History YMMV / TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld

* IKnewIt: [[spoiler:Everybody who played the first game, even for fifteen minutes, knows that there was absolutely no way in hell that Lloyd Irving would ever become a villain.]]
* MagnificentBastard: [[TheManBehindTheMan Richter Abend]], a former scientist seeking to kill the genocidal spirit Ratatosk and to resurrect his friend Aster, who was killed by Ratatosk. To accomplish this, Richter [[DealWithTheDevil makes a pact with the demons of Niflheim]], who give Richter the strength to face Ratatosk and a promise to resurrect Aster on the condition that Richter kills Ratatosk, which will destroy the barrier stopping the demons from invading the mortal world. However, Richter devises a plan to doublecross the demons by sacrificing himself after Ratatosk is dead and Aster is revived. Exploiting the tension between the peoples of Sylvarant and Tethea'alla, Richter uses Solum's core to control Brute, the leader of the Vanguard, turning it into a violent anti-Tethe'allan movement. Richter uses this ethnic violence to cover up his quest to find and kill Ratatosk. Along the way, Richter befriends Emil and teaches him self-confidence. After Emil stops Richter's plans, Richter works together with the newly-reformed Ratatosk to hold back the demons of Niflheim for a thousand years.

*** Although there is a bit of FridgeBrilliance in there given that it is [[spoiler: literally a BattleInTheCentreOfTheMind, with Emil fighting himself.]]

* {{Misblamed}}: There are a number of fans of the first game who claim that the games voice cast being changed was because Namco was too lazy or cheap to rehire them. While it is possible this could of been the cause, one look at the original voice cast makes it clear this wasn't their fault; the majority of the voice actors were union voice actors, who are notoriously hard to work with because they often require projects to contract them a while in advance, and tend to be very costly to work with. This also means that sequels are very difficult to do with union voice actors because the amount voice actors in question will often only do them if it works for them. This is why after ''Symphonia'' came out, the series switched to hiring voice actors that didn't use unions as it was easier to reach out to them, more cost effective to work with, and overall easier to work with since they could actually reuse the voice actors if needed and could reach a larger diverse pool of voice actors..
* MostAnnoyingSound: "Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality." By half an hour in, some players get a bit [[BerserkButton twitchy]] whenever they hear that.
** "You're using too many items/Artes!" - even directly answered by Emil and Marta (in response to whoever said the aforementioned quote), saying "It's my choice!" and "But, this is more fun.", respectively.
** "Oh healing power..."

** Most of the criticisms of the game come from problems arising from most of the effort at the time focusing on ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia''. You only get Emil, Marta, and whatever monsters you can recruit for most of the game, and other characters you acquire can't gain levels, and the traditional free-roam overworld of the series is removed. Plus the soundtrack, which aside from a few SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic bits, is largely synthesized remixes of Symphonia's. [[spoiler: One other problem someone can have is that the game has ''quite a few'' {{Hopeless Boss Fight}}s, having one at the start with Lloyd (which the player will likely lose in a matter seconds), three with Ritcher (though the latter two can be won, particularly if you've over-leveled/gotten good equipment), plus the fight with Brute is no picnic even if it isn't hopeless. Even worse is that after the '''actual''' Final Boss, you have two extra fights (the first you're ''supposed'' to lose, and the one after affects nothing but one scene).]]

* SpiritualLicensee: A teenage boy dressed in blue and black, and his SuperpoweredEvilSide, have adventures, which culminate in the SuperpoweredEvilSide finding out his identity, and involves summoning and commanding monsters. The overall BigBad is a figure from said SuperpoweredEvilSide's past, a recurring antagonist is a white haired youth (well, said youth's SuperpoweredEvilSide in one case) said SuperpoweredEvilSide becomes good through ThePowerOfFriendship, and [[spoiler: the FinalBattle is a duel between the protagonist and his alter ego]]. Am I talking about VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld?, or am I talking about Manga/YuGiOh?

* BadassDecay: A zig-zagging variation with "Ratatosk Mode". In it's first major appearance, Emil flips out and beats the tar out of soldiers, but after that, it gradually starts appearing more and more frequently in moments, usually for silly reasons... then suddenly, it flares back to dramatic when it starts taking over for extended periods ''outside of battle'', on it's own + without Emil's knowledge/memory, as well as darker moments like [[NeckLift hanging]] a poor soldier over a bottomless pit. Then finally, you learn [[spoiler: it's not really a 'mode' at all; it's Ratatosk himself]]. The characters themselves get more and more worried as this drags out, with good reason, before and after TheReveal... and on a second play-through, [[HarsherInHindsight it may no longer be as silly as it was.]]

