Unskippable: Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

[emusega]

I know, I know tales of Symphonia is apparentley good, but wow this cutscene sucked. Unfortunately, the unskippable was not as funny as last week. Still a lot more interesting than the jimquisition

 

[NeutralDrow]

Honestly, I think it just wasn't what a lot of people were expecting. It's technically a sequel, but it's also a lower-budget escort title, and I guess people were missing the original cast taking center stage. I always thought that was rather missing the point; they already had center stage. They're guests in a different story, now.

Isn't that what usually happens to spin-off titles people assume are sequels? I do agree completely. A lot of the problem is that most (I am one of them) wanted to see things continue from where the first game ended. What we got was a brand new game in a known universe following a different angled story in a changed world. It's a bit like Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn.

That reminds me, I still need to play Radiant Dawn. I don't usually go for SRPGs, but I loved Path of Radiance.

I actually liked Emil and the way he evolves throughout the story.

Oh hell yes. In the final dungeon, I was happy enough to try using Devil's Hellfire as often as possible, in celebration.

'Course, I was also doing that because it looked much cooler than the original cast's offerings, other than Genis'

And really, it was one of the better love stories I've seen in a game. I started to warm up to Emil once he revealed that he was perfectly aware of Marta's feelings for him (immediately scoring protagonist points over Lloyd; I'm a Colette fan, what can I say?), and he was worried about the unrealistic expectation she was holding of him. It was like a breath of fresh air when he actually called her on it, and icing on the cake when they started growing closer normally.

Actually, someone else summed it up far better than I ever could. <url=http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/942210-tales-of-symphonia-dawn-of-the-new-world/53078125>Source.

Spoiler: Flowchart.

Actual flow chart of relationship:-
Marta: OMG I LUV YOU YER PERFECT. Also, I'm counting on you, I know you can do it, other supportive statements.
Emil: Well, she's clearly idealized me and is in love with the fantasy, but it's nice to be counted on, and she's a good friend, crush aside.

Marta: OMG I LUV YOU
Emil: STOP TRYING TO MAKE ME YOUR PERFECT MAN, GOD!
Marta: ...(Oh balls he's right.)
Emil: (Damn, now she thinks I'm a wuss like everyone else)

Marta: (Hey wait a minute, even though Emil's a wuss, he's really trying his hardest to protect me, and he is really nice...oh crap I think I'm falling for him again...though he probably hates me.)
Emil: (Wow, now Marta's stopped hanging off me, I can really start to see her for who she really is. Despite everything she still supports me, and I really want to protect her...oh balls I think I'm falling for her.)

Ice Cave

Emil: (Dammit if I was my Ratatosk self more this wouldn't happen)
Ratatosk: (You got that right *bodysnatch*)
Marta: (Wait, he doesn't hate me? Chance!)

Ratatosk Emil: (Why does everybody seem to hate me and not my wussy normal self? I get the job done, I'm strong and all that other awesome stuff. I can actually protect Marta.)
Marta: (Ratatosk Emil is kinda brutal...and kind of a douche, but he is trying his hardest too. It's nice,)

Ratatosk Emil: *does REALLY douchey thing* (God I'm awesome)
Marta: You're a giant DOUCHE. Where's normal Emil? He wouldn't do that. (Lists actual normal Emil qualities, not idealized ones)
Ratatosk Emil: (DAMMIT)

Ratatosk Emil: (Maybe I could try being less of a douche) *tries acting like normal Emil.*
Marta: Thanks for trying, you aren't entirely a douche, are you?

Ratatosk Emil: Y'know what? Balls this, women make my head hurt. You're up normal me.
Emil: Cool.

Marta: BAWW DADDY BAWW
Emil: Look, I'm here for you. You can count on me, after all I-
ToS cast: ****BLOCK'D
Emil: Dammit

Marta: *sniff* Daddy *sniff*
Ratatosk Emil: What nice me said in a more jerky style of speech.
Vanguard: ****BLOCK'D
Ratatosk Emil: DAMMIT

*Marta captured*

Emil: MARTA!
Marta: EMIL!
Tenebrae: ****BLOCKING!
Emil and Marta: DAMMIT

*ZA BIG REVEAL*

Emil: *existential crisis*
Marta: Look, no matter what, the time we spent together was real, and Emil, I really do...
Presea: ...*****blocked
Marta: Oh come on!

*MORE REVEAL*

Emil: I love you, after all you've always been supportive of me while at the same time I could always count on you.
Marta: I love you too Emil, you're so nice and always try your hardest despite your own fears and doubts.
Emil and Marta: *check for ****blockers* *kiss*
Lucis: YAY!

Rest of game.

True Ending

Lucis: YAY!

 

[Hungry Donner]

Heh, never before has so much exposition failed so hard to give any clue what's going on with the opening cutscene...

Well put.

