Comments on: Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World Review http://www.cheatmasters.com/blog/2009/01/02/tales-of-symphonia-dawn-of-the-new-world-review/ Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:25:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 By: JVang http://www.cheatmasters.com/blog/2009/01/02/tales-of-symphonia-dawn-of-the-new-world-review/#comment-2703 JVang Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:14:08 +0000 http://www.cheatmasters.com/blog/2009/01/02/tales-of-symphonia-dawn-of-the-new-world-review/#comment-2703 Gerik makes many great points. I actually found this game a lot more interesting than the first one. Don't get me wrong, the first was really epic and fun but this one just had me going. Characters just seem much more interesting than the last one for some reason. I do disagree with the reviewer about the battle system. Like all other reviewers who rip on the battle systems of games, you cannot fight differently all the time. It is the battle system that was created for the game, so play it. I do agree with Larkin as well. Perhaps one should pay a little more attention before writing such a review. Also, what's with the "DO NOT buy this until you have played the first game"? I feel as if whether I played the first or not, the game still made a whole lot of sense. Oh, and Larkin, you should check out the first one if you enjoyed the second one so much. :D Though, it is quite different than the second one I might add. Gerik makes many great points. I actually found this game a lot more interesting than the first one. Don’t get me wrong, the first was really epic and fun but this one just had me going. Characters just seem much more interesting than the last one for some reason.

I do disagree with the reviewer about the battle system. Like all other reviewers who rip on the battle systems of games, you cannot fight differently all the time. It is the battle system that was created for the game, so play it.

I do agree with Larkin as well. Perhaps one should pay a little more attention before writing such a review. Also, what’s with the “DO NOT buy this until you have played the first game”? I feel as if whether I played the first or not, the game still made a whole lot of sense.

Oh, and Larkin, you should check out the first one if you enjoyed the second one so much. :D Though, it is quite different than the second one I might add.

]]> By: TJ http://www.cheatmasters.com/blog/2009/01/02/tales-of-symphonia-dawn-of-the-new-world-review/#comment-2599 TJ Thu, 29 Jan 2009 05:19:42 +0000 http://www.cheatmasters.com/blog/2009/01/02/tales-of-symphonia-dawn-of-the-new-world-review/#comment-2599 Gerik: Those are all very valid points but re-read my review, I felt that the battle system in general was terrible so there's no reason I would actually WANT to learn how to go further. I did do some general dabbling in it but overall found it a waste of my time. Larkin: As you said, this is your first Tales game. If you had played some in the past you may have found that all these features weren't so great. New Game +? In ToS1, it's nothing new. Compared to virtually ANY Tales game the plot, gameplay, etc. was NOTHING. It's like if your first Zelda game was Twilight Princess, sure it may have been good but Ocarina of Time and Link to the Past were infinitely better. Gerik: Those are all very valid points but re-read my review, I felt that the battle system in general was terrible so there’s no reason I would actually WANT to learn how to go further. I did do some general dabbling in it but overall found it a waste of my time.

Larkin: As you said, this is your first Tales game. If you had played some in the past you may have found that all these features weren’t so great. New Game +? In ToS1, it’s nothing new. Compared to virtually ANY Tales game the plot, gameplay, etc. was NOTHING. It’s like if your first Zelda game was Twilight Princess, sure it may have been good but Ocarina of Time and Link to the Past were infinitely better.

]]> By: Larkin http://www.cheatmasters.com/blog/2009/01/02/tales-of-symphonia-dawn-of-the-new-world-review/#comment-2579 Larkin Wed, 21 Jan 2009 21:41:55 +0000 http://www.cheatmasters.com/blog/2009/01/02/tales-of-symphonia-dawn-of-the-new-world-review/#comment-2579 Gerik basically said everything I wanted to say- except this: That stuff about having to play the first game first? BS. This was my first Tals game. I bought it cuz it looked cool. It is probably one of the best games for Wii right now. Story, gamepley (which I also hated at first, but came to appreciate later), style... even the look of the game... it was all amazing! And the monsters! Sheesh! That was one of the best aspects! They could any skills a human could! And they sure as hell followed my commands better than one. Evolving and seeing what kind of creatures I got was ALWAYS fun. You, reviewer, obviously DID NOT play the same game that we did. Next time, pay attention and actually PLAY the game. You might find it more enjoyable... And the story? BADASS. Ratatosk himself was the coolest character EVER. The game was so good that I was extremely happy when I discovered that I had the option to start a new game importing some of the things I had accomplished from the last, defeated file. I have monsters over level 90 with me now- and I am only level 12... it's brilliant. Sadly, I was not able to import my items. Not enough points. Good thing I saved the boss fight file and the new file seperately ^^ That's thinkin' like a gamer~ Gerik basically said everything I wanted to say- except this: That stuff about having to play the first game first? BS. This was my first Tals game. I bought it cuz it looked cool.

It is probably one of the best games for Wii right now. Story, gamepley (which I also hated at first, but came to appreciate later), style… even the look of the game… it was all amazing!

