Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World for the Wii (known as Tales of Symphonia: Knight of Ratatosk in Japan) takes place two years after the first Symphonia games. The lands of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla were combined at the end of the world regeneration. The Tethe'allans look down on the Sylvaranti because of their lack of centeral government. The Vanguard protects the people of Sylvarant but, any town that is associated with them are destroyed by the Church of Martel, which is run by Lloyd Irving. Not only are the inhabitants of the once seperated worlds clashing with one another, the weather balance has shifted. In lands that were once deserts are now covered in snow while snow is melting in the once colder regions. And the cause of these climate? Dormant centurions, which control elemental based monsters and, in order to return the world to normal, the lord of all centurions, lord Ratatosk, must be awaken.

The main character is a young boy, Emil Castagnier, who, after his parents dying in the Palmacosta purge, moves to Luin to live with his aunt and uncle. The people in town blame him for the problems they are facing, which leaves him frightened and soft spoken. Until he meets Richter, a mysterious man that Emil later refers back to whenever he is faced with a major decision. He meets a girl named Marta Lualdi who is carrying Ratatosk's care on her forehead and is on the run from both the Church of Martel and the Vanguard. He forms a pact with the centurion of darkness, Tenebrae, in order to save Marta from Richter, who is trying to get the core from her. Together, Emil and Marta go on a journey to revive the centurions and awaken Ratatosk, hoping to restore the world to it's natural state.

Though most critics hate this game, I really enjoy it. The graphic are good if you take in to consideration that it is for the Wii. Also, the new characters are really deep and it's always nice to see the characters from the previous game (and you can even play as them too). Emil goes through amazing character development and, in the end, learns how to stick up for himself. Tenebrae likes to make fun of people or start fights, which always end out humorus. And Marta... well, likes to devote her time and making Emil fall in love with her. My favorite character is Lady Alice who is in charge of the Vanguard's combat unit. At first glance, she seems like a sweet, innocent girl but she is later revealed to be quite sadistic and will use anyone to get what she wants (even Decus, who constantly confesses his love for her only to be shot down). Also, the battle music is really good (this blogger really like's the battle theme for Alice). And the plot has some sweet, hearfelt moments. And, in this game, you can capture monsters to fight with you.
There are a few bad points to the game, I'll admit. For one, they only kept two of the original voice actors from the first game: Colette and Kratos. Though, Zelos' new voice sounds amazingly similar to his original, some of the others don't (especially Lloyd's). Also, there isn't a world map, so you're unable to blindly walk around to level. Instead, you are given quests which sometimes don't really help and are time consuming. The worst part though is that the only people you can level are Emil and Marta, seeing as the others leave your party and come back, gaining levels whenever they return. In the end, Emil and Marta can get up to level 250 while the rest of your party are stuck at level 50. The only way you can play as characters other then Emil and Marta is by changing it whenever you get in battle. But, once in a new battle, it will return to its original settings. And the equipment for those other members also can't be changed. Another down side is that there aren't any new places to visit and, in fact, all the centurion cores are in the temples you visited in the first game.

But, over all, I loved this game. Even though many reviews give this game a low rating, it's still worth playing if you loved the first game.

Tales of Symphonia

Tales of Symphonia was created in Japan for the Game Cube (later, it was re-released for the Playstation 2, but only for Japan). Because of it's success, Namco began to release other Tales titles to North America. ToS is still considered the most popular of the Tales Of franchise. But, even so, there are a few problems.

Tales of Symphonia takes place in the declining world of Sylvarant. Sylvarant is running low on it's life-force, mana, and the only hope for the world is a sixteen year old girl, the Chosen Colette. Though, for the saviour of the world, she is pretty ditzy (she is known for tripping at just the right moments, usually saving one of her friends in the process). Even though she is the one who is going to save the world, the main character is Lloyd Irving who is a childhood friend of Colette. Their teacher, Raine Sage (who has an obsession with ruins and, when they find ruins along their journey, will go into almost a mania called 'Ruin Mode'), and her brother, Genis Sage (who is the top of their class and is later revealed in a side-quest that he was invited to enroll in an exclusive school for only the brightest in Sylvarant. He has a deep hatred for most humans besides Lloyd and Colette) also accompany them on their journey of world regeneration. A mercenary also accompanies them, hired by Colette's grandmother, named Kratos. Though, at first he seems very cold towards everyone, later in the plot you find that it's not that he dislikes the group, but is that way because of his past. Little do they know, but there is another world connected to their own and, while one world declines, the other flourishes. There are hidden secrets from both worlds, though. Secrets that could cost the lives of hundreds.

