NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Eternal Sonata

Eternal Sonata (トラスティベル～ショパンの夢～ Torasuti Beru Shopan no Yume^?, Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream) is an original role-playing video game created by tri-Crescendo, one of the developers of Baten Kaitos and Baten Kaitos Origins. The Microsoft Xbox 360 version of the game was released on June 14, 2007 in Japan, September 17, 2007 in North America, and October 19, 2007 in Europe. The game will also be released for the Sony PlayStation 3 sometime in 2008^[3] with additional content.^{[citation needed]} Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates video games. ... tri-Crescendo was founded in February 1999 by Hiroya Hatsushiba, who still heads this company. ... Namco Bandai Holdings, Inc. ... This article is about the corporate game company. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... 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Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 292nd day of the year (293rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... Australasia Australasia is a term variably used to describe a region of Oceania: Australia, New Zealand, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... This article is about the country in East Asia. ... Further information: Game classification Video games are categorized into genres based on their gameplay interaction. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... 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The Office of Film and Literature Classification is a statutory censorship and classification body which provides day to day administrative support for the Classification Board which classified films, video games and publications in Australia, and the Classification Review Board which reviews films, computer games and publications when a valid application... The Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC, MÄori: ) is the government agency in New Zealand that is responsible for classification of all films, videos, publications, and some video games in New Zealand. ... DVD (sometimes called Digital Versatile Disc, or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... Blu-ray Disc (also known as Blu-ray or BD) is an optical disc storage media format. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Many accessories enhance the use and features of Sonys PlayStation 3 game system and games. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Computer and video games redirects here. ... tri-Crescendo was founded in February 1999 by Hiroya Hatsushiba, who still heads this company. ... Baten Kaitos (pronounced BAH-ten KAI-tos) is a series of role-playing games. ... Baten Kaitos Origins (known as Baten Kaitos II in Japan) is a role-playing video game unveiled at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show by Namco and Monolith Soft. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... It has been suggested that Xbox 360 Elite be merged into this article or section. ... is the 165th day of the year (166th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 292nd day of the year (293rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... Sony Corporation ) is a Japanese multinational corporation and one of the worlds largest media conglomerates with revenue of $66. ... The PlayStation 3 , trademarked PLAYSTATIONÂ®3,[3] commonly abbreviated PS3) is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment; successor to the PlayStation 2. ...

The game is centered around the classical pianist and composer Frédéric Chopin, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 39. The story envisions a fictional world dreamed by Chopin during his last hours that is influenced by Chopin's life and music, and in which he himself is a playable character, among others. The game features a selection of Chopin's compositions played by pianist Stanislav Bunin, though most of the in-game music was composed by Motoi Sakuraba. The game's battle system centers around musical elements and character-unique special attacks. Light and darkness plays a part in the appearance and abilities of enemies on the battlefield, as well as the types of magic that can be cast.^[4] A pianist is a person who plays the piano. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... Chopin redirects here. ... Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or Tuberculosis) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis. ... A pianist is a person who plays the piano. ... Stanislav Stanislavovich Bunin (Russian: , born 1966) is a Russian-born pianist. ... Motoi Sakuraba (æ¡œåº çµ± Sakuraba Motoi, born August 5, 1965) has composed music for various Japanese video games, anime series, and TV dramas as well as independent progressive rock albums. ... Role-playing battle systems is a systematic set of rules to determine how battle should flow in an role-playing game. ...

Story

The game is presented in chapters and each main chapter is named after one of Chopin’s famous works (For example, the chapter ‘Revolution’ is named after the ‘Revolutionary Etude’). The plot of the game follows two distinct narrative strands; the first, and main narrative, is the story of the fictional world that Chopin is experiencing while on his death bed. The other narrative provides historical information on Chopin’s life that is considered relevant to current plot developments in the fictional world and is displayed at key points during the course of the game. This narrative is accompanied by a rendition of the piece the chapter draws inspiration from.

