Acaban de sacar una entrevista en IGN al director y actualizar con 10 nuevas Imagenes. Y buenas noticias, el juego sale para verano 2007 (junio/julio?) en america. Y aunq nbo lo dice se supone que 2 o 3 meses antes saldria en Japon. Cada vez se ve mas guapo
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/751/751888p1.html
http://media.xbox360.ign.com/media/761/761569/imgs_1.html
December 20, 2006 - Eternal Sonata is coming sooner than you may think. The game formerly known as Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream is coming to the US in the summer of 2007, making a year already packed with great RPGs stuffed to the brim. Since much is still in the dark about exactly how Eternal Sonata plays, we went straight to the source to learn more. Read on for the answers to the questions we put to Hiroya Hatsushiba, the man responsible for the story concept, director of Eternal Sonata, and CEO of TriCrescendo. His past credits include Baten Kaitos Origns, Valkyrie Profile 2, Star Ocean: Til the End of Time, and Radiata Stories.
IGN: Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. We haven't been told much about the story in Eternal Sonata yet. Can you give us a basic rundown of the story in Eternal Sonata?
Hiroya Hatsushiba: The story of Eternal Sonata revolves around the famous composer, Frederick Chopin, in the dream he sees hours before his death. In his dream, Chopin meets a girl named Polka, who has been stricken with an incurable illness and has the gift of magic in return. In their journey, they also meet a boy with a strong sense of justice named Allegretto. The story is about their journey through a land that is caught up on the verge of war. As they embark on this journey, they meet various characters along the way and discover what truly lies in the depths of their hearts.
IGN: We'd like to know about the main characters. Can you give us their names and a bit of each of their backgrounds and personalities?
Hiroya Hatsushiba: There will be many more characters in the story, but we can only disclose information on Chopin, Allegretto, Polka and Allegretto's friend, Beat at the moment. Allegretto is a boy with a strong sense of justice. Although knowing his actions are unjust, Allegretto and Beat steal bread in order to save the starving poor children in their town. Beat loves the camera and I believe you will find this quite obvious in the game. Both Chopin and Polka are able to use magic in the dream world with death being on the horizon.
IGN: You worked on Valkyrie Profile 2, Star Ocean 3, and Radiata Stories. Both Star Ocean 3 and Radiata Stories had specific moments where the story had a rift and went in either a new or branching direction. Should we expect a similar stark delineation in the story at a specific point, branching endings, or a straightforward adventure?
Hiroya Hatsushiba: Since I was in charge of sound for Valkyrie Profile 2, Star Ocean 3 and Radiata Stories, their influence will not directly have an effect in the story of Eternal Sonata this time. Since part of the joy of playing through an RPG is to anticipate how the story will unfold, I will save this and not spoil the fun for players. However, I will say that we have put a great deal of effort into the lines and dialogues in order to bring out the feelings and emotions of each character, as well as vividly portraying the conflicts they are struggling with.
IGN: The action and turn-based hybrid battle system sounds similar to what we saw in Star Ocean: Til the End of Time. Can you explain for us the way the way the battle system works in Eternal Sonata? What makes this battle system unique?
Hiroya Hatsushiba: Since I was only responsible for the sound of Star Ocean: Til the End of Time, there will be no direct influence on the battle system of Eternal Sonata. The battle system of Eternal Sonata is a mixture of the turn-based system that RPG users are familiar with and the active battle system. Each character will be able to roam freely in the battle field and use their attacks as often as they like in an allotted amount of time. The battle field is also divided into areas of light and shadow where each character's special attack will change depending on whether they stand. Enemies will also morph depending on their position in the light or shadow.
IGN: How will the leveling and skill system work? Will we have control over how each character improves or will that be set by you?
Hiroya Hatsushiba: Characters will receive experience after each battle which they can then use to level up. Newly acquired skills can be assigned to specific buttons. The player will be able to control their character's fighting style this way.
IGN: How epic is this RPG? How long will the main story be and how many side quests can we expect?
Hiroya Hatsushiba: The total playtime of the main story is approximately 30-40 hours. There will be a number of side quests as well, but they are for the purpose of obtaining special items in the game. The side quests will involve a new system incorporating elements related to music. It would be difficult to complete everything that the game has to offer by only playing through it once.
IGN: We're big fans of the online functionality of Xbox 360. Are you working towards including any online features such as online play, downloadable content, or leaderboards for any mini-games? If so, what can we expect?
Hiroya Hatsushiba: Unfortunately, there are not a whole lot of online features for Eternal Sonata this time. However, we do have some ideas for online contents that we would like to accomplish in the near future. It would be great if we can make this happen.
IGN: The appearance of Eternal Sonata has a pleasant, fantastical 19th century style. What was the inspiration for the visual design of Eternal Sonata?
Hiroya Hatsushiba: In the beginning I started coming up with various ideas that would ensure a fun-filled experience. From there, I started to connect different ideas and polished them as we went. Rather than creating a realistic world, I wanted to create something similar to a painting. With that in mind, we used lots of natural objects focusing on rounded, sweeping lines. We were aiming for a vividly colored fantasy world. I believe that we have something which is rich, warm and natural with a calming and soothing atmosphere.
IGN: With a name like Eternal Sonata (or Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream, in Japan), it seems like music would play a dominant role in this game. How important is the music and does it play into any particular game elements or themes?
Hiroya Hatsushiba: Music is definitely an important element in this game. You will find that everything from the story, the system to the graphics all contain a music motif. In addition, world- renown pianist, Stanislav Bunin will perform Chopin's compositions, which play a central role in the environment and story of Eternal Sonata.
IGN: Both the producer, Shinji Noguchi, and the director, Hiroya Hatsushiba, worked in the Baten Kaitos card RPG's on the Cube. Can we expect to see any influence in the structure of Eternal Sonata from those games?
Hiroya Hatsushiba: The development for Baten Kaitos was an important step for starting the Eternal Sonata project. However, contents of Eternal Sonata are totally unrelated to Baten Kaitos. We took what we learned from the development phase of Baten Kaitos and applied it to Eternal Sonata this time.
IGN: Do we ever get to meet Chopin or play as him in the game?
Hiroya Hatsushiba: We will be revealing more information on this in the months ahead. For the time being, I would like to say that Chopin is not just a bystander in this game.
IGN: Can we expect Eternal Sonata to turn into a new franchise or is this a stand alone title?
Hiroya Hatsushiba: While nothing has been set in stone yet, we do have various plans for Eternal Sonata. What we ultimately decide on will rest in the reactions of the players.
IGN: What are you thoughts on working with the Xbox 360 hardware? Are you pleased with your progress so far?
Hiroya Hatsushiba: The Xbox360 is an excellent piece of hardware. It allowed us to achieve results not possible before.