... is boring. Is painfully, horrendously, eye-ball bleeding inducingly, boring. Sure, at FIRST the combat seems fun and unique. Then you realize that every enemy in the game is a damage sponge and every fight is going to take about a minute. And enemies respawn when you leave rooms. Yay!
I know everyone's preaching innovation and newness and differentness and yay. But seriously, fuck this game. If you want a RPG on the 360, just get Blue Dragon. Hell, I'm on the verge of just taking Eternal Sonata back and just starting up a new game of Blue Dragon while I wait for Halo 3 to come out.
Oh, my favorite part are the SLIDE SHOWS that give you information about Chopin's actual life. You get a MU101 lesson with this one! Complete with slide shows that have nothing to do with the game. Of course, when its cut scenes you're just as bored, but its just... bad. Like... oh God I'd rather watch paint dry than listen to what you dipshits have to say bad.
Eternal Sonata...
Eternal Sonata...
RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!!!!!!
No clue, this is my first (and probably last) tri-Crescendo game. Thankfully I work at a gamestore so I can take this shit back tomorrow. Probably going to start a New Game+ in Blue Dragon tomorrow just to purge my system of it. Or start of Panzer Dragoon Saga.
Seriously guys, this game redefines boring. This just goes to show that if you make a pretty game with no slow down and change the battle system up a little reviewers will swoon and completely ignore the merits (or rather, lack thereof in this case) of a game. Erik Brudvig (dude who reviewed it AND Blue Dragon on IGN) should be punched in the face.
Seriously guys, this game redefines boring. This just goes to show that if you make a pretty game with no slow down and change the battle system up a little reviewers will swoon and completely ignore the merits (or rather, lack thereof in this case) of a game. Erik Brudvig (dude who reviewed it AND Blue Dragon on IGN) should be punched in the face.
RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!!!!!!
I was looking forward to it -- Maybe I find one used and cheap next year 
-
Zebra Airforce
- Posts: 1695
- Joined: Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:10 pm
Why Eternal Sonata sucks:
1. The plot is boring. Painfully. Dialogue between characters is also painfully boring. In Blue Dragon everything was quick and to the point. If there was a cut scene then something awesome was probably happening. This is not so in Eternal Sonata. If there's a "scene" in ES... then the boring characters are probably being boring with each other for 10 minutes or so, droning on and on about how evil the government is for taxing their stuff and so and so forth. You're just sitting there like, "Please stop talking." Seriously, I've wanted to bust out my DS during every dialogue scene in the game so far. Its painful.
2. Every so often the game will just stop and play a SLIDE SHOW of pictures of REAL PLACES all while displaying information about Chopin's ACTUAL LIFE. Its like you get Music History class with this game! Its also really... really... boring.
3. Combat gets really old really fast. Especially when you're fighting a group of 3 rats, each of which has more HP than YOUR ENTIRE PARTY COMBINED!!!!! I am not kidding, the shit I'm fighting now has like, 15,000HP per enemy. And these are just the enemies you encounter in dungeons! The bosses take even LONGER! And the fighting isn't THAT different from typical turn-based stuff, they just added walking around, which just adds more time. So EVERY character gets 5 seconds to do whatever. Enemy, friend, whatever. 5 seconds. This means at the minimum every encounter lasts about 20-25 seconds (intro music, time between turns, etc.). This is if you kill EVERY enemy before THEY can move. Typically, you go about 3 rounds (you go, they go, you go) which is around a MINUTE of combat. A MINUTE. Every single fight in a dungeon lasting a MINUTE. And whenever you leave a room? Oh, best believe everything in said room has respawned. So just imagine all the fighting that occurs! It gets so old.
4. The world is really boring. Like, Blue Dragon had really cool locations. Jibral, the sheep tribes, etc. The only thing I HATED was the Devee village. In Eternal Sonata? EVERY PLACE IS BORING!!! There's just nothing interesting about any locale! Its all just... more stupid looking people in their stupid little cities. And every town is TINY!!! Jibral CASTLE is bigger than any town I've seen in the game so far.
5. Fixed camera. Thats right, the camera is fixed. Have fun figuring out where the enemies are when your turn starts. Have fun trying to figure out where all the "hidden paths" are. Ugh.
6. The game is insanely linear. No, really. It takes place over a straight line. Super Mario Brothers is probably less linear than this since you have warp zones.