* [[ScrewedByTheNetwork Screwed By The Budget]]: The game was deemed an 'escort' (side) title in the series and given limited budget. Either this shows and makes things worse, or it's shows and isn't a problem.

* SpiritualLicensee: A teenage boy dressed in blue and black, and his SuperpoweredEvilSide, have adventures, which culminate in the SuperpoweredEvilSide finding out his identity. The overall BigBad is a figure from said SuperpoweredEvilSide's past, a recurring antagonist is a white haired youth (well, said youth's SuperpoweredEvilSide in one case) said SuperpoweredEvilSide becomes good through ThePowerOfFriendship, and [[spoiler: the FinalBattle is a duel between the protagonist and his alter ego]]. Am I talking about VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld?, or am I talking about Manga/YuGiOh?

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: [[spoiler: The "a shapeshifter did it" explanation of "Lloyd"'s actions in Palmacosta cuts into a truly amazing plot idea. The Centurion Cores cause insanity, giving us an excellent opportunity to examine the darker side of Lloyd's character and give his fairly cliche character some interesting development. Instead Deceus is revealed to been the one doing it.]]

* {{Misblamed}}: There are a number of fans of the first game who claim that the games voice cast being changed was because Namco was too lazy or cheap to rehire them. While it is possible this could of been the cause, one look at the original voice cast makes it clear this wasn't their fault; the majority of the voice actors were union voice actors, who are notoriously hard to work with because they often require projects to contract them a while in advance, and tend to be very costly to work with. This is why after ''Symphonia'', the series used voice actors without unions; it was easier to reach out to them, more cost effective, and overall easier to work with since they could actually reuse the voice actors if needed.

* AntiClimaxBoss: The final boss. Despite the CrowningMusicOfAwesome and the sheer amount of damage he can do in one combo, the fact is that the game's difficulty can't really keep up with just how broken Emil and Marta are.

** Most of the criticisms of the game come from problems arising from most of the effort at the time focusing on ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia''. You only get Emil, Marta, and whatever monsters you can recruit for most of the game, and other characters you acquire can't gain levels, and the traditional free-roam overworld of the series is removed. Plus the soundtrack, which aside from a few CrowningMusicOfAwesome bits, is largely synthesized remixes of Symphonia's. [[spoiler: One other problem someone can have is that the game has ''quite a few'' {{Hopeless Boss Fight}}s, having one at the start with Lloyd (which the player will likely lose in a matter seconds), three with Ritcher (though the latter two can be won, particularly if you've over-leveled/gotten good equipment), plus the fight with Brute is no picnic even if it isn't hopeless. Even worse is that after the '''actual''' Final Boss, you have two extra fights (the first you're ''supposed'' to lose, and the one after affects nothing but one scene).]]

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The remixes of tracks from ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' mostly range from passable to "Jesus hell, was this composed on a Casio keyboard!?" The more somber version of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0PP1VQuziQ&list=PL832097BBAE439743&index=57&feature=plpp_video Far From Our World]], though, could actually be considered ''better'' than the original.
** Also worth mentioning is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZcZnrPGFrY this somber and mysterious version of the Derris Kharlan theme]] from ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Symphonia]]''.

* GeniusBonus: A little squirrel appears when you start solving a puzzle in the Ginnungagap. Seems random, but this is because in Nordic mythology, Ratatosk, the guardian of the World Tree... is a squirrel. Knowing this can also make mentions of [[DeathbringerTheAdorable "the demon lord Ratatosk"]] a CrowningMomentOfFunny, from Richter of all people (since he's the only one who seriously believes that Ratatosk is one).

!!Subpages
* [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation/TalesSeries Alternative Character Interpretation]]
* [[AndTheFandomRejoiced/TalesSeries And The Fandom Rejoiced]]
* [[AwesomeBosses/TalesSeries Awesome Bosses]]
* [[BrokenBase/TalesSeries Broken Base]]
* [[Monster/TalesSeries Complete Monster]]
* [[DieForOurShip/TalesSeries Die For Our Ship]]
* [[FanPreferredCouple/TalesSeries Fan Preferred Couple]]
* [[GameBreaker/TalesSeries Game Breaker]]
* [[Narm/TalesSeries Narm]]
* [[PlayerPunch/TalesSeries Player Punch]]
* [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap/TalesSeries Rescued From The Scrappy Heap]]
* [[ScrappyMechanic/TalesSeries Scrappy Mechanic]]
* [[ThatOneAchievement/TalesSeries That One Achievement]]
* [[ThatOneAttack/TalesSeries That One Attack]]
* [[ThatOneBoss/TalesSeries That One Boss]]
* [[ThatOneLevel/TalesSeries That One Level]]
* [[ThatOneSidequest/TalesSeries That One Sidequest]]
* [[TheScrappy/TalesSeries The Scrappy]]
* [[WhatAnIdiot/TalesSeries What An Idiot]]
* [[Woobie/TalesSeries The Woobie]]

