Tales Of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

Tales Of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World
From Namco

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Product Description

Set two years after the events of Tales of Symphonia for the Nintendo GameCube, Dawn of the New World follows the journey of two new young heroes, Emil Castagnier and Marta Lualdi, as they seek to uncover the mystery of why their world has fallen into ruin.

In their quest, their paths will cross with the original cast of Tales of Symphonia including Lloyd and Colette, as well as a summon spirit known as Ratatosk who claims to be the lord of all monsters.

Dawn of the New World introduces a new monster recruitment feature in which you can capture more than 200 unique enemies and train them to actively participate in battle. You can then feed these monsters to make them more effective, and even evolve them into several new fearsome forms.

The game also features an updated real-time battle system that lets you move freely in all directions around the battlefield, execute powerful unison attacks and take advantage of a new elemental alignment system for even more strategic depth.

A decade of Tales - Celebrating the Tales 10 year anniversary in North America

Product Details

* Amazon Sales Rank: #576 in Video Games
* Brand: Namco
* Model: 80008
* Released on: 2008-11-11
* ESRB Rating: Everyone 10+
* Platform: Nintendo Wii
* Dimensions: 2.00 pounds

Features

* Classic Tales - Return to the world of Tales of Symphonia and discover the aftermath of the merging of the two worlds
* Over 200 unique monsters - Capture, collect, and feed monsters as they grow, gain experience and even evolve into completely new, more powerful beasts
* Enhanced for the Wii - Environments, characters and effects look better than ever
* Evolved Battle System - The Tales RPG trademark real-time battle system returns with an all-new free run system, dynamic unison attacks and a strategic elemental system
* It’s your Party - Customize the party with unlimited combinations of monsters and characters throughout the adventure. A decade of Tales - Celebrating the Tales 10 year anniversary in North America.

Customer Reviews

I can say it was surprising.
As sequels go, you usually don't expect it to hold a light. Well this sequel was very VERY disappointing. Where the first one was aimed at a slightly older audience, this turned out to be an emo fest.

I had to mute the tv because the main character's whining got annoying very quickly. The only redeeming quality is the visuals. Other than that, I would say pass on this game if you want to keep fond memory of the first game.

A sequel to an outstanding game...
PROS:
The length is excellent.
The story is productive.
All your favorite characters return.
Monster raising can be fun.
The comedy is absolutely hilarious (especially Tenebrae)

CONS:
Only about a handful of the original voice actors return.
Some voice acting is really, really poorly done.
The game is a bit too straight forward, hardly any thinking necessary (interactive movie).
The world map isn't explorable. Instead, it's more of a menu.

Disclaimer: I will try not to reveal anything from the storyline, only mainly the beginning and some future developments. You will learn nothing of the storyline so that it doesn't ruin your experience.

I will start off with something that a lot of people consider a giant flaw: the main character. You play as a young boy Emil, who starts off by witnessing his parents being brutally murdered by (surprise!) Lloyd Irving. He saves a young girl who you discover is Marta in possession of Ratatosk's Core.

Emil is considered a coward as he doesn't defend himself in any situation. Because of his distrust to "Lloyd the Great" (name is derived from the completed journey of Regeneration) due to him murdering his parents, everyone blames anything generally considered "bad" or "abnormal" to Emil.

Emil meets a man named Richter (who will strongly remind you of Kratos) who is in search of Ratatosk's Core and a girl named Marta. After some "this and that" sequences, you eventually discover that Richter wishes to kill Marta to take Ratatosk's Core.

Tenebrae, a Centurion of Darkness serves Lord Ratatosk, the Lord of all Monsters and the Spirit to the original giant world tree. Marta makes you a Knight of Ratatosk, who infuses his powers through Emil completely changing him from his cowardly self to what I like to describe a "B.A."

You go on a quest to retrieve all the Centurions (based on the elements, Fire, Earth, Wind, etc.) meeting all your favorite characters on the way. To my previous point, while Emil seems like a coward and his "Ratatosk Mode" seems completely awesome, both personalities take part in their own character developments. I will not reveal that to you, however.

You will visit a lot of familiar places, as well as some new ones. While some people thought it wasn't done well, I liked this game a lot. As a fan of the first one, this game only made me smile through some of the hilarious voice-skits throughout the game. You have to watch them, some of them will guarantee to make you laugh.

The only nitpicking problems I had with this was mainly the voice actors as the world map being reduced to a overview menu. The voice actors aren't too bad as the only ones who doesn't sound like they "fit-in" to me are Lloyd and Zelos. Luckily, Colette, Presea, and Regal's managed to go in a second round.

