Tales Of Symphonia 2 : Dawn of the New World

[Zoey]

Anyone played it yet or the first game?

[Mitera Nikkou]

I've raped the first one, pretty much. Poor thing.

I'm currently playing the second one. I probably would have stayed up and played it until I beat it but I have to share the TV, so... Not beaten yet. Plus I'm taking plenty of time aside from the plot to pick out monsters that interest me.

I didn't use my save data from the first game since the last GC memory card I used for such a thing (Fire Emblem: Radiance of Dawn) got corrupted.

(Funny, that. Two sequels with "dawn" in their subtitles with that option.)

I can't say that I'm happy with the characters from the first one, though. Well, so far, anyway. They're pretty much just tag-alongs since you can easily level past them... especially so with the monsters. At least for me I was easily beyond them with both the protagonists and their monsters, in both levels and stats. I'd only consider using them if I wanted to add more difficulty to the game or something, since they can't level, you can't change their equipment, and in some cases you can't change whatever useless skills they may have equipped. The arghness of it all. But, perhaps that will change later on; one can only hope. Especially since I'd love to use Presea to my heart's content. <3

So, yeah... I've played them. Am playing one. Two. You know what I mean. <_<;

[Zoey]

I'm a big fan of the first one, but am kinda dissapointed with the second. Idk, it just doesn't quite have the same feel as the first one. The thing that I really love is when Emil grows a pair and goes into "Ratatosk Mode". The time I saw him and he's like " ...You better pray to Martel one last time, for a painless death...". I almost pee'd my pants. Uber awesome.

I still haven't beat the game. I'm still with Genis and Raine and we just got the second core and yeah... slow progress.

[Helel]

I've played the first Tales of Symphonia game entirely too much, and I'm not even sure what play through I'm on now, but my team is pretty monstrous. I look forward to getting a chance to play the second game eventually. Probably during winter break or something.

Till then, I'm suffering through the rest of the semester.

[Mitera Nikkou]

Your suffering engenders great feelings of wellness within me.

Kaizer:

I'm going to hold out on my final opinion of the game until I finish it. Although so far I'm enjoying the skits and, for the most part, I've got the hang of the battle system. On the other hand I'm seeing a bunch of the usual plot devices and character development, but eh... What can you do? The two protagonists really haven't gotten my attention yet, either. But I'm only in the fifth chapter, so there's room for improvement in what I find lacking. Even though I don't expect the corny and typical dialogues to end. Oh, they hurts us.

I guess the whole monster-as-battle-companion thing isn't such a bad concept. I just wish I had a broader choice of monsters that fit what I'm looking for, both in appearance and ability. But I guess it's not too bad since the wolf grew on me, which then eventually evolved into a fenrir (which satisfies my aesthetic tastes). Although large monsters (on either side) make it hard to see the smaller monsters that I'd like to avoid, since the camera likes to zoom in when you're close to your target.

I'd say my biggest beef is how prone to being dazed Emil seems to be. Seems like any ol' love tap will send him reeling. -_- And I've yet to see any accessory or skill to help prevent the condition. And the enemy loves to target him, too. I developed a strategy where I run around and let most (if not all) of the enemy chase me, so my companions can pick them off, but it's such a bore; I just want to dive into the fray and wreak havoc. And I would, if not for Emil's glass chin. >.<

[Zoey]

Personally The new Pokemon rip of catch monster system is cool and all, but I'd rather have real characters with me.
I don't like most monsters i've seen so far, the only ones I like are those flying dragon things and the bear. My expirience in battle is as follows: Emil does all the work, Marta helps and stays a bit back to cast some handy spells, monsters are just there tot ake some hits and look pretty. It's just so frustrating >_< Im like hitting the guy with repetitive kick ass combos never giving him any time to breath and by wolf is like... He hits you, then walks abck a bit... then hits you, runs around the field and then hits you, unless he just stays near the enemy so he can die.

Which brings me to the shallow strategy system, it seem in this one you have to either choose, attack freely or hold position (for monsters), or save, and blas bla bla. I remember in the first one when you set the guy to attack same, He didn't leave you alone, that guy would stay next you you unless he needed to cast a spell (, man I miss Kratos =.= ).

