http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3170449&p=44
What's the game? Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, a rare follow-up entry in Namco Bandai's venerable action-role-playing franchise (like most Final Fantasy titles, Tales usually features stories and worlds unrelated to each other with each new release), takes place two years after the events of 4-year-old GameCube favorite Tales of Symphonia, and while the game features two new main protagonists, fans can expect to see several familiar faces throughout the quest. Since the story doesn't revolve around the returning characters, though, most of the recognizable party members come and go -- producer Teruaki Konishi admits that this makes the game flow a bit more like Final Fantasy IV than a standard Tales game, where parties tend to stay pretty consistent throughout. Still, he says players shouldn't dismiss these appearances as mere fan service, explaining that O.G. Symphonia favorites like Lloyd and Colette are integral to the plot.
Additionally, Dawn of the New World adds more than 200 familiar Tales monsters as potential party members; while this would certainly appear to be a shameless ploy to capture the substantial Pokémon crowd, Nintendo's ubiquitous pocket monsters apparently had no influence on this design decision -- to hear Konishi tell it, at least. He says that since many baddies have been part of the Tales universe for more than a decade, the developers simply wanted to give players a chance to finally use them in combat.
What's new for TGS? I checked out a Japanese-language version of Dawn of the New World back in April at a Namco Bandai press event in San Francisco, but this was my initial look at the English-language localization -- and my first shot at some hands-on time with the battle system. After seeing Tales of Vesperia more or less perfect the traditional Tales control scheme on the Xbox 360, I found Dawn of the New World's take a bit disorienting at first -- spreading commands across the Wii Remote and Nunchuk feels a bit awkward with the gap between controllers, for one. Players can also swing the Wii-mote in various directions in order to activate special-move shortcuts usually mapped to the D-pad or analog sticks in conventional Tales releases. Thankfully, the motion-based controls are optional and don't really feel tacked on; when I asked if the developers ever considered a Dragon Quest Swords-style arm-swinger in order to appeal to the casual crowd, Konishi flatly dismissed the concept: "That's not Tales."
Namco Bandai also unexpectedly revealed two new Dawn of the New World additions for the North American market: First, loading GameCube clear data from Symphonia randomly unlocks certain items, in-game currency, and other bonuses at the beginning of the game. Second, the North American release increases the available motion-controlled special-move shortcuts to eight, up from four in the Japanese version.
What's our take? In North America, Dawn of the New World faces the daunting task of following the spectacular Tales of Vesperia, thought by some to be the best current-generation Japanese RPG -- a hurdle this sequel didn't face in Japan, where it released first. Konishi seems confident that this won't be an issue, opining that the 360 and Wii audiences don't really overlap. Personally, I don't buy that -- Tales fans tend to be a hardcore bunch, and their passion often crosses console lines. Additionally, by focusing on two new heroes instead of the familiar Symphonia cast, will fans see Dawn of the New World as tarnishing the legacy of perhaps the most beloved (and certainly the most successful) North American series release to date? Namco Bandai localization producer Andy Tsai believes that the story does the original Symphonia justice, and he also says that he's especially proud of the English-language voice work, though he couldn't confirm that all of the original Symphonia actors return. Still, I worry that Dawn of the New World will find itself stuck between two audiences -- Vesperia fans may feel underwhelmed by the downgrade in presentation, while Symphonia devotees might feel that the game doesn't live up to the high standards of the original.I'll admit that it's tough to judge Dawn of the New World without experiencing much of the story or exploration aspects, but my gut reaction is that this should be a serviceable adventure for RPG fans -- particularly series veterans. Just make sure to keep your expectations in check. And unfortunately, this might have to tide fans over for a while: With Japan-only DS releases like Tales of Innocence and Tales of Hearts likely never coming Stateside, this may be the last significant Tales release on our horizon for some time.
Extra bonuses for having game clear data, and extra battle shorcuts, sounds good to me.
"To love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, for as long you shall be resurrected from death in the church"
