Played this for a couple of ours, till chapter 2, of this direct sequel of the GC game with the same title.
Story picks up few years after Lloyd & co. united Sylvarant and Tethe'alla together by planting a new Karlan Tree; the situation, however, isn't exactly happy, with Tethe'alla trying to enslave Sylvarant and the Church of Martel turning more in a military power oppressing people than anything else.
And so we met Lloyd in a burning Palmacosta, doing what righteous heroes should do: pillaging, killing and burning in search for the core of Ratatosk, apparently a demon lord.
Emil's parents, the leading male character, are killed before his eyes just after he saves Marta, a girl that holds the core Lloyd is searching for.
Unlike what it's seen in the introduction, Emil isn't exactly brave: in fact for the two hours I played he constantly apologizes for being alive and a being lot more emo than any human should be allowed to be.
The first dungeon serves as a tutorial for the battle system (the same thing as Symphonia plus the ability to roam freely by pressing Z) and to introduce the monster collecting mechanic introduced in this title.
Similar to Pokemon, after you beat a monster and if other conditions are met, you can persuade said monster to join your party and fight alongside you like any other human character. Monster have their own equipment, gain their own skills and artes; within the first hour you'll already have a full active party of four, although right now they aren't as effective as other human members, being limited to basic attacks.
The game flows just like any other RPG: you visit towns, buy new equipment, hit plot progression points, go to the dungeon, level up a bit, fight a boss, wash, rinse, repeat.
Graphics are nice: all primary and secondary characters are more detailed than Symphonia GC but animations are still a bit awkward, towns and villages are a straight port of the GC title with minor changes, the interface is clean and simple and although the control scheme is tied to Wiimote+Nunchuk only there isn't any unnecessary waggle to perform.
If the Wiimote is poiting toward the screen a cursor appears, but it's not used until you reach a dungeon and use a ring to interact with hotspots there.
It is possible to link four artes from any active member, to Wiimote and Nunchuck vertical and horizontal movements which helps to kep the battle flow constant as you don't need to pause, navigate to the arte menu and issue the relative command.
Unfortunately the game only has English dubbing; it's decent, voices are good but actors could definitively use some more passion in deliverering their lines; as a said note, lip-synch is done through textures and are hard-wired to represent Japanese voices, so they are often of out synch.
Unlike Symphonia GC, skits (optional conversations triggered by certain events) are numerous and well written, excellent to lighten up the mod; I wouldn't define them as hylarious, but sometimes they let you smile.
The feeling I have from Dawn of the New World is that it is a decent game, completed with the usual attention to detail of the Tales studio, but hardly tries anything new: what it's in the game has been done before more than once - a well done package, but not original.
Story picks up few years after Lloyd & co. united Sylvarant and Tethe'alla together by planting a new Karlan Tree; the situation, however, isn't exactly happy, with Tethe'alla trying to enslave Sylvarant and the Church of Martel turning more in a military power oppressing people than anything else.
And so we met Lloyd in a burning Palmacosta, doing what righteous heroes should do: pillaging, killing and burning in search for the core of Ratatosk, apparently a demon lord.
Emil's parents, the leading male character, are killed before his eyes just after he saves Marta, a girl that holds the core Lloyd is searching for.
Unlike what it's seen in the introduction, Emil isn't exactly brave: in fact for the two hours I played he constantly apologizes for being alive and a being lot more emo than any human should be allowed to be.
The first dungeon serves as a tutorial for the battle system (the same thing as Symphonia plus the ability to roam freely by pressing Z) and to introduce the monster collecting mechanic introduced in this title.
Similar to Pokemon, after you beat a monster and if other conditions are met, you can persuade said monster to join your party and fight alongside you like any other human character. Monster have their own equipment, gain their own skills and artes; within the first hour you'll already have a full active party of four, although right now they aren't as effective as other human members, being limited to basic attacks.
The game flows just like any other RPG: you visit towns, buy new equipment, hit plot progression points, go to the dungeon, level up a bit, fight a boss, wash, rinse, repeat.
Graphics are nice: all primary and secondary characters are more detailed than Symphonia GC but animations are still a bit awkward, towns and villages are a straight port of the GC title with minor changes, the interface is clean and simple and although the control scheme is tied to Wiimote+Nunchuk only there isn't any unnecessary waggle to perform.
If the Wiimote is poiting toward the screen a cursor appears, but it's not used until you reach a dungeon and use a ring to interact with hotspots there.
It is possible to link four artes from any active member, to Wiimote and Nunchuck vertical and horizontal movements which helps to kep the battle flow constant as you don't need to pause, navigate to the arte menu and issue the relative command.
Unfortunately the game only has English dubbing; it's decent, voices are good but actors could definitively use some more passion in deliverering their lines; as a said note, lip-synch is done through textures and are hard-wired to represent Japanese voices, so they are often of out synch.
Unlike Symphonia GC, skits (optional conversations triggered by certain events) are numerous and well written, excellent to lighten up the mod; I wouldn't define them as hylarious, but sometimes they let you smile.
The feeling I have from Dawn of the New World is that it is a decent game, completed with the usual attention to detail of the Tales studio, but hardly tries anything new: what it's in the game has been done before more than once - a well done package, but not original.
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