Now, there are a lot of good things with Symphonia. For one, you can get different costumes for each of the characters from various side-quests. The graphics are great in a chibi sort of way and the characters look cute in a kid-like way. The battle system is very fun and the attacks that each character learns depends on the way you develope them. But, in my opinion, the best part of the game is the story. At times, it can get pretty sad (for example, you can get a certain character back in your party but it costs the life of another who you have to personally kill. After he is dead, the party assumes that they had fought you because he knew he would die.)

But, like all games, there are some bad parts. The worst part of the games are the dungeons. They can take hours to beat because of all the weird, twisted, and confusing puzzles you have to go through in order to move on. And, even when you know exactly what you're trying to do, the rooms look so similar to each other that you can easily get lost. Also, some important parts of the game aren't voiced and loses the importantance to them. Also, with the voice acting, it can be pretty bad at times (usually only with random characters that have no significance to the plot) and the characters have some pretty cheesy dialoge ("I got you some hot coffee." "Thank you!" "I lied. It's cold coffee. I had Genis make it special for you." "Oh, I knew that. I meant cold." "I lied. It's hot."). Even though I earlier mentioned that I enjoyed the graphics, they also bug me because the characters all look like they're about twelve.

Overall though, this is a great game and I highly recommend playing it. Just make sure you have a walkthrough for those dungeons. ;)

Emily Enough: Imprisoned

For my first game, I didn't want to start off with something too difficult or expensive. Emily Enough: Imprisoned is a free game for the PC that can be found on many sites such as bigbluecup.com and planetfreeplay.com. It is a moderately short game where you are Emily Enough who is a young girl that is not only spoiled, but very demanding (in the beginning sequence, Emily is angered by her parents because she didn't recieve a dodo bird for her birthday). Angered by her parents incompitence, she takes a knife and kills them and is sent to a psych ward. The psych ward, though, is experiencing a few budget cuts and cutting back on some luxeries like food or seperate rooms. Your goal in the game is to get out of the establishment as soon as you can because, obviously, this sort of place is no place for someone like you.

There a many good points about this game. If you have a dark sense of humor, then this game will be great for you. And, if you're looking for a game that's pretty easy, then it'll be great if you want to a kill a few hours. The graphics are pretty nice in a washed-out sickly sort of way, which adds to the mood of the game.

But, even if there are some nice points to the game, there's also few bad ones. For instance, when Emily walks down hallways it wasn't programmed correctly and it seems like she speeds up and run down the hall. Also, even though it has a save option, it doesn't work. That means that, unless you want to sit down and play the game in one sitting, then you'll have to leave the game on. There isn't any fighting either, which some people would hate and probably find the game boring. So, if you like shooting games and hate puzzle games, this is probably not for you.

Introduction

Welcome people of the internet to my little corner of cyberspace. Now, seeing as you've stumbled in to my domain, you're probably asking yourself, "What is the point of this blog? How did I get here? What should I eat for supper?" I'm sorry to tell you that I can only answer one of your questions and that is what my blog is about (although the leftover pizza in your fridge looks good).

My goal with this blog (besides getting a good grade) is to review games. I am in no way an "expert" gamer. In fact, I'm pretty bad. But, I enjoy gaming and I would like to give reviews and reccomendations to others who are also not-so-good gamers. Then again, if you are a really talented gamer and you want to read this then I don't mind.

So, read it, comment on my posts, tell me that I'm a gaming guru and that I've changed your life (I mean, I am pretty awesome).