PS3 Fanboy hands-on: Eternal Sonata

Eternal Sonata will be out in North America in a little over three weeks from now. Those of you who've held out getting the original title on the 360 are probably looking forward to that Oct. 21 date, but how does playing the game right now on your PS3 sound? Sounds good, doesn't it? Well you can download a newly released demo off the Japanese PS Store if you wish and see how things look on the PS3. While you wait for your 600MB download to finish, why not have a short read of our demo impressions to help get you through it?

Anyway, if you've been interested in this title, you might have played it on a friend's 360 or perhaps tried out the XBL demo previously. If you've played it before, you'll notice right away that the game on PS3 looks exactly the same as the original. In other words, it still looks incredibly beautiful with its rich colors and crisp, sharp graphics. Also, if you've already tried out the 360 demo, you'll notice that this new Japanese one is practically a carbon copy -- it follows Allegretto, Polka and Beat on a trip through Tenuto Village and the Heaven's Mirror Forest. So if you've tried it out before, then there's nothing new here for you -- unless you want to make comparisons between versions. For those who've never played Eternal Sonata, you should definitely make some time to try this demo out and continue reading after the break.

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Now if you've clicked on through the break and are still reading this, chances are you're still wondering on how to get through the demo. Well don't worry; we'll guide you through the experience. All right, when you start up a "new game" you'll be brought directly to a field area. You'll have to start walking around, and since all the text is in Japanese, don't bother talking to anyone you come across. Note that monsters will be visible on the field map, so you can dodge them whenever you're not in the mood to fight.

Speaking of fights, this is where the game really shines -- its battle system. So, perhaps you won't want to dodge too many fights. Moving on, it's a mixture of real-time and turn-based battling that plays out in a little battle arena of sorts. When your character's turn appears they will be given a set amount of time -- represented by a timer on the lefthand side of the screen -- to execute their actions. Actions are assigned to specific face buttons: circle is to attack, triangle is a special attack, square is for items, and 'x' is for blocking. You can make combos by spamming circle and finish off nicely with a special attack. Blocking happens when it's the enemy's turn, and right before they strike you'll see the word "chance" blink; this signifies that you must tap 'x' to block properly and take less damage. Enemies can block too ... so, while attacking, you might want to position yourself at the backside of an enemy to avoid incurring damage penalties.

As for items, you obviously press square to use one up. However, if you're looking for a specific item you'll need to use R1 and L1 to cycle through your in-battle inventory. Now, keep this in mind: your general inventory and the items you can use in battle are kept separate, so you need to open up the menu while on the field to restock your in-battle inventory in case you use up all your healing potions. To open up the menu, just tap triangle while on the field. Your general inventory is the leftmost icon, while the in-battle inventory is the second from the left. Talking again about the field, you'll find question mark bubbles appear overhead as you search around. This means that there is something to interact with at that location -- it could be a hidden item or a clue to something.

That's pretty much all you'll need to know to keep yourself alive. If you're good enough, you might make it all the way through the Heaven's Mirror Forest and face off with the boss there (we won't say who). Presentation-wise, the game is true to the original -- still looks fantastic and there are no hiccups whatsoever. Hopefully, the full game will hold up the standard and we'll have another solid RPG to look forward to playing this fall season.