mostanában.

Először jöjjenek azok a játékok amiket már kijátszottam.

Fable 2

Gondolom, akinek van vagy volt Xbox-a, vagy esetleg szokott RPG-kel játszani az már hallott róla. Aki nem, annak most nagyvonalakban leírom, hogy milyen ez a játék. Kezdjük az elején: ez egy RPG. A játék kezdetén kapunk egy karaktert (az első részben még nem választhatunk hogy férfi vagy női karakterrel szeretnénk játszani, ebben a részben viszont ezt is megtehetjük) akivel kezdetben könnyű küldetéseket kell megcsinálnunk, általában a városunkban lévő embereknek kell valamilyen módon segítenünk. Viszont küldetéseinket nem csak egyféleképpen teljesíthetjük: eldönthetjük például hogy egy banditát kereső rendőrnek segítünk, vagy magának a banditának. És az ilyen döntések után kapunk jó és rossz pontokat, ami alapján kialakul a karakterünk későbbi jelleme. Viszont döntéseinkkel a világot és a városban élő emberek véleményét is alakítjuk: ha karakterünk jó a lakók ünneplik, és a városok fejlődnek. Ha a döntéseinkkel viszont folyton visszaütnek az emberekre, akkor a karakterünktől mindenki félni fog, a városok pedig folyamatosan pusztulni fognak. És ez a döntésszabadság adja a játék fő mozgatórugóját.
Az első résszel ellentétben mint említettem kiválaszthatjuk a karakterünk nemét, és útitársként immár egy kutyát is kapunk, aki segítségünkre van az ellenfeleink legyőzésében, küldetésekben, és kincskeresésben is. Ebben a részben karakterünk története jobban alakítható (természetesen a döntéseink alakítják) és a történetnek immár négy “végkifejlete” lehet. (ami természetesen csakis tőlünk függ) A játékban hatalmas a bejárható terület, még több gyűjtenivaló kincs és fegyver áll a rendelkezésünkre és a választható küldetések száma is megnőtt. A városokban élő emberekkel is többet kommunikálhatunk, lehet feleségünk és immár gyerekünk is, hogyha nem vigyázunk.xD
Varázslatokból is többet használhatunk és már nemcsak karddal és nyilakkal pusztíthatjuk a szörnyeket, hanem puskával és pisztollyal is. Kifejezéseink száma is jelentősen megnőtt. A legjelentősebb változás talán mégis a hangulatban van: ebben a játékban a humor dominál. Minden küldetésünkben, a tárgyakban, mindenhol megtalálható. Aki az első résszel játszott, ezt se hagyja ki.

Eternal Sonata

Kezdjük azzal, hogy én ezelőtt még sosem játszottam JRPG-vel. (rpg-vel is csak elvétve) Szóval ez az egész stílus és világ elsőre eléggé furán hatott, de ez a játék megszerettette velem. A játék elején láthatjuk hogy a híres zeneszerző Frédéric Chopin épp a halálos ágyán van. Viszont mielőtt eltávozna a világból egy álmot lát. És ebben az álomban kell játszanunk, ahol később maga Chopin is megelevenedik… Ebben az álomvilágban él egy kislány Polka. (minden szereplő neve egy zenei kifejezésre utal) Polkának megadatott egy képesség, ami csak nagyon kevés embernek: a mágia használatának képessége. De ez inkább átok, mint áldás, hiszen aki képes mágiát használni annak már nagyon kevés ideje van hátra egy halálos betegség miatt. És szegény gyereket úgy kezelik emiatt mint valami leprást, ami pedig már csak azért sem jó, mert így nem tud pénzt keresni a saját maga által készített gyógyító virágporral. Bár az emberek egyébként sem használják már a virágport, hiszen a kormány majdhogynem ingyen adja a saját maga által kifejlesztett gyógyító porát. Ezért szeretne felkerekedni és beszólni az uralkodónak, hogy vegye lejjebb a virágport sújtó adót. Chopin az indulás előtt kapcsolódik be a történetbe és elhatározza, hogy segít a lánynak.
A másik főszereplő párosunk egy testvérpár: Allegretto és Beat. Ők ketten árvák és az adók miatt már csak a lopott kenyérből tudják magukat fenntartani így hát ők is el szeretnének jutni az uralkodóhoz. Ahogy az lenni szokott a párosok útjai keresztezik egymást és vándorlásuk során egyre több embert ismernek meg akik különböző okok miatt szeretnének az uralkodóhoz menni. És hamarosan fényt is derítenek az adók mögötti összeesküvésre is. És vajon az álom tényleg csak egy álom?
A játék Chopin életének fontos állomásait rekonstruálja a történet és a gyönyörű zene segítségével. A játék harcrendszere körökre osztott, viszont ellenfeleinket akár ki is kerülhetjük, ha nem akarunk harcolni. (bár nem egy nehéz dolog őket legyőzni) A játék nagyon kidolgozott, a grafika gyönyörű és a zene is magával ragadó. Aki kicsit is fogékony erre, nyugodtan kipróbálhatja.

