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[PKrockin]

Yeah man, got it Friday

Also, whats the last time you can do Sword Dancer 1? I forgot when he vanishes

The scene in Hima where the party talks about riding dragons.

 

[Helloween]

Ah thanks you two. I'll make sure i don't forget to go back and splat him

 

[Kerrinck]

Regarding the digital version, is there any difference between the package and the single games? Looks like they are priced the same ($39.99 for the package or $19.99 each) so I was wondering if the package one has any extras.

 

[Shahed]

I got enough chips to get Raine's Costume and the Forget-Me-Not (I don't know what it does but I assume I'll need it for a full item collection). I spent enough money to get 100 chips, and then basically saved and lucked out at blackjack for a few hundred more. Just save, bet 100, and hope you win the first time, get double chips back. Save and do it again.

Then I basically just tried my luck at the 100 chip slot machine for a few hours while doing something else.

Unfortunately the closest save point is in the Altamira hotel.

Stuff like that brings me bad memories of Dragon Quest VIII's casino. Especially since you had to go back to the save point to quit game and then reload. But I needed that Gringham Whip and Liquid Metal equipment.

Vesperia was so much easier with Poker and double or nothing

 

[Seda]

Stuff like that brings me bad memories of Dragon Quest VIII's casino. Especially since you had to go back to the save point to quit game and then reload. But I needed that Gringham Whip and Liquid Metal equipment.

Vesperia was so much easier with Poker and double or nothing

The most annoying thing about blackjack in Symphonia is that while you can keep 'doubling' your potential winnings with consecutive victories, it's almost impossible to get a high chain because one of the joker cards will automatically give the dealer a 21 at some point. So you pretty much have to brute force some earnings at blackjack by saving/loading and then dumping coins into the slots until you are lucky.

 

[Levyne]

Stuff like that brings me bad memories of Dragon Quest VIII's casino. Especially since you had to go back to the save point to quit game and then reload. But I needed that Gringham Whip and Liquid Metal equipment.

Ah yes, I vaguely remember this.

Stupid casinos...

 

[SaintZ]

Ugh, I finally did it but battling Killia while doing a no kills run it was a pain. Genis and Colette kept attacking her with normal attacks even though they had 1/3 of their TP for casting and would get killed in the process.

I set them to Don't Pursue/Use L-Range Magic but it didn't matter much so I had to keep giving them Orange Gels so they would not stop with their spells and ruin everything

Anyway, now at the Palmacosta Ranch and I forgot how to beat this teleporting puzzle. *sigh*

 

[ohlawd]

Use the ring and the path with no shiny is the right way.

 

[SaintZ]

Oh thanks, I'll try it when I get home.

 

[SheHateMe]

Story time and a question, and please, forgive my long post and ignorance:

I've just recently became a full blown Tales Of fan. It started back when I played the Tales Of Phantasia Fan Patch for the SFC years ago. I always wanted to get into the series, but back then, it seemed really daunting.

So, I got a 360 years later and got Tales of Vesperia. Loved it so much, early last year, I got the Blu-Ray version of ToV: The First Strike. Then came Tales of the Abyss.

Then the release of Tales of Xillia last August. (Which I got the Limited Edition of.) After reading about so much love of the Tales of Graces battle system, I picked up ToGf as well.

So, obviously I've been playing, just not as much as some of you wonderful people. Now here's my question, finally:

What's wrong with Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World? I don't quite understand and I was wondering if someone could give me some insight, please.

 

[FSLink]

Story time and a question, and please, forgive my long post and ignorance:

I've just recently became a full blown Tales Of fan. It started back when I played the Tales Of Phantasia Fan Patch for the SFC years ago. I always wanted to get into the series, but back then, it seemed really daunting.

So, I got a 360 years later and got Tales of Vesperia. Loved it so much, early last year, I got the Blu-Ray version of ToV: The First Strike. Then came Tales of the Abyss.

Then the release of Tales of Xillia last August. (Which I got the Limited Edition of.) After reading about so much love of the Tales of Graces battle system, I picked up ToGf as well.

So, obviously I've been playing, just not as much as some of you wonderful people. Now here's my question, finally:

What's wrong with Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World? I don't quite understand and I was wondering if someone could give me some insight, please.

It had a lower budget and Namco Tales Studio doesn't consider it a mainline title. So it lacks stuff like a traditional world map and has some strange gameplay decisions. Others might not like the story or main characters. It's a mediocre game but I don't feel it deserves the hate. I enjoyed it for being an extended epilogue to Symphonia and the ways it referenced Phantasia.

 

[Levyne]

It had a lower budget and Namco Tales Studio doesn't consider it a mainline title. So it lacks stuff like a traditional world map and has some strange gameplay decisions. Others might not like the story or main characters. It's a mediocre game but I don't feel it deserves the hate. I enjoyed it for being an extended epilogue to Symphonia and the ways it referenced Phantasia.

