Eternal Sonata demo on Live

By Robert Purchese Published 23 October, 2007

Role-play sing-a-long.

Atari has whipped a new demo for Eternal Sonata up onto Xbox Live, so that those of you who were unsure about buying it last Friday can try it out.

You will be able to have a go at an early part of the adventure, following musical characters Polka, Allegretto and Beat as they make their way to Tenuto Village and Heaven's Mirror Forest.

The idea is that you will hopefully be captivated by the really rather lovely cartoon-inspired graphics, unusual but satisfying combat system, and wonderful score played by a Russian chap who can really tickle the ivories.

Eternal Sonata revolves around the legend that famous composer Frederic Chopin entered a dream world hours before he died of Tuberculosis. Here he apparently encountered lots of other people suffering from incurable diseases and embarked on a wonderful adventure.

It hit all the right notes with us, although more variety would have elevated it into the realms of an instant classic. Pop over to our Eternal Sonata review to find out why.

Eternal Sonata will also be coming out on PS3 in 2008.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • space_ace #1 4 years ago

    played this demo months ago..?

  • brooza #2 4 years ago

    I got excited about this, but then I realised I got it months ago

  • Psychotext #3 4 years ago

    This is the first time the demo has been released on the euro xbl isn't it?

  • Nostromo13 #4 4 years ago

    He was Polish…(yes, i learned that from the game)

  • TheDudesRug #5 4 years ago

    Will pick this up when I get the old doorstop back from MS, looks quality.

  • cyacomini #6 4 years ago

    Fantastic game - preordered months ago and arrived last week.

    Best graphics I've seen from the 360 thus far - not in a technically astounding way, but the use of colour is amazing. Eternal Sonata is what Blue Dragon should have been.

    9/10 from moi

  • ZuluHero #7 4 years ago

    yes US and Japan had this demo ages ago so those of us with any sence have already played it blah, blah, blah...

    There is too much to play atm, even though i promised myself months ago i would pick this up when it was released , i haven't :(

    Maybe i will at some point while away the cold winter nights...

  • Macross #8 4 years ago

    I love Eternal Sonata although the dungeons can get a bit boring, that said just as I get to the point of stopping they always finish, thankfully and so Ive been playing the game almost constantly since it came out.

    beautiful, brilliant, best rpg on 360 by a long way! Despite its flaws I think its going to end up as one of my classic games.

  • ZuluHero #9 4 years ago

    @macross

    SINCE FRIDAY?!?

    How long would you say the playtime is? Lengthy playtimes are putting me off atm, and ive heard this is a little shorter than a standard RPG epic :)
    Edited by 1 at 23/10/07 @ 15:46

  • cyacomini #10 4 years ago

    @bcolter

    "The cut scenes are killing me... "

    Yes, they are quite long - but I've found a solution.

    Cut scene starts
    Roll spliff
    Smoke spliff whilst watching cut scene
    Play game

    Simple ;)

  • Chaote-Imagicka #11 4 years ago

    @cyacomini

    Xenosaga was better.

    Cut scene starts
    Cook three course meal.
    Eat meal whilst watching rest of cut scene
    Play game

  • Caimbeul #12 4 years ago

    Just tried it - will be buying it.

  • menage #13 4 years ago

    I actually like the cutscenes. but I have been playing JRPG's for 20 years now, so I'm used to them.

    Great game, but the dungeons do get a bit boring. A litle more tactics during battles would have gone a long way. But damn, this game is pretty.

  • Scimarad #14 4 years ago

    If it's the same as the Japanese demo it's worth downloading - If nothing else then for that lovely piece of Motoi Sakuraba music for the area you travel through before getting to the village.

  • SomaticSense #15 4 years ago

    I thought the demo was a absolute delight. It's just a shame that it falls outside of my 'two games a month' gaming diet for the rest of this year. Oct being PGR4 and Orange Box, and Nov being Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect. Depends on how good Assassin's Creed turns out, although two RPGs could be a bit much for me in a month (memories of story-juggling after getting Okami, FFXII, and finally getting hold of a Wii with Zelda... all in Feb).

  • Rush2112 #16 4 years ago

    Eternal Sonata is fantastic. Anyone who wants to experience a solid and beautiful RPG on the 360 should definitely download the demo, then rush out and buy it. Way better than Blue Dragon.

  • KreyAtiv #17 4 years ago

    Demo was good, had my eye on the game for a while. Certainly colourful and their HP seems to go to a higher number than most in a single Level Up.
    If you want a burst of colour visit the Flower Field at the first village.
    Combat was certainly different but nothing you couldn't get the hang of.

  • BillyBrush #18 4 years ago

    Eternal Sonata is fantastic. Anyone who wants to experience a solid and beautiful RPG on the 360 should definitely download the demo, then rush out and buy it. Way better than Blue Dragon.


    No..it isn't

    Fixed camera angles, enemies outside of view when you start running around, and Xbox style graphics in HD. Then there's the fact the combat is very shallow button mashing

    imo (and i realise we all have different opinions) this can't hold a candle to Blue Dragon....not on a comparable level of quality by some way

  • menage #19 4 years ago

    I think BD and ES are pretty different, buy both!:p

    Seriously, I'm playing both at the same time. BD on hard and ES. It's a nice mix of hardcore leveling and exploring (BD) and good story and friendly game play (ES). Both look and sound excellent.

  • cyacomini #20 4 years ago

    lol @ billybrush

  • Macross #21 4 years ago

    haha hahahaha I hope Billy is being sarcastic.

    As for playtime Im currently at about 20 hours. But Ive heard people who have finished it in 18 hours. I guess I just faff around more then I have to.

  • menage #22 4 years ago

    "As for playtime Im currently at about 20 hours. But Ive heard people who have finished it in 18 hours. I guess I just faff around more then I have to. "

    No they rprobably rush like hell, they probably clocked BS in 10 too. Why?