Prince of Persia

Ennek a játéknak csak két részével játszottam (Sands of Time, Warrior Within) de így is könnyen meg tudtam állapítani, hogy mennyire különbözik ez a rész a többitől. A történetet annyira nem akarom feszegetni (Shearer postja mindent elárul) inkább rátérek a különbségekre. A fő különbség az, hogy nem lehet meghalni. Tényleg nem. Ha leesünk Elika visszahúz, ha elmerülünk a corruptionban akkor is, ha épp leszúrnának Elika megment. Wat. Nem mintha ez nagyon zavart volna, de elég fura volt.xD Bár ebben a játékban még több hangsúlyt fektettek az ugrálásra és a nehezen megoldható akrobatikára, úgyhogy a hajtépés helyett tényleg jobb volt ez a rendszer. A harcokat viszont sajnáltam, azt nem élveztem annyira mint máskor, mivel eléggé elhúzták őket és az ellenfelek visszatermelődő energiája csak nehezítette a dolgokat. A combokat sem tudtam olyan hatásosan használni. Viszont ezekért kárpótolt a grafika, a zene és a történet. A megtisztított tájak és világ gyönyörű a zene magával ragadó. A karakterek kidolgozottsága sem hagy kívánni valót. A Herceg iszonyatosan jófej, Elikát annyira nem bírtam.xD A lightseed gyűjtés sem esett nehezemre, azt hiszem 900 egy-kettővel zártam a játékot. Aki szereti a Prince of Persiát ezt se hagyja ki.

És amikkel most játszom:
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Lol, sosem játszottam még N64 játékot a gépemen… De tiszta nosztalgia érzésem van amikor evvel játszom. Felismertem egy csomó dolgot belőle, hiszen evvel a játékkal játszott apukám mikor kicsi voltam. (bár nem játszotta ki) És meg kell hogy mondjam, hogy nehéz. Nekem aztán meg főleg aki joystickhoz van szokva, és gépen sosem tudtam rendesen játszani. DX De az egésznek van egy tök jó hangulata, ami miatt szeretnék vele tovább játszani. (még ha végigjátszással is)

Dragonica

Eh, megint elkezdtem MMOzni. Rólam azt kell tudni, hogy minden MMO-t túl gyorsan megunok. Ez valószínűleg abból következik, hogy mindig egyedül játszok és egyedül elég nehéz normális szintre felhúzni egy karaktert is és persze így hiányzik az elhatározás belőlem, hogy folytassam. De egy ideig azt hiszem elleszek evvel.

Echt merkwürdig.. Irgendwie hab ich’s total oft, dass ich ‘nen Anime oder Manga erst das zweite Mal schauen oder lesen muss, um ihn zu mögen. War so bei D.Gray-man und jetzt wieder bei Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu. Ich hab damals schon bis Folge 6 oder so geschaut, konnte mich aber absolut nicht dafür begeistern und hab’s für ziemlich überbewertet gehalten – immerhin gilt’s als “Kultserie”. Aber inzwischen versteh ich auch warum, nachdem ich den Anime innerhalb von zwei Tagen endlich mal gefinished habe – keine Ahnung, weswegen ich’s damals langweilig fand. Vielleicht sind meine Ansprüche ja auch einfach nur gesunken und ich bewege mich immer mehr Richtung Mainstream. Ich hoffe allerdings eher, dass die Serie einfach doch so gut ist, wie alle sagen. Wobei das alles auch wieder egal ist, solange ich Spaß daran habe. KyoAni ist auf jeden Fall auf dem besten Weg, meine Nummer 2 der Animationsstudios zu werden.

