ABOUT First Released November 11, 2008 Platforms wii, ps3 Genre RPG Rating for Alcohol Reference, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes Summary 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 players can capture more than 200 unique enemies and train them to actively participate in battle. Players 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 players 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.
For the final month of Tales of 2010, we'll be playing Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, a sequel to the highly successful Tales of Symphonia, the first Tales title to be released on the Wii, and the last one to be released in North America. Dawn of the New World takes place two years after the events of Symphonia, and follows Emil and Marta as they travel the newly reformed planet in search of the cause behind the unusual weather phenomena that have been showing up since the worlds reunited. However, standing in their way is none other than Lloyd Irving, the former hero. Thanks to everyone who participated in this marathon, and enjoy the final month. Although I would hardly say Dawn of the New World was necessary (the end does clear up a gigantic plot hole between Symphonia and Phantasia (granted, it opens up several questions, too, but no where near as major), I actually though the story was doen fairly well and without feeling like a cheap tie-in to the orignal game.
Not everyone seems to agree with me, but I did rather like how it adds to the story of Symphonia and to the world and history of Aselia as well. Anyway, while I should be starting this game tonight, my sister may be free to play Arc Rise Fantsia. We shall see. I started playing this 3 days before December. I'm about 5 hours in and so far I'm not really enjoying DotNW. The battle system feels like a dumbed down TotA but with the group attacks of ToS, it takes entirely too much time for the change enemy cursor to do anything, and auto block just feels cheap.
I really with the main character would be more Guy from TotA and less Seto from Fragile Dreams or at least stop apologizing so much. I have heard there is a decent love story in this game at least; I just hope it doesn't feel forced since I'm not picking up much chemistry yet. I'll keep at this though; hopefully, it gets better.
Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World Characters: Alice| Decus| Emil| Marta| Richter Units: 3-Star. [Might of Ratatosk] Emil ☆☆☆☆☆ Type: Slash: LV: 1 (99) ATK: 850 (3310) HP: 423 (1799) RCV: 104 (548) LC: 4. Tales of Link Wikia is a FANDOM Games Community.
I got in about three hours of gameplay so far (ten hours total) since I restarted the game I put on hiatus. I started from the point in chapter 2, when Emil and Marta thank Colette for saving them from Alice and she joins the party.
I stopped while exploring the Dynasty Ruins, having already encountered and fought Alice and having Zelos come and get angry at the two of them for seeking revenge against Lloyd. I still say the baby Winged Dragon looks like a Togekiss. It is around this point when I started to get suspicious of Emil, or at least on his backstory when I first played the game. He was (and currently is as I'm playing it) very vague about his life in Palmacosta, even forgetting things like the Karisma moutains that are not too far from there, or apparently not having learned about them. Then there's everyone in town saying 'oh you really changed!' Then Thomas says 'that can't be right' when Emil tells him who he is. Since Emil seemed/seems to not be hiding anything, I was really confused as to what was going on.
That part with the townfolks saying he really changed makes me especially think that Aster must looks a little similar to the original Emil, the one killed in the Blood Purge and whose name and identity Ratatosk took on. If Aster looked radically different from the real Emil, people would certainly say something (Emil had black hair! or Emil was much shorter) Since the real Emils father had blonde hair, theres that possible similarity. I must say, that I do like how this game foreshadows the truth about Emil and leads you down a false road (that Emil is an amnesiac Aster) while still dropping hints as to who he really is) Ahh, do I love these skits! They are an especially nice change-of-pace from the party chats in Arc Rise Fantasia. There are some decent ones that I came across in that game, but most of them are just the character recapping or comments on current game events.
I just love the banter between the three in Dawn of the New World, especially with the different personalities Marta and Emil have and Tenebrae love of snark and making fun of Emil. Who wouldnt want to make fund of his/her boss while he or she does not remember that s/hes your boss. The voice-acting really helps a lot, too. While I enjoyed the skits in the original ToS, I missed voiced skits (though I consider the lack of VA in ARFs party chats a godsend with that Arceus awful voice acting). I especially like the Stick in the Mud skit where Colettes Cloudcukoolander-ness drags both Emil and Tenebrae in a discussion about the difference between getting mud and slime stuck to your fur. Marta of all people ends up saying someone make it stop! which I take to also mean Im surrounded by idiots! Ive noticed that despite having heard his original actor only a few months ago, Zeloss new VA is not nearly as irksome as I initially though it to be. Shiloh Strong still does a much better job and I still wish he had reprised his role, but I guess New Zelos has grown on me.
While the romance doesnt get good until later in the game (though the first step towards the deconstruction of this seemingly Strangled-by-the-Red-Thread relationship will occur shortly after where I currently am), I did notice that this game does one thing rather differently than most of attempts at romance Ive seen in RPGs. Mostly in that Emil is completely aware that Marta is crushing on him hard. He is, however, also fully aware that she is more in love in the idea of love, and of this crazy idealized version of Emil that he is most certainly not.
