Somewhere around two out of five times when I’m wailing on a videogame, its because it came out of another country and wasn’t localized effectively. It’s a cultural thing – even Jackie Chan doesn’t like his own American films. So, as a red blooded American male who enjoys beer, Halo and the goings on in the life of Terrence Gene Bollea, I was surprised that I liked Eternal Sonata.

At first glance, it’s Precious Moments: The Videogame. The body language and art style is sickeningly cutesy, so adorable and sweet it will give you diabetes. And the story will rip the seams right out of your heart strings with its aggressive plucks.

Rather than another story about a young boy with magic powers who, along with a ragtag group of friends with high pitched voices, has to avenge the destruction of his village by an allegory for the a-bomb, this J-RPG actually has an original and non-whiny storyline. The final days of the legendary composer Frederic Chopin’s life were spent in a beautiful fever dream. As he lays dying of tuberculosis, attended by his mourning sister and a physician, he became lost in the musical world inside his mind. Accompanied by adorable personifications of musical terminology (such as Polka, Allegretto and Beat), Chopin struggles to make peace with death as he comes to understand this Wonderland his imagination has created to help him.

The game plays on the real themes in Chopin’s works, each one being alluded to in the chapter titles. For example, the first chapter is titled "Raindrops," which was one of Frederic’s most famous and moving preludes. It was even used in Halo 3’s marketing campaign, which was super effective (RPG joke, ahyuck). It sets up the rules and dramatic action going on inside Chopin’s head, as well as introduces some of the most beautiful background music I’ve ever heard. The most amazing part is that, while the game’s composer’s work is inspired by Chopin – it is original. You really get the sense that if this man had lived a few more years, he would have produced something similar to the prodigy who actually wrote Eternal Sonata’s music.

This was a game made by genius music lovers who have the imagination and vision of a Lewis Carroll, or a Neil Gaiman. Even though the game is about the inevitability of death, and the remorseful passion a dying creator feels for his creations, it is an uplifting and heart warming story. It may take some time to get over the art direction, but once you do, you’ll find yourself drawn in to an amazing and slightly educational fantasy universe, and a very satisfying and complete gaming experience.

Chopin, shortly before his death in 1849.

Chopin, shortly before his death in 1849, only freakin’ cute and adorable.