It's back to the World Tree as Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, sequel to the impressive Gamecube title. Some things have changed since our last adventure, but much has remained the same.
But let's begin with the story, which is even less cohesive than the first. In a nutshell, a monster lord named Ratatosk inhabits a boy named Emil so he can help Marta (a young girl with a mysterious past) hatch the cores of Centurions so he can regain the power to seal the Ginnungagap, the doorway to the demonic realm Niflheim. Everyone catch that? Good.
While the heroes from the previous game show up, the main focus is on Emil and Marta. Unfortunately, Emil is not like Lloyd Irving. He's timid, unsure and spends a great amount of time apologizing. This is explained throughout the game, but you often wish he'd just shut up so you can play the game.
The game world will seem very familiar to those who played the original, because most of the dungeons and towns are the same. There are different challenges and puzzles, mind you, but they're significantly easier and faster than before. While the first game lasted 80 hours, this plays for about 30.
One thing that cuts down on time is the over-world. Instead of wandering across the landscape, you get a map where you can choose locations. For me, this works because it streamlines what was mostly tedious walking.
You battle by running into enemies. This works fine, but I often thought the game had frozen as I waited for the battle to start.
It is likely that the monster system (try not to think of Pokemon while playing) will be a big selling point. Tons of monsters to get and divergent evolution paths add to gameplay.
Upon completion, you get the option of starting a new game with extras, such as saving your money and items or gaining 2X and 10x experience. This greatly adds to replay.
In conclusion, fans of the first game or those looking for a new RPG fix, will like this one. However, it isn't as rich or epic as the first.

Pros:

1: Same great gameplay style of all the "Tales" games.
2: Great story development and overall idea.
3: Interesting "Pokemon" like capture a defeated enemy and place them in your party idea. I thought this would be lame at first but they are very helpful and stronger than you.

Cons:

1: Way too linear compaired to other "Tales" games. The lack of free overhead map movement took away hidden discoveries and also made the game see guided way too much.
2: Too short. This game could have used a little more development on each character... maybe a quest for each.