He is understandably at a loss for what to do. He doesnt dislike Marta and considers her a friend, but he doesnt know what to be about her clinginess and her overblown image of him. This, to me, is a very welcome change from the usual oblivious main character.
On a final, silly note; no matter how hard I try, I can only imagine Ratatosk as looking like a Shiny Rayquaza (theyre black in color). Its especially odd since Rayquaza have nothing to do with trees and Ratatosk was originally a squirrel in Norse mythology.:P. I played for another two hours or so last night. First some basic stats: Emil is level 50.
Marta is level 48. I am training a Fafnir, who used to be a Jormungandr before devolving it and re-evolving him named Mozarkite, a Hippogryph named Id, a Werebear whose name escapes me, and a Vroom named Vidi. I also must have brought over the amount of money I had from the previous game as I have 3,000,000 Gald. Oo Don’t you ever wish that you could somehow convert video game money into real money? I’d increase the difficulty (it’s currently on Hard), but the easier battle means I can move through the game quicker. I finished up the Dynasty Ruins, apparently being swallowed by the Manitou, only to be spit back out not too far from Iselia. What a helpful worm-whale thing.
I ended after visiting the Martel Temple and going after Raine to find Paul. Speaking of Raine, does anyone else prefer this game’s version of her theme song over the original, or is it just me? I know the thing Noishe saw in the river is suppose to be a Noodle Incident, but for some reason, I keep thinking of the sixth episode of Those Who Hunt Elves, where the elf Priestess Annette is sent floating down the river tied to a log naked as a jaybird (if you're familiar with the anime's premise, you'll know why). I highly doubt that's what the writers had in mind, but it's funny to think it was. And here is the start of that deconstruction I was talking about earlier, as well as the start of Emil really growing a spine. After Marta goes on about how “My Emil wouldn’t do that” and Emil finally snaps at her, telling her that she doesn’t know him and that she isn’t seeing him for who he really is.
Marta finally begins to realize that she is treating Emil unfairly by not seeing who he really is and imposing some fantasy on him. This is another thing I love about this game: How Emil and Marta help each other to grown and develop over the course of the game. I also recall how when I first saw this scene with my sister, she said “awkward.” What was the name of the ensuing skit? “Awkward” XD. The last time I played, I saved up right before I can snag Igniss core and fight Bartek. Beforehand, we meet up with another familiar face, Genis. While his skit and general portrait look unchanged from the first game, his in-game model does look a little older.
It seems he hasnt grown very much, and he even comments that hes going to have his growth spurt any day now. Youd think that being a half-elf, hed grow slowly. Then again, I think it was mentioned in the pervious game that once the aging of half-elves slows down significantly when they reach adulthood. Could go either way, I suppose. Speaking of Genis, and Raine for that matter, a note on their new Vas. For Raine, I believe that Tara Platt does a very good job at sounding like Raines original actress Karen Walhgren. However, she sounds. Off during her solo victory quotes, battle quotes, and when going into Ruins Mode.
Platt kind of overdoes it. As for Tara Jayne, she fits Genis perfectly, even making his voice sound like he was grown a bit, even if its only a bit. She could have done his voice originally and I doubt people would complain. While I dislike it when voice actors are replaced, at least, for the most part, Namco chose actors who did a pretty good job at capturing what the original actors did. On a goofy related note, its a good thing that voice actors dont usually work at the same time together.
It could get awfully confusing with three VAs named Tara (Jayne, Platt, and Preseas returning Strong). XD It is also around this point where Marta noticeably tones down her fangirlism and infatuation. She and Emil make up (the first few notes of Eternal Promise played during that scene.if you want to see the world dorkiest smile, just play either that song or the first part of that song while Im around.) and not only is she not telling Emil how much she loves him every ten minutes and saying that hes her knight, she manages to (barely) restrain herself when Emil is blushing around Raine in that one skit. As for Emil, he seems to both be confused by Martas recent actions (he mimics Hibiki Tokai of Vandread when he says girls change their minds awfully fast) and apparently disappointed that she wont rely on him as much. He wants to make himself stronger and able to stand up for himself, but I suppose when the person your are protecting is asking you to not to overdo it, it can be a bit disheartening. Its as Jormungand said earlier; what truly makes this game stand out is the interaction and development of the three core characters.
You really get a feel for who Emil, Marta, and Tenebrae are. While the returning characters get little development and kind of feel like mere shades of who they are, I believe the game makes up for it by really focusing on these three and the growing relationship between the two leads. The voice actors Johnny Yong Bosch and Laura Bailey help a great deal as well. Actually, this isnt the only time Ive seen the smaller party make up for the lack of characters with a great amount of character development and interaction.
