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    The Nintendo Wii is a home video game console released on November 19, 2006. The Wii's main selling point was the innovative use of motion controls that its signature Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers allowed for. It became the best selling home console of its respective generation of hardware.

    Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World IGN and GT reviews

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    Dark_Link142

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    #1  Edited By Dark_Link142

    From Gametrailers:

      


    They gave it a 7.9.

    From IGN, the game scored a 6.7
    Wii gamers desperate for a role-playing game, particularly those that enjoyed the first Symphonia, might be able to overlook Dawn of the New World's tired gameplay and convoluted story. This was made for those fans and they probably decided long ago to get this sequel. But games have moved beyond these linear adventures. I can't think of much here to recommend to anyone new to this series. The real-time battle system is fun, but slogging through hours and hours of awkward dialogue in an on-rails undertaking isn't. Dawn's visuals are sufficient, but don't look like anything that couldn't have been done on the GameCube. Being the only RPG on the Wii's horizon, this doesn't feel like a relief -- it feels rather depressing.
    6.5Presentation
    The menus and overworld map look great, but the original Japanese suffers greatly in its translation to English, making most of the story and dialogue a big mess.
    7.0Graphics
    Again, the menus and maps are presented really well, but the in-game graphics are nothing we didn't see on the GameCube. Some of the character animations are good.
    5.5Sound
    The original Japanese voice track probably would have been easier to listen to, as the English translation hardly makes sense, anyway. At best, the music is forgettable -- at worst, it's aggravating.
    6.5Gameplay
    The real-time battles can be fun, but everything else from the linear quests to the monster hunting feels dated. Haven't we played this game, oh, 100 times before?
    7.0Lasting Appeal
    Dawn of the New World is a very long adventure, and there are some extras waiting for you once you've completed it.
    6.7
    Passable
    OVERALL
    (out of 10 / not an average)
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    theshadow027

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    #2  Edited By theshadow027

    Wow that sounds disappointing. I was actually planning on picking this up too.

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    Linkyshinks

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    #3  Edited By Linkyshinks

    Shame, but hope lies in the awesome looking Fragile, which looks positively new.

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    zitosilva

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    #4  Edited By zitosilva

    I expected it to be a lot better, given that the original Tales of Symphonia was a good game.

    It seems that the translation is what really hurted it the most. And since it's something that I really care about I'm guessing it'll really bother me. I guess I'll wait for a price drop.

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    Arkthemaniac

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    #5  Edited By Arkthemaniac

    Yet another case of Gamecube series' not doing anything new on Wii.

    Err, maybe this is the first. NO WAIT, Fire Emblem. I'll say that other, fresher games should get our attention, like Muramasa and Fragile, as Linkyshinks said.

    Also, I'm gonna laugh when Namco says that there's no way to sell hardcore games on Wii because this has iffy sales. Oh, when will they learn . . .
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    Linkyshinks

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    #6  Edited By Linkyshinks

    It's no excuse of course, but I imagine much of their best resources were in use elsewhere on other titles.

    They clearly did this on the cheap with little care for it's reception in the west.  It's the Japanese market playing a role, it really is their fault due to their low standards of expectation.

    Famitsu Review-

    8/8/8/7

    • - Improvements over ToS such when it comes to tempo, production value, and strategy
    • - Tons of events
    • - Battles are more difficult
    • - Could have used more polish
    • - You don’t need to play the Cube outing to enjoy this title, but you’ll get a much richer experience if you have played it

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    DragoonKain1687

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    #7  Edited By DragoonKain1687

    So Famitsu gave it the same score as Lair. which is meh for an RPG. If an RPG cant get a single 9 in Famitsu then I just normally skip them. Sadly, this was the game that was going to make me buy the Wii. I will just wait for some player reviews.

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    Dark_Link142

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    #8  Edited By Dark_Link142

    I believe the original Tales of Symphonia team went on to work on Tales of Vesperia and a few of those members and several new people worked on this game.