Star Ocean und Eternal Sonata sind übrigens noch viel besser, als ich dachte – und Letzteres für 14 Euro! Woahr! Ich bin so froh, dass ich’s doch noch gekauft hab, obwohl ich ja anfangs irgendwie gezweifelt hab. Es hält locker mit den meisten anderen RPGs mit und sowohl die Grafik als auch das Kampfsystem sind große klasse – ich hab noch nie vorher von nem Spiel gehört, dass Echtzeitkampf- und Strategiekampfsystem so toll miteinander verbindet bzw. überhaupt miteinander verbindet. Sollte es mehr von geben, macht nämlich echt Spaß. Das Kampfsystem von Star Ocean – The Last Hope ist auch schick, relativ gewöhnliches Echtzeitkampfsystem mit ein paar Extras halt, wird auf jeden Fall nicht langweilig. Und nach einem etwas holprigen Anfang entwickelt sich die Story auch immer interessanter. Bei Eternal Sonata ist dabei schon allein die ganze – sehr an ein Märchen oder eben einen “Traum” erinnernde – Atmosphäre fesselnd. Mal sehen, wie sich da die Story noch entwickelt und ob man noch mit dem ein oder anderen Plot Twist konfrontiert wird.

Langsam bekomme ich übrigens das dumme Gefühl, dass ich den ganzen Winter hindurch restlos pleite sein werde. Warum muss plötzlich Unmengen von Zeug rauskommen, obwohl das ganze erste Halbjahr nix los war? Ich hoffe, ich kann mir wenigstens in den paar Wochen, die ich in den Sommerferien zu Hause bin, ein bisschen Taschengeld dazu verdienen..

Die Dolls von Trap!Ciel und Private Teacher Sebastian hab ich bisher eigentlich immer nur für Prototypen gehalten, die sowieso niemals veröffentlicht werden – immerhin gibt’s sie schon in ihren normalen Outfits und warum sollte man dieselbe Puppe zwei Mal veröffentlichen? Tja, falsch gedacht – Releasedate ist September und ich komm nicht dran vorbei, insbesondere nicht an Ciel im rosa Rüschenkleid
Zudem gibt’s im September noch n durchmischtes Prop Plus Petit Figuren Set mit nen paar Charakteren aus verschiedenen Tales of Games, inklusive Lion aus Tales of Destiny und Zelos aus Tales of Symphonia, argh! Im Oktober dann Sega EX Prize Figuren von Ciel und Sebas-chan und finally irgendwann im Dezember oder später Yoko und Nia in schicken Meido-Kostümen. Zwischendurch kommen noch Star Ocean Trading Arts dran, aber mal sehen – glücklicherweise verteilt sich das ja bisher alles schön. Und wenn ich bis dahin gelernt hab, wie man spart, schaff ich’s vielleicht sogar, was von meinem hoffentlich verdienten Geld zurückzulegen.

Also, wenn man mich jetzt entschuldigen würde – ich muss noch eine Clannad Episode schaffen, bevor ich in’s Bett gehe.

Graphics- Easily one of the best looking RPG’s this generation. The cell-shaded style fits this anime-esque title like a glove, and if you have a HDTV , it’s radiance shines even more. Real time graphics are top notch with little to no hiccups and the text is readable whether in HD or SD. Also note that the cinematic moments are simply breath taking.

10/10

Story- I wish the story was as well polished as the graphics were. You start off with a premise much different then the standard Jrpg, with the blur of reality and fantasy mixing you in and out of the different scenarios. The story centers around Chopin as he lays on his deathbed. He is brought into an odd adventure that isn’t really happening in our world, but in the world of dreams. Everything that plays out does so in this fake world but it does affect him in the real physical plane of existence. However, this fantastic story premise is bogged down by several long history lessons on Chopin himself (the composer) and the story gets so unnecessarily convoluted in the second half of the game, you probably won’t remember half the details, or even care to.

