Whether you've played the original or not, Wii owners should definitely check this game out.
Before Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World came out, I looked at the reviews of it. Just to name a few...
Gamespot: 6.5
IGN: 6.7
Gametrailers: 7.9 (not bad, but still)
I was worried seeing these scores, but when I read the full reviews, they always talked about how the fighting was very similar to past games with not too much added other than recruiting monsters. I'm still trying to figure out how this is a bad thing. The other Tales games had the gameplay almost perfect, so why make any dramatic changes to it. I'm apparently not the only one who thinks so because every game reviewing website I've been too, the members rated the game MUCH higher than the site did.
They did talk about how the story was very good and that the voice acting was also very good. In all honesty, give me a good story in any game and I will play that game to the end regardless of how bad the gameplay is. It does help though that the gameplay was also awesome.
Well, here's my take on the game...
Story: I really can't say enough about the story in the game. Maybe it's because I don't play many RPGs or maybe because the first Tales of Symphonia was one of my favorite games of last gen, but there were many times during this game that I would continue to play late into the night simply because I wanted to see what would happen next to Emil and Marta who, I might add, are adorable together.
In addition to the usually cut scenes throughout the game, in-game skits make a return. While roaming around towns and temples, sometimes the game will give you the opportunity to hit the C button and trigger skits starring the character that are currently in your party (check the bottom-left hand corner of the screen for them). These are often very humorous and also usually help the player learn more about the characters and story.
I'm not going to discuss the actual story in this review because I really don't want to spoil anything for you, but there are very interesting characters to meet and relationships formed throughout the game. You really care about these characters you meet (and you do even more so if you've played and beaten the original). It starts off kind of clichéd (revenge, love, finding your true self) but it becomes SO much more than that. Just give it a small amount of time and you'll easily see what I'm talking about. Honestly, I would've been happy to just watch a movie version of this game and it would have been better than many movies I've seen within the past few years. This story really just sinks you in and makes you want to keep playing even if it's just to see what will happen next in the story.
Gameplay: If you've ever played another game in the Tales series, than you know what the gameplay is basically like. You travel from town to town, talking with citizens, and visit temples while solving puzzles until you get to the boss at the end of the temple. This is true for this game as well, but it still works and I really see no reason to change it at all. A big difference from the first game is the exclusion of an overworld map. In this game, when you leave a town or temple, a list of the places you have visited and new places you can visit show up and you choose where to go from there. This is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on if you enjoy traveling from place to place fighting monsters or if you just want to get to where you want to go and just fight monsters in temples. It does make the game go by more quickly, but it does cut out the traveling time that many did not enjoy from the first game. For me, it really doesn't make a difference for me either way.
The battle system is actually more similar to Tales of Vesperia, for those of you who have played it, but it still pretty similar to the original Tales of Symphonia. In addition to the features in the original, you also have the ability to roam around the battlefield in all 360 degrees, not just in a straight line. But the most unique addition to the game is easily the new monster-recruit system where you can recruit monsters to fight for you. Throughout the game, you constantly gain and lose members of your party, but monsters that you catch will always stay with you and fight for you. As they increase in level and you have them evolve into stronger monsters, they can become quite powerful and will become very important part of your party. This is a great addition, but I must admit that I didn't really spend time trying to collect all the monsters during my first run through since there was so much more to do in the game, but completionists will have fun fighting and capturing monsters to complete their Pokedex…wait, I mean Monster Journal :/.
So really, not a whole lot has changed gameplay wise in this addition to the series, but that's really more of a good thing than anything. Again, if you've liked the gameplay in previous games in the series, then you'll like this one as well.
Graphics: Better than the original. It doesn't exactly push the limits for the Wii, but it does look very nice. The pre-rendered cut scenes look very nice. The cell shading for both the characters and places have kind of a darker shade to them. I personally like the graphics more than the original, but it all come down to your own opinion. Either way, graphics really don't make the game any better or worse, so they really don't matter that much.
Sound: This is where most reviewers seem to rate the game poorly. The music is a mixture of old music that was redone for this game and new music. For the most part, I thought it was really good. The old music holds nostalgia for fans of the first game, and the new music I thought was as good as the original. Nothing groundbreaking or really memorable, but nothing that will make you want to turn the music off.
I have seen the voice acting being criticized. Personally, I thought the voice acting was very good. Some people complain that Emil and Marta (especially Emil) can become rather annoying at times, but I was never really annoyed. Yes, at first, Emil sounds whiney and pathetic, but that's just his personality at the beginning of the game. He does eventually get more confidence, so just hang in there if you can't stand him at first. I got annoyed with Collette in the first game after the first 50 hours of listening to her, but in this game it was much better. Also, unlike the original Tales of Symphonia, every skit in the game contains full voice acting. There was a lot of reading in the first game if you wanted to see every skit, so this is a very welcome addition to this sequel. In addition to this, many more minor scenes in the game also contain voice acting. The only reading you really have to do, aside from maybe a few cut scenes here and there, are going from town to town talking with the inhabitants.
I'm kind of upset that most of the returning characters from the first game have new voice actors doing the voices. However, most of the new voice actors sound close to, and sometimes sound almost exactly like, the voices from the first game. There are two characters in particular where the voice change is very noticeable, but that doesn't mean the voices are bad. They're just different, and fans of the first game will just have to get used to the new voices.
Value/Replayability: It's true that this game is much shorter than the original, but it's not insanely short either. I'm fairly experienced with the Tales series, so it didn't take me long at all before I was comfortable with the battle system and could beat even some of the harder bosses without having to constantly take time to level-up during the game. However, it still took me a good 30+ hours to run through the game for the first time, but I was amazed by how much I missed during that first play through. In addition to the main quest, there are a couple lengthy side quests you may encounter (I missed them during my first play through) and also a travel log where you can keep track of the monsters, recipes, and other things that you collect as you play.
After completing the game, you have the opportunity to spend your GRADE on certain upgrades where you can play through the game again with difference conditions present (double experience, keep the monsters from your previous game, etc). Some players may only play through the game once and that's it, but there is much more to do besides that. If you don't feel like playing through the game again to see what you missed, then you should definitely check out youtube and search for the secrets, side stuff, and cameos that you certainly don't want to miss. It may not have as long of a main quest as the original Tales of Symphonia, but this game may have the same replay value as the original.
Conclusion: As I said in the first paragraph, if you've play the original Tales of Symphonia, you shouldn't even be reading any reviews because I can assure you that you will love it. There aren't many new additions to the gameplay, but what they did add is terrific, and it's true when they say "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." The graphics and sound certainly do their jobs and don't drag the game down in any way. There is also plenty here to keep you coming back for more even after you finish the somewhat-lengthy main quest. All of this is great, but the single thing that makes this game this great is the story. The story truly is a masterpiece. Even when you're not playing this game, you'll be thinking about what will happen next to your character and his friends. Sometimes you'll find yourself playing this game simply to continue on with the story. It really is so amazingly well-written, that it just captures you until you finally reach the ending, which, in my opinion, doesn't disappoint. Whether you've played the original Tales of Symphonia or not, if you own a Wii, do yourself a huge favor and just go buy this game!