Tales Of Symphonia 2 : Dawn of the New World

[Mitera Nikkou]

What happens depends on the ending you get. I believe there are three endings. So choose your chicken. ;p

All things must come to an end. I could have lived with Symphonia being a single game. The prospect of a sequel was interesting, but, in the end, it's all about living up to expectations, and the sequel didn't live up to mine. Of course, if they could come up with a good game, with Presea as the protagonist, I'd be all over it.

Now I have to wait until I can afford an XBox 360, so I can play Vesperia. Unless someone whose opinion I can trust tells me to do otherwise.

Bah. You'd think I"d have plenty of time to play this game on the weekend, but a certain someone doesn't go out on the weekends, and they've been spending each day watching nothing but stuff that's about as far from my interests as you can get: hunting, fishing, and dog training. -_-

[Zoey]

Oh yeah, I forgot that there different endings 0_o. I hope I get a good one.

Yeah, Though Dawn of the New World wasn't that bad. I liked a bunch of things, but what hurts me is that it could've been done way better than it was. I feel as if the creators didn't spill their hearts in this one like they did on the first one. Still I'm a fan of the Tales series and I hope they keep making games in the future even better than Symphonia.

I've heard good things about Vesperia. I'd love to play it, but sadly me don't got an X-Box and never will. Unless I win a free one or something. Maybe once the X-box becomes like a PS2, cheap as heck because a newer one is out. I may buy one used and play a couple of games I always wanted to try like Halo, and others.

Well there's alot of time. Unless the world ends tomorrow you shouldn't worry. Savor the taste of the end of a good game.

[Mitera Nikkou]

There's a way to choose which ending you get, you know. ;p Look it up and you'll know what to do, so you can get what you want.

One area in which this game fails, is extra content. It's like they really got into the skits and kind of forgot about everything else. I mean, the only side-quest is only available during the second play-through, at the very end. And the coliseum doesn't really offer much, either. It offered a lot more in the last game. I don't really know what to think of the Katz quests... On the one hand you can take a challenge and get good equipment and items earlier than usual, but on the other hand it's repetitive and offers little entertainment value.

I'll probably play the first game again, after I finish this one. I need my Presea fix.

[Zoey]

Not only the game fails in lack of content, but in abunch of other things. If they would've just payed more attention and with a bit of common sense the game would've done better. Lemme point some stuff that could've been done better.

Clothing: Ok, 2 years have passed since the first game and the heroes of regeneration STILL wear the same clothing?!
One thing that I looked forward in the sequel was new looks. I wanted to see veryone in a new outfit and older looks.
Everyone looks the same!!! Not only that Emil's clothes would look better in a women's body. When he got it, I was left with a strange sense of indigestion and confusion.

Side Quests: Considering the first game in the strategy guide included a whole 6 pages for sidequest. In this one you only have a hand full. And that hand full is sad. Atleast recycle some side quests, but noooooo.

Cities: Ok, the world unified and 2 years have passed... The cities look the same as 2 years ago. The SAME! What have you been doing in 2 years people?! Playing Sudoku?! I thought by this time Iselia would have been a minuature city aswell as Luin.

Pasts: I know I haven't finished the game, but there's just so many things that are still kind of fuzzy. I still wonder how exactly Marta left the Vanguard. How her life was back then and her relationship with Alice and the others. Ratatosks creation. What happened after Palmacosta? How does Marta keep her hair like that? The day the centurions were created. A since cinematic flash back of how the world was created would have been nice. The list keeps on going and going.

Fighting style: The choices given to you by the game to customize the game are as shallow as a puddle. AI is not as smart as in the first game.

Anime Cut-scenes: The Anime OP at the start when you put the game in is awesome! Why don't they take advantage of that and atleast SOMETIMES make a cool cutscence. Something ToS 1 only did at the end.

Beginning: One of the things at the start, that pissed me off is that they hold the hand of the player in the beggining. When in ToS 1 most of the things ahd to be learned in the field. The only thing they did was slow down the pase of the game with annoying things.

World Map: I don't care. What I like about in this one is that since you pasically transport, that picks up the pace story wise, but losses that RPG feeling of exploration.

Exspheres: Soo.... Lloyd went on a quest to "catch em all". What happened with that? Did he finish it? Where did he keep the exspheres get got? Or did he destroy them?

There are some Pro's, but they don't save the game from an OK status. I really wish I knew why this game turned out like it did. They did everything great in the first game. It's just a matter of doing it again, but they went BlArg and now we have this =.=.

[Mitera Nikkou]

Bad guys. It's not everyday you see an 18 year old girl with the body of a 12 year old with a little wacky stick leading the main offensive force of an army. That's original for once...

Okay, I remembered a good example of a young girl in a position relatively similar to Alice's, and perhaps as twisted (if not more so). This girl.

Trying to remember her has been bothering me since it came up. Coincidentally (or so most would think, but I know better), I started playing Chrono Cross again and encountered her, and BAM. My answer.

Funny how that works.

[Zoey]

I forgot to mention, I beat the game : D

Due to my insatisfaction with the end boss I killed Lloyd and Marta and got the bad ending D:

Then I passes it again and got the good ending : D

All in all, The final boss was a big dissapointment. I expected it to be way harder. Alice and Decus were harder!

[Mitera Nikkou]

Exactly why I'm so disappointed with the lack of extra content, like side quests and optional bosses. At least optional bosses are usually tougher than the final one in the plot.

[Zoey]

Exactly why I feel kinda betrayed. I expected this game to be same or better than the first. And with little or no hope of a 3rd it's truely sad.

[Zoey]

Ok, so today I was discussing (argueing) with my brother the future of ToS. I know that ToS 2 was supposed to be the end the thing that raps it all up, but it failed so horribly. I mean wer found out that ToS could probably squeez 2 more games. A game about the journey of Mithos would be great. How he turned from good to psycho. Another potential game would be a true rap up for the series. I dunno, Lloyd finally confessing to Collete. Genis and Presea finally hit it off. It's just so frustration knowing what would make the a great game, but the guys actually making the game don't see it. Im a loyal follower of the Tales series, but seeing a game with so much potential crash like it did, it's soo sad.
There was allot of thing that were still left in the dark from ToS, for example: The Desians, Mithos journey, the begging to the world after and before the split... *Sigh*

[Mitera Nikkou]

Nah. I don't think they could do anything else with Symphonia, without making it worse. The stuff you mentioned is best left for fanfiction. At the most they could probably do a text adventure with illustrations, like what was done with Radical Dreamers (which worked to resolve a plot line in Chrono Trigger).