7. Characters look stupid. Heroes and villians alike. Chopin looks cool, but thats it. Everyone else? Retarded.
And thats it. The graphics are pretty and well done, and the music is very good. But those are the only redeeming values to this retarded game.
1. The plot is boring. Painfully. Dialogue between characters is also painfully boring. In Blue Dragon everything was quick and to the point. If there was a cut scene then something awesome was probably happening. This is not so in Eternal Sonata. If there's a "scene" in ES... then the boring characters are probably being boring with each other for 10 minutes or so, droning on and on about how evil the government is for taxing their stuff and so and so forth. You're just sitting there like, "Please stop talking." Seriously, I've wanted to bust out my DS during every dialogue scene in the game so far. Its painful.
2. Every so often the game will just stop and play a SLIDE SHOW of pictures of REAL PLACES all while displaying information about Chopin's ACTUAL LIFE. Its like you get Music History class with this game! Its also really... really... boring.
3. Combat gets really old really fast. Especially when you're fighting a group of 3 rats, each of which has more HP than YOUR ENTIRE PARTY COMBINED!!!!! I am not kidding, the shit I'm fighting now has like, 15,000HP per enemy. And these are just the enemies you encounter in dungeons! The bosses take even LONGER! And the fighting isn't THAT different from typical turn-based stuff, they just added walking around, which just adds more time. So EVERY character gets 5 seconds to do whatever. Enemy, friend, whatever. 5 seconds. This means at the minimum every encounter lasts about 20-25 seconds (intro music, time between turns, etc.). This is if you kill EVERY enemy before THEY can move. Typically, you go about 3 rounds (you go, they go, you go) which is around a MINUTE of combat. A MINUTE. Every single fight in a dungeon lasting a MINUTE. And whenever you leave a room? Oh, best believe everything in said room has respawned. So just imagine all the fighting that occurs! It gets so old.
4. The world is really boring. Like, Blue Dragon had really cool locations. Jibral, the sheep tribes, etc. The only thing I HATED was the Devee village. In Eternal Sonata? EVERY PLACE IS BORING!!! There's just nothing interesting about any locale! Its all just... more stupid looking people in their stupid little cities. And every town is TINY!!! Jibral CASTLE is bigger than any town I've seen in the game so far.
5. Fixed camera. Thats right, the camera is fixed. Have fun figuring out where the enemies are when your turn starts. Have fun trying to figure out where all the "hidden paths" are. Ugh.
6. The game is insanely linear. No, really. It takes place over a straight line. Super Mario Brothers is probably less linear than this since you have warp zones.
7. Characters look stupid. Heroes and villians alike. Chopin looks cool, but thats it. Everyone else? Retarded.
And thats it. The graphics are pretty and well done, and the music is very good. But those are the only redeeming values to this retarded game.
RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!!!!!!
I'm only bumping this because I am really enjoying Valkyrie Profile 2. I don't know anything about Eternal Sonata, but here's at least one yay! vote. It is tedius and repetitive--but I rather like what it's doing. Personally I think level grinding is a part of rpgs, and these kind of battles to me are a lot of fun once you figure out how to do things.
So all that said, does Eternal Sonata suck like Valkyrie Profile 2, or does it suck in some way I'd really despise it?
So all that said, does Eternal Sonata suck like Valkyrie Profile 2, or does it suck in some way I'd really despise it?
SHMUP sale page.Randorama wrote:ban CMoon for being a closet Jerry Falwell cockmonster/Ann Coulter fan, Nijska a bronie (ack! The horror!), and Ed Oscuro being unable to post 100-word arguments without writing 3-pages posts.
Eugenics: you know it's right!
No, Valkyrie Profile 2 beats it easilyCMoon wrote:I'm only bumping this because I am really enjoying Valkyrie Profile 2. I don't know anything about Eternal Sonata, but here's at least one yay! vote. It is tedius and repetitive--but I rather like what it's doing. Personally I think level grinding is a part of rpgs, and these kind of battles to me are a lot of fun once you figure out how to do things.
So all that said, does Eternal Sonata suck like Valkyrie Profile 2, or does it suck in some way I'd really despise it?