The beginning sequence is HORRIBLE!!!! I remember I was screaming at the screen. "EMIL, HOW MUCH MORE CAN YOU SUCK!". I mean Marta is a cute girl, kick ass and all always with him and Emils like... "Im sorry, or I don't understand." ...I just wanted to punch his guts out... If it wasn't for the fact that im a big fan of the first I would've hit the dish with a hammer.

As far as I know I belive i'm not even still at half game, but even if I am... where's Tethealla Love? I eman so far I've only seen Slyvaranty cities. I wanna see the ninja village, I wanna see the elves hidden village, I wanna see the capital! I don't wanna see Asgard, that place sucks.

I miss the good old cooking system... Cooking for monsters in my oppinion is kid of... I dunno, silly. I'd rather have a cool way to quickly heal my characters after a tough battle than increase a monsters stats by 10 or 6. <_< something the monster doesn't even increase in stats...

What? A main character that lost his memory? +5 points for originality and you get a punch in the face >_> ..
Sirously, I'm starting to like Emil, hes kinda growing on me(only because I dig his sword and he's starting to be less of a wimp), but I still hate his guts...

Well thats all that I can recall that I hate about the game so far. I do have some good things I found in the game, but I'll post them later.

[Mitera Nikkou]

Well, it's true that people grow accustomed to treating monsters like stupid obstacles that they spend hours wading through, but if you don't think about it monsters can become characters. I'll use my seiren, for example (I guess it's supposed to be a siren). She has A LOT of TP, and both offensive and healing magic. And despite that her magic doesn't get spent too much because she often does get into the fray. But when she does cast magic it seems like she has a tendency to be free and clear of enemies, whether by chance or design. And in the end she takes the least amount of damage in battle; in most cases I don't see a scratch on her. So she's very handy. And cute. ;p

But I agree about the battle strategies available. For instance, when my seiren was a harpy, the only options she had was "do what you want" and "do nothing but guard." Not exactly flexible. But it seems like the monsters get more strategies as they evolve, either as something you earn or acquire depending on what kind of monster they are.

Tethe'alla's out there, of course. At the moment I'm at Meltokio, on my way to that shadow temple place or whatever it was called. Just be patient; you'll get around to it. ;p

And I agree that the cooking for monsters thing is a bit, I dunno... I don't think it would have hurt to include the old system. That way the character's skill with cooking certain dishes could affect the stats that monsters get when they eat. So far the meal that I like to give my monsters (the ones that like it, at least) is the soup. It increases all stats by a few points each level, so it's decent all-around.

As for originality, I don't ever expect much of that. Let's face it: just about every known plot and plot device has been done to death by now. Neither Marta nor Emil interest me because they're so typical in some way or another. The same could be said of the characters in the first game, for the most part. At least that's what I think.

But, eh. The thing about playing a game through is the same as finishing a book: the ending might turn your opinion around.

Now time for me to go do some quests and get items for synthesis. X3

[Zoey]

Well I should find better monsters then o_0...

What I do like of the game is that as mentioned before Ratatosk Mode is AWESOME. Even if it's kinda a rip off from Kyuubi Naruto, Hollow Ichigo and even Yokai Inuyasha (losing sanity to gain super powers) the thing with this own is that it's like: "Hey you have to do this quest and the guy your trying to awaken will help you, by giving you strenght and shitz". Heck Tenebrae was the one of the idea. So it wasn't like it wasn't involuntary of the character in this own He actually did want it. Even thought that ment another personality.

Even if some plot devices are old, the thing that drives me to keep playing is: "Why is Lloyd Evil?!". Not much of a reason, but after playing the first and knowing full well the personality of the character and suddenly see him doing something bad, it's just madness! I don't care about Ratatosk, or Emil or the freakin world. I wanna know whats happened to Lloyd! D:

WORLD MAP. Im not sure in this one. I kinda miss it but then I don't. I remember in the first game at first it was awesome, I loved going outside and stuff but then I just HATED the world map. I had to go back and forth back and forth back and forth, It was maddning! Until you got the Rheards of course. In this one it's just a simple click away no more waiting to go to some other place.