The same thing happens in Baten Kaitos Origins between Sagi, Milly, and Guillo. There isnt nearly as much character growth in that game, but the interaction is about as strong. But I was still surprised by it and impressed at the way it was foreshadowed. One theory I had before learning the truth about Emil was that he was Astor, but resurrected and his memory wiped and Ratatosk or part of Ratatosk's conciouness implanted into him somehow.
Since he was having those dreams/visions of Richter killing him, maybe Ratatosk had 'possessed' Astor and Ricther was forced to kill him. No, the truth is ALOT more interesting than that. I'm currently at the Balacruf Masoleum, doing that sub-event with Richter. Regal has recently joined the group, another character whose replacement actor actually does a decent job of depicting Regal.
It's a shame that he's replacing Crispin Freeman, so I can't bring myself to think of him more highly. Yes, I had been in the midst of the Nazdrovie/light-frog fiasco, but of course, I can take time out of stopping the aronist-monster by tagging along with a guy who wants to kill Marta. First off, I thought it was cute how at various points in the game, the creators seemed to be poking fun/throwing a bone to fans of the first game. The one here was when Raine handed Regal a letter and said that he could conisder it a love letter. While the Raine/Kratos pairing was popular for a time (then internet backlash reared it's ugly head and everyone started to hate it. Go firgure), she is occasionally shipped with Regal as a sort of 'Pair the Spares.'
I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought 'wait, she's not serious, is she?' When she said he could consider it a love letter. There also the time earlier when Raine recounted the story of how Lloyd proposed to Lilia so he coudld be a father to that boy Paul. I thought (and still think) it was a Take That to fans who fight over which person Lloyd should end up with. I advanced quite a bit (I'm in chapter six) and I can't really disntinguish this new chunck of game-time from my last one, so I'll just continue it here.
There is so much to write about and I'm tired, but let me see how much I can type. I may end up editing in the rest tomorrow. After finishing the Richter quest, Emil is about 11 levels ahead of Marta. I can't remember the exact levels, but both are over level 100, and I've already increased the difficulty to mania to keep things interesting. I'm running into more encounters than I should though, considering how little time I have left. Maybe I should just play it all out and make one gigantic post. We shall see.
Speaking of Richter, unlike most other times, this is the one instance where I am not scratching my head at yaoi fangirls for their crazy pairing. Though I certainly don't see Emil and Richter in that way, I do think the developers played up the Ho Yay/Foe Yay between the two on purpose. Mostly as a way to both thrown a bone and poke fun at said fangirls (another instance of 'Take That!' At the fandom). That, and it provides hints towards.
Just how close Ricther and Aster may have been. Note that I mostly believe they were also very close friends but I should leave that for later. I know and expected the old cast to be reduced to one-dimensional representations of their former selves (Zelos's protectiveness of Seles is new, though), I am baffled as to why Sheena is suddenly falling into pifalls a lot.
She only did it once (true, it's how she got the 'Clumsy Assassin' moniker when the party first encounters her, but it was mostly Colette's 'fault' anyway that she fell in that trap). Either Colette has been rubbing off on Sheena, or Team Rocket is working for the Vanguard. I have about a day to complete this game, and I seem to have an utter inability to speed things through.
I spent much of last night trying to get Philosophers, onlt to give up because Marta is way to strong at level 150 and the Elaphbolians appear too inferequently. I'll just have to wait until Colette rejoins my paty and really speed run his game. Edit 2- Nope.
I have less than two hours to complete this game, and I just barely started chapter seven. Even though this is one of the shortest games in the series, I am not finishing. I knew I should have played those nights after work, but noooo. Well, anyway, even though I won't be able to finish this game before the year ends (I'll try to finish the playthrough as my first 2011 completed game, though), I still love this game. Oh, it has it's flaws for sure, but compared to other direct sequels, this is actually really well done. While the game does show its poor budget in several ways, it also shows quite a bit of effort that the developers managed to put in despite the budget and time limitations.
It's not as good as the original to be sure, but it has plenty of charm and fun to it in its own right. I have rarely laughed so much playing this game (even Presea's 'Iron Maiden Curse' made me burst out laughing the second time I heard it), I have never been brought so close to tears, and few other games have felt this heartwarming as I watched Emil and Marta's relationship develop. While not by any means perfect, or even exceptional, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is still a pretty good game, and I enjoyed it just as much as the original. It still leaves quite the impact on me, in a good way. It's a bit of a shame that few people joined in for this month, but what can you do?
I also wish I had the time to really go in-depth on why I consider Emil and Marta to be two of my most favorite main characters in RPGs as well as on their romance, but it seems I won't be able to.