(took 100 hours to beat bonus dungeon at least once... it wasn't boring)Zenodyne R - My 2nd Steam Shmup
1. I actually found the plot to be insane, but interesting nonetheless. Usually I skip almost every cutscene in any game but I found myself watching almost all of them.jp wrote:Why Eternal Sonata sucks:
1. The plot is boring. Painfully. Dialogue between characters is also painfully boring. In Blue Dragon everything was quick and to the point. If there was a cut scene then something awesome was probably happening. This is not so in Eternal Sonata. If there's a "scene" in ES... then the boring characters are probably being boring with each other for 10 minutes or so, droning on and on about how evil the government is for taxing their stuff and so and so forth. You're just sitting there like, "Please stop talking." Seriously, I've wanted to bust out my DS during every dialogue scene in the game so far. Its painful.
2. Every so often the game will just stop and play a SLIDE SHOW of pictures of REAL PLACES all while displaying information about Chopin's ACTUAL LIFE. Its like you get Music History class with this game! Its also really... really... boring.
3. Combat gets really old really fast. Especially when you're fighting a group of 3 rats, each of which has more HP than YOUR ENTIRE PARTY COMBINED!!!!! I am not kidding, the shit I'm fighting now has like, 15,000HP per enemy. And these are just the enemies you encounter in dungeons! The bosses take even LONGER! And the fighting isn't THAT different from typical turn-based stuff, they just added walking around, which just adds more time. So EVERY character gets 5 seconds to do whatever. Enemy, friend, whatever. 5 seconds. This means at the minimum every encounter lasts about 20-25 seconds (intro music, time between turns, etc.). This is if you kill EVERY enemy before THEY can move. Typically, you go about 3 rounds (you go, they go, you go) which is around a MINUTE of combat. A MINUTE. Every single fight in a dungeon lasting a MINUTE. And whenever you leave a room? Oh, best believe everything in said room has respawned. So just imagine all the fighting that occurs! It gets so old.
4. The world is really boring. Like, Blue Dragon had really cool locations. Jibral, the sheep tribes, etc. The only thing I HATED was the Devee village. In Eternal Sonata? EVERY PLACE IS BORING!!! There's just nothing interesting about any locale! Its all just... more stupid looking people in their stupid little cities. And every town is TINY!!! Jibral CASTLE is bigger than any town I've seen in the game so far.
5. Fixed camera. Thats right, the camera is fixed. Have fun figuring out where the enemies are when your turn starts. Have fun trying to figure out where all the "hidden paths" are. Ugh.
6. The game is insanely linear. No, really. It takes place over a straight line. Super Mario Brothers is probably less linear than this since you have warp zones.
7. Characters look stupid. Heroes and villians alike. Chopin looks cool, but thats it. Everyone else? Retarded.
And thats it. The graphics are pretty and well done, and the music is very good. But those are the only redeeming values to this retarded game.
2. Yes, that is somewhat out of place but at least it is educational
3. A trio of rats should be disposed with ease. Maybe you didn't fully grasp the battle system/equip newer, stronger special attacks? Also, the load times are negligible when compared to the likes of Lost Odyssey, which is much newer.
4. I found the locations to be varied and extremely beautiful, but admittedly they are usually small.
5. The fixed camera is my main gripe, especially given the inherent beauty of the game's graphics.
6. It is linear but it is also not padded out with a million repetitive side-quests either.
7. Yes, hard to believe having seen pictures/photo of Chopin, he does indeed look cool.
*Sorry for the large bump but I couldn't let this one go. It won't happen again
a.k.a - G19
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gundamalpha
- Posts: 355
- Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2005 2:20 pm
- Location: Australia
Hmmm... since someone felt like bumping my thread for this painfully mediocre game, here's the comments i made elsewhere after I went back and actually played through the game.
"Alright kids, I beat the game tonight. I went back, suffered through 16 more hours of it, and I beat it. I did NOT finish Mysterious Unison, which is what I'm working on right now, but I did finish the main game. Here are my final impressions:
First, the good:
The music is amazing. Thats all I have to say about that.
The game itself is beautiful. Gorgeous. A true work of art. Some of the moments in the game were just amazingly beautiful (mostly towards the end). Actually, all the real beauty of the game came out in the end. So, yeah.
OK, thats all there is for the good, now for the bad:
Dungeons are HORRIBLY designed. Fucking AWFUL! TONS of backtracking, a lot of it being completely pointless. I mean, they're just... bad dungeons. There's no way around it. And with enemies respawning every time you leave a room... its just... not good. Oh, and the "secret dungeon", Mysterious Unison, is one of the worst things I have seen in my life. Giant empty walkways spanning several different screens, with enemies respawning when you leave a screen. Oh joy...