Union Attacks. Yeah I know in the first one they were more epic but really. This time Union attacks are very useful. I rememebr in the first once I have Lloyd sword rain and when I did the Union he missed! I was like... WTF?! This time arround aslong as you have 50% of the bar you can use it, even if the union attacks something just scratch the armor of the enemy. Then why is it awesome then, you ask? Well the bar fills up way faster than in the first and the best thing about it is, when you use it it interupts the opponents spell casting. So if I see my opponent about to cast a spell thats gonna rape my ass I just calmly press C and interrupt it.

Skits. Oddly enough I like this little things. Maybe it's cause Emil's, Martas and Tenebrae's personalities are sooo different. It's just amusing to see then fighting each other.

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... And the bad guys this time don't wanna "DESTROY THE WORLD" alleluya for that miracle. Hellt he bad guys are the Church, whats up with that?

... Uhh I can't recall anything else I like about the game... maybe i'll remember later.

[Mitera Nikkou]

Yes, you should find better monsters. ;p Well, if you still have that wolf around, that one's still the most useful monster that I have. (It's a fenrir now, at level 70. Compared to a lot of other monsters it's very easy to level.) And you have to make sure that you level up your monsters to the max before you evolve them, so they carry over more stats and skills when they do. If a monster evolves back to the first monster, don't worry: that just means it will start off with higher stats than last time, and you can probably choose a second monster to evolve into and pick up more skills.

You like Ratatosk mode? XD Too bad he doesn't really become Ratatosk (a red squirrel); Musa would be all over it, then. ;p Anyway, I can't say I like "Ratatosk mode" much. Part of the reason might be a spoiler, so I won't mention any more than my dislike for it. At least Tenebrea's behavior is amusing, even though he too can be a jerk, is what I'm saying, basically.

You think Lloyd's evil? O.o I didn't think that would be the case, and I didn't buy the first explanation for it. I'm too experienced in these things to not have a good idea on what the likely story is. I think I figured most of it out for certain in either chapter four or five; I forget exactly which chapter a certain event took place. I don't think it explains everything, though.

But the world map had goodies that you could find. ;/ This new method of travel is okay, though. Either way works for me.

The Union Attack stuff is meh. I kind of liked the difficulty of landing a successful blow to start a union attack, and then pick out which attacks from each character you want to do. It seems you can only synch with monsters, so you can't make the most of it unless you use only Emil or Marta, to allow three monsters in your party. And so far I haven't noticed a way to utilize it, so it's irritating having no idea if it will do 2,000 damage or 10,000, as if it's determined by chance. Bleh.

I've seen young people in powerful positions before. And don't forget that Mithos/Yggdrasil had the form of a kid despite his actual age.

Is the Church of Martel the badguy? Dun-dun-dunnnn!

Oh, yeah... The skits are definitely better than the ones in the first game, in my opinion. Although, if not for Tenebrae, skits between Marta and Emil alone would have killededed me. God, do I hate the drama and the angst, and her silly love interest. WHY MUST I BE TORTURED SO!? And all that melodrama that I like to pull out of my ass.

[Zoey]

I've been saved alot of paint hanks to Union Attacks. I'd just wish that it weren't the same. Emil jumps and slashes his sword and the enemy and some other guy just does an attack... it's kinda... bleh. I remember in ToS 1 that if you got a pair of attacks together they would at the end create a super I rape you attack. I love Prism Star xD

Mithos does count. I mean the girl is cool cause she actually does stuff and has a personality. Mithos was all the time like so angst emo boy. "Ohh my sister.... ooohhh the world... oh why me..." Then I remember one time he actually took over Colettes body. I was like "oh oh this will be trouble..." The guy doesn't do anything! I least I expect was like he fought you in her body and he'd be like: "Come on! Kill your friend I dare you!" or atleast pretend that Collete is back and well and when they turn their backs kill him. Point is Mithos sucks. In everything... The final boss fight I was nervious. I beat the snot out of the guy, I mean he doesn't really have that much cheap-o attacks and yes he moves allot through the stage, but Llyoyd is fast and he can catch up. Then he turns into this super monster thing. It moved so slow it just asked to be hit with an 50 + combo. Mithos in my oppinion is the easiest boss ever... I was around lvl 53 then.

Update: Emil seems to be growing a pair. Im still in Flanoir and they just kipnapped Marta. I know realize that Emil's starting to actually act normal. It been time since he wined, well there was the monster gel thing, but when they gave him the comment: Marta completes you. He didn't go: That's not it! You got it all wrong. He actually seems to be likeing Marta o_0 OMG Emils growing up, finally!!! He hit puperty at what, 17 years old?