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Even most of the haters of this game think [[LittleMissBadass Alice]] is a pretty cool girl.
** In all honesty; Alice actually ''is'' the type of character you usually expect to ''join'' the main party in a ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'' game given how she's a little girl with healing powers... but then reveals herself to be rather sadistic.

* GameBreaker: The most notable is Speed Cast Marta. Marta gets a total of 3 (stackable) Speed Cast skills, and equipping all 3 enables her to be able to instantly cast any spell. Using this with Photon, a multi-hit move, and you can trap any enemy in an infinite combo.
** Next is Emil. With the skill Accelerate (which he can only get from two weapons, the Echo Tracer and the Nether Traitor, the former being forgable as soon as you reach Triet Ruins and strong enough to be Emil's best weapon in stats until the Lightning Temple, and the latter being Emil's best weapon, after a lengthy sidequest), the lag on his moves is significantly reduced. What this means is that Emil can now pull off incredibly long combos (and two separate infinite combos) with ease, or just spam Havoc Strike until the enemy dies.
** Finally, Lloyd. While not even close to being as powerful as he once was, he also has an infinite combo which you admittedly won't be able to use without a lot of TP restoration items. Even without that though, ''he's fast'', outrunning everyone in the game but Emil with Fiend Fusion.
** Monsters in general can break the game clean in half very easily. It's not difficult to get a monster 20-30 levels above everyone else.

* {{Narm}}:
** "Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality." It can seem such a lame phrase; as ArcWords they may/may not fit into the story well, but everyone keeps saying it.
** Not to mention the game flashing back to that conversation every five minutes for the first hour of play, then having next to no flashbacks for the rest of the game, even when they might actually be helpful.
** Possibly, Marta's [[LimitBreak Mystic Arte.]] After [[BadassBoast a pretty cool incantation]], she leaps up into the air with some glowing effects and then... near-dead silence followed by damage (and healing to the party). Apparently the god of healing's volume isn't that high.
** Early on in Luin, when Emil tells Richter that he saw Marta, Richter proceeds to grab him and shake him. The animation makes Emil move so loosely that he looks like a rag doll, not helped by the fact that Richter's shaking goes on for an unnecessarily long amount of time.
** The voice acting, compared to the first game (which still [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny showing its age with its high-pitched voices]] and sometimes over-enthusiastic characters]] feels much more stilted, it feels like [[OnlyDoingItForTheMoney half the voice actors were just in it for the paycheck]], aside from [[TookTheBadFilmSeriously Bosch, Smith, Kawaye, and Hebert]].

* ScrappyMechanic: The way the game automatically adjusts the party lineup and which player controls what would be just fine... if Marta could stop leaving the party every-so-often.
** For that matter, not letting the original party level up.

* ThatOneBoss: The [[strike:Light-Frog]] Nasdroviae. Get it down to less than a quarter health and it will automatically perform two healing spells to bring itself right back to 50% health. Plus it's guarding while it's doing all this, so unless you pull off a REALLY well-coordinated combo (or have a high dex stat on a character/monster, ie guard-break) you're not going to stop it once it starts. It's no pushover in combat, either, and your only chance is to whittle it's health down just above 1/4 health and then break out the best combo you can manage, ending it in a Unison Attack, and hope it's enough to kill it in one go.
** The final battle with Alice/Decus in the FinalDungeon: you're fighting both of them at the same time, they both have [[LimitBreak Mystic Artes]], Alice can heal for about half of their substantial health [[ShootTheMedic unless you target her first]], they have a lot of stun resistance (needing high dex to break through quickly), and you don't have any GuestStarPartyMember at the time, so if you've been neglecting Monster raising you're in for trouble. Unless you [[GameBreaker forged the Echo Tracer/acquired the Neither Traitor]], of course.
** The fight with Hawk in Altamira, where he learns his Over-Limit skill and starts zipping around the battlefield, bringing your party members to near-death in only two hits (barring good equipment/levels/monsters).
* ThatOneLevel: The Temple of Lightning for some, mainly due to backtracking in it's design, and the random lightning bolts that can lock you out of the best/neutral endings if fourteen hit (though if you keep moving, and keep an eye on the two-second visible-indicator of where they'll hit, they're easily avoidable).