Combat system is great... in small doses. When you're getting into 10-20+ fights in a dungeon, it gets old really quick. Like, insanely quick. It really drags the game out the way they did it.
Plot. Well, there is no plot. There is rarely a reason for braving a dungeon other than one character going, "I want to go there!" or you traveling to Baroque or Forte. Thats it. The political happenings are neat... but completely irrelevant to your characters. Speaking of characters... aside from Chopin himself, there really aren't any. Everyone is just some anime face there to preach at you. And oh my God, this game preaches so much. I would blank out during "cut scenes" just because the characters would drone on... and on... and on... and on... about absolutely nothing. My favorite was when a character was dying... and for 20-30 minutes, you watch her die while she reflects on her life. Then it seems she dies, then she opens her eyes and keep on talking.
I mean, its just pointless. In Blue Dragon, you're chasing Nene. In Final Fantasy 6, you're running from/fighting the Empire. In Lunar, you're meeting dragons. In this? Starts off you're going to go talk to Count Waltz about mineral powder and taxes, and from there it just... falls apart. Your party never sees Count Waltz as the bad guy until he personally attacks you, then they're like, "Oh, he sucks." Speaking of villians, the ones in this game are horribly developed. Each one appears a maximum of three times in the game and when you beat them... they just aren't there. They're dead. Might be a blessing since they'd probably just preach at you.
But, an RPG is generally only as good as its ending, and the ending of Eternal Sonata made no fucking sense what-so-ever. The writing just completely falls apart and slips off into insanity. Don't get me wrong, parts of the ending were BEAUTIFUL. But the only part I felt ANY emotion for I only felt that way because I read the boring ass "Chopin's Life!" bits during the game. If I hadn't of read that, I would've just been like, "I don't have any clue whats going on with 100% of this."
And I know ES supporters will show up and berate me saying, "WELL YOU JUST DIDN'T GET IT! IT WAS JUST TOO DEEP FOR YOU!" But no, I get it. I understand what they were TRYING to do. The problem is, it was all just random, and none of it had to do with anything else in the game except for one dialogue at the very beginning. At the end of ES, everything you did prior is just pointless, and the more you watch of the ending, the dumber it gets. Honestly, it starts off cool. When I saw who the final boss was and the events DIRECTLY after that, I was like, "Whoa! Thats nuts!", but then it just all falls apart and is so fucking random it just becomes dumber and dumber.
Bottom line is, the ending of the game is just bizarre. Now, I haven't seen the "true" ending (I guess?) since I haven't finished MU, but, I doubt thats going to change much. Also, the characters preaching during the FIRST credits scroll was annoying beyond words. At least whats going on in the SECOND credits scroll is a bit more enjoyable.
So all in all, Eternal Sonata isn't the COMPLETE piece of shit I made it out to be, but its still not a good game. The dialogue makes you want to stab yourself in the ear, the gameplay itself makes you want to pass out, the dungeons make you want to punch the game designers, and the ending makes your brain jump out of your head and hang out somewhere else while you subject yourself to it.
Spoiler: (Mouse over to reveal information) Yes, I know all the characters reflect various aspects of Chopin's life. Yes, I understand that the entire point is that the entire game is just a dream Chopin had just before dying. Yes, I understand that all the events happening around him are based on his probable ideals from when he was alive. Thats creative, yes, but that does NOT make this game a good RPG.
So bottom line, I give it a solid 5/10. Its mediocre through and through, with no real redeeming values outside of the art and music, both of which could be enjoyed without actually having to play the game (and both of which would actually be more enjoyable if they weren't tied to this game)."
"Alright kids, I beat the game tonight. I went back, suffered through 16 more hours of it, and I beat it. I did NOT finish Mysterious Unison, which is what I'm working on right now, but I did finish the main game. Here are my final impressions:
First, the good:
The music is amazing. Thats all I have to say about that.
The game itself is beautiful. Gorgeous. A true work of art. Some of the moments in the game were just amazingly beautiful (mostly towards the end). Actually, all the real beauty of the game came out in the end. So, yeah.
