Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

[D_prOdigy]

When you say sidequests, what exactly do you mean? Are there many (any?) sidequests in DotNW? I was useless at finding any to do in the original ToS.

 

I mean the quests you can undertake at the Katz Guilds. They're actual, physical quests you embark on, unlike in the original, where you just sent a Katz off to look for items, enemies, etc.

 

"Side-quests" might be a bit misleading, actually. I don't think there are any available in the main world that intertwine with the main story.

[darksnowman]

I mean the quests you can undertake at the Katz Guilds. They're actual, physical quests you embark on, unlike in the original, where you just sent a Katz off to look for items, enemies, etc.

 

"Side-quests" might be a bit misleading, actually. I don't think there are any available in the main world that intertwine with the main story.

 

Groovy, just wanted clarification on what you meant incase there was stuff I was missing out on. I've done all the quests that Katz has currently made available to me.

[Paj!]

Hey! There are side-quests in the main story! Don't spread lies. :p

 

"Helping Richter" is a pretty good one. Most side-quests are more like optional thing to see/do, but they all span the entire game. There's one about Alice's past that I missed early on, and can't do anymore. ASAIK, Helping Richter is the most "sidequesty".

 

Anyway.

 

I too am at the battle D-Prodigy was, and found it...really easy. Until bad luck, when my entire party cut cut down to raine for the first time in the battle just cause they were all in the range of one of hi artes, and then he did his Mystic Arte, and he killed Marta before I could do Something Something Roar. But yeah, if I'd got that off and some more melee attacks, he'd have been dead.

[darksnowman]

Any hints about people to talk for sidequestage? I talk to everyone in RPGs but more often than not you have to go back and talk to someone obscure to trigger a sidequest. Its that kind of randomness that always gets me.

 

In ToS I carried that damn letter/ diary/ item for Aifreed/ Alfred for the entire game and never found him.

[Paj!]

Yeah, in these sidequests, it's really luck-based. To get Alice's one, you have to head back to Luin in like Chapter 2, at a point where there's no need etc, and then a movie triggers. Stuff like that. Random ones like going all the way back to Asgard and talking to someone even though you're in Meltokio currently.

 

I got the first bit of Alice's on pure luck, but didn't realise how to get the second bit until too late. Done all of Richters, I think that's the most "obvious" one, pretty sure I just talked to some shop owner a few times then the first bit happened. From then on, the game encourages you to do that sidequest. (IIRC)

[Tales]

You weren't suppose to find him. I think.

 

Finished the game yesterday. To be honest, it wasn't that much fun, at least not what I expected from it. The skits were funny and it was great to see old characters and familiar places, but most of the story, the new graphic style, cooking system, the monsters and the lack of sidequests(or too hard to find them, I didn't find one the entire game, except the treasure quest from the Katz) I only found someone at the very end by using Gamefaqs. I never used the monsters. I didn't know if they actually be worth the time and because I no relationship with them whatsoever I didn't bother to find out. The only good thing about the monster was that it was slightly fun to try to get them all, but I only did that by evolving. I didn't like to have use other characters to change the elements because some other character would screw it up and if I want to do something about that I would have spend time changing the strategies, I couldn't bother with that. I don't understand why they just couldn't let us level up and buy equipment for the original ToS characters instead. Or just make a few new unique characters instead of 250 boring ones.

 

The game is ok, I would play it if I knew everything I know now simply because of nostalgia, but I don't think I will play it again any time soon.

[Paj!]

I'm nearing the end, on Chapter 8, at the obvious bit where you have all the time in the world before the final dungeon/boss. (I assume)

 

I think the skits are genuinely entertaining yeah, and I like the emphasis on story, but it's a little too much. The game must be 50% cutscenes, at least. Especially cause the story isn't quite succinct or good enough to justify the amount spent on harping on about it. I like the way they include the old characters, as main team mmebers, but interchangeable during the story, and generally always good. It's a shame they aren't that customisable though.

 

I also was left wanting another original character, it lacked that RPG magic, simply cause I knew all the older characters, and they dont feel like a solid part of a team cause they keep leaving/rejoining. From the box/promo image, I expected Decus (Oh yeah, what the fuck is up with the pronounciation of that? Dex? Uh...) and Alice to join at some point. They would have stunned. But oh well.

 

I'll wait till I finish properly.

[D_prOdigy]

Gawd.

 

Well that was depressing.

[darksnowman]

To be honest, it wasn't that much fun, at least not what I expected from it.

 

I thought you would have known what to expect and be pleasantly surprised like the rest of us, Tales. Sucks that you didn't get much enjoyment from the game.

 

I'm nearing the end, on Chapter 8, at the obvious bit where you have all the time in the world before the final dungeon/boss. (I assume)

 

About how long has it taken you? I'm in Izoold, on chapter three with just about 18 hours racked up. I've spent time doing quests as they become available- well, I've a couple of level three ones waiting because I'd been through those snowy and dwarven caves so many times already! Oh and I went for it and synthesised a new weapon for Emil, an Echo Tracer.

