Tales of Berseria

Tales of Berseria

Cover art
Developer(s) Bandai Namco Studios
Publisher(s) Bandai Namco Entertainment
Director(s) Yoshimasa Tanaka[1]
Producer(s) Yasuhiro Fukaya[1]
Artist(s)
Composer(s) Motoi Sakuraba[1]
Series Tales
Platform(s)

Release date(s)
Genre(s) Role-playing

Tales of Berseria (テイルズ オブ ベルセリア, Teiruzu Obu Beruseria) is an upcoming Japanese role-playing video game being developed by Bandai Namco Entertainment for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Microsoft Windows. It is the sixteenth main entry in the Tales series, developed and published by Bandai Namco.[3] It is set for release in Japan on August 18, 2016,[4] and worldwide for PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows in 2017.[2]

Gameplay

A battle sequence from Tales of Berseria, demonstrating the HUD, character skills, and general setup of the Liberation Linear Motion Battle System.

Tales of Berseria is a role-playing video game, where players navigate the game's world through the game's characters from a third-person perspective.[5] As with previous Tales games, characters can interact through Skits, animated clips that play outside cutscenes and battle: characters are represented by head-and-shoulder portraits, and conversations can range from serious to comedic. New to the series' Skit systems is a cut-in effect, where at certain moments within skits characters in various poses will appear in response to the dialogue.[6]

As with previous Tales titles, the game uses a variation of the Linear Motion Battle System (LMBS). Berseria's version is dubbed the "Liberation-LMBS": when in the battle zone, players can freely move around the arena and rotate the camera at will. Characters fight using physical and magical attacks, along with performing skills known as Artes that have various effects on enemies such as stunning them or causing status ailments. Artes can be directly mapped to different control buttons. Abilities outside normal combat include guarding against attacks, side-stepping around opponents, and escaping from battle.[5][7]

A key element in battles is the Soul Gauge, which replaces the move-governing mechanics of earlier Tales games: each character has a separate gauge showing up to five Souls, which are used up when Artes are used. While characters can still attack, their attacks can be easily deflected by enemies, but the Soul Gauge automatically recharges with time. Souls are dropped by enemies in battle which can be "stolen" to refill the gauge, a mechanic that enemies can also use to steal Souls from the player.[5] If enough of the Soul Gauge is full characters can activate unique states called the Break Soul, where they can exceed their combo limit and bring unique effects into battle: for instance, Velvet's Break Soul triggers her arm to become bestial and different elemental attacks are triggered depending on enemy type.[8] The main party consists of four characters which can all be assigned as the controlled character during battle, with the other available playable characters held in reserve.[8][9] A mechanic called the Switch Blast can be used when changing characters: by consuming a portion of the Blast Gauge, the controlled party member switches out for a reserve member, who delivers a free attack. The Blast Gauge is also depleted by performing power attacks called Mystic Artes.[9]

Synopsis

Setting

Berseria will mainly take place in the Midgand Sacred Kingdom, a powerful country that rules over this world's archipelago of a continent. The game's world is shared with Tales of Zestiria, although the events will occur in the distant past of Zestiria. There are countless numbers of islands around, and Midgand's rule crosses even the seas. Areas of land and islands in the game are divided into "territories."[4]

Characters

The game follows the protagonist Velvet Crowe (ベルベット・クラウ, Berubetto Kurau, voiced by Rina Satō), a 19-year-old pirate who completely changed because of an incident that happened three years prior to the events of the game. Alongside her spirit companion Laphicet (ライフィセット, Raifisetto, voiced by Azumi Asakura), she battles warriors who have shed their emotions in pursuit of victory against rogue monsters.[4][10] Five other characters were later announced: Rokurou Rangetsu (ロクロウ・ランゲツ, Rokurō Rangetsu, voiced by Daisuke Kishio); Eleanor Hume (エレノア・ヒューム, Erenoa Hyūmu, voiced by Ami Koshimizu); Magilou/Magileux (マギルゥ, Magirū, voiced by Satomi Satō); Bienfu (ビエンフー, Bienfū, voiced by Naomi Nagasawa); and Eizen (アイゼン, Aizen, voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa), respectively. [11]