The fictional world contains two major kingdoms that are currently on the brink of war, Forte and Baroque. Polka, a young girl that resides in Tenuto, a village within Forte territory, has a terminal illness. A side effect of any terminal illness is the ability to do magic; this leads normal people to stay away from magic users for fear of catching the illness. Polka is constantly told by her Mother that she must one day throw herself into the sea and that she will understand why when the time comes. In the mean time, Polka tries to make a living selling floral powder as a healing agent but can’t compete with the price of the tax free ‘Mineral Powder’, an addictive miracle cure supplied by Forte Castle. She later meets with Frederic Chopin who offers to help escort her to Count Waltz, the ruler of Forte, so that she may plead with him to increase the price of Mineral Powder.

The pair later encounters two young orphan boys, Allegretto and Beat, who are also planning to ask Count Waltz to lower taxes so that they can feed other orphans in their town. As they travel, Allegretto and Polka draw close to one another, and they feel a strange connection. Polka also learns that strange creatures called "agogos" react completely differently around her than anyone else by radiating a strange glow.

The group is arrested once they reach Forte but they’re able to escape with the help of an underground resistance group who want to overthrow Count Waltz. The resistance informs the party that they are working for Prince Crescendo, the acting ruler of Baroque, and they set off together to inform him of the current developments. Once at Baroque Castle the party learns that Mineral Powder has devastating and deadly side effects and that Count Waltz is using its addictive nature to raise a powerful army with the sole intention of attacking Baroque. Polka, still troubled by her Mother’s words, decides to throw her most prized possession, a uniquely shaped rock given to her by ‘someone special’, into the sea instead of herself. Allegretto then surprises Polka by giving her an identically shaped rock to replace it.

After learning that Forte has placed a spy among his most trusted peers, Prince Crescendo decides that the only way to prevent bloodshed is to surrender himself to Count Waltz in return for Count Waltz sparing Baroque and its people. The party manages to stop Crescendo before he reaches Forte territory, but they soon discover that Count Waltz is already beginning his attack on Baroque. The party manages to defeat Waltz in battle and prevent the invasion of Baroque but are unable to stop his advisor Legato from using a stronger, experimental version of the Mineral Powder on himself. The new Mineral Powder causes him to transform into a creature so powerful it smashes into another dimension.

The party follows Legato into this new dimension and finds it occupied by the souls of all those who perished due to using Mineral Powder. Eventually tracking down Legato, they manage to defeat him and gain access to the very core of the world. Here, Frederic Chopin announces that he is still convinced that this entire world is just his dream, his final journey before death, and that he must face his own soul before he can travel into the afterlife. He then faces the party in one final battle and is defeated.

Realising that this is the end of her journey, Polka thanks the party for escorting her and then throws herself off the cliff into the sea. Allegretto is mortified and begins blaming Chopin for Polka’s death. We then see a younger, reborn Polka falling slowly from the sky into the arms of her mother, who is obviously expecting this event. The scene, mirroring the opening, portrays a younger Polka with her mother while Chopin narrates, finally realising the true nature of this world. Young Polka then tells her mother that she hears someone calling her and her mother informs her that she is hearing the call of her ‘special someone’. Young Polka wishes farewell to her mother as she is whisked back into the air by an unknown force.

Rejoining the rest of the party, still mortified by previous events, we see Polka rise back over the cliff surrounded by glowing agogos. Polka knows that she has been reunited with her true love and embraces an ecstatic Allegretto. Finally, in the real world, Chopin’s spirit rises out of his body and he plays his piano one last time, in a blooming sea of nocturnal flowers 'Heaven's Mirror', composing a song that was inspired by Polka.

Characters

All of the characters in Eternal Sonata, with the exception of real-world people such as Chopin, are named after musical terms.