 

Gawd.

 

Well that was depressing.

 

What was? (Don't spoil anything for me! )

 

 

I feel like I need a break now but I wanna press on with the story because Flanoir is my next stop.

[Paj!]

I did a total of 1 Katz Quest the entire time, but a big side-quest is available if you do several of the Treasure Hunt ones or something (didn't know this at the time). I'm at about 35 hours or so, and on chapter 8. I assume you'll be way more, doing ALL the quests.

 

Emil is lvl. 50, Marta lvl. 48, and the enemies seem to be appropriate strength. I seem to be losing due to luck atm. So nearly killed

Alice and Decus

, but it was just Marta left and she was fucking stunned. :p

[Emerald Emblem]

I did a total of 1 Katz Quest the entire time, but a big side-quest is available if you do several of the Treasure Hunt ones or something (didn't know this at the time). I'm at about 35 hours or so, and on chapter 8. I assume you'll be way more, doing ALL the quests.

 

Emil is lvl. 50, Marta lvl. 48, and the enemies seem to be appropriate strength. I seem to be losing due to luck atm. So nearly killed

Alice and Decus

, but it was just Marta left and she was fucking stunned. :p

 

Thats where i found Monsters to be highly useful. Level 80 Shadow Dragon (Had tonnes of HP and defence) and Level 90 Evolution of the Mandragora (Second healer).

[Paj!]

They're useful for distracting enemies so you can focus on one. But yeah, past there now, onto the battle with

Fiery Richter, but died, after he regained health after using his Mystic Arte, and I had run out of life bottles.

[D_prOdigy]

I'm genuinely tingling that you're so near the end, Paj. I wanna know what you make of the ending...

[Guest Captain Falcon]

I did a total of 1 Katz Quest the entire time, but a big side-quest is available if you do several of the Treasure Hunt ones or something (didn't know this at the time). I'm at about 35 hours or so, and on chapter 8. I assume you'll be way more, doing ALL the quests.

 

The big side quest triggered by the Katz quests isn't available on the first play through, or at least, that's my understanding. And the multi-floor bonus dungeon thingy can also only be accessed on the second go.

[Paj!]

I'm genuinely tingling that you're so near the end, Paj. I wanna know what you make of the ending...

 

Finished! I just went back to stock up on items, then defeated you-know-who fairly simply, but I think there was glitch or some weird power mid-way through that battle where the "Cannot Use Item" sign was permanently up. Evenutally it went away, but that was scary!

 

I got the "Normal Ending" (worked it out beforehand, and I knew what to do to not get the bad ending, through an unintentional spoiler I got a while back), which I wanted.

(Watched the other 2 endings online, the "Bad" one was depressing, and kinda unsatidfsactory, maybe as a punishment for getting said ending :p. The "Good" one is too happy-happy for me too though. )

 

I liked it, but it's such a fucking complicated story. It could have been made succinct. Got my skills, artes, skits and 2x exp at the GRade Shop and started a new file, but am not in a rush to play again.

[darksnowman]

I played more over the weekend and I've now bypassed the 20 hours played mark, and have seen 47% of skits. Last thing I did was the Temple of Darkness and to be honest, for a little while there from Izlood it felt like the game had entered a bit of a lull. I was starting to see the negative side of it all and was starting to wonder if by the end of everything, I would be in the camp of haters. Thankfully by the end of the Temple of Darkness sequence I was firmly back to enjoying it. Having character/s taken away and then getting them back made me realise that hey, I'm pretty attached to the goings on of this world.

 

What about the Colosseum, has anyone went through it? I don't know if I can be bothered. I'm finding the quests a right repetitive grind now as well. There are some level two ones opened up but I honestly cannot bring myself to go back through the Ice Crevasse and Dwarfen Cavern again for the time being. Needs more variety!

[daftada]

I've just got through the temple of darkness, by far my favourite so far! Really getting into this - almost on a par with Vesperia.

[Emerald Emblem]

I've just got through the temple of darkness, by far my favourite so far! Really getting into this - almost on a par with Vesperia.

 

I really think you are bigging it up more than it merits.

[Eddage]

I really think you are bigging it up more than it merits.

 

To be fair I really enjoyed it and it isn't much worse than Vesperia...

 

I urge everyone to give the monsters a go, maybe have a look on GameFAQ's or something to find some you like the sound of and train them up, rather than spending ages levelling up to find they suck.

 

They level up a lot faster so the fact they return to level 1 after they evolve isn't really an issue, I think by the end of the game on of my monsters was level 90 and had evolved twice during the process!

 

I had the final evolution of a Harpee, that could cast some very powerfull attack spells and the final evolution of the wolf, he stands on his hind legs and is, I think, the best melee fighter in the game.