Development

Development for Tales of Berseria began in the fall of 2014 at Bandai Namco Studios, after active development had finished on Zestiria. A notable change was Hideo Baba not acting as producer, his role instead being filled by Yasuhiro Fukaya while Baba himself took over general supervision of the Tales series.[12] The main theme of Tales of Berseria is the conflict between emotion and reason, with Velvet being the incarnation of emotion and rage.[4] This theme is represented in the game's title, which stems from the term "Berserker", legendary warriors who were imbued with uncontrollable power.[2] The game was the first in the Tales series to feature a sole female protagonist, with that last leading female character being Milla Maxwell from Tales of Xillia, who had shared her role as main protagonist with male character Jude Mathis. As Milla had been popular with the Tales fanbase, it was decided that Berseria would have a female lead. The decision was also influenced by the growing demands for female lead characters, particularly from the West.[13]

Despite being a distant prequel to Tales of Zestiria, and containing references, the game's story was designed to work on its own. This distant connection was inspired by the developer's wish to emulate the similar distant narrative connection between Tales of Phantasia and Tales of Symphonia.[12][13] It also featured nods to earlier entries in the series, such as the party's ship being named after a similar transport ship in Tales of Eternia.[2] While it is the first original Tales title to be developed for the PlayStation 4, it will also release on the PlayStation 3 in Japan: the game was first developed on PS3, then upgraded to PS4. Using a similar engine to past Tales titles, the majority of updating went into technical improvements to ensure smooth performance on all platforms.[12] Berseria is planned to be the last mainline Tales title for seventh-generation consoles.[13]

Bandai Namco Entertainment had filed a trademark for the title, along with two other titles, on April 20, 2015.[14] On June 6, 2015, the game was officially announced, including details on the protagonist Velvet, voiced by Rina Satou and designed by Mutsumi Inomata. It was revealed that ufotable will animate the cutscenes.[3] The game was described as the final part of the company's 20th anniversary celebrations for the Tales series.[15] The game's year of release was announced in December 2015, while its western release for PS4 and Microsoft Windows was confirmed the following week.[4][16] The game's theme song, "Burn", will be composed and performed by Flow.[17]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Romano, Sal (12 April 2016). "Tales of Berseria launches August 18 in Japan". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Douglas (22 April 2016). "Tales of Berseria Arrives In The West In Early 2017". Siliconera. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Bandai Namco Ent. Reveals Tales of Berseria PS4, PS3 Game". Anime News Network. 6 June 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Tales of Berseria coming west for PS4, PC". Gematsu. 21 December 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 "Berseria's Battle System". Tales of Blog. 25 February 2016. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  6. ↑ "New Characters and Skit System in Tales of Berseria!". Tales of Blog. 22 April 2016. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  7. ↑ 『テイルズ オブ ベルセリア』では戦闘が大幅進化！TPやCCに代わる新要素「ソウルゲージ」により、簡単かつ自在な「術技連携」を実現 (in Japanese). Inside Games. 25 February 2016. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  8. 1 2 Romano, Sal (23 March 2016). "Tales of Berseria details Break Soul system". Gematsu. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  9. 1 2 "The Battle System Gets A New Feature in Tales of Berseria! Check out Eizen's and Eleanor's Battle Styles!". Tales of Blog. 22 April 2016. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  10. ↑ Romano, Sal (22 December 2015). "Tales of Berseria set in the past world of Tales of Zestiria". Gematsu. Archived from the original on 10 April 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  11. ↑ http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2016-02-26/tales-of-berseria-rpg-casts-daisuke-kishio-ami-koshimizu-as-2-new-characters/.98604
  12. 1 2 3 Tony (22 April 2016). "JPGAMES.DE: Unser Interview mit Yasuhiro Fukaya" (in German and English). JPGames.de. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  13. 1 2 3 Kamen, Matt (22 April 2016). "Why Tales of Berseria is getting a female lead". Wired. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  14. ↑ Romano, Sal (12 May 2015). "Bandai Namco trademarks Tales of Berseria, Orfellia, and Alestia in Japan". Gematsu. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  15. ↑ "最新作「テイルズ オブ ベルセリア」や20周年記念アニメが発表された「テイルズ オブ フェスティバル 2015」をレポート". 4Gamer.net. 8 June 2015. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  16. ↑ "Tales of Berseria is coming to PS4 and PC in the west". Destructoid. 21 December 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  17. ↑ Romano, Sal (10 March 2016). "Tales of Berseria introduces Magilou and Bienfu". Gematsu. Retrieved 10 March 2016.

External links

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