I think it became a "mothership" title right before release (do they even use that wording anymore? Not that it ever meant anything) .

But yeah, it feels kind of just a flimsy excuse to revisit the symphonia worlds and characters, and kind of weak as a game on its own.

 

[FSLink]

I think it became a "mothership" title right before release (do they even use that wording anymore? Not that it ever meant anything) .

But yeah, it feels kind of just a flimsy excuse to revisit the symphonia worlds and characters, and kind of weak as a game on its own.

I thought it just got a slightly larger budget due to the Wii's sales, lol. Don't think they said it was a mothership title.

 

[SaintZ]

I think it became a "mothership" title right before release (do they even use that wording anymore? Not that it ever meant anything) .

But yeah, it feels kind of just a flimsy excuse to revisit the symphonia worlds and characters, and kind of weak as a game on its own.

I think they made a new word for DoTNW back in the day and called it an "Escort" title IIRC.

I like DoTNW a lot tbh. It feels cheap but the battle system is fun, the skits are great and

Spoiler

I enjoy the cut scenes a lot thanks to the motion capture

.

 

[dakkumauji]

I think they made a new word for DoTNW back in the day and called it an "Escort" title IIRC.

I like DoTNW a lot tbh. It feels cheap but the battle system is fun, the skits are great and

Spoiler

I enjoy the cut scenes a lot thanks to the motion capture

.

Escort titles became a thing after Tales of Tempest came out and after bad reviews they demoted it from a mainline series.

I believe DoTNW is still an escort title though.

 

[Levyne]

Ah. You guys are correct.

 

[Shahed]

The most annoying thing about blackjack in Symphonia is that while you can keep 'doubling' your potential winnings with consecutive victories, it's almost impossible to get a high chain because one of the joker cards will automatically give the dealer a 21 at some point. So you pretty much have to brute force some earnings at blackjack by saving/loading and then dumping coins into the slots until you are lucky.

I'll give it a try to see if I can stomach it. Just about to completely tie off FFXIII-3 today, so I should start Symphonia tomorrow. The thought already pains me though...

Ah yes, I vaguely remember this.

Stupid casinos...

This completely baffled me at the time. I was so used to every Square game I played for nearly a decade allowing you to soft reset via pressing L1, L2, R1, R2, Start and Select at the same time. Then the game I'd most need it didn't have the feature. So annoying

I'm not sure I woukd have survived the lack of soft reset when breeding chocobo's in FFVII

 

[Link Man]

Just got the Eternal Apprentice Title and finished the Palmacosta Human Ranch. Things are going so much smoother now that I can equip new weapons for Lloyd.

 

[Professor Beef]

Well at least I can use these gels that I've been saving up. Sucks that I couldn't get the title because reasons, but I can do it on my next playthrough.

Just got the Eternal Apprentice Title and finished the Palmacosta Human Ranch. Things are going so much smoother now that I can equip new weapons for Lloyd.

It honestly feels amazing.

 

[Seda]

I'm almost done with my first playthough, doing most everything I can do, although I missed the Eternal Apprentice title. I'll go for that, the low-level title, and the last monster list entry on the next playthough. Luckily I don't need to worry about dogs/chests/deaths/women/gels/other monsters/ the rest of the titles anymore.

 

[R0ckman]

Well at least I can use these gels that I've been saving up. Sucks that I couldn't get the title because reasons, but I can do it on my next playthrough.


It honestly feels amazing.

Huh? Weapons make that much of a difference to you? Then I suggest you not sell elemental weapons. Keeping them and re-equipping them in areas where the enemies have a static weakness will do wonders to end battles quickly and keep combo damage high. In some cases I can kill an enemy in one combo of Sword Rain -> Tiger Rage ->Raining Tiger Blade if my weapon has a elemental effect.

Also, does anyone HATE motion capture? I find Vesperia a lot better than the cheesy shit in DotNW, Graces, and Xillia. The anime antics makes things worse too. Motion capture is not good for these character models.

I'm almost done with my first playthough, doing most everything I can do, although I missed the Eternal Apprentice title. I'll go for that, the low-level title, and the last monster list entry on the next playthough. Luckily I don't need to worry about dogs/chests/deaths/women/gels/other monsters/ the rest of the titles anymore.

You can't get all titles on one playthrough, some titles depend on who you chose in the Flanior event. Like the Genis and Presea couple costume can only be obtained if you chose Genis, the Samurai costumes for Kratos and Lloyd can only be obtained if you chose Kratos etc.

 

[Seda]

Huh? Weapons make that much of a difference to you? Then I suggest you not sell elemental weapons. Keeping them and re-equipping them in areas where the enemies have a static weakness will do wonders to end battles quickly and keep combo damage high. In some cases I can kill an enemy in one combo of Sword Rain -> Tiger Rage ->Raining Tiger Blade if my weapon has a elemental effect.

