Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

 Wii
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 136 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 94 out of 136
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 136
  3. Negative: 23 out of 136
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  1. TEiH.
    Feb 18, 2009
    4
    Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is a feeble shadow of its predecessor. Even though it had a high standard to meet, you would expect the follow-up of such an incredible game to do what it could to make itself unique while remaining equally as original and artistic. Instead, we get a story that has more in common with the early days of RPGs, and characters that are pitifully Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is a feeble shadow of its predecessor. Even though it had a high standard to meet, you would expect the follow-up of such an incredible game to do what it could to make itself unique while remaining equally as original and artistic. Instead, we get a story that has more in common with the early days of RPGs, and characters that are pitifully cliche. With sub-par voice acting and much less focus on exploration with the removal of the world map, ToS:DotNW will only appeal to those with a supreme dedication to the first game, or those who enjoy RPGs and haven't been able to access any on the Wii system. For all its faults, it proves to be a substandard installation of the genre in the long run.… Expand
  2. midipon
    Apr 26, 2014
    2
    This is probably the worst Tales of game out there...and it tried to be a sequel to the best Tales of game! The plot comes out of nowhere after the first game the two new characters, though rather well developed, are still lame in comparison to the original eight and will leave you wanting to play as the original eight. Which you can't do. Even if they're in your party.

    The remixed    This is probably the worst Tales of game out there...and it tried to be a sequel to the best Tales of game! The plot comes out of nowhere after the first game the two new characters, though rather well developed, are still lame in comparison to the original eight and will leave you wanting to play as the original eight. Which you can't do. Even if they're in your party.

    The remixed music is nice, but the visual presentation just butchers everything from the original game and the lack of an explorable overworld is a sore disappointment.

    Dawn of the New World comes off as a game that wasn't supposed to be related to Symphonia at all, but lacked the budget to stand alone. Theres even this new monster raising system that they put in instead of having new or old characters fight with you. was this supposed to be a monster rancher?

    While you do go through new areas, you still have to go to old dungeons to hunt for the 8 elements AGAIN. The temples have some changes, but you're still just going through a bastardized version of the temples from the original. The only real big differences are the little back alleyways that they slapped behind the summon spirit altars.

    I don't think it's the worst game ever (though it is the worst I've played.) I can't be kinder to it because it's a shame this thing is associated with Tales of Symphonia.    … Expand
  3. GreensadReviews
    Feb 7, 2014
    3
    Let me first just say I have never been more let down in my life than the day I got this game.

    -Graphics I'm going to start with the positive here, graphically I think this game was a step up from the first game and while not greatly impressive they still don't weigh the game down and fit fairly well as an enhanced version of the first games graphical style. -Gameplay- The    Let me first just say I have never been more let down in my life than the day I got this game.

    -Graphics

    I'm going to start with the positive here, graphically I think this game was a step up from the first game and while not greatly impressive they still don't weigh the game down and fit fairly well as an enhanced version of the first games graphical style.

    -Gameplay-

    The select-a-destination world map system definitely breaks immersion compared to it's predecessor and is pretty terrible as a whole but that's something I could forgive. Where the game really does you wrong is the combat; Stale (techs with terrible combo-ability, repetitive even to the first game), attacks that break the flow of combat by triggering cut-scenes during combat which become painfully repetitive. Terrible implementation of a heavily Pokemon inspired system(see NiNoKuni for better implementation).

    -Sound-

    Don't get me started on how terrible the voice acting is, the first games voice acting fit and was definitely passable albeit cheesy at times but this game takes everything ToS did right and defecates all over it. To sum it up it was: extremely cheesy, lacking any believable emotion, poorly timed and worst of all it just didn't fit with a solid 90% of the characters (notably the first games protagonist, Lloyd). The sound design while not terrible was definitely not something worth mentioning.

    -Story-

    Somewhat similar to the first games story which is alright for a sequel. But they try to make this dark tone that ends up coming off as cheesy and pretty boring but again I could have forgiven that. The worst part about the story is that for a sequel it's incredibly inconsistent with the first game, they pull plot devices out of nowhere that have no relation to or directly contradict the happenings in the first ie. summon spirits and Centurions (don't you think we should have known about those in the first game??). Honestly I think the story is fine on paper but is so poorly implemented into the game that it just comes off as if it was written by a child.

    -Characters-

    Emil is one of the most annoying characters I've heard he's whiny at first and when he's not whiny they try to give him this cool, dark, hero attitude but they try way too hard and it ends up being just as annoying. Marta's character can be annoying at times but nowhere near as bad as Emil. The other new characters aren't notable except maybe Tenebrae who can be pretty witty, as for the old character's none of them seem to fit.

    This game does a few things right but it's too-little-too late, if you're a fan of the original steer clear from this game, I've tried 3 times to play this game each time I've dedicated myself to this game, giving it another clean slate and a fair chance I can never get more than half way through the game. If I had to choose 1 word to express this game I would choose: disappointing or lackluster.    … Expand
  4. lavayuki
    Feb 27, 2016
    1
    After playing every other Tales game up to Xillia 2, this is by far the worst, especially after playing Symphonia. I could barely stand Marta and her obsessive lovey-dovey scenes, with most of the skits being about how much she loves Emil to the point of mania. Other than that, only 2 main party members with every other character being only temporary and unable to level up/ changeAfter playing every other Tales game up to Xillia 2, this is by far the worst, especially after playing Symphonia. I could barely stand Marta and her obsessive lovey-dovey scenes, with most of the skits being about how much she loves Emil to the point of mania. Other than that, only 2 main party members with every other character being only temporary and unable to level up/ change equipment and the whole monster capture thing did not appeal to me as a whole. The worst part was the characters though, it's the only Tales where I found the dialogue and skits to be too cringy to listen to that I couldn't bring myself to do a New game plus.… Expand
  5. Super_Cloud
    Jan 1, 2016
    3
    I finished the game before on Wii, i was deceived but i did kinda enjoyed seeing the follow up of the story and now i'm trying to do the game again on PS3 few year after and i just can't... Emil & Marta i really hate them both, i'm replaying the game it's like really boring and hard to keep up. I feel like the game lack in quality... It got to be the shortest Tales of, i finished the gameI finished the game before on Wii, i was deceived but i did kinda enjoyed seeing the follow up of the story and now i'm trying to do the game again on PS3 few year after and i just can't... Emil & Marta i really hate them both, i'm replaying the game it's like really boring and hard to keep up. I feel like the game lack in quality... It got to be the shortest Tales of, i finished the game in 22 hours... The music are good. Is it a bad game? i don't know but it's not a good Tales of.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

75
#75 Best Wii Game of 2008
20
#20 Most Discussed Wii Game of 2008
26
#26 Most Shared Wii Game of 2008

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 46 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 46
  2. Mixed: 27 out of 46
  3. Negative: 3 out of 46
  1. IGN
    67
    Wii gamers desperate for a role-playing game, particularly those that enjoyed the first Symphonia, might be able to overlook Dawn of the New World's tired gameplay and convoluted story.
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  2. GameTrailers
    79
    Though the battle system is improved, an erratic difficulty, budget production values, and a poorly-paced story keep Dawn of the New World from royalty status. In some ways, it’s a worthy successor to the original, but it’s ultimately just another passable action RPG.
    Read full review
  3. GamesRadar+
    60
    If you can look past the last-last-gen flaws that absolutely should be gone by now, there’s a totally playable bit of gaming here that’ll scratch your RPG itch for the time being.
    Read full review
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