Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

Only a handful of the original voice actors returned for this sequel, with the most glaring absence that of Lloyd’s voice actor. His replacement did not do it for me, but that’s just one opinion. The others fit into their roles nicely, and even if they sound different, you will not find yourself too broken up over it.

The story is told through motion-capture cutscenes, a first for the Tales series. Normally, cutscenes feature wooden animations from the chibi characters, or are done in an anime style; the motion-capture style works very well though, with some fantastic animations and movements coming from the character models. Occasionally, you will see one move in a way that does not match up with the rest of the performance you are seeing, but outside of that the motion-capture experiment was a success.

In addition to this change, Namco Tales Studios also did away with the chibi models and replaced them with ones that better match their character portraits. These are an improvement visually; though they are not as attractive as those found in the Xbox 360’s “Tales of Vesperia,” they are a significant leap over the original GameCube effort. The temples and towns you traversed in the original have also been updated with better looking textures, but the placement of things is the same.

The graphics are a step up from the game’s ‘Cube cousin, but they are underwhelming overall. Yes, the motion-capture animations work very well, and the character models look very good, but this looks like a game that should been released on the previous generation. That should not be the kind of thing that ruins a game experience, given the high points the game has to offer in both story and gameplay, but those who expect their current-gen RPGs to graphically outshine earlier GameCube efforts from Namco Bandai such as Baten Kaitos or its own sequel/prequel will be disappointed.

The biggest draw to this game should be the battle system. Battles are now on a 3D plane, like the past few games in the series have been, and are real time. Imagine that you are playing a 3D fighting game with RPG characters who can use magic, swords and the like in order to string together combos. You start with regular attacks, of which you can perform three in a row of when the game starts. You can then follow that up with an Arte, which is a special attack that uses Technique Points, and is oftentimes more powerful than a regular swipe with a weapon.

Later on, you can string two Base Artes (the simplest kind) together, or add an Arcane Arte on. The most powerful move is called a Mystic Arte, which is performed after an Arcane Arte simply by holding down the B button while performing it. Unison Attacks also make a return; these are performed by pressing the C button after you have filled your Unison gauge up halfway, either through dealing or taking damage. Whoever you are controlling will be in each Unison Attack, though some of your teammates will also join in, depending on if they are focused on the same enemy as you or not. These have a tendency to be devastating, though oftentimes not as powerful as a correctly performed Mystic Artes (which requires the entire Unison Gauge to be filled). Artes are performed with a button and a direction on the control stick, much like the fighting system of Super Smash Bros., a game many Nintendo fans are familiar with.

When you have figured out the system, you will regularly string together 50 hit combos on your foes that decimate their hit points and earn you Grade, a measurement of just how good of a job you are or are not doing, and a currency that allows you to buy game modifiers before you start a New Game Plus. You will want to play through a second time as well, as there are multiple endings to unlock. These are dependant on certain actions and decisions you make during the course of the game. The Grade system will allow you, assuming you earned enough, to buy experience modifiers for faster leveling in order to make your second time through a faster affair, and allow you to unleash some wicked attacks on your opponents simply by outmuscling them.