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Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

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8.6 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 44 critic reviews
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Based on 25 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Namco Bandai Games

Developer: Namco Bandai Games

Genre(s): Role-Playing Game

Players: 1

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: November 11, 2008

Summary

Set two years after the events of the award-winning 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. Advancing the combination of story, characters and real-time battles of Tales of Symphonia, 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. Dawn of the New World gives players complete control over a full roster of Tales of Symphonia characters and ally monsters, letting them customize their adventure party into hundreds of unique combinations. [Namco Bandai Games]

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GAMES: Tales of Symphonia

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What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Zentendo

If a player can look past the occasionally spotty visuals, the unusually long load times, and a complicated narrative, they can find an excellent RPG experience for the Wii.

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Wii Brasil

The fact is that Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World evolves in some aspects, while stops or even goes back in others. Even so, it doesn't mean it isn't a good game, although it's not as "epic" as the first one. The ones who played the original Tales of Symphonia will see that Dawn of the New World is a new and beautiful adventure, but not as good as the other. And the ones who didn't play it will enjoy the charming characters and the excellent battle system.

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Worth Playing

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is a great follow-up to the GameCube classic and is possibly the best RPG for the Wii.

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Nintendojo

Whatever its shortcomings, though, Dawn of the New World is clearly Wii’s best RPG to date.

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3DJuegos

Dawn of the New World is a worthy sequel that reflects the good state of the franchise. A deep story, charismatic characters, an impressive soundtrack... This new iteration can be considered as one of the biggest RPG for Wii.

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Vandal Online

Maybe it is not as good as the first one, specially by some unpolished aspects, but it's also true that has improved a lot in certain areas.

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Game Chronicles

It is definitely one game that most gamers will not regret spending $49.99 on. If you own a Wii and use it for more than just Wii Sports, you owe it to yourself to pick this highly entertaining game up as soon as you can.

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Nintendo Power

Dawn of the New World doesn't have the epic feel of the original--the fact that it's easily beaten (not accounting for side quests) in under 30 hours doesn't help--but it's great to revisit this world that I enjoyed exploring when the first Tales of Symphonia was released four years ago. [Holiday 2008, p.78]

GameTrailers

Though the battle system is improved, an erratic difficulty, budget production values, and a poorly-paced story keep Dawn of the New World from royalty status. In some ways, it’s a worthy successor to the original, but it’s ultimately just another passable action RPG.

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GamingXP

Dawn of the New World is not as good as the former title, but at least – especially due to the feature, that you are able to catch monsters and send them into battle on your side – a great role playing game on the Wii.

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Games Master UK

A decent Wii-friendly RPG, let down by too many concessions to casual gamers. [Feb 2009, p.80]

9Lives

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World has finally walked its way to Europe. Fans of the original will have to get used to some changes, but all in all it’s a worthy sequel with a well-written – albeit slow – story. The fighting system is decent, although the option to tame beasts feels a bit superfluous, despite their use in battle. Visually, it’s full of atmosphere, where it gets the aid of the music and the voice acting. If you’re looking for an RPG and you haven’t imported the American version, then this game isn’t a bad choice. Do know that it ’s not perfect.

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NGamer UK

Too shallow and formulaic to be anything other than an RPG footnote, but this is still a robust, accessible and enjoyable game. [Winter 2009, p.59]

Gaming Target

Though it does have something to add to the RPG genre, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World does not deliver enough to be considered one of the great.

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Cheat Code Central

It’s a love letter to those who found magic in the first game. And for those folks still smitten, New World is sure to touch your heart.

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Multiplayer.it

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is a worthy conclusion to the story which begun on Nintendo GameCube but it is not easy to overcome the boring beginning of the game, which is recommended especially to fans of the prequel since anybody not familiar to old characters and places will not be equally impressed by the fairly short plot.

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ZTGameDomain

In the end Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of a New World is exactly what you would expect for the sequel to the Gamecube original. Problem is that it feels like it was made for that system. Technical shortcomings aside if you enjoy the genre there is a lot to love here.

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GameZone

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is not a bad game, but is suffers from "Been there done that" syndrome.

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DarkZero

There is a warning for fans though, when you play it, make sure you’ve got some happy pills with you, just to be on the safe side.

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SpazioGames

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is a good JRPG. Fans of the last chapter, developed for the Gamecube, and more generally of the genre, will certainly like it, and ignore the many flaws. Especially the recycling of characters from the past episodes and the numerous recalls to the saga, strongly limit the title, especially for the western market.

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RPGamer

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World's biggest drawback is simply that it's a direct sequel to Tales of Symphonia. While this provides the game with a fairly large potential audience of fans, the story draws very heavily from the events of the first game, and while it's possible to pick up the pieces during the game, those who haven't played Tales of Symphonia will likely find themselves lost.

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Video Game Talk

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is a worth-while role-playing effort for the Wii. It's a true successor to the original title for the GameCube with a continuing story and improved gameplay elements.

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XGN

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is a pretty good RPG for the Wii. It takes many elements from the previous Symphonia game, but there are some flaws. It also feels like this game isn't a direct sequel to the previous game. However if you are a real ToS-fan, you can add one point to the score.

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Meristation

An interesting JRPG that has arrived a little bit late, but still is a fair option to expend your money if you're looking to enjoy a very joyful Tales of that has nothing new to offer besides a new story. Still, its a nice option to choose if you like the genre.

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Cubed3

Those expecting an experience like other 3D Tales games, such as Symphonia, are going to be disappointed. Dawn of a New World simply takes what Tales of Symphonia had and waters it down for the most part, meaning it shouldn't be recommended over the GameCube title for those new to the series.

