VGGS Eternal Sonata

Written by ritabuuk
Posted on November 11th 2018

Tagged as:

Here's another game that we never wanted to look at again, but, alas, it keeps following us. As we have already discussed at great length, Eternal Sonata is a JRPG with a unique concept - it revolves around Polish composer Frédéric François Chopin on his deathbed, dreaming about various music-inspired characters in his last hours. Which is weird, but interesting. However, Eternal Sonata is a deeply flawed game riddled with meaningless and inconsistent plotpoints, shallow characters, and generally terrible writing. It looks very pretty, it has a fun gameplay, but it ended up being a giant disappointment for us. Now, let's review it as part of the Video Game Gender Survey Project, hopefully for the last time.

The main character

The role of main character in Eternal Sonata is already a mess to talk about. The story revolves around Chopin, who is a playable character in this game, but he is notably not the player avatar. In the beginning of the game, the player avatar is Polka, who is a stand-in for Chopin's deceased young sister, and whose story is otherwise the primary drive of the plot. But after the first hour or two, the point-of-view character is switched to Allegretto, and that's it for the rest of the game, except for one small part where his little brother Beat is the avatar. If Chopin appears as himself, and Polka represents his younger sister, Allegretto means absolutely nothing to Chopin, or to this universe at all. He is just there, adding nothing to the plot and pretending to be the main character. His only function is to have a crush on Polka.

Why is he placed in the role of the main character? We suspect the developers thought it was too weird to play as Chopin, and surely you can't play as Polka the whole game, she's a girl, so, Allegretto, whatever.

The party members

Playable Characters

Male Playable Characters:	5	41.67%
Female Playable Characters:	7	58.33%

Male Playable Characters

Frédéric François Chopin
Allegretto
Beat
Jazz
Prince Crescendo

Female Playable Characters

Polka
Salsa
March
Viola
Falsetto
Claves
Princess Serenade

There are indeed more female playable characters than male. However, most of them have the primary feature of their character being that they're paired off with someone. Namely, Claves, Falsetto, and Viola are all in a love polygon with Jazz. Serenade is dating Crescendo, and her conflict over that is the only feature of her character (that, and having a dog). Salsa gets that strange thing with Beat. Polka, as the almost-main-character, gets characterization that's not directly tied to her romantic status, but the game still has to ship her with Allegretto. March is the only female character spared from this shipping nonsense, but then again, she is also spared from having any character at all.

In any case, all of the characters of this game are disasters, but we wrote about that already.

All characters

This is the list of all named (or otherwise recognizably unique) characters that appear in Eternal Sonata:

All Characters

All Male Characters:	46	41.82%
All Female Characters:	40	36.36%
All Other Characters:	24	21.82%

