Pro is stuck at work. Pro will pickup the game after work. Pro has played the previous game about 10 times (7 of which during multiplayer). Pro is interested in the new game.
Here's why Pro has been very interested in the game:
[since the vast majority of the reviews/previews/impressions on the major press outlets have been unreliable in the pursuit of raw gameplay info and functionality, the below is based on REALITY and the various promo statements provided by the game's publisher and developers.]
1. The retail price is ~$40USD
>> Scamco knows the game is a half-assed rehash, so they priced it almost accordingly. In stark contrast, Tales of Vesperia 360 is $55 USED/PRE-OWNED/VIOLATED/TAINTED/UNVIRGINATED. holy ****, what is wrong with this generation
2. It's a direct sequel.
>> The first direct sequel in the series. I can actually get some idea of what happened after the stupid ending, like what did Lloyd name the dumb tree at the end, who got pregnant, etc. A refreshing break from the typical open-ended Japanese game ending, and slightly more interactive than the 2-hour ending to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and His Men Couldn't Put Humpty Back Together Again.
3. Bonus items from cleared GameCube save files.
>> Hell yes. I don't mind if it's crap, it's nice they thought of including it. A neat way to reward returning customers, it's a much better payoff than anything I got from entering rubbish PIN numbers. It's probably the first notable time such a thing will succeed since Shenmue 2 read Shenmue 1 save files (if you try to mention anything else, i haven't heard of it, so it wasn't notable in the first place), and it's far from the disaster of Banjo-Kazooie's/Tooie's failed attempt to piggyback data (buried underneath IGN rumors and action replay codes).
4. The overworld is gone.
>> Face it, Tales overworlds have been pretty useless. To hell with random battles in ugly terrain assaulted by monster avatars dashing from nowhere for some surprise sex. The real work happens in dungeons/towns and isolated areas with geometry and features that's properly scaled to your characters. Twilight Princess' overworld was lackluster, and someone smart at Namco realized this. Hell, can you imagine the Namco Tales team(s) producing an overworld that was worth keeping? The game wouldn't have come out till 2011!
5. The Sorceror's Ring.
>> The Sorceror's Wiing. We finally get to apply it in a way that makes SENSE. Pointy controls to the max.
6. Only Two new characters + returning cast.
>> I like the previous cast, minus Lloyd minus Kratos. The pathetic truth is many players of the first game only learned how to use Lloyd. Makes some sense since he's the most accessible character for dishing out the most damage in the shortest time, but in the process they did not get to realize the wealth of strategies and nuances possible within the framework of the combat system via the other characters. Spamming magick attacks, regerating HP/TP via combos, combo chaining gimmicks, etc, things that simply won't get utilized by using Lloyd alone (otherwise you get a typical battle where you spam Lloyd's moves, waste tons of TP, then interrupt the game to use a recovery item; or to remedy that, you spend days grinding your characters to lvl. 150 -- get off my internet, n00b). So you hand someone Street Fighter II, and they only learn to use Ryu in the five years they play the game, right? FUCKING. WRONG. So the new game introduces and Emil and Marta, and they both appear to be combo-friendly characters, which provides variety yet narrows the focus for players and hopefully avoids another "use Lloyd and ignore everyone else" game plan. Please try learning someone else besides the whiny sword-wielding boy character. I'll be able to use Sheena+Collette+Presea again <3
7. Three distinct endings.
>> Another first for the series, the scope of the game's happy end isn't completely set in stone. Whether they're like Castlevania games that show incomplete endings based on completion %, I don't know. But imagine, you could have: Emil & Marta get married (bad ending); Emil becomes of the ghey (good ending); and Marta becomes a real boy (best ending, requires the most time and dedication). THE POWER OF CHOICE IS YOURS.
8. Monster allies.
>> More interesting junk to collect that may prove to be useful. One of the things I'd enjoy/obsess over in the first game was reconfiguring gear and attacks to gain an elemental advantage. Naturally, the elemental gear was limited in number and practicallity. Fortunately, the monsters in this game are tied to elements, providing a whole new layer of options and configurations for me to mess with. If I'm not mistaken, this is also the first Wii adventure ahead of Overlord and Pikmin where you have critters do your bidding, and the results look and play better than Kameo.
8. 8 waggle shortcuts.
>> I don't have full details on how shortcuts are configured (yet), but executing these motions should be just another piece of cake like No More Heroes' finishing slices. On GameCube, there were a total of 6 shortcuts: 4 attached to the B-button (like Smash Brothers), plus 2 on the C-stick (which could call up a spell/attack from a different party member). By default, the Wii D-pad can have 4 shortcuts assigned, and it's not clear if the D-pad shortcuts overlap with 4 of the 8 waggle shortcuts. But to even have 8 shortcuts to use would be fantastic, especially if 4 could call on other characters techniques, like multiple on-demand healing/attack spells or special attacks for combo assistance.
9. Various Battle improvements.
>> Limitations in the battle arena and camera system in the GameCube game would often interfere with my ability to play in a multiplayer session (usually i'd just team up with the lead player or stand back as a mage, minimizing camera issues). I hear the camera zooms out properly, and characters are allowed to "leave" their current battle line/enemy-lock and roam the field. So not only will I see my character properly, I won't have to pause the battle to change the enemy i'm locked onto, hopefully providing a smoother multiplayer experience that I'll get to veg-out on another 5-10 play-thrus. Same-screen local multiplayer JRPGs? Yeah, what a crazy idea.
10. It came out this year.
>> Believe it or not, it's out this year. Today, in fact. As opposed to NEXT year. The SAME YEAR the Japanese version came out, sho nuff. If this new game followed the GameCube release timeline, we wouldn't be seeing this game until NEXT FALL. GameCube USA - 2001; ToS USA - 2004; Wii USA - 2006; ToS2 USA - 2008. UNPOSSIBLE!
Topic: Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (Read 68130 times)