[Mitera Nikkou]

That's why I had Genis and Raine in my team in the first game, for that attack. Although it was also because of their magical prowess.

I finished the first game enough times for Mithos to possess each one of the girls at least once. I didn't bother with the guys. ;p

I liked the third encounter with Sword Dancer, and Abyssion. Mithos was a chump. ;/ It's not much fun when the game-ending boss isn't the strongest in the game. 'Cause if I beat something tougher before him/her/it, I feel like, "sigh, let's get this over with", instead of, "I've got to win this thing!"

As for Emil... While he's showing improvement it's still nothing special to me. I didn't expect him to remain as he was; that's just not the way these things work. Still, at least it's getting less annoying.

I've reached chapter seven, now. I have Presea but I'm disappointed in how impractical it would be to actually use her. (Or anyone else, for that matter.) Each monster that I use probably equates to several of the human characters put together, excluding Emil and Marta. Oh, my poor Presea... So weak in comparison in this game... It's just not fair.

[Zoey]

OMG! Sword Dancer and Abyssion, how could I have forgotten about those 2 D:
Ironiccly enough Sword Dancer, first encounter was a pain, I had to train in the world map like crazy in order to beat him. Second time was alittle smoother, but the third one was easier. Probably because I kept Lloyd and Presea over him like crazy to keep him of my casters and had Collete and Raine spam like crazy Light Elemental attacks. Every 5 seconds was: "Angel Feathers!" "Photon!" "Ray!". Still kinda annoying.

Abyssion... I can still feel the pain in my rear. I swear I even timed my battle, it took me about 40 minutes to beat the guy. I came ready with Lloyd (the once I use and the best I have), Zelos (good caster and brawler) , Raine (For healling and giving buffs to my guys) and Genis (to complete Prism Stars and to spam magic like always). I also came with a full payload of Apple, Lemon, Orange, Pinapple, Miracle gels, Life bottles and everything you could imagine. All of them at 20. When I finally beat him, my stock was EMPTY. Lemme say this again EMPTY!!! I had to use all my items to beat that guy. Now that I think of it, I consider Abyssion and Sword Dancer, the TRUE final bosses of the game.

Emil is ok, I promoted him from, You spineless wimp to Ok. And on another quick note Im in chapter 5 and finished reviving Tenebrae. Ratatosk Mode Emil has yet again blown my mind. When he did that uber Kamehameha thing at Richter, I was left with my jaw dropped. I litterly screamed, (I even think my neighbors shouted to shut up) "YOU F*****G KICK A$$!!!". Come on! Why can't I use that attack in the game?! It almost destroyed the whole Temple for crying out loud! Awesomeness!!!!!!! xD Yeah, Richter overpowered the second, and got Marta hit, but she didn't seem to mind. She just came again and said "Im ok I healled myself". Though now I'm curious. It seems like with the main character they pulled off a Yu-Gi-Oh! on us, but way better XD. Anyways...

I'm alittle frustrated. From what I heard you get to control everyone from the first ToS cept Kratos... Thats like, giving a present without the rapping, Eating BBQ ribs with no BBQ sauce, having a handheld with no batteries. I feel betrayed.
Also, when Tenebrae died, it looked like Both cores (Ratatosk's and the other one) fused into Emil. What happened then? Is he keeping them still or did he return it to Marta or what... Im in a limbo.

And of a final note: ToS 3! The main character is the son of Raine and Regal!... From all the pairings I never expected this one. I still can't belive it, heck I can barely belive it's not butter!

[Mitera Nikkou]

Heh, heh, heh... To be honest I find your naivete and child-like excitement amusing. You make me feel so old. ;/

I never had that kind of problem with Abyssion. Perhaps the first time, though. Strategy is one of my fortes so I can usually (but not always) figure out something during the first encounter, before it's too late to save myself.