Chopin redirects here. ... Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or Tuberculosis) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis. ... Mitsuaki Madono (真殿光昭 Madono Mitsuaki, born on July 28, 1964) is a seiyu who was born in Osaka, Japan. ... Patrick Seitz (Born March 17, 1978 in Riverside, California) is a voice actor who is well known for his role in Koi Kaze as Koshiro Saeki, In July, 2006 at San Diego Comic Con it was announced that Seitz would be playing the role of Isshin Kurosaki, the wacky father... Street musicians in Prague playing a polka Polka is a fast, lively Central European dance, and also a genre of dance music. ... Aya Hirano ) from Aichi Prefecture, Japan, is a seiyÅ« and J-pop singer who has had roles in several anime, visual novels, and TV commercials in Japan. ... The subject of this article may not satisfy the notability guideline or one of the following guidelines for inclusion on Wikipedia: Biographies, Books, Companies, Fiction, Music, Neologisms, Numbers, Web content, or several proposals for new guidelines. ... For other uses, see Tempo (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Robin Hood (disambiguation). ... Hiro Shimono (下野紘 Shimono Hiro, born April 21, 1980) is a seiyū in Tokyo. ... Samuel Brent Oscar Riegel (born October 9, 1976) is a voice actor, who appears in many television cartoons and anime. ... putang ina. ... Yumiko Kobayashi (å°æž— ç”±ç¾Žå Kobayashi Yumiko, born June 18, 1979) is a female seiyÅ« who was born in Yokaichiba, Chiba. ... Mona Marshall (born Mona M. Ianotti on August 31st, 1947) is an American voice actress. ... The viola (French, alto; German Bratsche) is a bowed string instrument. ... Houko Kuwashima ) is a seiyÅ« and singer born December 12, 1975 in Kanegasaki, Isawa, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. ... Megan T.D. Hollingshead (born September 22, 1968 in New York City, New York) is an American theatre and voice actor. ... Salsa music is a diverse and predominantly Caribbean rhythm that is popular in many Latino countries. ... Mika Kanai (ã‹ãªã„ ã¿ã‹ Kanai Mika, originally é‡‘äº• ç¾Žé¦™ Kanai Mika, born March 18, 1964) is a Japanese voice actress who was born in Tokyo. ... A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. ... Saito Chiwa (斎藤千和) is a seiyu who was born on March 12, 1981 in Aichi. ... For other uses, see Jazz (disambiguation). ... The Jitterbug is a swing dance, a subset of Lindy Hop, with an emphasis on 6-count moves and fast spins. ... George Nakata ) (April 22, 1954 - ) is a male seiyÅ« affiliated with ÅŒsawa Office, born in the Metropolitan area of Tokyo, Japan. ... D.C. Douglas (born February 2, 1966, Berkeley, California) is an American character actor, voice actor, and director now living in Los Angeles. ... Falsetto (Italian diminutive of falso, false) is a singing technique that produces sounds that are pitched higher than the singers normal range, in the treble range. ... Tomoe Hanba ), born June 9, 1972 in Tokyo, is a seiyÅ« who works for Arts Vision. ... Julie Ann Taylor (born August 30, 1961 in Fort Irwin, California) is a voice actress who primarily works at Bang Zoom! Entertainment. ... Claves(pronounces Clar-vays) is a percussion instrument (idiophone), consisting of a pair of short (about 20-30 cm), thick dowels. ... Mie Sonozaki Mie Sonozaki ), born February 7, 1973 in Tokyo, Japan is a voice actress (seiyu) and singer in Japan. ... Tara O. Platt is an American film and television actress in as well as a voice actor. ...