OK, thats all there is for the good, now for the bad:
Dungeons are HORRIBLY designed. Fucking AWFUL! TONS of backtracking, a lot of it being completely pointless. I mean, they're just... bad dungeons. There's no way around it. And with enemies respawning every time you leave a room... its just... not good. Oh, and the "secret dungeon", Mysterious Unison, is one of the worst things I have seen in my life. Giant empty walkways spanning several different screens, with enemies respawning when you leave a screen. Oh joy...
Combat system is great... in small doses. When you're getting into 10-20+ fights in a dungeon, it gets old really quick. Like, insanely quick. It really drags the game out the way they did it.
Plot. Well, there is no plot. There is rarely a reason for braving a dungeon other than one character going, "I want to go there!" or you traveling to Baroque or Forte. Thats it. The political happenings are neat... but completely irrelevant to your characters. Speaking of characters... aside from Chopin himself, there really aren't any. Everyone is just some anime face there to preach at you. And oh my God, this game preaches so much. I would blank out during "cut scenes" just because the characters would drone on... and on... and on... and on... about absolutely nothing. My favorite was when a character was dying... and for 20-30 minutes, you watch her die while she reflects on her life. Then it seems she dies, then she opens her eyes and keep on talking.
I mean, its just pointless. In Blue Dragon, you're chasing Nene. In Final Fantasy 6, you're running from/fighting the Empire. In Lunar, you're meeting dragons. In this? Starts off you're going to go talk to Count Waltz about mineral powder and taxes, and from there it just... falls apart. Your party never sees Count Waltz as the bad guy until he personally attacks you, then they're like, "Oh, he sucks." Speaking of villians, the ones in this game are horribly developed. Each one appears a maximum of three times in the game and when you beat them... they just aren't there. They're dead. Might be a blessing since they'd probably just preach at you.
But, an RPG is generally only as good as its ending, and the ending of Eternal Sonata made no fucking sense what-so-ever. The writing just completely falls apart and slips off into insanity. Don't get me wrong, parts of the ending were BEAUTIFUL. But the only part I felt ANY emotion for I only felt that way because I read the boring ass "Chopin's Life!" bits during the game. If I hadn't of read that, I would've just been like, "I don't have any clue whats going on with 100% of this."
And I know ES supporters will show up and berate me saying, "WELL YOU JUST DIDN'T GET IT! IT WAS JUST TOO DEEP FOR YOU!" But no, I get it. I understand what they were TRYING to do. The problem is, it was all just random, and none of it had to do with anything else in the game except for one dialogue at the very beginning. At the end of ES, everything you did prior is just pointless, and the more you watch of the ending, the dumber it gets. Honestly, it starts off cool. When I saw who the final boss was and the events DIRECTLY after that, I was like, "Whoa! Thats nuts!", but then it just all falls apart and is so fucking random it just becomes dumber and dumber.
Bottom line is, the ending of the game is just bizarre. Now, I haven't seen the "true" ending (I guess?) since I haven't finished MU, but, I doubt thats going to change much. Also, the characters preaching during the FIRST credits scroll was annoying beyond words. At least whats going on in the SECOND credits scroll is a bit more enjoyable.
So all in all, Eternal Sonata isn't the COMPLETE piece of shit I made it out to be, but its still not a good game. The dialogue makes you want to stab yourself in the ear, the gameplay itself makes you want to pass out, the dungeons make you want to punch the game designers, and the ending makes your brain jump out of your head and hang out somewhere else while you subject yourself to it.
Spoiler: (Mouse over to reveal information) Yes, I know all the characters reflect various aspects of Chopin's life. Yes, I understand that the entire point is that the entire game is just a dream Chopin had just before dying. Yes, I understand that all the events happening around him are based on his probable ideals from when he was alive. Thats creative, yes, but that does NOT make this game a good RPG.
So bottom line, I give it a solid 5/10. Its mediocre through and through, with no real redeeming values outside of the art and music, both of which could be enjoyed without actually having to play the game (and both of which would actually be more enjoyable if they weren't tied to this game)."
RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!!!!!!
Hmm. Agree to disagree on this one. I'm only about half way through so I can't comment on everything anyway.
Usually I hate JRPGs but I took to this one for some reason. On average it is actually the highest rated JRPG for the 360, albeit fractionally, which is why I tried to redress the balance a little.
About the respawning enemies on returning to an area. This is negated almost always by the ability to dodge them. In the likes of Lost Odyssey, with it's random battles this can be a pain, but it's a very minor (non)issue with ES.
