A Siliconera interview reveals information on returning locales and characters along with an interesting detail that fans of the original should enjoy.
In an interview late last month, Siliconera spoke with Andy Tsai, localization producer at Namco Bandai Japan, and Minako Takahashi, localization producer at Namco Bandai USA, about the latest Tales game, Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World.
Unlike other Tales games, this new addition continues where its GameCube predecessor left off. The two worlds of Vlvarant and Tethe’alla collided, resulting in social disparity and weather anomalies that have brought "fear and anxiety" to the population.
Familiar aspects of the game remain such as the appearance of Grade Shops and higher difficulty settings upon completion of the game, along with old locations and characters. Namco has also included a feature that unlocks a small gift for the player to show their thanks when a GC memory card containing a finished Tales of Symphonia save file is inserted into the Wii.
Luin and Triet, are two areas that will be revisited, however they will not be identical and will be "both familiar and different" for players. While most of the original cast returns, the main protagonist from the original, Lloyd, has been replaced by a new character, Emil, who is described as "an introvert" and "very unsure of himself".
Motion control will be utilized for four different shortcuts in battle by swinging the Nunchuk or the Wii Remote vertically or horizontally. Additionally, this iteration's Sorcerer's Ring will take use of the aiming abilities of the Wii Remote's pointer.
While the battle system remains mostly the same from the first Symphonia, a monster catching system has been added. According to Namco, monsters have always played a vital role and with Dawn of the New World they wanted to "utilize them in ways that have never been attempted". Players will be able to "form pacts" and fight with over 200 different monsters adding a new strategic element to fighting that was not present in past Tales titles.
Completion of the game will reveal another new feature not present in the other games: the ability to achieve multiple endings. There are three possible endings, one of which will require "time and dedication." However, no further details were released.
