Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is a direct sequel to the original Tales of Symphonia and was released on Nintendo Wii in 2009. I won’t divulge too much into story specifics as to avoid any spoilers for the previous game.

Dawn of the New World starts off sometime after the first game with a war ensuing between two races. One night the town of Palmacosta was raided to eradicate insurgents aligned to an opposing faction. This raid disregarded the notion of civilians and every citizen was slaughtered that night. You play as an orphaned child,Emil, who witnessed his parent’s death during the raid. The interesting part about this was that his parents were killed by the previous game’s protagonist, Lloyd Irving. Emil then manages to flee to the town of Luin but not before he meets a mysterious girl who would play a major role later in the game.

TOS2 (1)

6 months later and Emil is now living with his Aunt and Uncle in Luin. Emil is extremely weak and a real pushover so much so that his own family abuses him physically and verbally. The townspeople blame him for the recent influx and erratic behaviour of monsters for some reason and they too have little respect or regard for Emil as a human being. Due to numerous events, Emil finds himself protecting that mysterious girl he met that night, Marta, from a man he met in town called Richter.

As it would turn out, Richter is on a mission to kill Marta as she is trying to resurrect an old spirit named Ratatosk whom Richter believes is an evil force. Ratatosk is the spirit of the old mana tree and he created Centurions to control monsters and the flow of mana throughout the world, but since the tree withered and died the Centurions is now in a dormant state. Marta is trying to revive these Centurions and bring balance to world. Emil manages to escape with Marta due to him receiving some of Ratatosk’s power granted to him by an awakened centurion, Tenebrea , and the two set out to restore the world to its once peaceful state.

TOS2 (2)

The game sets up an interesting plot and lays the foundation for what could’ve been a pretty stellar story. But in the end it’s brought down by weak characters, odd pacing and a disappointing conclusion. The worst offender of them all is Emil himself. He is an extremely weak and spineless lead. Not a moment goes by when he is not sighing or apologizing for something, at one point I though he has chronic asthma due him constantly gasping for air as he sighs for the umpteenth time. There is a reason for this behavior but that does not change that it makes him a totally unrelatable and quite honestly an annoying character for most of the game. At the end of it I felt drained and I really forced myself to push further into the game.

The gameplay adopts some of the newer additions made to later entries in the game, such as the free running mechanic. By holding down square Emil can run all across the battlefield in any direction as opposed to only being able to run left or right. Battles still remain largely unchanged and are still a fun exercise, but one of the major drawbacks for me was the fact that your party no longer consisted of a party of 4 people. The only two characters that stay in your party throughout the game are Emil and Marta (who are both really annoying and irritating), the rest is filled up by monsters you catch after battle. While I do enjoy monster capturing in a game, here, it just feels off.

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There is a new elemental grid that changes elements based on the skills you use. If you fill the grid with elements matching the monster you’re fighting you have a chance to capture it at the end of the battle. Having monster really detracts from the experience as it just doesn’t feel the same as having your human comrades’ fight alongside you that give little post-battle quotes for example. These monsters can be levelled up and evolved by cooking for them. All in all the battles were still fun, they felt more button mashy this time around with less focus on guarding but still enjoyable none the less.

The graphics are better in this game and looks much crisper while still retaining the bright and colourful aesthetics of the original. There is also no overworld as well, and while some have complained that this detracts from the exploration aspect of the original, I honestly didn’t mind as travelling across the world map in the first game was such a chore. Music is really not that impressive in this game featuring a few new songs mixed in with remixes from the first game, but nothing really stands out and the entire soundtrack ends up being completely forgettable. This game features dual-audio options as well if you want to play with the Japanese voices.

TOS2 (5)

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is by no means a bad game but it’s not a very good one either. The weak characters coupled by disappointing plot revelations and a weak monster-capturing mechanics really brought this experience down and made this 40 hour adventure feel more cumbersome than it should’ve been. Tales fans will still find something to enjoy in this game though but if you’re new to the series I suggest you try some of the other, better games in the series.

Last Updated: March 25, 2014

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Tales of Symphonia chronicles
I would’ve loved to give this compilation a higher score but the sequel really brought the entire experience down. That said ,this is great value for your money and the original Tales of Symphonia more than justifies a purchase.
8.0
Tales of Symphonia chronicles was reviewed on PlayStation 3
77 / 100

32 Comments

  1. Haha, of course it would be Umar writing this 😛

    Reply

    • Rince

      March 25, 2014 at 13:39

      LOL

      Reply

    • Umar hearts Grandia

      March 25, 2014 at 13:39

      Hehe, of course. ‘Tis my life 🙂

      Reply

      • allie

        March 25, 2014 at 14:39

        tis your job

        Reply

        • Umar hearts Grandia

          March 25, 2014 at 14:50

          Lol allie, again, it’s not!:p

          Reply

  2. Umar hearts Grandia

    March 25, 2014 at 13:38

    Hey Tales of Xillia cross over background :p lol

    What a great game this was…Hearkens back to a time when Jrpgs were king

    Reply

    • Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim

      March 25, 2014 at 13:55

      fixed. ;P I can;t tell the difference. all the same shite.