Another was the fact that you couldn't really customize the characters you receive(such as Genis or Raine. They are preset and optional to use in battle. No experience is gained from battles.) and the monsters, while neat that the option is there, I never really used them.

Also, due to the world exploration being limited, the game almost seems to straight forward in a sense where you just go here, progress the story, fight a boss and move on to the next village the menu gives you.

Also, while the puzzles were never extremely hard, these puzzles aren't hard at all. Granted, younger players may struggle, but I had absolutely no problem figuring them out. It was as if every puzzle was obvious.

In the end, I didn't regret getting this game. I love the two new characters, their fights, struggles, and care they show to each other and the rest of the world. The only thing that would have made it better for me was returning the voice actors and the world map.

If you played the first game and wish for a second and worthy helping, I won't lie, this game served me plenty. Once you pass some of the obstacles that you dislike, this game is rather enjoyable. I liked it, I hope you do, too.

A Must Have
This game is perfect if you are a fan of the first game. The first was better of course, but I still enjoyed this one immensely. I have spent a lot of time playing it with my brother and we both love it. I haven't finished the game yet, but my brother has on his file. So, here I'll go into details about the plot and game play. Then I'll go into some differences from the original.

PLOT:
This game takes place after the original ended. The world is a new place, Tethe'allans and Sylvrantis are now living together in one world. But it's not quite peaceful. Half-elves are hated and feared still and the Tethe'allans look down on the less advanced Sylvrantis.

It follows the story of a Sylvranti boy named Emil. He and Marta join up and go on an adventure to find and hatch the centurion's cores in order to bring balance to the world. Centurions are like the protectors/ stabilizers of the world's mana.

You'll learn more about them in the game.
And that's the basic plot, without giving anything away, at least, nothing you don't find out in the first couple minutes of the game anyway.

GAME PLAY:
In some respects it is very similar to the original. In stead of calling moves "techs" though, they are now referred to as "artes." There are the 4 A-moves, and the 4 B-moves. However there are now 8 C-moves. 4 with the control pad on the wii-remote, and 4 that can be used by shaking either the remote or the numchuck.

Sadly, first player can only play as Emil or Marta, but it is possible to switch players during a battle. And only Emil or Marta can be the one shown walking around.
Also, 2nd player can no longer control anything except for during fights.

The characters from the old game come back and some join your team. Usually no more than 2 or 3 at a time. Regal and Sheena are with you for a long time. As I said, you cannot control them as 1st player, but 2nd player can be them and first player can switch to them during a battle.

Another down side is that they don't level up from experience. They gain levels and moves as the game progresses and different bosses are beat. But it's still fun to play as your favorite character from the old game! And they are a big help.


You might have noticed that there are not always four humans on your team. In order to fix that problem and give everyone 4 fighters, the makers decided to add "monsters" to your team. Emil can bond with certain monsters that can then fight for you.

They cannot be human controlled at all, not even by 2nd player, but are a major asset to your team. Everyone has a special ability that may or may not work. For example, a wolf on my team may or may not automatically revive someone who died.

This doesn't happen regularly, but as a healer, it's a big help when it does. Others heal without using a spell. Again, this doesn't mean you won't die, only that you are less likely too die as easily.

To use the sorcerers ring, you have to aim with the wii remote.
You still collect grade and can use it at the end of the game to buy "cheats" for the next game.

DIFFERENCES:
-You jump from place to place; no more flying on reiards. This makes it more linear than necessary, but it's possible to go to more places than just where you have to go next. For example, you can go to Meltokio instead of the earth temple.

-You no longer cook for your teammates. Instead you cook for your monsters by talking to cats to get them to like you/level up. Though recipes are harder to find and I don't think there are as many.

-Your healer (Marta) is also a good fighter.
-Every character (even the old ones) have a special they can use by pressing c and doing a certain move. It's similar to a group attack and often just as damaging. They vary from player to player. For example, Emil's will basically kill one enemy, but may not so much as harms the others. Marta's heals the other players while hurting the enemy, though not doing as much damage as some of the others. I believe it was Zelos's that killed nearly everything in range.

-All the silent side conversations are now voiced making them much more enjoyable to watch. Many of them are hilarious.
-Voice actors were changed, but I was surprised how quickly I got used to them

I hope that was helpful and not too verbose. I wanted to leave a good review with a lot of detail my brother and I were curious about when I bought it. It's a great game and I encourage anyone who liked the first to also try this one out.

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