Gameplay

Eternal Sonata follows many general conventions in a typical console role-playing game: the player controls a party of up to ten characters to explore the world, talking with its inhabitants, buying and selling equipment at shops, and encountering monsters while in the field. These encounters are visible, and the player can opt to avoid the encounter, if possible, as well as gaining an edge on the monsters by approaching them from behind. Experience points are awarded to all members of the party, though at a reduced rate for those not involved in combat, and characters will improve in various statistics with each experience level as well as learning special combat skills. Weapons, armor, and accessories can be used to improve these statistics, which can be purchased through money earned in combat, found in chests, or by selling both equipment and photographs which can be taken by the character Beat during battle. The player may also find Score Pieces scattered about the world, which represent short musical phrases. Various NPCs in the game will offer to perform with the party, requiring the player to match a Score Piece to the phrase offered by the NPC, with the resulting composition being ranked. Distonal matches will result in no reward, but close or perfect matches will gain a bonus item from the NPC. Also it is very cinematic, having many cutsceans that last up to twenty minutes, or even longer. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For other uses, see Photograph (disambiguation). ... An NPC from the video game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. ...

Combat

While the main combat system is turn-based using only 3 characters within the party, it incorporates elements of an action game. Each character's turn is preceded by "Tactical Time", a period of time which the player can use to decide the course of action to take with that character. Once the player initiates an action or "Tactical Time" expires (a function of the Party Class Level), the player then has a limited amount of time denoted by an Action Gauge to move the character, attack the enemy, and use recovery skills or items. Regular attacks are made at melee or ranged distances depending on the weapon choice of the character, and add a small quantity of time back to the Action Gauge, and additionally add to the party's "Echoes" meter. Special skills which can include both offensive attacks and recovery skills will consume whatever Echoes have been generated to that point, and will have a more powerful effect relative to that number. When a character defends against an attack, there is a short period before the attack strikes where the player can press a button to block some of the damage for the attack, or to possibly even counterattack the blow and interrupt the monster's turn. Recovery and other one-time-use items are kept in a common pouch with a limited capacity; the player must "set" items in the pouch so that they can be cycled through and triggered during battle. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Light and dark areas on the battle field generated by the time of day, environment, and shadows of the characters and monsters will affect combat. Each party character has one or more special skills that are active in lit areas, and a similar number but with very different effects in a dark area. Monsters themselves may have a dissimilar set of powers in the area of the battlefield they are in, while other monsters will actually change form when they move between lit and dark areas. The player can manipulate the nature of areas using special items, but this can also be affected by the monsters themselves, or through dynamic changes on the battlefield such as the shadow of a cloud moving across the ground.

As the player progresses through the game, they will increase their Party Class Level. Each improvement in level grants some bonuses while also imposing additional limits on combat. For example, one Party Class improvement increases the number of slots for special skills for each character, but at the same time, cuts down the amount of Tactical Time and time available in the Action Gauge.

Audio

Eternal Sonata features a large soundtrack, mostly composed by Motoi Sakuraba, with seven of Chopin's compositions performed by Stanislav Bunin and presented in 5.1 surround sound. Featured music of Chopin's include Étude Op. 10, No. 12, Étude Op. 10, No. 3 and Polonaise Op. 53. A Japanese aria composed by Sakuraba titled "Heaven's Mirror" (鏡天花 Kyōtenka^?) is also performed by Akiko Shinada for the soundtrack. The game's background music was released in Japan as the four-disc album Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream Original Score (トラスティベル～ショパンの夢～オリジナルスコア Torasuti Beru ~Shopan no Yume~ Orijinaru Sukoa^?) on 25 July 2007 under the King Records label. Ã‰tude in C minor, op. ... Excerpt from the Ã‰tude Op. ... The Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. ... An aria (Italian for air; plural: arie or arias in common usage) in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. ... is the 206th day of the year (207th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... Japanese King Record King Records ) is a Japanese record company, founded in 1931 as a division of the Japanese music publishing house Kodansha. ...