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    ZenaxPure

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    #9  Edited By ZenaxPure

    I already preordered mine from amazon, just waiting for it to get here. Have not read any reviews and probably won't but I know they have made a few changes to the game I am personally happy about that I know annoy some others (screw world maps, I do not like walking on them for years without seeing another landmark)

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    DragoonKain1687

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    #10  Edited By DragoonKain1687
    Zenaxzd said:
    "I already preordered mine from amazon, just waiting for it to get here. Have not read any reviews and probably won't but I know they have made a few changes to the game I am personally happy about that I know annoy some others (screw world maps, I do not like walking on them for years without seeing another landmark)"
    Yet that is like the cream of every good self respecting JRPG. What would FF be without it? Well we got X and XII, which are not on par with all the previous games. Also, seing a Tales game without a world map is kind of sad, as Radiant Mythology did so, and it did not turn out so well. It helped gameplay and missions, but kills the story.
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    Knives

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    #11  Edited By Knives

    I'm not going to throw in the towel on this game just yet. I'll wait for the Gamespot review, if they ever get around to it.

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    Linkyshinks

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    #12  Edited By Linkyshinks
    Knives said:
    "I'm not going to throw in the towel on this game just yet. I'll wait for the Gamespot review, if they ever get around to it."

    lol, no offense but I find your faith in GS reviews truly shocking. They above all come out with the worst fucking Wii reviews out there!. I still cannot believe so many great Wii games have been under matked there, while some other Wii games have been considerably over marked.

    They have a like of throwing what they see as crappy Wii games towards the second string writers there. And they in turn churn out generic crappy reviews with very little subtance and personality in order to meet deadlines.  It's a vicious cycle of mess.


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    MasterOfPenguins_Zell

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    They said on IGN's Nintendo Voice Chat podcast that it was scored low because the reviewer hadn't played the first ToS and thought that the lack of overworld and some somewhat JRPG stereotypical mechanics. They said that the people that played the first will probably love this, but others just coming into the series probably won't care for it much.

    Oh, and that the protagonist (Emil was it? I can't remember...) was whiny throughout the game.

    I'll still buy it, I loved the first, I know what I'm getting from this one.

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    apathylad

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    #14  Edited By apathylad

    I thought the IGN review was poorly written...it seemed more that the guy was complaining about Japanese RPGs following the same conventions rather than trying something new. This reminds me of the Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn review on Gamespot, in which the article whined about lack of Mii support and other Wii-specific features.

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    cann3dheat

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    #15  Edited By cann3dheat

    I'm not all that surprised to be honest. I didn't look too into it, but with the Tales team handling Vesperia, I didn't expect DotNW to be all that fantastic when it's being handled by a different team. I'll wait for some other impressions and then see if I drop the money for it.

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    oldschool

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    #16  Edited By oldschool

    I only have any interest in reviewers from a purely technical point of view, otherwise everything else is just white noise.  I fail to see why anyone takes them seriously.  If they point out camera issues, frame rates et cetera, I care.  I am not seeing any of this.  Consequently, as a major fan of the first, I have no problems getting this straight away - I can't wait (even though the American voice acting can be annoying, but can't they all?).

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    Linkyshinks

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    #17  Edited By Linkyshinks
    oldschool said:
    "I only have any interest in reviewers from a purely technical point of view, otherwise everything else is just white noise.  I fail to see why anyone takes them seriously.  If they point out camera issues, frame rates et cetera, I care.  I am not seeing any of this.  Consequently, as a major fan of the first, I have no problems getting this straight away - I can't wait (even though the American voice acting can be annoying, but can't they all?)."
     
    I take in what's said if valid points are made, I wont avoid consuming intelligent comment on the aspects of a game because it's a sole persons view.

    The most overriding criticism for me is the one that this is a game we have all played before, many times before :(. The JRPG is a very stagnant genre in my eyes and many. The audience the games are made for are nowhere near as judgmental as we are in the west, and they are the biggest problem. Even before the reviews came out the worry with this game would be that it was just another Tales game, with nothing really new and exciting, And there are already many of those that fit into that category that have never even been localized here yet.  It's fine for Japanese fans who buy the game regardless, but for western fans our demands are now much higher than they once were. There's been a notable shift in our reception of such games because we are now getting so much better, RPG games rich with innovation made right here in the west. 

