I wont give any spoilers, just in case some of you havent played/finished the game.

I'll start with the bad news first

Honestly, this game is a nice continuation to ToS, you revisit all the old locations from the first game, with a slightly new feel to them, but that doesn't help the dungeon aspect much. The fact of the matter is, if you're a big enough fan of ToS that you memorized the town and dungeon Layouts, this game wont last you 30 hours.

In that regard, it seems like more of an expansion pack for ToS, then a full blown game in its own right. The lack of new characters (save for Emil and Marta) and the absence of alternate costumes for said characters, makes me think that the little bit of extra content that they bothered to put in this game, isn't really worth the effort and GRADE farming.

The fighting is fast, as is a custom in tales of games, however the battles are so inexplicably easy, that during the final boss battle, i only had to use apple gels, orange gels and life bottles, and not that many of them either. The Artes look very nice and flow well in combos for what they are, however when you look at each characters Mystic Arte, you get the feeling that the creators were getting lazy, because they could have done so much more with them.

The monster taming aspect is an interesting touch to the game, but it is negated by the fact that if the human members of your party (most of the time, Emil and Marta alone) die in combat, but the monsters are still alive, it counts as an instant game over because monsters cant use items. Am i the only one who thinks that is a load of crap considering Repede from Tales of Vesperia could use items?

alright, that's enough of the bad, now for the good news.

The story is honestly told in a nice, fluid manner, with almost all dialogue being spoken in the voices of some of our favorite voice actors. Personally, i think Johnny Young Bosch does a great Emil. This is given even more goodness by the fact that 4 out of 9 of the original ToS voices are back for thier second appearence, and while we may miss the other 5, thier successors do a wonderful job at portraying thier respective characters.

The plot of the story, though a bit repetative in terms of the main quest locations, is actually quite intriguing. The game has so many plot twists, it'll make your head do a 360' trying to figure them all out before engaging the final battle. The game's inclusion of multiple endings was also a nice touch, although i recommend skipping the "Normal Ending" as it is simply the "Good Ending" without the credits and the added scenes.

If you were a fan of ToS' soundtrack, then fear not because ToS:DotNW has got you covered. Most if not all of the games soundtrack is filled with remixed versions of your favorite music tracks from the first game, which i honestly found to be a much needed touch of nostalgia. Even the battle tracks are remixed in a way that really got me pumped for battle, even though i wasn't fighting a boss.

Those of us who love to explore the game and find referrences to other tales games, will be pleased to know that, though few in number, Dawn of the New world still gives us a taste of other Tales of goodness, such as making references to Tales of Destiny 2 during a skit with persea.

Those who were fans of Tales of Vesperia and Tales of Legendia's fully voiced skits will be happy to know tjhat Namco-Bandai has done us the same curtousy with this game. All Skits are fully voiced, and fully humorous in thier own unique way. The inclusion of Tenebrae and his many quirks is a welcom breeze of comedy in this sea of angst and drama.

overall, the game was incredible, if short. I found it worth my time to play (all 29 hours and 19 minutes of it) and i think its a title that any true tales of fan will want to pick up. However despite the fact that this game was well done, you may still find yourself wishing that they had given you just a bit more in this next gen title.

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New world gets a 4 out of 5.