Also, does anyone HATE motion capture? I find Vesperia a lot better than the cheesy shit in DotNW, Graces, and Xillia. The anime antics makes things worse too. Motion capture is not good for these character models.

You can also equip the gems you get. Like the Sardonyx for the first Tower of Salvation dungeon.

 

[Seda]

You can't get all titles on one playthrough, some titles depend on who you chose in the Flanior event. Like the Genis and Presea couple costume can only be obtained if you chose Genis, the Samurai costumes for Kratos and Lloyd can only be obtained if you chose Kratos etc.

I've played the game fifteen times through. I know

EDIT: By 'rest of the titles' I just meant like running away 50 times, fighting 255 battles on hard, cooking titles, etc.

 

[PKrockin]

Also, does anyone HATE motion capture? I find Vesperia a lot better than the cheesy shit in DotNW, Graces, and Xillia. The anime antics makes things worse too. Motion capture is not good for these character models.

Yeah, motion capture looks like shit on anime models. The whole rest of the game is anime craziness and then in cutscenes you've got this realistic animation sticking out like a sore thumb.

 

[Shahed]

There's got to be a right balance. The animation looks dire in the likes of Xillia, Star Ocean 4 and Graces. But it's fine in say the FFXIII series. I know the latter isn't really anime, but it's heavily stylised. Is there any reason Tales games can't use a stylised version that retains the anime look?

Besides it's the facial animation when talking that annoys me the most!

 

[Soriku]

Also, does anyone HATE motion capture? I find Vesperia a lot better than the cheesy shit in DotNW, Graces, and Xillia. The anime antics makes things worse too. Motion capture is not good for these character models.

It felt a bit off in DotNW and Graces but I liked it in Xillia. I'd prefer they not use mocap if possible, but at the same time I wouldn't want to go back to the older style cutscenes.

 

[R0ckman]

Yeah, motion capture looks like shit on anime models. The whole rest of the game is anime craziness and then in cutscenes you've got this realistic animation sticking out like a sore thumb.

I also like the general art style of Vesperia better than a lot of the new stuff. Once Team Destiny and Symphonia combined and they went into full on "anime-otaku" pandering mode to maximize profits I think things started getting bad aesthetically, at least gameplay improved.

 

[Rhapsody]

They're getting better at motion capture, but I don't think they need it and would prefer if they didn't use it.

Bamco's probably going to keep using it though. Probably a lot easier on them too.

 

[khaaan]

Is there a 100% guide or something for this game? I played through the game a few times on the Gamecube but if I play through it now I want to try and go for everything and get as many trophies as I can along the way. I can't remember if there were guides that explicitly stopped you and said "Hey, make sure you do XYZ right this second or you'll miss out on ABC". Most of them just outlined stuff that impacted the relationships of characters.

 

[Soriku]

I also like the general art style of Vesperia better than a lot of the new stuff. Once Team Destiny and Symphonia combined and they went into full on "anime-otaku" pandering mode to maximize profits I think things started getting bad aesthetically, at least gameplay improved.

Nothing about Xillia or Zestiria look any more "anime-otaku" than Vesperia.

The games have a large female fanbase anyway.

 

[R0ckman]

Nothing about Xillia or Zestiria look any more "anime-otaku" than Vesperia.

The games have a large female fanbase anyway.

Main characters mainly, not very idealistic, unsure, bland and meek they cater more towards Japanese female audiences than a general one. A lot of the costumes are now school and idol stuff which were not present in any of the titles until the merge and absorption.

 

[hypostatic]

I've played the game fifteen times through. I know

EDIT: By 'rest of the titles' I just meant like running away 50 times, fighting 255 battles on hard, cooking titles, etc.

Just curious, what do people get out of replaying RPGs so many times (other than trophies/achievements)? I'm debating whether I should pick this (and FFX - having played both) up but wonder if it's time well spent. I LOVED it during my first play through, but there are so many games I haven't played even once.

Do repeat players replay games at the expense of other titles? Or do they play fewer titles?

 

[PKrockin]

There's got to be a right balance. The animation coolks dire in the likes of Xillia, Star Ocean 4 and Graces. But it's fine in say the FFXIII series. I know the latter isn't really anime, but it's heavily stylised. Is there any reason Tales games can't use a stylised version that retains the anime look?

Besides it's the facial animation when talking that annoys me the most!

Yeah, FFXIII is stylized, but look how much more realistic the people look. Seeing Xillia's abstracted appearance of humans move so realistically drops me in the uncanny valley.

 

[Soriku]

Main characters mainly, not very idealistic, unsure, bland and meek they cater more towards Japanese female audiences than a general one. A lot of the costumes are now school and idol stuff which were not present in any of the titles until the merge and absorption.

