Customer Reviews

Tales Of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Pros:

+Good looking game
+Fun battle system
+Returning characters who do more than simply make an appearance
+For the most part, good voice acting

Cons:

-Battling can be a button mashing affair
-A slow story to start
-Too linear
-If you haven't played the first game the plot becomes harder to understand throughout and it is just harder to appreciate

When Tales of Symphonia debuted on the Gamecube, it became an unprecedented cult classic. Since then there have been several Tales games to come about, but none have hit the spark Tales of Symphonia did on the Gamecube. Fans of Tales of Symphonia will probably come to Dawn of the New World with open arms. Newcomers, however, might do best to play the original first.

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World takes place two years after the original. The story itself can seem a bit complicated at times. Mostly because there are a lot of things thrown in from the first game. In terms of being a sequel it's not bad in the sense that it brings in familiar faces who do more than just present a cameo, and that it also has you revisiting areas, but it also refers to the first game many times down the road. Needless to say, if you haven't played the first Tales of Symphonia, some of the story just might not click right away and you might even find some of it to be a mess. The original game had a lot to swallow and much of it you'll be expected to remember. It also doesn't help that the story isn't all that well paced. It takes a while for it to jump into things. Tales has never been great about jumping into the story, but for some reason it's a bigger problem with Dawn of the New World.

On the other hand, the characters in and of themselves are interesting. You'll learn a lot about them, and familiar faces returning also helps matters along. There are also skits that are optional side conversations that add to the story and characters. It's easy to like the characters, and it's nice that skits are voiced this time around, unlike the original Gamecube title.

Also like many Tales games, get ready for a lot of conversation and exposition. There's some good humor within the game and most of the dialog isn't bad at all. The voice acting is strong, for the most part, but there are some areas where it's laughable.

One of the bigger differences between Dawn of the New World and the original Gamecube title actually comes from the fact that the world map completely restricts exploring. It's now a point and click mechanic. On one hand, considering the amount of running around you'll be doing, it's nice to have that quick and easy access. On the other hand, part of the fun of an RPG is exploring. The new world map system makes the game much more linear than it really has to be.

When you're exploring dungeons, however, the game can be exciting. Mainly because Dawn of the New World doesn't get rid of the battle system the Tales series is known for. Once in battle, Tales plays similar to an action RPG where you can run up to enemies and start clobbering away. You've also got special attacks called Artes you can use provided you have the right amount of TP. There are times when the game can become a button mashing fest, but there are times when some genuine strategy is needed. Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World isn't exactly an easy game. When you're not controlling the other characters they are controlled by AI that, for the most part, does a good job. Luckily you can issue commands and customize things if they aren't to your liking.

Dawn of the New World isn't a bad looking game by any means. It ditches the cell shaded look for something a bit more realistic. It doesn't look quite as artsy as the first game did as a result, but it's not terrible by any means. You'll also visit a lot of locations from the very first game that look almost exactly the same. The same could be said of the music. There are a couple returning tracks that are remixed but there's some new stuff as well. Tales of Symphonia didn't exactly have memorable music to begin and Dawn of the New World isn't different in that regard either. It's not bad music, you just won't find yourself remembering any of it.

Unfortunately, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World doesn't exactly have a massive appeal. This is a game meant for those who enjoyed their romp through the Gamecube original. If you've never played the original game, it might be a little harder to get a grasp on everything that's mentioned throughout the plot. It's perfectly accessible to newcomers and they'll probably like it if JRPGs are their thing, but its hard to deny that the game is more appealing if you were a big fan of the first one to begin with.

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.

Although for the most part i agree that this is for those who enjoyed the original, i would disagree that it did its part for fan service. All of the original cast make a long, playable appearance, but Namco decided not to get back most of the original voice cast. Heather Hogan, Collette, remains, but other than that, there's almost no one. These voice actors became more to us than voices; They became the characters themselves. Without these, the characters take some getting used to. Other than that, the game is pretty fun. The point and click map makes exploring impossible, which is a downer, but the nostalgic feeling of many of the cities is amazing. The game could have been much more, and with all the delays on the release date, it should have been. It turns out to be a good but not exceptional rpg for the wii, but the small elements missing culminate into a large empty hole that Namco had a hard time filling, even with all the great character development of their new characters. But, what can you expect? This is a spinoff, not a sequal.

