Game Journal – Eternal Sonata (Entry 04)

Let’s talk about Agogo Forest! Another gorgeous location, this time with a forest theme and, like Ritardando, its own theme music.  A house with a spiral staircase built around a tree trunk with an item store beneath its roots.  Waterfalls flowing into a lake with sparkling blue water.  I don’t think there’s going to be a single “cookie cutter” house or town layout in this entire game, a thought that fills me with joy.

The locals appear to worship totems representing some kind of local gods.  Allegretto, who is now the party leader, appears to recognize one of the totem heads as the god EZI.  I wonder if religion is a theme the game will also be exploring, since the church in Ritardando seems to worship a monotheistic god figure.

Oh my goodness I am so excited for this!  I noticed that there are some rocks around the forests that have what looks like an eighth note on them and I was able to click on one once.  It mentioned a God (I forget now if it was EZ) and I got some item.  So fascinating!  I really hope religion comes into play somewhere because religion can tell you a lot about a culture, and we all know how much I LOVE it when culture is featured in a fantasy world.

Did you notice the “Cave of Trials” (yes I just made that name up)?  It’s back where we fought the Dinosaur in Armor boss to save Polka.  We can’t go in (cause the angry old man says so) but I imagine that place is a side quest of some sort that opens up later!  Maybe after we find Salsa at Castle Forte?!

Curse you, angry old man!  Apparently, it’s more of a “rite of passage” type thing than an actually dangerous cave, but that geezer is stubborn.  Definitely something to come back for, like the kissing-mouse treasure chest in Ritardando.

It’s time for more theory! An Agogo Theory Pt. 2! A harsh blow to my theory about the party misidentifying the Agogo.  “Agogo Boy” is one of the town residents, and it’s now clear that he is an Agogo fanboy rather than an Agogo himself.  The glowing Agogo still seems to be something special, though.

I’ve also got further thoughts on the combat system. The members of the party have all acquired new dark and light skills to use.  It appears that, without exception, all of the new skills are better than the old ones, in the sense that they do vastly more damage.  They don’t have the same area of effect or range, but the damage difference is so extreme that it doesn’t seem to matter.  I’m not sure if I like this, since it would be nice to structure the party’s skills to get a setup that works well together, instead of always picking the latest ability.

Agreed.  I do hope it’s not all just a linear scaling and we just pick the latest thing.  Although….have you noticed that a lot of the new attacks are designed to hit multiple enemies (or specifically say that they have the ability to hit enemies in the back)?  I wonder if we are slowly going to have to shift our strategies around such that some people are designed to lure enemies into a row or cluster and others are designed to hit all of them once they’re set up.  I tend to find myself switching Polka around.  I like Nether Wave but I don’t like her getting so close to an enemy with her low defense.  I switch her to Shade Comet at times so she can use distance attacks.

Our party now has four people in it, but only three can be in combat. This means there is some strategy in how you pick your party, which is good. I was unhappy to discover that the member that isn’t in the combat party only acquired 50% of the XP of the others. I tend to like to keep everyone leveling together, so it looks like I’ll be swapping people out often. At least I’ll get to know which party member configurations work best.

So far, this has been kinda tough. I pretty much ALWAYS keep Chopin (the ultimate echo builder) and Polka on the team (Mama wants some HEALING!) and switch Allegretto and Beat. Beat isn’t as useful yet but I think you are making good use of his Vivid Shot, right? I tend to keep Allegretto on the team unless I want Polka to have Nether Wave for a while and I switch Beat in to be my “Long Range” guy. For some reason I feel safer if SOMEBODY has a long range ability.

Yeah, if you can spare having Beat not do damage all the time, he can make you quite a bit of money. Worst case, just spam the same camera shot like 6 or even all 12 times in one battle, then switch him back to using Rapid Shot or Fireball.

The plains have a wind theme, with windmills blowing in the background and creatures with wings (goats and some kind of dragon). The field is covered in a variety of flowers, especially dandelions, so the air is constantly full of dandelion seeds. It also has its own music, a slightly higher energy song than we’ve had so far. If every area shows this this level of craftsmanship, I’m going to enjoy playing it just to see (and hear) each new place.

I loved the shot of houses in the distance overlooking the lake.  It’s just stunning.

The Three Billy Goats Gruff Annoying: Okay…what was up with that goat game…task…thing?! Three goats block the bridge and we had to go collect pieces of paper to feed them. This didn’t factor into ANYTHING and there seemed to be no purpose to it. I wonder what the designers were thinking here!!!

Yeah, this kind of came out of nowhere. A fetch quest to get some paper strewn throughout the map we were on so we could feed it to goats. It really only served one purpose I can see – we learned that Beat is good with animals, since he came up with the idea, and even Allegretto had to defer to him on clearing the path.

Beat’s camera in battle:
Beat can take pictures with his camera if you have the light skill “Vivid Shot” or dark skill “Night Shot” equipped instead of a damage-dealing ability. You can hold up to 12 pictures, and they can be sold at stores. This is my primary source of income, as a set of 12 pictures can sell for 400 – 600 gold, while a typical battle gives 20. The shots are rated, though, and you get more money for better shots. I’ve only seen Rank C (garbage) and Rank B (mediocre), though, and I’m having difficulty figuring out what makes a good picture. So far, here’s what I’ve found.

1.) Shots with multiple subjects are better
2.) Shots that are too close (a character fills the whole shot) or too far away are bad

You’ve already figured out more than I have. I got frustrated with this and I haven’t used it much because I’ve been practicing my quick reflex “Guard” ability. I can guard against the Earth Shakers (dragon creatures) really well but those goats…good gracious!

Those frikkin’ goats…

The Angel Goats (they have wings, halos, and fire from their hooves) are mean critters. Plenty of damage, they emit their own light field so dark attacks are tricky to use, and they can move fast. They also cannot be snuck up on while on the area map; they always notice when you get close, and in battle, their speed usually lets them go first. The only upside is their relatively low HP; Allegretto and sometimes Chopin can take one out per turn with their light-based attacks. Polka and Beat are not helpful in this regard.

I suck at guarding against these horrible things!!! GAH! That stupid “Ride of 300” or whatever always crashes into my people and can do up to 500-600 damage. If the goats are close enough they will launch into the “up on their hind legs” attack and so the total damage for a turn can be anywhere between 600-800 damage. So crazy!

They are clearly forcing you to level your party here so I think it’s neat that they change up the difficulty to give you that clue. I do not like that you die and have to go back to your last save. I’ve died like… 3 times now (running away is worthless by the way, this game is very punishing) and lost over an hour’s worth of gameplay. Come back RETRY option! Come baaaaaack!

The year was 2007, and Ryutaro Hashimoto was prime minister. Retry in JRPGs hadn’t been invented yet. It was a dark time…