Reviews// Eternal Sonata

But after a while dealing with the characters, fighting the monsters and generally getting used to the feeling of ethereal strangeness evoked by the game, I learnt to deal.

Okay, the combat. First of all, you do get to choose camera angles in combat. This is a good thing as more often than not I found my characters occluded by the form of some enormous beastie. So, combat entails a mix of turn-based position and attack with real-time counter-attack and defence. I liked it. It jolly well works very nicely indeed.

Once you've got your party built up, you can choose three from the team to take into one of the innumerable frays that punctuate your quest... your single, no-side, quest. Some of your crew will have ranged weapon skills (a long range umbrella throw for example). Some of your characters are more effective in the melee. Some have healing skills (and believe me they are essential).

As the game progresses and you grow comfortable with your crew, your experience points increase... and the combat system changes slightly.

Basic elements remain: one of which is the use of shadow and light. Your special skill will alter depending on whether you are in shadow or light. And that shadow can be a passing cloud or the rear end of a beastie. So, you've got to keep your concentration up and your wits about you.

What does change can, for example, be the amount of time you get to decide on where to place your characters in order to attack (or, indeed to whether to attack at all). Basically, the dynamics of the combat are altered in order to reflect your changed experience – and I liked to think, the state of real-life Fred's health.

When I say “real-life Fred” I mean “the Fred who is not the playable character within the game that is being played out in real-life Fred's dream” - see? Good.

Before we leave combat (a rare event in the game) also bear in mind the use of Echoes. This is basically a technique – and an elegant one – to stop you constantly using your special skills to kick the shades of hades out of the opposition. Using your standard fighting mode – hitting things close up – each successful contact on an enemy creates an 'Echo'. These build up like pinball multipliers until reaching the magical x24. Once this happens your special skill becomes greatly amplified enabling you to wreak all sorts of havoc. Of course, you can do this with a x4 multiplier if you want, but I preferred to wait.

One point I haven't mentioned about the characters regards the littlest member of the squad. He's a tiny fellow called Beat. His special skill is the ability to take photographs when in combat situations. During the early stages I found this incredibly, incredibly frustrating. Why? Because I had armed him with a perfectly good aquebus (a ranged weapon) to keep him out of the main action, but as soon as the lighting condition changed, he waste the seconds available to his move in taking photos of thin air instead.

I learned to deal, and before long was able to get him taking some quite interesting in-fight snaps. “So, what?” So, I could then take them off to a nearby emporium and purchase my team all the items of clothing, fighting and healing that I required. “How?” I sold Beat's photos.