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Official Nintendo Magazine UK

A decent enough game, but it feels massively out of date. One for Tales fans only. [Nov 2009, p.88]

IGN

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.

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GameSpot

Dawn of the New World is a sequel that fails to establish itself as anything more than fan fare.

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Everyeye.it

The game looks "old": standard gameplay, standard "love and war stories", and a graphical engine that doesn't shows any virtues.

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Extreme Gamer

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is a lengthy linear role-playing game that will please fans of the series who aren’t looking for something new.

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My Gamer

When you take a look at this game as a whole, even fans should be able to see the basic gameplay, last-gen graphics, and linear plotline.

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Edge Magazine

It may lack the emotional heft of darker epics, but it remains a tightly plotted confection with charm to spare. [Jan 2009]

games(TM)

Anyone willing to overlook the boring cut-scenes, dated graphics, and god-awful main character will find dozens of hours of fairly generic JRPG value in Tales Of Symphonia: Dawn Of The New World. [Jan 2009, p.112]

Armchair Empire

All in all, I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed by Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. While it is not a terrible game, it doesn’t live up to the expectations that the first one created.

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NintendoWorldReport

However, the constant whining from Emil, a party that never feels like it has a foundation, and poor pacing and flow make waiting for the good stuff an exercise in patience, where it should be an exercise in fun.

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Thunderbolt

Again, what the game aims to achieve is what leads to its downfall, resting securely in the shade of its predecessor's success and achieving some value in that way, without ever coming out to mark its own territory.

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Kombo

Tales of Symphonia 2: Dawn of the New World has a great battle system, voice-acting, and nice new elements like the monster gathering. Unfortunately, the linear story, dull characters, lack of exploration and mediocre graphics hold back the experience.

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Games Radar (in-house)

If you can look past the last-last-gen flaws that absolutely should be gone by now, there’s a totally playable bit of gaming here that’ll scratch your RPG itch for the time being.

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1UP

I expect Symphonia veterans to be split on whether the decision to remove the field map (replaced here by a simple menu) was wise -- while it cuts down on the number of battles, it makes for an even more linear, less exploratory experience.

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The Onion (A.V. Club)

New World is the most earnest attempt yet to bring an RPG with lasting appeal to the Wii, but it never takes itself seriously enough to make an impact.

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GameDaily

Sloppy combat and an over reliance on cut scenes ruins the game. RPG-starved Wii fans might have a good time, but they're probably better served by revisiting the superior GameCube prequel.

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AceGamez

Tales of Symphonia isn’t going to change the shape of the RPG genre, but instead sort of shifts itself somewhere in-between the rest of the mediocre games that have laced the Wii since launch.

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Teletext GameCentral

Even committed fans are likely to be disappointed by this lazy and largely unnecessary rehash.

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G4 TV

Soon enough, Dawn of a New World settles down to standard fantasy-quest plot starring standard fantasy characters.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 25 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Beloved gave it a10:
I have played this game since christmas and it is great, i havent finished yet, but i like the gameplay, the story and the characters behind. It is not a Final Fantasy-style game, i still find it very fun.

Steven gave it a9:
Excellent battle mechanics and depth, however the story is lacking, but the original was perfection in story so it is hard to improve, fans of the original, the perfect game, would appreciate this, the battle system is reminiscent of devil may cry in that you can juggle enemies for combo.

Fozzy U gave it a6:
The sequel to the Gamecube game, this game takes a drastic change in it's gameplay. Played more like an interactive anime cartoon than a video game, you'll be spending most of your time watching in-game cut-screens than exploring dungeons and developing your character. The combat is also worse than it's predecessor. While trying to remain similar to the previous game, DotnW's combat is slow and frustrating. If for no other reason than the fact that you cannot switch your target without having to resort to "tricks" by switching characters until your previous character's AI switches it's target, and switch back. This becomes frustratingly obvious on "boss" fights where you need to attack the healer to prevent them from casting a heal, but your character is "locked" into the other guys. However, the amount of voice acting and a continued deep story (sorry, you'll have to play the other game to really understand what's going on) makes this game enjoy able enough to slog your way through.

Good Day gave it a10:
Screw the critics, ToS:DotNW is the best RPG for the Wii out there. If you enjoy RPGs and have played the first Tales of Symphonia then by no means should you let this game slip away. You may feel frustrated at times due to some "repetitive" scenes but overall, you will get a great game. Good ol´ Tales fighting style with NEW SKILLS (sry demon fang, oh wait it is there too). Pretty simple: if you have played the first one, get it. If you didnt, get the first one and then play this. Of course, given that you like RPGs.

TEi H. gave it a4:
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is a feeble shadow of its predecessor. Even though it had a high standard to meet, you would expect the follow-up of such an incredible game to do what it could to make itself unique while remaining equally as original and artistic. Instead, we get a story that has more in common with the early days of RPGs, and characters that are pitifully cliche. With sub-par voice acting and much less focus on exploration with the removal of the world map, ToS:DotNW will only appeal to those with a supreme dedication to the first game, or those who enjoy RPGs and haven't been able to access any on the Wii system. For all its faults, it proves to be a substandard installation of the genre in the long run.

Game Master gave it a9:
This game is amazing. By far one of the best JRPG's on any of the new consoles. Much better than both Squenix games, but not better than Tales of Vesperia. Don't know what the dumb critics are talking about if you have a Wii you must own this game. The fighting is like a mix of soul calibur with Street Fighter Alpha, the story is great, the music is great. AMAZING GAME!!

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