* TheWoobie: Emil, both before he gets thrown into things, and particularly after the truth of things is revealed.

* SuperlativeDubbing: While some of [[Creator/JohnnyYongBosch Bosch's]] other roles are more famous, his performance of Emil is perhaps one of his best. He starts off as a [[ExtremeDoormat total wimp]] with an ''incredibly'' whiny voice, alternating to a LargeHam when Ratatosk mode is activated, and then over the course of the game starts [[CharacterDevelopment becoming much less obnoxious]] and his method of speaking even changes to fit it. At the end, Bosch even maintains to ''distinct'' methods of speaking for Emil and [[spoiler: the true Ratatosk]], and the latter doesn't even go as LargeHam as he was before. Despite that it was created (and localised) on a budget, Bosch ''really'' [[TookTheBadFilmSeriously performed to a much higher standard than he needed to]].

* FoeYay: Emil and Richter, whose relationship throughout the game resembles a ReincarnationRomance plot. Possibly Alice and Marta. Decus initially assumes Emil got a crush on him at first sight.

* FoeYay: Emil and Richter. Possibly Alice and Marta. Decus initially assumes Emil got a crush on him at first sight.

** Made even more evident in the 2014 poll, where he takes 8th place, making him the most popular Sympohnia character.

* {{Narm}}: "Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality." It can seem such a lame phrase; as ArcWords they may/may not fit into the story well, but everyone keeps saying it.

* NightmareFuel: Remarkably well disguised with [[CrapsaccharineWorld cutesy graphics and humorous skits]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: [[spoiler: The "a shapeshifter did it" explanation of "Lloyd"'s actions in Palmacosta cuts into a truly amazing plot idea. The Centurion Cores cause insanity, giving us an excellent opportunity to examine the darker side of Lloyd's character and give his fairly cliche character some interesting development. Instead Deceus is revealed to been the one doing it.]

* AmericansHateTingle: Emil gets a lot of criticism from the western fandom for being whiny, feminine, and spineless. In the 2009 Tales Character Poll (an annual survey of ''TalesSeries'' fans in Japan), Emil came 10th out of ''every single TalesSeries character'', was ranked 12th in the 2010 poll, and 11th in the 2013 poll. And this is a series that has LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters in each of their respective games alone.

** In all honesty; Alice actually ''is'' the type of character you usually expect to ''join'' the main party in a ''TalesSeries'' game given how she's a little girl with healing powers... but then reveals herself to be rather sadistic.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: [[spoiler: The "a shapeshifter did it" explanation of "Lloyd"'s actions in Palmacosta is a big letdown. There were orbs that cause insanity as a plot point, giving us an excellent opportunity to examine the darker side of Lloyd's character and give his fairly cliche character some interesting development, yet nothing was done with it.]]

** Most of the criticisms of the game come from problems arising from most of the effort at the time focusing on ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia''. You only get Emil, Marta, and whatever monsters you can recruit for most of the game, and other characters you acquire can't gain levels, and the traditional free-roam overworld of the series is removed. Probably the biggest sign of a lack of effort on the game is its soundtrack, which aside from a few CrowningMusicOfAwesome bits, is largely synthesized remixes of Symphonia's. [[spoiler: One other problem someone can have is that the game has WAY TOO many {{Hopeless Boss Fight}}s, having one at the start with Lloyd (which the player will likely lose in a matter seconds), THREE with Ritcher (Though the latter two can be won.), and one with Brute. Even worse is that after the '''Actual''' Final Boss, you have two extra fights (The first you're SUPPOSED to lose and the one after affects nothing but one scene).]]
** Some critics though despise the game for the trivial fact that the English voice acting was changed. This complaint is often the most [[JustForPun vocal]] of all complaints and many hate the voice direction for the new characters.

** In all honesty; Alice actually ''is'' the type of character you usually expect to ''join'' the main party in a ''TalesSeries'' game given how she's a little girl with healing powers...but then reveals herself to be rather sadistic.

* GeniusBonus: A little squirrel appears when you start solving a puzzle in the Ginnungagap. Seems random, but this is because in Nordic mythology, Ratatosk, the guardian of the World Tree... is a squirrel. Knowing this also makes every mention of [[DeathbringerTheAdorable "the demon lord Ratatosk"]] a CrowningMomentOfFunny.

