Well, I'm glad you asked! You did ask right? No? Oh well.
I've been playing Eternal Sonata lately. And by god the game is beautiful. That's one of the main things the game has going for it in spades. The sewers you run through early in the game are so nice, I've actually heard two different people on completely different occasions say, upon viewing them, that they "Are nice enough to live in". That's a good thing then. Because people do live there. A group of orphans that one of the main characters, Allegretto, takes care of holes up in the sewers waiting for Retto and Beat to bring them more bread stolen from the local bakery in the port city of Ritardando. Makes you wonder then, how they manage to survive without Retto and Beat around when they go off on the grand adventure the game centers around. Hmm...
Another awesome thing about the game is the battle system. It starts off really simple. You have infinite time to think about what you want to do, then you amble on over to the back of the enemy (frontal attacks are prone to being guarded) and start whacking away with either regular attacks or a special attack that changes whether you are standing in the sunlight or the shade. Then you finish the first dungeon, and it throws you for a loop when your party "levels up". This is different than the usual character level ups you are used to. This is your whole party at once, and it completely changes the battle system little by little.
The difference between Party Level (PL) 1 and 2 is far from negligible. Setting PL2 means that when you use regular attacks, you store up "echoes" or combo points if you prefer, which will power up the strength of the special attacks mentioned earlier. You can build up 4,8,12,16,24 and 32 echoes. Building up 24 or 32 echoes causes your character to say a little catch phrase before using a super powered version of the special attack you have set. Any character can build up echoes. But when anybody uses a special attack, they are all used up. Eventually you unlock PL3, which reduces the amount of time you are allowed to think about your actions to a mere 3 seconds, but allows you to set 2 special attacks and up to 20 items to use in battle. PL4 is more exciting, unlocking the ability to use "Harmony Chains" a skill which allows for ridiculous combos as it lets you use BOTH of your special attacks in the same combo so long as you built up at least 24 echoes prior to activating your first special. It also lets you set 30 items for use in battle and further reduces your tactical time from 3 seconds to 1 second. And reduces your battle time to 4 seconds from the original 5. you'll be doing so much damage that you won't really notice anyway. I'm not finished with the game yet so I don't really know what PL5 and PL6 bring to the table. But from what I understand they do more of the same. Reduce time, add more item slots, change up battle mechanics etc.
The one big weakness for the game is the storyline, which on occasions can feel like it droning on forever. A standout scene is when a certain character that you don't care about at all is dying from a stab wound, and has a ridiculously long monologue where she rolls around on the floor, gets up to look out the window, walks across the floor to get a bird, writes a note, sets the bird flying to deliver said note and eventually dies after what feels like a 15 minute long scene of her yammering on about how she is unloved or something. It's poorly written, poorly executed and out of place. The fact it is immediately followed by another 20 minute long scene that has nothing to do with the story is just too much. Granted these points are few and far between, but when you hit one, you know it.
When this game was released, there was not much choice for RPGs on the 360. And this is only now being rectified. However this game should not be overlooked. The art alone makes it worth playing if that's your thing.
I give the game four stoic-looking red stick men with oversized heads out of five.
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