I often find backstory very interesting but I'd like to read it on my own (say with in game books and NPC stories) rather than having a pile of it plastered at the beginning. I suspect you've either played the preceding game and already know most of this or have no clue what it means.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Heh, never before has so much exposition failed so hard to give any clue what's going on with the opening cutscene...

Well put.

I often find backstory very interesting but I'd like to read it on my own (say with in game books and NPC stories) rather than having a pile of it plastered at the beginning. I suspect you've either played the preceding game and already know most of this or have no clue what it means.

There's also the fact that this opening scene is intentionally confusing, even to fans.

It definitely is intended for people who played the first game, who would know what Palmacosta is, what the backstory is behind the worlds being cleaved apart and then fused together, about the Kharlan tree...but who are shocked and perplexed by Lloyd, the idealistic protagonist of the first game, showing up as a murderous enforcer.

The whole thing with Marta (the girl) being cornered and passing out is also intentional misdirection. You don't find out what actually happened until most of the way through the game.

 

[Nayr]

haha good unskippable, I loved the first symphionia and is probably my favorite game, dawn of the new world was a huge let down. Even though the combat was much better. The story was so dissappointing and Emil was the worst main character ever!

 

[Drof]

So.... I Read the comments. No one wondering why this is being narrated Liquid Snake?

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Heh, didn't epect you guys to do this one. For those of you who don't know, this is actually a sequel to the original Tales of Symphonia, which came out in... 2003, I think.

It follows the tradition of other games in the Tales of Series by starting off as rather cliche... but then turning everything on it's head later on, making it one of my favorite JRPGS of all time. I highly recommend it to JRPG fans.

The sequel... eh, I haven't seen that much of it, so I'm kinda on the fence about it. The thing that bugs me the most, is WHY OH WHY did they change most of the voice actors for the original game characters?!?

Don't get me wrong, there are some good voice actors in there, but did they HAVE to change Lloyd's voice?! I could have had Scott Menville and Johnny Yong Bosch, two of my all-time favorite english voice actors working together in the sequel for one of my all-time favorite JRPGS! GAAAAAAHHHHH!

...Sorry, just a bit of nerd-rage right there...

(And I guess Lloyd Irving is a bit of an odd name... but hey, isn't that a staple of JRPGS?)

 

[Alphakirby]

With a name like Ratatosk, I was expecting a pokemon joke.

So was I. She was clutching a round object...IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SO EASY!

Which is exactly why they didn't do it. A joke isn't funny if everyone has already heard it.

 

[Hydro14]

Climate change joke was stunning.

Some good points were raised in this; I really enjoy the game but it does ask for a lot of benefit-of-the-doubt in the opening stages, and as Yahtzee said "it gets good after (insert number of hours)" is not an argument in favour of the game.

The purpose of this intro isn't really to set the scene though, it's to present a load of questions that the player wants answers to. In this case they did perhaps do that a little too well as the player is left with no idea which quetions they're supposed to be finding answers to first.

 

[Manji187]

Was that Master Miller narrating this game? I was waiting for him to tell me to trust my instincts as a gamer.

Damn...ninja'd Well...actually I wanted to say Liquid...not that it matters though, since

Spoiler

Liquid is the guy impersonating Master Miller...by putting his hair up and wearing shades XD

.

 

[MaxFan]

I jump to the moon all the time. You can totally breathe there, the astronauts were just pansies and never tried.

Sweet, where can I get one of those paper weights? Hmm, maybe not if it gets me so Magic'd out I forget where I've been...

 

[Don Reba]

This episode must have been seriously offensive to all would-be villains named Lloyd. I'd watch out now, if I were you.

 

[Biodeamon]

glowing red paperweights that lodge themselves in your head are never a good sign

 

[Radoh]

Reviewing this game just made me really happy, I love it!

 

[soulblade06]

That game might just have been the most horribly confusing and pointless thing I have ever seen in my life. Did we really need to know that a tree died, God decided that the world needed to be split in half as punishment for their poor horticultural skills, they planted a new one, then one kingdom decided to kill the other because they didn't have as nice stuff as they did, and that the victims formed their own army soon afterwards?

If they had just started at the second to last sentence and elaborated on that, the game probably would be slightly more appealing. Slightly.

 

[Pseudopod]

This made me laugh out loud a few times, because even though I like this game, it has a lot of ridiculous, cliche, and outright campy moments. It's fun and I don't consider it to be a bad sequel, mostly because I liked the monster raising and having Regal and Sheena, my two favorite Symphonia characters, available as party members for a lot of the game. I was fortunate enough to be able to play through the whole game Co-op though, and I'm sure I would like the game a lot less if I had to play it with an AI controlled Marta or Emil.

I think the "Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality!" scene would have been great for this.

 

[Reed Spacer]

You know, if the blonde guy just uses a little baby oil, that squeak will vanish.

Baby oil: made from the finest ground-up ugly babies mankind has to offer.

 

[GothmogII]

Ahh, Cam Clarke makes everything alright once again.