Console(s):
Xbox 360, PS3 (The PS3 port is not out yet but is said to have additional content)
Story (10/10): The story is that Frederick Chopin, famed pianist of the 19th century, if on his death bed dying of the disease that has trouble him his entire life. Tuberculosis. In this beautiful fantasy world of seeming perfection there is incredible trouble brewing. People gifted with the ability to use magic are actually infected with a curse that will claim their life. Polka a teenage girl has such a disease and is trying to make a living selling floral powder which became absolute after Count Waltz started production of Mineral Powder. However the dirty secret here is that Mineral Powder amazing healing power is coupled with a curse, continuous use transforms people into mindless, berserking, mages. Polka, Frederick, Allegretto, and Beat all now begin a quest to right the wrong Mineral Powder is doing as they meet new friends and enemies along the way.
The story here is amazing, you will never get anything like this in any game and the intricacies and naivety and morals that you may question being shown through the game all play a bigger role for what the designers were aiming for. A true masterpiece of a story, if this was a book it'd be among my favorites.
Controls (7/10): Amazing ease with controls, battles will be repetitive but the games focus is story anyway. The controls are simplistic to a fault and you'll be tired of fighting near the end of the game. But at first as your leveling and always using different characters you'll not take notice of how repetitive and boring it is.
Graphics (8/10): The games graphics in scenes will captivate you with strange character designs and fantastic colors but outside of scenes the world has limited perspective and battles are a strange mixture of real time and turn based and you have time limits to make your moves so no time to really appreciate the appearance of battle backgrounds and monsters.
Sound/Music (10/10): This game bleeds music from your fights, to your game, to your available Chopin Library, to the fact you can compose scores with dozens of characters this entire game was based around music. Not only is the music great in every aspect but you get a library of Chopins music that you unlock throughout the game. And Chopin is the greatest Pianist of all time.
Replayability (5/10): You do unlock more score pieces and a higher difficulty after beating the game but the repetitive battle system with dumbed down speeds and moves will be aggravating and though you wouldn't care the first playthrough this game gives you like 1 hour of actions inbetween 2 hours of scenes for nearly every chapter. You'll have to have loved this game to hell and back.
Game-play (6/10): This game plays like most traditional JRPG's except with mostly everything being story. I love the game but this definitely feels like a strange interactive book. After you beat every chapter a part of Chopins life is explained while a song of his plays in the background. You'll spend your time running around doing boring tasks trying to get back to the story.
Overall Score (7/10): The game is worth buying if for at least one playthrough and the Chopin library. The story like I've said many times is amazing, the music is grand, but the battle system is rough and could have been better and the tasks your set about get boring and bleak. Theres very little puzzle solving in dungeons and even when puzzles do come along they're incredibly simplistic yet take time to complete. If you can play a game for story then this game is definitely for you.
Linear Mode