Name	Gender	Appearance type	Species	Age	Notes
Ad	Male	Required NPC	Human		✽
Allegretto	Male	Required Playable POV Character	Human	16
Aloof Fiddle	Other	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Arco	Male	Required NPC	Unknown		✽
Bass	Male	Required NPC	Human		✽
Beat	Male	Required Playable Limited POV Character	Human	8
Captain Dolce	Female	Required Boss	Pirate Human		✽
Captive Conga	Other	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Celebrity Marcato	Female	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Chaconne	Female	Required NPC	Human
Claves	Female	Required Playable Party Member	Human	24
Conceited Choir	Other	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Contrary Marimba	Male	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Count Waltz	Male	Required Boss	Human	16	✽
Darling	Male	Required NPC	Human
Delfina Potocka	Female	Required NPC	Human
Desolate Saburo	Other	Optional NPC	Rock		✽
Disappointed Note	Other	Unlockable NPC	Human		✽
Easygoing Flat	Other	Unlockable NPC	Human		✽
Emilia Chopin	Female	Required Mentioned	Human	14	✽
Etude	Male	Required NPC	Human
Falsetto	Female	Required Playable Party Member	Human	22
First Lieutenant Bass	Male	Required Enemy	Pirate Human		✽
	Male	Required Playable Party Member	Human	39
Fugue	Male	Required Boss	Human
Gentle Harp	Female	Unlockable NPC	Human		✽
Gentlemanly Pop	Male	Optional NPC	Human		✽
George Sand	Female	Required Mentioned	Human		✽
Glamorous Oboe	Other	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Granny's Girl Quena	Female	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Guitar	Male	Required Enemy	Pirate Human		✽
Hanako	Female	Optional NPC	Horse		✽
Henpecked Phil's Dad	Male	Unlockable NPC	Human		✽
Honey	Female	Required NPC	Human		✽
Hungry Drum	Other	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Impatient Pizzicato	Female	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Jazz	Male	Required Playable Party Member	Human	27
Killer Bell Lyre	Other	Optional NPC	Human		✽
King Baroque	Male	Required NPC	Memory Human		✽
Koto	Female	Required NPC	Human		✽
Legato	Male	Required Boss	Human
Lib	Female	Required NPC	Human		✽
Lonely Pitch	Other	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Lonesome Loco	Male	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Lord Forte	Male	Required NPC	Memory Human		✽
Ludwika Jedrzejewicz	Female	Required NPC	Human		✽
March	Female	Required Playable Party Member	Forest Guardian	8
Methodical Gospel	Other	Unlockable NPC	Human		✽
Minister	Male	Required NPC	Memory Human		✽
Minuet	Female	Required NPC	Dog
Mr. Squeakers	Male	Optional NPC	Rat		✽
Mute	Female	Optional NPC	Ghost Human
Petty Oud	Other	Unlockable NPC	Human		✽
Phil	Male	Required NPC	Human
Phony	Female	Required NPC	Human		✽
Polka	Female	Required Playable Limited POV Character	Human	14
Precocious Flute	Other	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Prince Crescendo	Male	Required Playable Party Member	Human	29	✽
Princess Serenade	Female	Required Playable Party Member	Human	23	✽
Quack Ukulele	Other	Unlockable NPC	Human		✽
Quartet	Male	Required NPC	Unknown		✽
Quintet	Other	Required NPC	Unknown
Rano	Female	Optional NPC	Human
Rondo	Female	Required Boss	Human
Salsa	Female	Required Playable Party Member	Forest Guardian	8
Shallow Sweet	Other	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Sister Loving Trumpet	Female	Unlockable NPC	Human		✽
Solfege	Female	Required NPC	Human		✽
Solitary String	Other	Unlockable NPC	Cat		✽
Sop	Female	Optional NPC	Human
Strolling Ghost Note	Other	Unlockable NPC	Human		✽
Sullen Melody	Female	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Sym	Other	Required NPC	Human		✽
Tenacious Cornet	Other	Unlockable NPC	Human		✽
Tenor	Other	Required Mentioned	Human		✽
The Agogo Queen Mother	Female	Required NPC	Agogo
The Great EZI	Male	Unlockable Boss	Deity		✽
Thief Slur	Other	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Trio	Male	Required NPC	Unknown		✽
Tuba	Male	Required Boss	Human
Twilight JuJu	Other	Unlockable NPC	Human		✽
Unnamed Amateur Comedian	Male	Optional NPC	Human
Unnamed Angry Man	Male	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Unnamed Baker	Female	Required NPC	Human
Unnamed Boy	Male	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Unnamed Brother of Darling	Male	Required NPC	Human
Unnamed Doctor tending Chopin	Male	Required NPC	Human		✽
Unnamed Elder of Elegy of the Moon	Male	Required NPC	Ghost Human
Unnamed Father of Girl with Simile Flower	Male	Required NPC	Human
Unnamed Fortune Teller	Female	Required NPC	Human
Unnamed Goatherd	Male	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Unnamed Grandma in Baroque City	Female	Optional NPC	Human
Unnamed Husband of Gentle Harp	Male	Unlockable NPC	Human
Unnamed Letter Carrier	Male	Optional NPC	Human
Unnamed Little Sister with Simile Flower	Female	Required NPC	Human
Unnamed Man with Dentures	Male	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Unnamed Older Brother of Girl with Simile Flower	Male	Required NPC	Human
Unnamed Owner of Mr. Squeakers	Male	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Unnamed Painter	Male	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Unnamed Priest in Baroque City	Male	Required NPC	Human
Unnamed Sister of Elegy of the Moon	Female	Required NPC	Ghost Human
Unnamed Sister of Sop and Rano wearing Blue	Female	Optional NPC	Human
Unnamed Sister of Sop and Rano wearing Pink	Female	Optional NPC	Human
Unnamed Traveler	Male	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Unnamed Warp Room Guide	Male	Required NPC	Human
Unnamed Wife of the Angry Man	Female	Optional NPC	Human
Unnamed Woman with Cold Medicine	Female	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Viola	Female	Required Playable Party Member	Human	26
Wiseman Maracas	Male	Optional NPC	Human		✽
Worrywort Horn	Other	Optional NPC	Human		✽

Download table as csv

Once you count the NPCs, it's 36.36% female characters to 41.82% male. This is maybe a little bit better than the usual pitfall of having just one-third of characters be female, depending on if the characters we were unsure on were actually intended to be male or female or neither.