    I love the first game also, but I cannot see this one doing anywhere near as well. Namco should have put more resources towards this game I think. I really don't think this game will help Namco build on the success of the first game which in nearly five years old now.

    I will get the game when it's drops in price, but now, in all honesty I am holding more hope for the third game and another game from Namco, Fragile. Vesperia got the magic that this should have in my eyes, that's my underlying issue with it.



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    Nets

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    #18  Edited By Nets

    These ratings were to be expected, unless you were one of the many hardcore Nintendo or Tales fans. At least, I always sought it to be a generic RPG.

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    Axersia

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    #19  Edited By Axersia

    And people weren't expecting this? It was never intended to be a fully-blown Tales game; it's just an "escort title," putting it up there with crap like Tales of the Tempest (the whole reason why the mothership/escort title system was created) and Radiant Mythology. Also, this game directly recycles assets from past games. I've already played Tales of the Abyss, Radiant Mythology, and Innocence; I don't need another game that uses an almost identical battle system and recycles textures and monster models from Tales of the Abyss.

    You will probably enjoy this game most if you're not a hardcore Tales fan and only played Symphonia.

    Honestly, I was surprised people were all over this game at first and didn't care for Vesperia (even after playing the demo), but people's views sure changed quickly after the full game came out.

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    PureRok

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    #20  Edited By PureRok

    I recently bought Tales of Symphonia since I had lots of people recommending it to me. They say that this game is even harder than Symphonia? I find Symphonia to be ridiculously difficult. I think I'll stick to trying out Vesperia and playing Tales of Phantasia (the best Tales game I've played... because it's in Japanese and I don't have the shitty English voice acitng, and the story was way better than any of the other Tales games I played).

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    Shadow

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    #21  Edited By Shadow

    It seems interesting learning what happened after the worlds combined, but everything else about the story looks boring as hell.

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    Al3xand3r

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    #22  Edited By Al3xand3r

    I just wanna see more of the new Wii Tales of game...

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    Black_Rose

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    #23  Edited By Black_Rose

    I loved the first one, i won't let this review stopt me from enjoying the second just like i didn't let gamespot's shitty Radiant Dawn review stop me from enjoying that amazing game :D

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    ZenaxPure

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    #24  Edited By ZenaxPure
    Black_Rose said:
    "I loved the first one, i won't let this review stopt me from enjoying the second just like i didn't let gamespot's shitty Radiant Dawn review stop me from enjoying that amazing game :D"
    Exactly my thoughts
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    Dark_Link142

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    #25  Edited By Dark_Link142

    Ugh, GS's Radiant Dawn review is awful. When I actually bought the game, it was such an awesome game. I had no idea what GS was talking about.

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    #26  Edited By webby
    Black_Rose said:
    "I loved the first one, i won't let this review stopt me from enjoying the second just like i didn't let gamespot's shitty Radiant Dawn review stop me from enjoying that amazing game :D"
    So true
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    #27  Edited By Nets
    Dark_Link142 said:
    "Ugh, GS's Radiant Dawn review is awful. When I actually bought the game, it was such an awesome game. I had no idea what GS was talking about."

    Agreed and disagreed. GS's Radiant Dawn review was boring as hell, as well as any other review Lark Anderson does. I do agree with him that it's definitely the worst FE game we have gotten. I loved Path of Radiance to death mostly for one of the best storylines in gaming (IMO) but this iteration had a predictable and generic plot. It seemed I got bored of the tried and true formula also.
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    apathylad

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    #28  Edited By apathylad
    Nets said:
    "Dark_Link142 said:
    "Ugh, GS's Radiant Dawn review is awful. When I actually bought the game, it was such an awesome game. I had no idea what GS was talking about."

    Agreed and disagreed. GS's Radiant Dawn review was boring as hell, as well as any other review Lark Anderson does. I do agree with him that it's definitely the worst FE game we have gotten. I loved Path of Radiance to death mostly for one of the best storylines in gaming (IMO) but this iteration had a predictable and generic plot. It seemed I got bored of the tried and true formula also."

    Were you also bummed that Radiant Dawn didn't have Mii support? :P
    Althought I admit the story could have been better, I still enjoyed seeing these characters return and mature over the gap of the game's timeline.
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    baby_boi

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    #29  Edited By baby_boi

    That IGN review sucks ass. The person who wrote it had an agenda to begin with.

