What it lacks in plot, it tries to make up with adrenaline. It's not as bad as Gamespot makes it seem though.
Gamespot says "the storyline is an intimidating, convoluted mess." Hardly. I thought it was pretty straightforward the entire time, with only a few surprises at the end to put a twist on the story (which is nothing new for the genre.) In fact, by the time I reached the end (a mere 30 hours in), I sincerely hoped that another large twist was coming - one that would extend the game another 10 to 20 hours. That twist didn't come though, and the ending of this game comes sooner than one would like.
The monster pact system is described as "a moot point" and "superfluous." I will admit that it probably would have been better to just go ahead and give the player full control over the heroes of the previous game, but I don't think that the monster system is a total loss. Gamespot would have you believe it's incredibly difficult to befriend monsters, but I found myself making pacts with monsters pretty regularly without even trying. What's more, those monsters became stronger than the heroes of the previous game, and not the other way around. Add in a tough-as-nails boss fight near the end of the game that forces you to play without the last game's heroes, and you'll realize that the monster system is actually a part of the game you will want to utilize.
The lack of a world map hurts this game pretty badly, and it truly is a shame. There's no sense of adventure here; instead you teleport from area to area and fight the next batch of enemies or see the next batch of cut scenes. The resulting linearity causes a balance issue in combat. In RPG's, usually the world map enemies are a bit easier and help you level as you travel. Here you don't have that, so the enemies in the dungeons have been made into pushovers - allowing you to level up on your way to the inevitable boss. Don't let that go to your head, though, since many of the boss fights in this game are downright evil. There really isn't a whole lot of grinding necessary to be able to win - but you'll certainly be tested, or I guess you'll be reminded that you should've restocked life bottles.
The plot is linear, but the combat system is actually fairly deep, or at least deeper than the first game. Each character uses "artes," which are special abilities. Spell casters (like Genis from the first game) have artes like "Lightning Bolt." Emil will have more combat-ish artes like "Demon Fang" and "Sword Rain." This is of course all very similar to the first Tales of Symphonia. What's new is the free run: by holding the block button you can roam anywhere on the battlefield. In addition, your human allies will use items on their own in battle now, which is particularly nice for spellcasters since they will replenish their own TP for you. Not only that, but your human allies will also talk to each other during battle - mostly to advise one another whether too many items or artes are being used. It's a nice little addition that makes the characters feel that much more real. There's also a skill system, similar to the EX Skills of the first game, but much easier to use. These skills increase your basic attack combo, give you resistances, let you recover faster, and even unlock ultra-powerful and cinematic "mystic artes."
The only major downside of the battle system is the emphasis on air combat. For some reason, the developers push Emil to fight in the air, which is a poor decision for a few reasons: 1. None of the other characters will support you while you combo in the air. 2. When you land you're extremely vulnerable. 3. More than half the time the enemy will be pushed away from you in the middle of your combo, leaving you floating there by yourself hitting nothing. It's not a dismal failure since it does look cool and is fun to do occasionally, but for serious fighting you'll be sticking to the ground.
Another problem with this game is the lack of side quests. Practically every RPG out there will have bonus quests for you along the way and at/near the end of the game. It's not that this game doesn't have any, but there just aren't enough - and they're not easy enough to find. I played through the entire game with no guide, and apparently missed out on 2 of the whopping 4 official side quests in the game - you had to activate them along the way (and I guess the first person found them by luck?). The 3rd is the coliseum, which has nothing of value for you in this game, and the 4th is actually unavailable to you until you run through the game a second time. Honestly, due to the lack of extras and exploration, I had no desire to buckle down for the second run through. Maybe someday.
I'm gonna be frank about this last point: this game includes a lot of cutscenes. It's not as bad as Gamespot makes it out to be though, and the voice acting is actually pretty good here. The dialogue does repeat itself a bit too much at the beginning, but once the story starts rolling the scenes get much better. Once your adventure starts, you'll also start seeing small skits. These are honestly some of the best moments of the game, and I found myself laughing several times. Gamespot calls it "annoying, exaggerated voicing" and essentially recommends turning the voices off - I completely disagree here, and I'm disappointed the reviewer didn't appreciate what he was experiencing.
So is this game really a 6.5? Well, the original game got an 8.8, so maybe a better question would be "is this game an 8.8?" My answer would be "no" to both of those questions. Lack of depth and adventure is a pretty big problem with this game, but there are some improvements here over the original in terms of combat. Of course it's all opinion of the reviewer, and I've decided to go with 7.5 out of 10. A solid C that I think is worth playing.