A Glister(?) of Envy

Few people are aware that the famous aphorism "all that glitters is not gold" is actually a misquote---the original language is "glister," a loveable word that has unforunately fallen out of vogue. I'm not sure whether Bacon stole the idea from Shakespeare or if Shakespeare stole it from Bacon; in any case the phrase turns up again, with great effect, during the eighteenth century in one of my favorite morbid poems, which teaches us that all that "glisters" isn't gold, and, more importantly, that curiosity killed the cat.

Don't say that you didn't learn anything today.

Choosing a console, for me, wasn't about which machine was technically the superior one, which can perform more flop-o-flops per nan-o-second, or which company has the better marketing campaign (hint: it's not Sony). It wasn't a matter of price, size, availability, or brand loyalty. It was a simple choice of current and future library. There just weren't and aren't any exclusive games on the XBox 360 that are interesting or appealing to me. I gave it some serious thought; I just spent the last twenty minutes going through a list of XBox 360 games. There aren't even any titles that "I would play if I happened to have a 360." Blue Dragon is close, but it strikes me as too much of a DQ knockoff. . . . So, anyway, I made my choice to pass on the 360. It's not to say that there's anything wrong with the 360. It just isn't for me. I've put down that foot; made that bed; burnt that bridge; &c.

And then came Eternal Sonata. I had heard murmurs of a game called "Trusty Bell" but I hadn't really looked into it because, at the time, all the news was about the Japanese version (Eternal Sonata : NA : : Trusty Bell : JP). In the last week or so, though, Kotaku and Joystiq furnished some screenshots that have become the basis for my first real exposure to the game, and it looks amazing. It has a historical-revisionist flavor, redolent of the Shadow Hearts series that I enjoyed, in that it centers around the last three hours of Chopin's life as he is dying of tuberculosis. Music in general, and Chopin's music in particular, are reported to play a big role in the game. If you poke around the Namco site a bit you can find a Japanese trailer for the game (here---but make sure to close the Namco web site once your WMV window pops up, or else you'll hear the web site background music playing under the trailer music . . . dueling Chopins). The music and graphics are beautiful; the video gives the impression of playing an anime movie.

Although I wouldn't buy a console system just on the merits of one game, if ever I were to do so, this would be the game. In order to calm my jealousy I've ordered a used copy of Baten Kaitos, a GCN game from the same group that is making Eternal Sonata. In the mean time, I am going to try to trick myself by playing Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure on my PS3, imperfect backwards compatibility permitting. I know that Eternal Sonata will never be able to compete with the overwhelming popularity of games like Halo and Gears of War in the United States, but overseas (*cough*JAPAN*cough*) and among PlayStation-owning JRPG fans, this game has the potential to be like goldfish to our proverbial, unfortunate cat.