Outraged at IGN

I just finished watching a review by IGN for the game Eternal Sonata, and I'm pissed. They gave little attention to the game, and wrote it off as an "above average RPG". I was writing a response to it, but I found it was getting to long, and thought I'd just go to my blog(here) and post my thoughts. This is unedited of what I meant to put on there, so it may seem like it's directed elsewhere or even like it wasn't thought through very much, cause I did it in 20 minutes(from beginning to end of thinking on how to write it).

DO NOT LET THE IGN REVIEW CHANGE YOUR DECISION ON WHETHER OR NOT TO TRY THIS GAME, I don't care if you like it or not, just please find another Review from another source before you make the decision.

(Long response, only in terms to give a critique of this review, pointing out in great detail it's faults. Call me biased if you want, but I respect this game for more than the "this is fun to play" aspect that most reviewers do, I see everything it has to offer, and highlight that).

"I don't really like IGN because they tend to be biased in views much more than other sources(example, the other day I was looking at their 2007 awards, and Call of Duty 4 one best graphics, and better looking games like DMC4 were disqualified because it was 2008, but another award went to Burnout:Paradise City, which was released this year...), and this review was bullshit.
1. Story doesn't spiral, it's controlled from beginning to end extremely well, because they do it with subtlety(controlling your feelings about the very first scene until you see it again, which is Polka jumping off a cliff)

2.If the game didn't preach the moral value factor to you, it wouldn't deserve to have Chopin in it. Chopin was a man who hit you with sounds of emotion and meaning in life, not just a catchy tune.

3. Dungeons are too short, wow, they must have looked at the first few levels(even though they said they played it through and have video late in), and said that's what we'll gauge it by. It's not anywhere near Tales of Symphonia short, yet not near PSO in length(dear god those were long). Pirate Ship Dolce, Double Reed Tower, Xylophone Tower, Lento Cemetery, Sharp Mountains and more fit the bill if they wanna look back and correct themselves.

4.Tri-Crescendo does the best damn job out there at making a linear game look wonderful. They used that static camera view to capture the level design, which is amazing by the way, so those who have seen many an RPG before will know something different is there, something blessed. In games with camera controls, you only spend a couple seconds looking at something when you first get there, but then lose interest into the gameplay, and so there is no need to control and change the camera just to look at something. In this game, they allow for you to experience at your liesure, or even while you are in a speed run. In the Woodblock Groves for example, the camera allows every player, not just those with the time to control it if they could, to see the lovely disc shape to the paths that allows for an overlapping effect,crossing over the paths with a jump command to allow it to easily be integrated. You never have to pull your camera up to see all this as it fits as a whole, you can always see it.

5.The voice acting above average...not true. First off, you have an allstar(voice actor-wise) cast of people who know how to get the job done, some of the best of the best, like Liam O'brien, Cam Clarke(Liquid Snake from MGS), Johnny Yong Bosch(Nero from DMC4), Megan Hollingshead, Patrick Seitz, and even in the japanese version you have amazing voice actors. Second off, they perform well, not counting their previous fame. They space and give time in the midst of phrases not out of a bad job of not saying a line as fast, but to give it a feel of thought. And their diction is just amazing. This is also in the lesser criticised role they do, the battle voices. While everyone's ears are on them in cinematics, they aren't so focused like that while playing in a fight. Yet even without that attention, they pull it off stuningly.

6.Not being a fan of JRPG will not,I REPEAT,will not keep you from this one. Unlike most Japanese RPG's, this game has very,VERY little visible influence that it is from Japan. There are no Japanese names for characters or moves, the music is cultural of the era of Chopin and the music surrounds the feel of the environment and his sector of the world(Classic European feeling), there are no environments in vein of Japanese design, and there is almost no connection to Japanese design when it comes to characters either. This game is neutral to the possible audiences it might capture. PLEASE,don't be afraid to try it out if you don't think you'll like it because of Japanese origins.

7.This game was meant to be played fast through, but many times. Encore mode(new game+) gives new goals to be achieved and a harder difficulty, as would be expected. But the pace of the game allows you to start a new file and get to the really good parts quickly, like maybe the introduction of a favorite character or good moves.
So, there you have it, my thoughts on this so-so review. There's more I could put, but if you are thinking about playing this game, find a better reviewer before you rent/buy it. IGN didn't get the point across too well."

Someday further into the future, I may post my own review of the game on this blog(although I'm long winded[see my second post here to understand why,hehe], so it will probably be long.


Here's the link to where I first saw the vid.
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v6327687dEAXk6fN?rank=7&jsonParams=%7B%22numResults%22%3A20%2C%22rlmin%22%3A0%2C%22query%22%3A%22eternal+sonata%22%2C%22rlmax%22%3Anull%2C%22veohOnly%22%3Atrue%2C%22order%22%3A%22default%22%2C%22range%22%3A%22a%22%2C%22sId%22%3A%225993010445143212032%22%7D&searchId=5993010445143212032&rank=8#comments