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Up for adoption: Battle system
That’s not all that has changed regarding the battle system. Namco has decided to adopt a variation of the battle system found in Tales of the Abyss (a great RPG for any PS2 owners out there), which differs quite a bit from the Symphonia battle system. In true Tales style, the new battle system can be succinctly referred to as the Flex Range Element Enhanced Linear Motion Battle System or FF:EE-LMBS. In other words, characters are no longer restricted to 2D planes as in Symphonia, but rather follow enemies in 3D space.
Field elements are another new feature in Dawn of the New World. Enemies, skill and battle locations all have elemental types. By using three skills of the same element in a row, the elemental type of the battle location will change, which will affect the strength of certain skills and also influence Unison Attacks, a returning feature from Symphonia. Given the large number of creatures and newly introduced features, Button-mashers will have a harder time playing Dawn of the New World as opposed to Symphonia.
Changing pace
Another surprising change is the removal of the overworld. Unlike previous Tales adventures, movement between locations is now handled by a point-and-click system (think Baten Kaitos) rather than the traditional overworld. This has been blamed on time restraints however early reports state that the new system allows the game progress at a nice pace.
Dawn of the New World doesn’t make much use of the Wii’s unique controls. Other than giving the player the option of moving characters by pointing and holding down the B trigger, there’s little else in the way of gesture-based controls during battle. Given the pace of the battle system however, it is likely that excessive use of the Wii’s motion-sensing capabilities would have felt clunky and out-of-place.
Hesitance, again
Dawn of the New World is shaping up to be a very welcome addition to the Wii’s line-up. Fans of the series should feel right at home with Dawn of the New World. If you are new to Tales or Japanese RPGs in general, I suggest picking up a copy of Symphonia and giving it a play-through, before giving Dawn of the New World a spin. While the game has been released in Japan and is set to arrive in North America in November, things aren’t looking bright for a European or Australian release. Namco is once again hesitant to release the game in these regions.
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