And the monsters! Sheesh! That was one of the best aspects! They could any skills a human could! And they sure as hell followed my commands better than one. Evolving and seeing what kind of creatures I got was ALWAYS fun. You, reviewer, obviously DID NOT play the same game that we did.

Next time, pay attention and actually PLAY the game. You might find it more enjoyable…

And the story? BADASS. Ratatosk himself was the coolest character EVER.

The game was so good that I was extremely happy when I discovered that I had the option to start a new game importing some of the things I had accomplished from the last, defeated file. I have monsters over level 90 with me now- and I am only level 12… it’s brilliant. Sadly, I was not able to import my items. Not enough points. Good thing I saved the boss fight file and the new file seperately ^^

That’s thinkin’ like a gamer~

]]> By: Gerik http://www.cheatmasters.com/blog/2009/01/02/tales-of-symphonia-dawn-of-the-new-world-review/#comment-2493 Gerik Sat, 03 Jan 2009 04:47:24 +0000 http://www.cheatmasters.com/blog/2009/01/02/tales-of-symphonia-dawn-of-the-new-world-review/#comment-2493 Some things the author of this review says make it clear that they did not try very hard to understand certain aspects of the game. "You can evolve them as well but I don’t really see the point of this as it just makes them weaker and you’ll have to level them up all over again." This statement makes it very obvious that the reviewer did not even try to understand the purpose of evolution because, as anyone who has glanced at the instruction booklet will know, it explains this! There are several good things about evolving your monsters. First, each stage of evolution allows the monster to learn different skills which it will keep no matter how many times you evolve it. Second, evolution increases the level cap for a monster allowing it to grow even further than it's previous form. Third, the monster keeps 20% of all of its stats from its previous form so even though the evolution makes it appear to be weaker, it ends up being stronger in the long run and gains most of the stats it loses from evolution in a relatively low number of level ups. If done correctly, monsters will 100% of the time be much stronger than the cast of the original Symphonia game and will likely be more powerful than Emil and Marta as well. Somehow, the author of this review also failed to figure out how to play with the cast of the previous game without switching in the middle of battle. Not that anyone who has the capacity to understand the way monster evolution works would really WANT to use the cast from the original Symphonia, but even so, this task is as simple as going into Artes, setting both Emil and Marta to the "Auto" setting, and then changing your character of choice to "manual." The reviewer apparently does not pay very much attention as it is quite evident that characters do, in fact, get a small amount of TP and HP back after battling. This is easy to figure out, both when characters which had previously been defeated in battle are shown with one HP when the fight is over as well as the fact that there are some items that have the effect of "increasing the amount of TP received after each battle" which, one would think, might have been a clue for the person who wrote this review. Also, in the "final verdict" portion of the review where it gives the game an overall rating, the rating should be 8/10 not 7/10 because if you average out 9/10, 6.5/10, 8/10, and 8/10 (the scores the reviewer gave for Story, Gameplay, Sound, and Graphics, respectively) it would average out to about 7.8/10 which, if you stick to the standard increments of .5, should round up to 8/10. Some things the author of this review says make it clear that they did not try very hard to understand certain aspects of the game.
“You can evolve them as well but I don’t really see the point of this as it just makes them weaker and you’ll have to level them up all over again.” This statement makes it very obvious that the reviewer did not even try to understand the purpose of evolution because, as anyone who has glanced at the instruction booklet will know, it explains this! There are several good things about evolving your monsters. First, each stage of evolution allows the monster to learn different skills which it will keep no matter how many times you evolve it. Second, evolution increases the level cap for a monster allowing it to grow even further than it’s previous form. Third, the monster keeps 20% of all of its stats from its previous form so even though the evolution makes it appear to be weaker, it ends up being stronger in the long run and gains most of the stats it loses from evolution in a relatively low number of level ups. If done correctly, monsters will 100% of the time be much stronger than the cast of the original Symphonia game and will likely be more powerful than Emil and Marta as well.

Somehow, the author of this review also failed to figure out how to play with the cast of the previous game without switching in the middle of battle. Not that anyone who has the capacity to understand the way monster evolution works would really WANT to use the cast from the original Symphonia, but even so, this task is as simple as going into Artes, setting both Emil and Marta to the “Auto” setting, and then changing your character of choice to “manual.” The reviewer apparently does not pay very much attention as it is quite evident that characters do, in fact, get a small amount of TP and HP back after battling. This is easy to figure out, both when characters which had previously been defeated in battle are shown with one HP when the fight is over as well as the fact that there are some items that have the effect of “increasing the amount of TP received after each battle” which, one would think, might have been a clue for the person who wrote this review.

Also, in the “final verdict” portion of the review where it gives the game an overall rating, the rating should be 8/10 not 7/10 because if you average out 9/10, 6.5/10, 8/10, and 8/10 (the scores the reviewer gave for Story, Gameplay, Sound, and Graphics, respectively) it would average out to about 7.8/10 which, if you stick to the standard increments of .5, should round up to 8/10.

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