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    #30  Edited By Nets
    Apathylad said:
    "Nets said:
    "Dark_Link142 said:
    "Ugh, GS's Radiant Dawn review is awful. When I actually bought the game, it was such an awesome game. I had no idea what GS was talking about."

    Agreed and disagreed. GS's Radiant Dawn review was boring as hell, as well as any other review Lark Anderson does. I do agree with him that it's definitely the worst FE game we have gotten. I loved Path of Radiance to death mostly for one of the best storylines in gaming (IMO) but this iteration had a predictable and generic plot. It seemed I got bored of the tried and true formula also."

    Were you also bummed that Radiant Dawn didn't have Mii support? :P
    Althought I admit the story could have been better, I still enjoyed seeing these characters return and mature over the gap of the game's timeline."

    Quite bummed. Intelligent Systems did a good job on making the characters look like they matured but I still got the sense that they did a terrible job of trying to allow the player to feel connected to these characters for another round through.
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    Dark_Link142

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    #31  Edited By Dark_Link142

    I just bought the game yesterday. It's fantastic. The beginning, I found, was rather odd. It was slow, but also rushed. I know that doesn't make much sense, but that's what I found it felt like. I'm 5 hours into the game and the pace has evened out and it's very fun.

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    #32  Edited By Aska

    Disappointing, surely.  But I'll still buy it seeing as how the first ToS is my favorite game of all time...  I'm sure I'll enjoy the experience but it will make me long to go play the first one.

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    ZenaxPure

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    #33  Edited By ZenaxPure

    Mine did not come in the mail yesterday (or anytime this whole week) like I had hoped (is it sriously hard to travel 100 miles in 5 days /sigh) Monday I hope....

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    Supercoolbro

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    #34  Edited By Supercoolbro

    That is very dissapointing to hear :(

    At least their is one game to mark off my very long list for now.

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    Dark_Link142

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    #35  Edited By Dark_Link142

    I'm 15 hours into the game. The monster capturing/leveling/evolving is awesome. Turning a dinky little wolf into a giant mythical Fenrir is very satisfying, and also very helpful since it's quite powerful. The Were Dragon is also great, not to mention the Fire Drake (also a dragon, but flies and around hurls fire from the sky).

    The quests are really fun and the story is great. I'm really enjoying the game. Although I wish new characters would join your party permanently. The only characters you get in your party are Emil, Marta, and the returning characters from the original Symphonia, with occasional times where characters like Richter join you for a battle or so.

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    madsnake

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    #36  Edited By madsnake

    I been reading several user reviews who said that the game is great, i dont know why sites like IGN or GS have been so harsh with the game, i was really dissaponting with the reviews, but after reading a lot of different opinions, ToS2 is still in my top list for this year.

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    Dark_Link142

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    #37  Edited By Dark_Link142

    I'm almost done the game. I love it. The story is great, the characters are great, and the combat is very fun.

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    ZenaxPure

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    #38  Edited By ZenaxPure

    Mine came in a few weeks back but the plastic is still on it, trying to finish up Enchanted Arms before I get into another game. From some people I have been talking to have said the game is like 30 hours long, which excites me a bit since it has been a while since i played a game that long, Enchanted Arms is not even looking to reach that...

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    NinjaSquirrel

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    #39  Edited By NinjaSquirrel

    One sentence describes this game:

    "I'm not a dog...I'm a human being!"

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    zitosilva

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    #40  Edited By zitosilva
    Dark_Link142 said:
    "I'm almost done the game. I love it. The story is great, the characters are great, and the combat is very fun."
    Is the translation as bad as some reviews made it to be? Or are you playing it in japanese?
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    Dark_Link142

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    #41  Edited By Dark_Link142
    zitosilva said:
    "Dark_Link142 said:
    "I'm almost done the game. I love it. The story is great, the characters are great, and the combat is very fun."
    Is the translation as bad as some reviews made it to be? Or are you playing it in japanese?"
    No, I'm playing it in English. I can't begin to understand where people are getting this "messed up translation" thing. The dialogue and script is one of the strongest elements in the game.

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