Plot
During the events of the first game, Lloyd Irving and his companions embarked to a journey that led to the merging of the twin worlds of Sylvarant and Tethe'alla. After the lands became one, however, 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. To complicate matters, tensions have quickly escalated between the people of the two worlds. The Tethe'allans look down upon the Sylvaranti due to their inferior technology, and the Sylvaranti fear the Tethe'allans for their power. Two years have passed since the worlds were first merged, and the Sylvaranti have created an army, known as the Vanguard, with which to rise against the Church of Martel and the Tethe'allans.
One day, the Church of Martel goes to war with the Vanguard, and Sylvarant's city of Palmacosta is caught in the crossfire. Countless innocent lives are lost and the city is consumed in flames. This event comes to be known as the "Blood Purge," a massacre allegedly led by the same Lloyd Irving who helped unite the worlds two years before. Emil Castagnier, a Palmacostan boy, is forced to watch as his parents are killed by Lloyd; after this traumatic incident, he is sent to Luin to live with his aunt and uncle. He suffers continual mistreatment from them, however, and he is further ostracized by the people of the city, who view Lloyd as a hero.
Emil's life takes a dramatic turn when he befriends Marta Lualdi, a girl who is being hunted by the Vanguard and the enigmatic Richter Abend alike. Determined to protect her, Emil confronts Richter and helps Marta escape with the aid of Tenebrae, a centurion spirit who serves Ratatosk. Tenebrae states that there are other centurions who lie in a dormant state: to restore balance to the world's environment, all of them should be awoken in order to revive Ratatosk. Emil forms a pact with Tenebrae, and in so doing becomes the Knight of Ratatosk. So it is that Emil and Marta embark on their journey of revenge and restoration.

Main Characters

Emil Castagnier (Pronounced cast-ahn-yay)

Emil Castagnier lost his parents to Lloyd Irving in the blood purging of Palmacosta. An honest, somewhat naïve boy, Emil is a bit of a coward, and he does not like to make decisions. Emil lives in Luin at the start of the game. He is bullied for being the only child in the village to not be a devoted follower of Lloyd Irving. His English voice actor is Johnny Yong Bosch.
When he hears a monster's cry in the distance one day, he leaves his village to investigate and finds Marta, who shows some unknown familiarity with Emil. She reveals that she is being hunted and they agree to fight together against the assassins seeking to take the Ratatosk core Marta carries with her. It is soon revealed that he was summoned by Tenebrae, a Centurion whose voice he had heard earlier. He makes a deal with Tenebrae and agrees to become a Knight of Ratatosk, thus enabling him to use Ratatosk's power during battle. Whenever he fights, his eyes turn red and his personality changes into that of a cruel fighter, causing some to see him as a monster.

Marta Lualdi

Marta Lualdi is a former member of the Vanguard. She lost her mother during the Great Kharlan Tree's rampage in Palmacosta. A bit of a tomboy, Marta is passionate about getting her way. On the left side of her forehead lies the Ratatosk Core. Emil becomes a Ratatosk knight in order to protect her and the Ratatosk Core. She views him as effeminate, but believes he possesses a hidden strength. Marta wears a keychain that resembles Mieu, a character from Tales of the Abyss; Tokunaga, Anise's doll from the same game, is also visible on the back of her pouch. She is able to use support spells and some attack spells. Her English voice actress is Laura Bailey.

Centurion Tenebrae

Tenebrae is a Centurion Spirit of Ratatosk that is highly attuned to the forces of darkness. It appears before Emil, and the two agree to a contract that turns the boy into a Knight of Ratatosk. Although Tenebrae came from another world, it has since lost much of its power, so it is unable to return home. It is a very calm, composed, and serious being, though he has been known to make the occasional joke. It is very loyal to Marta, who carries the Ratatosk Core on her forehead. It appears to have a hand-like appendage on the end of its tail. It is affectionally nicknamed "Tenebie" by Colette and the rest of the original Symphonia cast, much to its displeasure. His English voice actor is Terrence Stone.

Richter Abend

The game's protagonist, Richter Abend is a young man who first meets Emil on a journey to find the Ratatosk Core. Since he was oppressed as a half-elf child, he now hates those that oppress others; he also hates those who do not stand up for themselves. His extremely distrusting nature causes him to be harsh in order to see his goals met. He first encounters Emil while saving him from being bullied. Although the boy's timidity and passiveness irritate him, Richter resolves to teach him the basics of fighting. It is due to his inability to understand why many resign themselves to their downtrodden circumstances that he pushes Emil to become stronger through harsh means. Richter is also a member of the Vanguard, held in high esteem, and has been said to be the founder of the Vanguard combat group by Brute. He was originally a researcher at Sybak, where he was researching the spirit of Ratatosk with his close friend Aster. Together, they were commissioned to look into Ratatosk's mana: however, due to a previous betrayal by Mithos' group, the spirit's trust had disappeared. It killed Aster in a rage; since then, Richter has held resentment towards Ratatosk. His English voice actor is Kyle Hebert.

Returning Characters

From the left to right, Raine, Genis, Lloyd, Zelos (Top), Colette (Bottom), Regal, Presea, and Sheena

I might update this with more information, but really I doubt you'll get this if you didn't play the first one.




There you have it, a megathread about what I consider the best RPG (and game) in all of existence. I recommend anyone with a Wii that wants to have fun get this game. I only dropped onto the plot, later on I'll update it with the pokemon-esque monster capturing and epic-for-an-RPG battle system.

[23:35] <venn177> Check General Discussion. Holy hell that was murder for me. Half an hour of copy paste, edit, remove spoilesr.

Locked.

EDIT : Just kidding.

Ah, adolescence anorexics with poor fashion sense, battling in almost linear plot lines involving retarded grind fests. [Taking off Yahtzee Glasses]

I just hope this isn't one of those generic jerpeegees, with turn based combat, and 'innovative' bland ♥♥♥♥, WoG has WAY more content.

hey, they arent anorexic, theyre malnourished.

Real-time 3D combat.

By 3D I mean you can move on all three axis.

Jesus christ, I know you like the game and everything... How long did this take you?

Half an hour of cutting out spoilers and whatnot. I also am the top-tier well-respected fanboy God over at the gameFAQs board for it.

i loved the first one, beat it about 6 times. no joke. cant wait for this. thank god the old characters are back.

Since when is 3D a selling point? What is this, 1981?

Moving on all three axes (x, y, and z) in battle in an RPG is a selling point.

JRPG with '3D' Beat'Em'Up fighting sequences, no, just, no.

Helps if you actually play the damn game.

Heh.

I haven't played this yet but I played the first one (a quarter through) and loved it.
Not to mention Vesperia.

Despite being a final fantasy lackey(final fantasy is going downhill by the way, so I'm getting more interested in tales.), I really liked Vesperia and the first Symphonia for the gamecube.

Also, it is better than Vesperia?

Maybe i'll decide to pop in the disc tommorow.

This looks a lot like a Let's Play thread...

I consider Tales of Symphonia and DotNW to be the two best RPGs in history.

Vesperia didn't get a lot of time put into it, I think Namco was just seeing how it would fare on the 360, which it didn't do well at, considering DotNW outsold it in its first week.

Figures, I tend to love games that didn't have a large work force, pc games, rpgs, etc.
Kinda like how i'm smitten with Radiata Stories, which was a game to distract people who were waiting for Star Ocean.
I just wish it was for the PS3...

Back on topic, I have not finished the first Symphonia, would it ruin anything to play DotNW?