You actually reacted like that to that trick of his? O.o I've seen better. <_< What kind of examples could I give, though... Well, how about something relevant to his element. Look here! And something relevant to his weapon would be good, too. Now look here! (Best quality of it I could find. ;/)

I can live without Kratos. It's not like he'd be worth using, anyway; same as the other characters in this game. At least that's what I think. I prefer the monsters over them. XD

I can't remember what happened to the cores already. ^_^; Maybe he puked them back out, maybe not... I'm more curious about Marta practically brushing off that attack without much in the way of evidence suggesting that she applied the kind of defense to do that. It would have been funny if she had been blown to smithereens. Mwa-ha-ha!

Eh? Tales of Symphonia 3? Is that an anime?

[Zoey]

I'm sorry >_< I hope I don't make you feel too old

Anyways, considering that in the world of ToS anything can be fixed with a simple swing of anything, an attack like what Ratatosk Emil did is amazing. Let's look at the evidence: Marta took head on attack that could blow up a whole temple and she servived and shruged it of like nothing. On the other hand earlier, Richter only grabed her by the collar and stabed her and thats it, She's dead and he has core. I don't care if it was a clone... How about even earlier. When Richter was teaching Emil Artes. They fought some mosters and bla bla bla. Then after he's done he just uses Demon Fang and thats it monter dead. So in a battle that it took you like 40 swings from a steel sword to kill a blob, it took richter a little twist from his wrist. Let's go even more to the past. When in ToS 1, (Maximus was it? I don't remember correctly I know he was a Desian), Kratos kill him with only 1 stab. That's it... The guy after he attack took a beating (in game), after battle he still looks fine, he even spoke ok. Kratos said something badass and then cut him. Then the baddie falls to the floor dead...

As Far as ToS goes the only real displays of power have been: The Kharlan tree when it went beserk, The Mana Cannon, Lloyds Eternal Sword and Ratatosk Emil's attack. Correct me if I forget one. Everything else can be solved with a simple stab or flimsy fire ball. Genis: "This tree won't let me pass! I can't do anything!" and I'm in my seat thinking. "Wait can't Genis call upon a Volcano, or a twister or a Tsunami like he did in ToS 1 and move it?". Come on ToS don't be afraid to go alittle DBZ. =.=

As far as I'm consered Kratos and Zelos are the most important characters to have in your party. They have the best of both worlds. Need Magic? They have it, need help in the front lines? They can help. Magic Swordsman are really helpful. Soemthings I fought mosters that are tough in against physical attacks and sometimes I didn't have Genis or Raine with me, and I was "This will be bad... Oh wait Zelos can use Magic!, Lightning Blade!". For that reason most of the time I had either Kratos or Zelos with me. They may not be the strongest brawler like Lloyd or Presea can be or the greatest caster like Genis, just when your unsure and would like flexability, Magic Swordsmen are the way to go!

I was joking about ToS 3. I just can't belive Raine has it in for Regal o_0. I mean doesn't Regal still love Presea's sister? Yeah she's dead, but Regal seems to keep her close in her heart.

[Mitera Nikkou]

I was joking about ToS 3. I just can't belive Raine has it in for Regal o_0. I mean doesn't Regal still love Presea's sister? Yeah she's dead, but Regal seems to keep her close in her heart.

That's part of what I found amusing. In being child-like you're more prone to gullibility.

You forgot about that thing that Cruxis used to incinerate Ozette. ;p But I'll argue that those sort of visuals, which you mentioned, are simply used as plot-devices. They're by no means a show of true power, as disparities tend to appear between that and what you see in actual battles. For instance, even though Kefka could tear continents apart with his power, he wasn't able to defeat a bunch of people who weren't that much more than normal humans (in most cases), even though he had practically become magic itself. In that case there's more than just a disparity, but it still applies here.

I never had a problem when I didn't use Zelos and Kratos for whatever flexibility they have. I just brought the fight to the enemy with Presea, with magical support from Genis and Raine. And to accompany Presea at the front line was either Lloyd or Sheena. Presea is a bit slow but that just means I have to be methodical, which is akin to making her a scalpel and the enemy a corpse that doesn't know it's already dead.

One thing that I like about Emil is his sky combo skills. I can get twelve or thirteen hits on an enemy if I knock them into the air and follow them up with the sky combo 2 skill. The enemy is defenseless in that state, and more times than not I'll daze the enemy with one of those hits. So not only do I deliver an effective attack, they can land on the ground in a defenseless state and I can pick up where I left off, so to speak. ;p