* {{Narm}}: "Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality." As noted several times on this very wiki. It can seem such a lame phrase; as ArcWords may not fit into the story very well, but everyone keeps saying it.

* BadassDecay: A zig-zagging variation with "Ratatosk Mode". In it's first major appearance, Emil flips out and beats the tar out of soldiers, but after that, it gradually starts appearing more and more frequently in moments, usually for silly reasons... then suddenly, it flares back to dramatic when it starts taking over for extended periods ''outside of battle'', on it's own + without Emil's knowledge/memory, as well as darker moments like [[NeckLift hanging]] a poor soldier merely doing his job over a bottomless pit. The finally, you learn [[spoiler: it's not really a 'mode' at all; it's Ratatosk]]. The characters themselves get more and more worried as this drags out, with good reason, before and after TheReveal... and on a second play-through, [[HarsherInHindsight it may no longer be as silly as it was.]]

* IKnewIt: [[spoiler:Everybody who played the first game, even for fifteen minutes, knows that there is absolutely no way in hell that Lloyd Irving would ever become a villain.]]

** "You're using too many items/Artes!"
*** Lampshaded by Emil, who growls "It's my choice!" in response (but ends up only adding to the annoyance)
*** Also lampshaded by Marta, "But, this is more fun."

* ScrappyMechanic: The way the game automatically adjusts the party lineup and which player controls what would be just fine... if Marta could stop leaving the party for just ten minutes.

* [[ScrewedByTheNetwork Screwed By The Budget]]: The game was deemed an 'escort' (side) title in the series and given limited budget. Either this shows and makes things worse, or it's shows and is not a problem.

* ThatOneBoss: The [[strike:Light-Frog]] Nasdroviae. Get it down to less than a quarter health and it will automatically perform two healing spells to bring itself right back to 50% health. Plus it's guarding while it's doing all this, so unless you pull off a REALLY well-coordinated combo you're not going to stop it once it starts. It's no pushover in combat, either, and your only chance is to whittle it's health down just above 1/4 health and then break out the best combo you can manage, ending it in a Unison Attack, and hope it's enough to kill it in one go.
** The final battle with Alice/Decus in the FinalDungeon: you're fighting both of them at the same time, they both have [[LimitBreak Mystic Artes]], Alice can heal for about half of their substantional health, they have a lot of stun resistance (which makes that heal even more annoying) and you don't have any GuestStarPartyMember at the time, so if you've been neglecting Monster raising, you're in for trouble. Unless you forged the [[GameBreaker Echo Tracer]] of course.
** The fight with Hawk in Altamira, where he learns his Over-Limit skill and starts zipping around the battlefield, bringing your party members to near-death in only two hits.
* ThatOneLevel: The Temple of Lightning is a horrible dungeon: visually boring, annoying enemies, backtracking, and random lightning bolts that can lock you out of the best or neutral endings if 14 of them hit you. That's right - a dungeon so bad, it can screw up the ending you would normally get in accordance with choices made over the course of the game.

** [[spoiler: Lloyd's contrived explanation for keeping his friends in the dark doesn't explain his initial failure to deny responsibility for destroying Palmacosta.]]
* TheWoobie: Emil, who would normally be put under {{Wangst}}, but CrossesTheLineTwice and goes back to just being TheCutie.

* CommonMarySueTraits: Emil. He's wimpy enough to get annoying, but can still hold his own against Lloyd in a fight, all of his morally questionable actions and moments are the result of a [[spoiler: semi-malevolent second personality]]; just about everyone comes to love him fairly quickly; [[FriendToAllLivingThings Even monsters like him]] and he's secretly [[spoiler:a God. [[MultipleEndings Who, depending on your ending,]] may be TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth]]. The monster aspect is partly justified because [[spoiler: Emil is actually Ratatosk, who's Centurions employ monster servants to do their bidding.]]
** If anything though, like Colette, Emil is a {{Deconstruction}} of those tropes. He's wimpy because he's bullied and blamed for stuff he had no control over, Lloyd clearly outpowers him the whole game, [[spoiler: Ratatosk mode turns out to be the ACTUAL Ratatosk, who has a rather harsh, but from his view, justified, hatred of humans]], monsters like him because he forces them to bend to his will, and in the ending [[spoiler: he can suffer a massive MyGodWhatHaveIDone after thinking he's killed Marta, and kills himself out of fear that he'll hurt more.]]