I just recently received this game a couple of days ago. I really love the Tales of series the most. Using the Wii remote for it isn't that hard, but my hands get a little tired from holding it for so long.
Anyway, I should talk about the gameplay. You probably already know about the basic plot of the game but nothing of the gameplay or what a person who has played it thinks. I love the plot, even if it is sad to see Emil hating Llyod so much and he will say that constantly to others when he tries to go find him, at least until he meets Raine and realizes why the people of Iselia defend him so ardently. Despite this, I find the conversations funny and entertaining.
What I find disappointing is that it no longer lets you have the characters cook for each other like in previous Tales of games. You also have a system where you can travel quickly to other towns which is a plus to be sure, but sadly you have little to no opportunities to level up and bosses could crush you alive. You have to go to a heavily populated monster area to level up on your own.
I loved the first Tales of Symphonia. And this game has a really interesting plot!
Since I've finished it, I feel that it ended much too quickly and it didn't have that many subplots to suit me. Tales of games are filled with those diverting subplots and I felt disappointed that they took out most of them. And you can't change much about the previous Tales of Symponia characters, only the current ones. Overall, it does have a good plotline and characters.

Bought this game when it just came out. Overall a good game with a few weaknesses that prevent it from becoming something much more.

I've always enjoyed playing Tales games. They bring something very unique to a quite typical genre. Good voice acting, long and engaging storyline, high action battles, and numerous side quests are all very typical of a Tales game. This game benefits from all of these.

Pros:

- Same system as previous Tales games.
- Good and interesting story.
- Plenty of side quests, weapons
- Plenty of moves and combos to perform.

Cons:

- Main character can sometimes get a little annoying
- Monster catching isn't really incorporated well.
- Control does not feel as solid as first game.
- Not too difficult, even on a high setting.

The Pros are pretty simple. It's a Tales game and contains all the important aspects that makes a tales game. There is a good story, good voice acting, and excellent battles. The story is engaging and does not taper off at all, so you should be interested throughout the game. There are tons of things to do and you should easily be able to spend 50+ hours on one playthrough if you're looking to do everything there is.

The downsides are not too bad. Personally, I feel that the Main character can be a little bit annoying. I won't get into this much as not to spoil the game, but it feels a little too emo. Needless to say, I was happier with the previous Tales game main character.

The main new feature in this game is the ability to catch monsters you have defeated and recruit them into your team. You can have up to three monsters in your party if you wish, making you kind of like Ash Ketchum. This aspect of the game feels a little bit un-incorporated. There isn't a real need to catch a ton of monsters other than to say you have. Because of this, you can simply catch a few useful monsters, such as high damage or high healing monsters, and then you're pretty much set for the rest of the game. The monsters level quite fast and can easily get powerful enough to do massive amounts of combo damage. This makes the end-game a little bit too easy if you've done your monster up right. Believe me, it's not difficult to do. This brings me to the problem of the game being too easy. There isn't really a challenge towards the end, not even the end boss.

The controls on the wii are fine, although they don't really use the wiimote much. There are a few attempts to incorporate the wiimote features in the game, but otherwise it could have been made into a gamecube game. Compared to ToS, the main character does not seem to be as easily maneuverable as Lloyd. There seems to be slight delays in executing combos that will need some time getting used to.

Overall, a good game, but could have been a great game if they upped the difficulty, tightened the controls, and incorporated the monster catching more into the game.

Lets start with the pros:
1. Good graphics. Improve greatly but still kept the original form from its predecessor so fans of the original Tales will be delighted.
2. New concept. Introduction of befriending monsters! (That's right! The very monster you kill you can now befriend and have them join you and level them up like Pokemon!)
3. Very good voice acting. Usually when you get these japanime (is what I like to call them) based game and you have the dubbed American version, voice acting is terrible. However, this game really hit it on the spot with the voice acting. Awesome job (way better than the predecessor).
4. Interesting plot line. It kept me interested though I have to say these japanime games really need to drop the cliche of memory problems/split personality issues. Really why does every hero has to have a problem with their memory?
5. How you run into monsters actually affects the start of the battle! Yes it does! If you run into them from behind, you start the battle with them being dazed and vice versa.
6. Those mini scenes now have sounds! You can actually hear them speak. And BTW I found many of them hilarious (kept me laughing and entertained).

Now the bad:
1. Not much has change besides the new concept of befriending monsters. Same old hack and slash, building up combos, ect. ect. One thing I dislike about this is the lack of skills they offer. Much less than what the original had.
2. You can only use 2 main people. Yes the game previews are misleading! While old Tales of Symphonia heroes do reappear again and do join your party, you cannot control them. You can only essentially control the two main protagonist of this series. (You can't control the monster that you befriend either).
3. AI is really stupid. Unlike the prequel the sequel setup for AI strategy is really bad in the sense that there is barely anything at all. Most of your option are "Attack Freely", "Block Magic", "Frontiness" and other of the sort. You tactics are really limited to the option that they give you. (So don't expect AI to do all of the work. Oh and I also love how when you're hp is low all the AI starts to heal you instead of just one...).
4. Corniness. O-M-G some parts are really corny. "I realize now your kindness is not really a weakness." "I will always love you forever." ect. ect. If your into that mushy stuff then I guess it won't bother you that much but it bothers me a lot.
5. Marta is extremely annoying sometimes (this is just my personal opinion though).
6. Short. Even with doing sidequests and other things I finished the game in under 25 hours (pretty short for an RPG imo).
7. I wish they had like help journal in the menu because honestly a lot of the concepts were confusing for me so a help option would be really nice idea in the menu.
8. Where are the other Centurions? I mean the prequel actually shows you all the summon spirits but in this game you only get to see two out of 8 centurions...? Did they just get lazy and didn't want to design the other 6?