 

I don't think I ever used the human characters when I had the chance, unless the game forced you too.

[Emerald Emblem]

I just think Vesperia has so much more to offer. The original Symphonia I put Vesperia on par with but not DotNW.

Edited January 20, 2010 by Emerald Emblem

[darksnowman]

I've just got through the temple of darkness, by far my favourite so far!

 

Good stuff!

 

I urge everyone to give the monsters a go, maybe have a look on GameFAQ's or something to find some you like the sound of and train them up, rather than spending ages levelling up to find they suck.

 

I don't mind the monsters. I have my wolf evolved up to Fenrir which is pretty decent. I also have a Sphinx. Those two are what I mainly use alongside Emil and Marta. The other two monsters I have travelling with me are a Clay Golem and a Selkie.

 

I don't think I ever used the human characters when I had the chance, unless the game forced you too.

 

Hmm, I dunno. So far I've been switching the monsters out for any human characters whenever I can. It gives the battles a bit more personality, imo, and atleast the monsters gather experience even when not in your active party.

[Paj!]

Yeah, Humans ftw. The Monsters are useful as fill ins and distracting enemies (or healing, I taught my Fenrir Heal), but I always used real people over monsters where possible.

[daftada]

I really think you are bigging it up more than it merits.

 

I meant I've enjoyed it as much as Vesperia. The nostalgia factor has helped me overlook some of the poorer elements (I do think DotNW has the better battle system though...), but I've definitely had as much fun playing through it so far.

[darksnowman]

Rrrrrruptdate:

 

Temple of Lightning = complete. The story really seems to be cranking into motion now. Astar...? Emil...? Lloyd...? I've avoided spoilers this far meaning I don't have a baldy clue how things are gonna pan out, all I know is I'm still enjoying the game.

 

My only criticisms are that the quests are too repetitive. I might just give up on them. Its getting tiring to go through the same locations again and again, and go through that same rigmarole with Donero time and time again. Secondly, why can't there be a quick jump option after you complete a dungeon? I don't wanna beat the boss, watch the cutscene and walk back out through everything. I just want to appear back at the entrance. Its likely like this so you can rack up some exp on the way out due to there being no overworld, but still. If I want more exp, I'll do quests or go back into the dungeons willingly.

[darksnowman]

Final update then we can let this thread die if thats what you all want.

 

Chapter 9: Symphony of the Heart

Gald: 294, 305

Encounters: 719

Hits: 53

 

Emil Lvl 59

Marta Lvl 57

 

Time: 37:24

 

All in all, I enjoyed Dawn of the New World a great deal. The returning characters were great to see and were only let down by their voice actors changing (Lloyd the most!). I'm not sure if Zelos has a different voice actor but I thought he sounded somewhat like Christian Slater throughout DotNW. Like I said before, the mo-cap breathed an unexpected amount of expressive life into the characters. In addition to the motion capture, I thought that the cutscenes were directed really well (the ones where the characters weren't idly standing round talking, obviously ) which in my book, added a certain level of cinematic polish to everything. That isn't to say it was all hunky-dory because the cutscenes in the Ginnungagap were of such horrendous blurry quality that even I can't over look it. What happened?

 

Story wise I thought it was great. It doesn't really pick up til your about 2/3's through but by the end I found it difficult to hate anyone because the game made you understand everyones motivations behind their actions. The Vanguard, Richter, Aster, Lloyd, the monsters... it wasn't black and white in the end. Speaking of which, the ending I got was really lovey-dovey which was fine by me.

 

Gameplay was grand. The lack of an overworld never once was a negative aspect for me- the only thing I wish is that locations would have stayed constantly available. I was leafing through the instruction book and only came across the move where you hold B after an arcane arc yesterday so things might have been alot easier had I known about that earlier. I found it a wee bit difficult to know what Artes were best to equip. In ToS I thought it showed you what ones were progressions of earlier ones... or something. I can't really remember but I think it was more straightforward for my mind to understand. :P

 

Sidequests... I did none that I know of. Nothing became available through the Katz Quests and by the end I only had level 80+ ones to accept. I dunno. Did I miss out on anything that great?

 

Something I was trying to second guess when they were describing the worlds history and then, by trying to think how the outcome of the game would effect things was if it lends itself to a threequel. Was ToS 1+2 prequels to Phantasia? I'm not sure if DotNW ties in well with everything but I'd probably be willing to overlook any further retconning if it means more time with the Sylvaranti and Tetha'ellans.

 

So, will I replay it? Difficult to say. The fact that its so short means its always gonna be an option but I can't see it happening any time soon. I didn't jump straight back into ToS after completing it either. Screw the haters, unless you are expecting Dawn of the New World to be the greatest game ever (which it was never gonna be!) then you can't go wrong with it in the slightest.