5/10

Gameplay- This is one of the most incredible combat systems to grace the JRPG genre in years. You have a mix of real time and turn based elements as your attacks are commenced in real time, but you have a turn based set up in the order of who goes when. You basically get any amount of time to get your tactics in order, but once you start the attack phase, the clock stars ticking so the unprepared will pay greatly. In addition, you earn different combat levels that allow you to alter the logistics of battle, such as time allowed before battle. Lastly, defensive options given to you as the enemy attacks helps rid the game of the typical rpg grind.

9/10

Overall- Eternal Sonata is definitely a buy for any fan of the JRPG genre. With a charismatic presentation paired with exciting engaging combat, this had the potential to be THE JRPG on any console this generation. If the story had been a bit toned down in later chapters and a little more refined, this would have been the end all and be all of RPG goodness. Please by all means reward yourself with this charming adventure.

8/10

Recommendation: Purchase

Jep! Gestern hab ich endlich meinen Xbox 360-Gutschein eingelöst, den meine Schwester und ich zu Weihnachten von meinem Onkel bekommen hatten. Da wir sie uns nur wegen Tales of Vesperia anschaffen wollten, haben wir noch n paar Monate gewartet, bis feststand, dass das Spiel auch wirklich in Europa veröffentlicht wird – Gott, wie ich Ländercodes hasse – aber da jetzt alles schon vorbestellbar ist, wurd’s langsam mal Zeit! Insbesondere, weil wir eh erst schauen müssen, ob wir auch ne neuere Xbox 360 bekommen und nicht einen potentiellen Ring of Death-Kandidaten. Tales of Vesperia erscheint zwar erst am 26. Juni, aber um die Zeit zu überbrücken, hat Herr Papa uns noch Star Ocean – The Last Hope spendiert – bzw für sich gekauft, weil ich ihm erzählt hab, dass es nen Science Fiction-RPG ist und es ihm gefallen könnte. Das letzte Mal, dass mein Vater etwas komplett durchgespielt hat, war zwar noch in Nintendo 64 Zeiten, aber man soll ja die Hoffnung nicht aufgeben.

Ich bin inzwischen wirklich der festen Überzeugung, dass Tales of Vesperia einfach nur klasse sein wird! Mindestens auf Tales of Symphonia Niveau, wenn nicht sogar Tales of the Abyss. Ist ja auch schon länger her, dass ein neuer Mothership Titel der Tales of-Reihe auf einer der “großen Konsolen” veröffentlicht wurde. Ich glaub, ich hab auch schon so oft von ToV geschwärmt, dass ich an dieser Stelle langsam mal aufhören kann xD’ Ich freue mich schon auf Yuri mit Bunny Headgaer. Gibt’s die ingame eigentlich wirklich? Für die männlichen Mitstreiter, versteht sich..

Star Ocean – The Last Hope.. macht auf mich eigentlich auch einen wirklich schicken Eindruck, obwohl’s bei Amazon teilweise nicht ganz so gute Bewertungen bekommen hat. Ich bin auf jeden Fall mal gespannt – zumindest das Kampfsystem ist schon mal nach meinem Geschmack; ich mag RPGs mit Echtzeitkampfsystemes so viel mehr als Strategie-RPGs und ähnliches.. Obwohl man sich mit Sicherheit dran gewöhnen müsste. Bei Persona 3 und Disgaea gefällt’s mir ja auch. Bei Final Fantasy dafür nicht. Von der Grafik brauch ich ja gar nicht erst anfangen – ich spiel viel zu selten auf Next Gen-Konsolen!

Und als vorerst letztes noch – Eternal Sonata für einen Schnäppchenpreis von gerade mal 13,99 €! Wollte ich auch schon immer mal spielen, insbesondere bei dem Preis, ner tollen Grafik, guten Bewertungen und ner wirklich interessanten Story, die sich hoffentlich auch als eine solche herausstellt! Und Polka, der weibliche Hauptcharakter, wird von dem Seiyuu von Fon Master Ion aus Tales of the Abyss gesprochen, das gibt schon mal nen Sympathiepunkt.

Jetzt muss ich mich nur noch ne Woche oder zwei gedulden.. Frühestens am 5. Juni kommt der erste Kram, und ich glaub kaum, dass wir das so schnell aufgebaut bekommen. Und hoffentlich find ich dann auch überhaupt Zeit für alles – für Tales of Vesperia hab ich nur 10 Tage Zeit, weil’s danach nach Italien geht! Argh! xD’