Neutral stuff that could be good or bad depending on you:
1. As I mentioned, though new concept are introduce most of the battle still hasn't change from the prequel. This means same stuff you've been doing in the last game. Whether this is good or bad depends on you really.
2. While skills were limited in the sense of you can't use between S or T in this version it makes things more simple. (You don't have to be worried about all the skills you'll miss if you choose S instead of T, and likewise). Again, good or bad depends really on you.
3. You no longer have the option of exploring the map. Initially key places appears on the map and you have to select them. You can't walk around the world map like you did in the prequel. This means game time and exploration cuts down dramatically. And also the tediousness of walking around only to find a dead end on a map...
4. Stay loyal to its predecessor. Not much has change. However, you really need to play Tales of Symphonia before playing Dawn of the New World to truly appreciate all the game has to offer (there are more references back to the prequel). But maybe too loyal. I want a little bit of uniqueness too you know?
5. Dungeons are short and easy to solve. Which makes the game easier to play. (Though I haven't tried this on hard mode yet so it may take longer... but that just means stronger monster).

My overall view of this game:
Basically, IMO this game was put together as a fan service for all those who were madly in love with Tales of Symphonia. People who haven't played the original will probably not enjoy this game as much as I can. The plot was stable but I found it... rushed in a sense. The game was cut really short as well. I found myself really disappointed though in the fact that I couldn't control my other heroes (that was a huge bomb shell for me). Though I was mostly impress with the voice acting (definitely hire these voice actors again). So my recommendation is, if you liked the prequel you'll probably like the sequel. If you didn't like it then I suggest not buying it since you'll probably won't like this as well. But hey not bad for a game that only cost 40 instead of the 50 right?

This was a pretty sweet game. It has awesome graphics and a really nice gameplay system. Some bad things about it are that there is no world map interaction and the game seemed to have a cut scene every 10 steps. But other than that, awesome game at an awesome price. Way to go seller. You delivered on this one.

Firstly, let me start off by saying if you've never played part 1, DO NOT attempt to play this game. The story is exactly what you'd expect it to be, a sequel. It starts off right where part 1 left off, so if you've never played Tales on the NGC, you'll be left in the dark to a story that's actually quite epic with a genius plot. I've seen people complain about the new world map and how it's more linear. Also about a few voice actors changing. Don't let that discourage you. The world map for Final Fantasy Tactics was exactly the same and that never stopped it from being an excellent game, and the same goes for TOS:Dawn Of The New World. The voice actors for one or two characters has changed but it's still very good, and very comical. Graphics are slightly better, still keeping that cell-shaded look, but with better proportions than part 1. It has a more mature feel. Controls are tight and responsive, and the new monster-raising ability adds to the fun. It's like they mixed in a Pokemon element in the game. Training monsters, evolving them, teaching them new moves. It's quite the rush. The game has good length too. Not GREAT, but good. I just started the 2nd-to-last chapter and I've clocked in about 47 hours of gameplay. Judging from how it's playing out, it may have 60 hours worth of gaming time, which is good, especially for a game with a dotted world map. You move from dot to dot to get to areas, but once you've entered them, the areas are quite large. By itself I'd rate this game a 7/10. If you've played the first part and you're transferring your save data to continue the action, it's a solid 9/10. Not being 10/10 because of the world map. Hope that helps! :)

Although the main character is whiny and weak most of the time, I still found much to enjoy here. You can't beat the price at under twenty dollars. Jump on it now before Amazon runs out.

(written by the daughter) This was an AWSOME gaming experience from the first time I turned it on! The story was fun and I found myself in tears or leaping for joy on my couch with the characters! If you LOVE RPGs like I do then you'll have no problem enjoying this game. The characters are easy to love (or hate) and along with an emotional story there are plenty of moments that you'll find youself LOLing to break up the drama and refrences that will make any gamer grin from ear to ear. All in all Wonderful game wonderful graphics Amazing story lovable characters, a MUST-HAVE for the Wii!!