Development

For the localization, the game's text was proofread by the Frederick Chopin Society in Warsaw. The localization team wanted to be as historically accurate as possible, without losing the original message of the script.^[6]

On April 23, 2007, the ESRB posted their rating for Eternal Sonata^[7] listing the game as being intended for release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. However, when news of this quickly spread, the ESRB removed the listing entirely.^[8] On September 11, 2007, Bandai Namco's official site listed Eternal Sonata as coming soon to PlayStation 3, yet also listed the Xbox 360 version as being "available now." Again, as news quickly spread, the information was removed.^[9] The following day, scans from Famitsu were released, confirming the game as being released for the PlayStation 3.^[10] On September 14, 2007 Bandai Namco officially announced Eternal Sonata was coming to the PS3, during Spring 2008 in Japan.^[3] is the 113th day of the year (114th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... is the 254th day of the year (255th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... Cover art for Issue 1 of FamitsÅ« magazine, June 1986, then known as Famicom TsÅ«shin FamitsÅ« abbreviated ãƒ•ã‚¡ãƒŸ Fami) is a Japanese video game magazine published by Enterbrain, Inc. ...

In addition, Namco Bandai stated that there will be features exclusive for the PlayStation 3 version. This includes new playable characters, Crescendo and Serenade, who played a major role in the plot of the game, but were not playable in the Xbox 360 version. It will also include a new clothing system, in which the player can freely change his/her character's costume.^{[citation needed]}

Reception

Anticipation for the game seemed high prior to release, with the game having reached number four in Amazon Japan video game pre-orders^[11] not long after a demo was made available on the Japanese Marketplace, and even number one on Amazon Japan's video game charts not long before the game's release.^[12] Famitsu rated the game 9/9/9/8, for a total score of 35/40.^[13] During its release week, the game reached second place on the Japanese sales charts.^[14] The following week, it had placed 35th. [1][2] Cover art for Issue 1 of FamitsÅ« magazine, June 1986, then known as Famicom TsÅ«shin FamitsÅ« abbreviated ãƒ•ã‚¡ãƒŸ Fami) is a Japanese video game magazine published by Enterbrain, Inc. ...

At E3 2007, it won GameTrailers.com's award for Best Role-Playing Game^[15] and IGN's award for Best Original Score on Xbox 360, and was a runner-up in Best RPG, Best Artistic Design on Xbox 360 and Best Use Of Sound on Xbox 360.^[16] It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into History of E3. ... GameTrailers (GT) is a media website that specializes in video game related content. ... IGN - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ...

In the west, it received many high reviews. Metacritic has a score of 79% based on 53 reviews.^[17]

Notes and references

^ www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=166356.
^ xbox360.ign.com/articles/798/798740p1.html.
^ ^a ^b Namco Bandai Announcement for PS3.
^ 1UP.com - Eternal Sonata Preview. Alice Liang. Retrieved on 2007-03-17.
^ We Want To Know: Chopin's Role in Eternal Sonata Explained
^ Eternal Sonata - Lost in Translation
^ www.joystiq.com/2007/04/23/esrb-lists-eternal-sonata-on-xbox-360-and-playstation-3/.
^ N4G.com : ESRB pulls Eternal Sonata. listing.
^ Namco Bandai site shows Eternal Sonata and Beautiful Katamari coming to PS3.
^ Famitsu Scans.
^ News Blog entry. Retrieved May 16, 2007
^ Xbox 360 Fanboy Blog entry. Retrieved June 5, 2007
^ GamesAreFun Famitsu Scores. Retrieved on June 20, 2007.
^ GamesAreFun Japanese Sales 6/11-6/17. Retrieved June 20, 2007
^ GameTrailers Best of E3 2007. Retrieved on August 6, 2007.
^ IGN: Xbox 360 Best of E3 2007 Awards. Retrieved on August 6, 2007.
^ Metacritic - Eternal Sonata

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Contents

Story

Characters

Gameplay

Combat

Audio

Development

Reception

Notes and references

External links

Contents

Story var ACE_AR = {Site: '756743', Size: '300250'};

Characters

Gameplay

Combat

Audio

Development

Reception

Notes and references

External links

Story