Asbel is one of the most recent Tales protagonists, and is also one of the most popular, and he has none of those traits. Yuri and Leon (though he's not a protagonist) are also at the top in popularity and have none of those traits either. If they really wanted to cater to the female Japanese audience, they wouldn't make meek characters.

Criticizing costume selection is dumb.

 

[R0ckman]

Just curious, what do people get out of replaying RPGs so many times (other than trophies/achievements)? I'm debating whether I should pick this (and FFX - having played both) up but wonder if it's time well spent. I LOVED it during my first play through, but there are so many games I haven't played even once.

Do repeat players replay games at the expense of other titles? Or do they play fewer titles?

Playing through the game again while Regal is in his chef costume is entertaining to me.

Asbel is one of the most recent Tales protagonists, and is also one of the most popular, and he has none of those traits. Yuri and Leon (though he's not a protagonist) are also at the top in popularity and have none of those traits either. If they really wanted to cater to the female Japanese audience, they wouldn't make meek characters.

Criticizing costume selection is dumb.

Leon is now over-shadowing Stan though, I have poster with most if not all the male main character cast (up to the point the poster was made) I got from Japan and Stan is not even on the poster while Leon is. He was always popular but he was moderated in his appearance and importance. I also never said there were not older characters who were not popular but that they are now focusing more on the female audience. Costume selection is a factor, they wouldn't make costumes that you buy if they didn't sell.

 

[Soriku]

Leon is now over-shadowing Stan though, I have poster with most if not all the male main character cast (up to the point the poster was made) I got from Japan and Stan is not even on the poster while Leon is. He was always popular but he was moderated in his appearance and importance. I also never said there were not older characters who were not popular but that they are now focusing more on the female audience. Costume selection is a factor, they wouldn't make costumes that you buy if they didn't sell.

Leon is still a good character. I don't see why it's such a big deal that they focus on characters like Leon in merchandising. It doesn't make sense to not focus on popular characters. There aren't too many characters like Leon in the series though. And Leon has been overshadowing other characters since before the Team Symphonia/Destiny merge.

Costumes are just there. They're made for money, but they also have no bearing on the actual plot or characters, so it really doesn't matter if they cater to some otaku or female audience. At least they put some additional effort into them by giving unique battle themes to the costume sets.

 

[Shahed]

Yeah, FFXIII is stylized, but look how much more realistic the people look. Seeing Xillia's abstracted appearance of humans move so realistically drops me in the uncanny valley.

What's weird is the animation for anime style visuals in games doesn't quite look right when going for something more. Mocap May not be the answer. But anime shows look fine, so if there was a way to have similar animation as them, I think I'd be okay with it

 

[Metaledgeking]

So this is my first time playing Dawn of the New World in any way,shape, or form and did the Wii version also feel this sluggish? playing Symphonia and the sequel back to back and part two's combat feels much slower and less responsive but maybe that is just me.

 

[HawthorneKitty]

What level should I be at Magnius; I'm still trying for sub-145, but he just seems impossible without deaths and/or gels.

 

[ShroudOfFate]

Success! I finally got the kendama after many restarts. Now I can progress the story.


Has anyone that ordered a CE from Amazon after they went up again gotten an email yet?

 

[RPGCrazied]

Anyone read the novel yet from the CE? I'm still playing ToS, so I haven't yet. Just wondering if its any good.

 

[Samurai_Heart]

Anyone read the novel yet from the CE? I'm still playing ToS, so I haven't yet. Just wondering if its any good.

I can now.

T-T

 

[HawthorneKitty]

Ugh, having to grind now because Magnius is impossible...

 

[Yawnier]

Ugh, having to grind now because Magnius is impossible...

Yeah, I had to grind for a bit around that part too.

 

[Link Man]

Ugh, having to grind now because Magnius is impossible...

Just wait until you get to the Guardian of the Water Seal. That's a frustrating fight if you're underleveled and trying for the no deaths title.

 

[HawthorneKitty]

Fucking Martel, I got him to 180ish HP, but all of mu dudes were about that HP too with no TP and then he obliterated us.

 

[Yawnier]

Just wait until you get to the Guardian of the Water Seal. That's a frustrating fight if you're underleveled and trying for the no deaths title.

You aren't kidding, that fight is a bit tough. I just went and upgraded my weapons to see if it will help any.

 

[chickdigger802]

hmmm i forget, was sword dancer cheesable in this? no free run probably makes it harder.

 

[Professor Beef]

hmmm i forget, was sword dancer cheesable in this? no free run probably makes it harder.

He's actually not as tough as I remember him being. Probably because I'm actually bothering to block this time, lol

 

[HawthorneKitty]

He's actually not as tough as I remember him being. Probably because I'm actually bothering to block this time, lol

Ha, that's how I played in the GCN days.