akuma, it's a mixed boat with the combat system.
On the surface, the combat system is much better in Eternal Sonata, as it's real-time combat.
However, from what I've done in the game (which isn't much, mind you) it stays too simplistic, and is vastly too easy to kill enemies - it's entirely a button masher with no tactical skill. You go up to an enemy, pound them with A button, then finish them off with Y, or wait till your echo's reach a high point.
twestern is right about the pictures though - the game is WAYYYYYYYYY unbalanced.
You can take pictures of the first boss, and get $5,000 gold PER PICTURE. Up until that point, each enemy killed is worth $3. For that matter, taking a picture of even those $3 rats is worth $300 for a good picture. Either they should of made pictures less worthwhile, or just done away with getting gold from enemies in battle.
Overall though, it's still a fantastic game. I don't know if it's better than BD, but I think that ends up being personal preference - it's like trying to pit Oblivion up against KOTOR. They are too different, and equally as good, depending on your gaming tastes.
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
