Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

"You can't budget out the fun."

The Tales series is a highly acclaimed RPG series that offers fast-paced action and will put your ability of micromanaging to the test. The newest Tales game, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, is a low budget spinoff of a game in the mothership titles. As such, this review will be a bit more lenient on the overall score, but I will note all the major flaws this game has, compared to all video games, and to the (US released) mothership titles.

Story - 9/10

The Tales series has never been known very well for an epic, groundbreaking story. Usually, they are riddled with cliches and obvious plot twists, but DotNW has a different feel to it. While it still has its fair share of cliches that are probably impossible to avoid in this day and age, it broke the usual mold of 'beat the bad guy, save the world.' I won't say any more on that matter though. That is for you to enjoy :) An unrelated note, this game is filled with the same comedic dialogue that made the other games' stories keep on going.

As for the story being related to the original Tales of Symphonia game, the game does an excellent job of recapping important parts to new players of the series. These moments are individually spaced out from each other, so veterans of the series will not feel bored hearing old information. In fact, deep inside, it made me feel superior, because you can tell where they fill in the gaps for new players, and it gives satisfaction to say you have played the amazing first game.

Gameplay - 8/10

Ah, the part where the Tales series has always shone. To get in a battle in the (3D) Tales series, you must run into a monster in the field map. After the screen shatters, you are placed in a circular arena. Your party (usually 4) against the enemy party (ranging from 1-7, averaging around 4). You control the lead character and the others are controlled by an AI and micromanage your way to victory!

The way this game is set up, your usual party consists of Emil and Marta, the only two new playable characters this game, and two monsters. The monster system is a great system. Basically, depending on an elemental grid that the game explains better than I can, monsters may join you after battle. They level up and evolve, starting over at level 1 with their stats carrying over a bit, allowing you to create amazingly strong monsters if you put enough time into it. Some of the old cast from the first game will also join you for a while, but they always come at predetermined levels and will not level up, but they stay at good levels for where you meet them, and will be a good asset to your team while you're learning the new mechanics. On subsequent playthroughs, however, you will most likely only use Emil, Marta, and monsters, as there is a feature to enhance your new games, letting you do different things such as level up 10x faster or unlock mania mode. Many veterans will complain that having the old cast have predetermined levels is a letdown, but I do not see it as that. Since the focus is on the new characters, the old characters should only be used for your first playthrough, to help you familiarize yourself with the game. Then on the next playthroughs, you can play the "correct" way. The only things I wish were changed was the ability to player control monsters and also let the old cast be able to be in the first character slot. The only way to control the old characters in combat is to switch every single time, which gets tedious.

Compared to the other 3D Tales, DotNW lacks, but that makes it by no means bad. In the other games, there was usually some way to overlimit, which is basically overpowered mode. But, that is gone completely. Artes, which are the skills the players use that cost TP (or mana/MP in other series, usually) only come in three varieties in this game, the standard basic, arcane, and mystic artes. The game does not count the amount of uses of your artes, so the artes do not evolve over time as in other games. Unison attacks are also simplified. The controlled character executes his/her unison attack when the gauge is filled, and the other three may join in, depending on the elemental grid. Monsters will also use different level unison attacks, depending on how much of their element is on the grid. Aside from that mostly, though, the gameplay is still as fun as the older games.

Audio - 6/10

The music in this game is a lot of the same from the first game, with some remixes and some new songs. The music is excellent for the most part, but there is one thing that I will not leave unnoticed. In-battle, all sounds will randomly fade out for a few seconds, and then recover eventually. This greatly takes away from the mood of the battle, and that is a very important aspect of this game. If it weren't for that, I would easily give it a 10/10, for nostalgia of music that deserves a 10/10 in the first place, and the new music that feels so great that it gets hard to leave town sometimes.

Graphics - 6/10

The graphics remind me of the audio. For the most part, the graphics look great. While it's not going to be the next Crysis, the art direction was great. The focus on the character's faces and expressions were always great and humorous, and the levels all got a graphical update. But it lets down in one important area: at the end of the game! The final dungeon looks more grainy than a bucket of rice. After all the beautiful places the cast visits on their quest, they end with worse graphics than the first released PS1 games are capable of. That may or may not be an overstatement, but it is truly horrific. The mood of the last cutscene in the final dungeon is completely ruined because it's like looking at vomit.

Oh, and one more thing I almost completely forgot about due to my rant of the final dungeon. The game lags. Not in the battles, thankfully, but in the most beautiful areas of the game. The framerate will drop, and the beauty will lose her makeup for a few seconds. Again, it loses the mood, but nowhere near as bad as the final dungeon. Overall, this score is based on the entire game, and the ending is the most important part. Up until the last hour, however, the graphics would be a 9/10, for the framerate drop.

Controls - 9/10

The controls actually work very well for this game, but I have a few complaints. Firstly, using the sorcerer's ring on monsters is a bit hard. They have a small hitbox, but that is very minor. Most of the time, hitting them will only agitate them. I don't think I used the right element on a monster at all the first playthrough. Then in battle, they changed the guard and free run button to the same button. This actually works out very well, but the new method to backstep is hard to get used to (double tap back). A plus is that the Wii offers more shortcuts than other systems thanks to "waggle" controls, but I never used them personally. I won't add or subtract because of them because waggling isn't precise enough, but it will work correctly if not abused and you understand the "waggling mechanics."

As for controlling the AI characters, they are pretty dumb. The other games offered a plethora of options that truly customize how the AI works, but in this game you will wish you had friends to play the healers. The only option you get to control them by is how much TP they will spend usually. This was a big disappointment, but it's manageable if you're a reasonable level for bosses.

Difficulty - 8/10

Monsters are usually pretty easy and bosses will have you restarting 10 times. I wish they would have made the bosses easier or make the ally AI more manageable. Casters will try to cast as the boss approaches them and then proceeds to 1-hit them to KO status. I'm not on the second playthrough yet to find out how much "fun" mania mode will be, although that will probably be more enjoyable too, since I will be used to the mechanics of this game.

Random section - (no score)

In the other Tales games, there are costumes and such you can get for your characters, allowing you to change outfits, and it helps give some customization and replayability. But those are gone in this game. Also, there is no more world map, which the developers have admitted to being ashamed of, but it works out well enough without it. It can actually be a hit or miss thing, depending on the player. The replayability is almost as strong as other Tales games. A few sidequests are present, and monster hunting will take quite a while. The length almost feels irrelevant, since you will play this game until it breaks your Wii. But the first playthrough is 20-30 hours.

Overall - 9/10

It may be filled with graphical hiccups and audio bugs, but if you're not having fun while playing this game, you're just trying to hate it or are doomed to hate JRPGs.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/05/09

Game Release: Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (US, 11/11/08)