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief of Auraxis

        March 25, 2014 at 13:59

        LOOOOOOOOOOOOL

        Reply

      • Umar hearts Grandia

        March 25, 2014 at 13:59

        Lol……….Damn you. Go play your kak Infamous:Second Doos

        Reply

      • Alien Emperor Trevor

        March 25, 2014 at 14:03

        I know right? Rebellious teenage boy saves the world with cardboard friend character caricatures from an androgynous lady-man-boy by fighting with penis extensions while disapproving & foolish adults look on & learning valuable life lessons. *cooks an egg on Umar’s forehead*

        Reply

        • Sk3tz0

          March 25, 2014 at 14:06

          You forgot the most important factor in a JRPG.. Daddy issues..

          Reply

        • Umar hearts Grandia

          March 25, 2014 at 14:06

          You’r taunts don’t phase me. Because countless JRPGs have taught me that justice will always prevail and my friends will always have my back (Though I don’t have any friends 🙁 )

          My life lessons trumps your childish comments , be gone fiend!

          Reply

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            March 25, 2014 at 14:08

            Noooooooooo I’ve been vanquished by indifference! 😀

  3. Rince

    March 25, 2014 at 13:39

    A tree, that is dying because the mana has been used up, wasn’t that Secret of Mana’s story? 0-O

    Reply

    • Umar hearts Grandia

      March 25, 2014 at 13:43

      Somewhat similiar yes, but here the Gods didn’t intervene or try to destroy the humans that exploited the mana but instead the Goddess and Angels came up with a plan to restore or regenerate the Mana and the world

      Reply

    • Alien Emperor Trevor

      March 25, 2014 at 13:43

      I think that’s offset by the number of trees saved from death by this review not being in print. 😉

      Reply

      • Rince

        March 25, 2014 at 13:44

        That is very true 😛

        Reply

      • Umar hearts Grandia

        March 25, 2014 at 13:49

        No complains when they burn wood to braai rats now do they

        Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          March 25, 2014 at 13:53

          Is that what they eat in JRPGs?

          Reply

          • Umar hearts Grandia

            March 25, 2014 at 13:54

            Lol Yup, chug it down with a Potion. Much better than medi gel , BLEGH!!

  4. Sk3tz0

    March 25, 2014 at 13:46

    I blame GTAV for me not finish tales of Xillia.. it was an awesome game.. but will most definitive get this game as well

    Reply

    • Umar hearts Grandia

      March 25, 2014 at 13:48

      Awesome. You can get the games seperately on PSN 🙂 but Man Xillia is damn good ain’t it

      Reply

  5. Grimthwacker

    March 25, 2014 at 13:59

    Tales of Vesperia is so far the best “Tales of” game I’ve played…. Have this one sitting on my PS3… hopefully I will get to in the not too distance future….

    Reply

    • Umar hearts Grandia

      March 25, 2014 at 14:01

      There has not been a single Tales game that has surpassed Vesperia in terms of story. Though right now, Graces f has the best Battle System imo

      Hope you get around to Symphonia, it’s so good

      Reply

      • Grimthwacker

        March 25, 2014 at 14:08

        I agree. Vesperia’s story was excellent. And the lead character (Yuri Lowell) was also one of the best protagonists… He was strong, and does what needs to be done. Not always what is…. politically correct or quite legal. And he never moaned or complained as far as I remember.

        Reply

        • Umar hearts Grandia

          March 25, 2014 at 14:14

          Couldn’t agree more, He was superb as a protag, though I’m quite fond of Lloyd and Jude as well. Don’t know how I feel about Zesteria’s protag though, need more info

          Reply

  6. Novita Anastesia

    March 25, 2014 at 15:09

    hemmm

    Reply

    • Umar hearts Grandia

      March 25, 2014 at 15:12

      Hemmmmm? 🙂

      Reply

  7. Angela Neal

    March 25, 2014 at 16:57

    Who says it’s not good? It’s fan to play actually. I like it!

    Reply

    • Umar hearts Grandia

      March 25, 2014 at 19:14

      I like it too 🙂 A LOT!

      Reply

  8. Pingas

    March 25, 2014 at 17:49

    As much as I usually prefer Japanese voices for my games, Symphonia has one of the best English dubs ever seen in video games, and it far surpasses the original voice track. Just a heads up because the author was unaware of this.

    Also some errors – it’s Lloyd Irving, not Irvine as in the shitty FF8 character. And the Exsphere effects you mentioned are not actually compound skills but single skills.

    Reply

    • Umar hearts Grandia

      March 25, 2014 at 18:57

      Hey there, thanx for the heads up, I honestly have no idea how I misspelled his name 🙁 Appreciate the heads up. Also, I’m confused, equipping certain Exsphere skills in conjunction with each each other creates compound skills no?

      It’s not that I was unaware of this, but I personally didn’t like the voice acting, and I still stand by it, the English voice work felt really awkward at times.Yes it is good, but I felt the Japanese VA was far better.

      Also….Irvine is a cool character okay lol Even though he did chicken out and he got Squall killed at the end of disc one…..Well maybe he isn’t THAT cool. But he had a sweet hat 🙂

      Reply

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