Usually I hate JRPGs but I took to this one for some reason. On average it is actually the highest rated JRPG for the 360, albeit fractionally, which is why I tried to redress the balance a little.
About the respawning enemies on returning to an area. This is negated almost always by the ability to dodge them. In the likes of Lost Odyssey, with it's random battles this can be a pain, but it's a very minor (non)issue with ES.
a.k.a - G19
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jormungand
- Posts: 50
- Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 9:47 am
I too am playing this right now. I'm about 30% through, and it's kinda cool. I really like the art direction a lot, and the music is wonderful. The slideshows about Chopin's real life seem out of place. I think that would have made some better bonus content instead of being in the middle of the game. My only real gripe, and this is a gripe I have with a lot of RPGs, I hate when you acquire a new weapon, and the look of your weapon never changes. I know it's being picky, but I always found that to be a cool feature.
I though about playing this.... Blue Dragon has no apeal to me b/c of my DBZ hatred. I started playing through LO.... got to the 3rd disc and stopped caring.
I enjoyed Grandia's battle system the most.... is this game worth a shot then?
I enjoyed Grandia's battle system the most.... is this game worth a shot then?
Damn Tim, you know there are quite a few Americans out there who still lives in tents due to this shitty economy, and you're dropping loads on a single game which only last 20 min. Do you think it's fair? How much did you spend this time?
I never played Grandia so I can't compare battle systems that way. In ES you have Tactical Time and your Battle Time guage. Initially Tactical Time is infinite, ie if you don't move your character at the beginning of their move then you have an infinite amount of time to decide where you want to move to make your attack. Once you do move, you have a 5 second gauge to move/make your attack or whatever. You attack manually, either with a normal attack to build up your 'Echoes', or use your Special attack (as many times as you can fit in to 5 secs), which is increased in power depending on how many 'Echoes' you have.Strider77 wrote:I though about playing this.... Blue Dragon has no apeal to me b/c of my DBZ hatred. I started playing through LO.... got to the 3rd disc and stopped caring.
I enjoyed Grandia's battle system the most.... is this game worth a shot then?
This system evolves as your party levels up, so Tactical Time/Battle Time conditions may become stricter, while your Special attacks etc become more powerful. I liked it's interactivity and strategy compared to just selecting Attack/Magic and watching it all happen for you.
Then again Tales of Vesperia, Infinite Undiscovery, Spectral Force 3 and Rise of the Argonauts are all due within the next month or two. For now, if you didn't get into BD or LO like me, then this is without doubt the best alternative. Whether you will like it or not though is another story.
I think you have made your pointjp wrote: I'm sorry, but even with random battles (which are toned down A LOT) Lost Odyssey is 50 times the RPG Eternal Sonata is.
a.k.a - G19
I like this game. It's beautiful. Really, it's a visually stunning game. Everything is detailed, right down to the point where they've made it so Japanese/English voices fit to their mouth movement. Nothing is left behind.
The ending didn't make any sense at all, and Chopin.. well, yeah this game has a pretty weird story. I still like the characters though, and they all have neat personalities. Salsa with her Texan accent, Beat with his ambition to become a professional photographer.. etc.
I'm still playing through this game so far and haven't finished it. I'd like to get all the achievements and finish the Mysterious Unison, but unfortunately I missed talking to someone in Chapter 4 (which makes a guy appear in this bar in the proceeding chapter) which has screwed that up. I'm going to have to replay through the game for that very specific thing.
Apart from that flaw, I like the game. The combat system is very.. Star Ocean 2 meets Tales of. Although I can only take so much bashing of the A button before I move onto a different game, it's still nice to pop in every couple days or so.
The ending didn't make any sense at all, and Chopin.. well, yeah this game has a pretty weird story. I still like the characters though, and they all have neat personalities. Salsa with her Texan accent, Beat with his ambition to become a professional photographer.. etc.
I'm still playing through this game so far and haven't finished it. I'd like to get all the achievements and finish the Mysterious Unison, but unfortunately I missed talking to someone in Chapter 4 (which makes a guy appear in this bar in the proceeding chapter) which has screwed that up. I'm going to have to replay through the game for that very specific thing.
Apart from that flaw, I like the game. The combat system is very.. Star Ocean 2 meets Tales of. Although I can only take so much bashing of the A button before I move onto a different game, it's still nice to pop in every couple days or so.