Tales Of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

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 themI 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.

Here's my story. I started getting into the Tales series after playing Tales of Berseria and loving it. I heard so many bad things about this game that I figured I didn't have to play this game. What changed my mind. I didn't enjoy the game that people we're giving high praises to which was Tales of Symphonia. Fans would tear apart the other Tales games and call Symphonia a great game. I played Abyss the game that sold less than Symphonia and enjoyed that game much more. I was still hesitant to play Dawn of New World, but I was still curious if people just let nostalgia glasses tear apart this game like they did with others. Luckily I found YouTubers like Eric Landon and Reggie who preferred this over Symphonia, so I decided to risk and I ended up enjoying it. It's no masterpiece, and it still doesn't beat Tales of Abyss and definitely not even close to beating Berseria and Vesperia for me, but it's combat was an improvement over Symphonia's and I was enjoying the monster collecting.Overall, if you're going to hate this game. Hate for your own reason. Not because other people say you should hate it.

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! :)