The most notable feature of this list is the presence of so many characters with strange names. They are the NPCs of the Score Sessions and so, suitably, they have awful names to match this awful sidequest. This list also features not one but two characters named Bass, just because. Probably the developers forgot they already named a minor character Bass (from the pair of Jazz's friends, Treble and Bass) when they named another minor character Bass (from the pair of Dolce's minions, Guitar and Bass).

Regarding pirates

The developers of Eternal Sonata made a point of challenging the stereotype about gender of pirate captains.

Beat

Well, just because she has an eye patch and a hook doesn’t mean she’s the captain. I thought pirate captains were, you know, supposed to be grizzly old men with scraggly beards.

Salsa

Don’t stereotype! Who says they have to be men? Plenty of women are pirate captains!

Captain Dolce — Female pirate captains exist, but you don't need to take them too seriously because their top concern is wrinkles. Got it.

What Salsa says is factually true in real life -- despite stereotypes, there were female pirates and even female pirate captains, although they sometimes needed to disguise themselves as men to trick their superstitious crews.

Despite Eternal Sonata drawing attention to this real life fact, and despite Eternal Sonata taking place in a fantastic land that doesn't even need to feel tethered to our world's literal history, it turns out that Captain Dolce is the only female pirate in a ship full of all endless male pirate crew that you face in random encounters. There are no random female pirates on her ship at all. On top of this, if you manage to unlock all the hidden sidequests about Captain Dolce, you find that her story culminates in a cheap joke about her fear of getting wrinkles. Wow. Thanks for that.

The color of your soul

In the world of Eternal Sonata, gender is shown to be an innate feature of your very soul -- and, in fact, the only feature of your being that is still visible after death. When the party visits Elegy of the Moon, which is essentially purgatory, all the spirits that they meet are either a burning orb of blue energy or a burning orb of red energy: the blue souls were once men and the red souls were once women. It's good to know that, in the universe of Eternal Sonata, even if you get trapped forever in purgatory, at least random strangers will always know at a glance and won't have any confusion with regard to your gender.

Elegy of the Moon — Color-coded for your convenience

In case you cannot tell, I am being super sarcastic here. A big problem faced by anyone in real life who doesn't fit super neatly into a gender-conforming box is that random strangers are confused by their gender, can't deal with a moment's uncertainty regarding this trivia, and end up being really rude about it. This unstoppable need to know is so important that the game developers here didn't want the player to be in a moment's agony, so the souls are color-coded, and it is always clear if you are talking with a male ghost or a female ghost. No other aspect of the person's life or personality is visible in their soul. Note also the implications that a male soul is inherently different from a female soul, and that these are the only two types of souls that exist. Why aren't all the souls the same color, showing that, in death, they are all equal? Or, why aren't all the souls completely different colors, showing that they are all unique individuals shaped by their unique lives?

Nope, the gender binary. That's all that matters.

In conclusion

I get the sense that Eternal Sonata was trying to have good gender representation, at least marginally. They managed to have a party of more female playable characters than male characters, even though the game is literally about the real life man Frédéric François Chopin. They even made a point of challenging the stereotype about pirate captains being old men. But then they botched it in other ways. The main character is male seemingly just to avoid having a female main character; the majority of the female party members are only in the story because of their love lives; Captain Dolce is just a jab at the lame joke of women caring too much about their appearances; the gender binary is enshrined in Elegy of the Moon. Honestly, video game developers will need to try a lot harder to overcome their sub-conscious biases and achieve truly equal gender representation in their games.

References

Eternal Sonata/Score Pieces - StrategyWiki, used to make sure we had all the Score Piece NPCs, especially those you can only meet in Encore Mode because, uh, we're not doing that.
Eternal Sonata - Cut-Scene Script
Women in piracy, a Wikipedia article about female pirates through history.

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The main character

The party members

Playable Characters

Male Playable Characters

Frédéric François Chopin

Allegretto

Beat

Jazz

Prince Crescendo

Female Playable Characters

Polka

Salsa

March

Viola

Falsetto

Claves

Princess Serenade