Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (known as Knight of Ratatosk in Japan) is an upcoming Tales game for the Wii, and scheduled to be released in Spring 2008 in Japan. It is a spin-off and sequel to the popular Gamecube/PS2 title Tales of Symphonia.

Character Design
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World features the designs by Kosuke Fujishima of returning Tales of Symphonia characters, but the designer of the new characters is Daigo Okumura. The main character's name is Emil, and the heroine's name is Marta. Other revealed characters, such as Richter Abend, Tenebrae, and Aqua, have little to nothing known about them.

Storyline
Long ago, Sylvarant and Tethe'alla were united as a single world that drew strength from the Great Kharlan Tree. Divine intervention tore them apart, however, and the Tree withered and died. It was eventually left to a boy named Lloyd to restore the world to its true form. At his journey's end, a new Tree was planted to replace the old one and to hold the two worlds together. This was the story of the Journey of Regeneration.

Together once more, the world is now entering a new era. However, its people are still faced with many problems. After the lands became one, maps were rendered useless and the climate went through many vast changes: desert towns became frozen wastelands and lakes dried up into valleys. All of this stems from an overlooked factor in the unification of the worlds: the spirit of the old Kharlan Tree, Ratatosk, still exists somewhere, and its slumber has sent the world into chaos.

However, Ratatosk isn't the only problem: the people of the two worlds are starting to hate each other. The citizens of Tethe'alla look down upon the citizens of Sylvarant due to their inferior technology, and the citizens of Sylvarant fear the citizens of Tethe'alla because of their power. Two years have passed since the worlds were first merged, and the people of Sylvarant have created a vanguard with which to rise against the Church of Martel and the people of Tethe'alla.

One day, the Church of Martel went to war Agents the vanguard, and Sylvarant's city of Palmacosta was caught in the crossfire. Countless innocent people died and Palmacosta was consumed in a terrible fire. This event came to be known as the "Purge of Flames", a bloody massacre caused by the Church of Martel.

Setting
Knight of Ratatosk takes place two years after the events of Tales of Symphonia.[2] The protagonist is named Emil, and characters from the original Symphonia will return:[2] certain screenshots have revealed that Colette will return as a playable character, therefore making it likely that the other Tales of Symphonia characters may as well. The newest trailer has shown that all party members will return, though Kratos remains unconfirmed. However, this same trailer depicts Lloyd in an antagonistic light: he fights the protagonists from Ratatosk. Whether this means Lloyd is an antagonist, or a temporary enemy, is uncertain. In addition, screenshots depicting Zelos have been released, implying that the canonical ending of Tales of Symphonia had Zelos live, rather than die.

It is suggested by the name that the game will relate to the character Ratatosk from Norse mythology, who is a talking squirrel that lived on the World Tree, Yggdrasil. Tales of Symphonia features a giant life-giving tree that functions similarly to the Yggdrasil of myths. This tree also exists in Tales of Phantasia, which Tales of Symphonia is a prequel to. In Tales of Phantasia it is called Yggdrasil, supposedly after Tales of Symphonia's main villain.

Battle System
The battle system that this game uses hasn't been shown yet. An artcle by Namco Bandai suggests that it will be completely original, possibly incorporating the Wii's motion controls.

Exploration
From what Namco Bandai has shown of this game, it appears that it will not feature a world map. Instead, when the main characters leave the town, they will appear on a small drawing of the world with major towns and cities painted across it. By pointing at these areas with the Wii remote, the party will walk instantly from place to place.

Capturing Monsters
Monsters are able to be caputured (and evolved) to fight for the party, though there aren't many details on this yet. Cooking is also centered around them (meaning that the Wonder Chef returns). There is an affection system related to the monsters, though details are unknown.