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| Jesse Woo |
Velvet won't be alone on her journey.
03.05.16 - 4:13 PM
Tales of Berseria follows the journey of a young woman named Velvet as she seeks revenge against a religious figure called the savior. It appears to come with everything Tales fans expect, including a fantastical world, colorful characters, and frenzied combat.
Setting
The game takes place in a world beset by a plague called the daemonblight that turns those stricken into mindless, bloodthirsty daemons who attack humans. However, the disease does not rob every victim of their sanity. Some, like Velvet and the swordsman Rokurou, retain their rationality and gain immense strength. The Abbey is a religious organization that combats the daemonblight with its order of exorcists. Although originally intended as a peacekeeping force, it's strength and popularity among the citizenry have made it a leader in politics and military affairs. The Abbey is a strictly hierarchical organization, and its exorcists rely on the creatures called Malaks to fight the daemons. Malaks can be human or non-human, but in either case seem dispossessed of an ego despite being powerful.
Characters
Two new characters will be central to Velvet's journey. The first is Rokurou, a carefree wandering swordsman who, like Velvet, suffered from daemonblight but retained control of his senses. In fact, he used his power as a daemon to master his family's traditional swordsmanship style. He feels honor-bound by some sort of debt to Velvet, and so aids joins her party. He also unexpectedly takes a bit of a shine to Lanciphet (the little kid), and often chides Velvet to treat him better. As reported elsewhere, he fights with twin daggers as he refuses to unsheath the "Sword of Life" that he carries on his back.
Another important character is Eleanor, the First Class Exorcist. Eleanor is an earnest young woman who has devotes herself to fighting daemons and protecting the people of Midgand Kingdom, and she approaches both tasks with equal gravity. Under her serious attitude lies a kind and caring heart, but her position puts her in frequent conflict with Velvet, who clashes with the Abbey in her quest for vengeance against the Savior.
Combat
Bandai Namco is calling the combat in Tales of Berseria the "Liberated Linear Motion Battle System." As with past installments, comboing arts will be crucial to martial success. Players can map arts to the square, circle, triangle, and x buttons, and each button can hold up to four arts. Repeatedly pressing a button will cycle through the mapped arts (called "linking"), enabling easy combos for thoughtful players. You can also mix up your button presses to link other combinations of arts, as illustrated below:
In this way, players will not be bound to one set of art links but can experiment. However, arts links are limited by the Soul Gauge (more below). Linking arts can grant a bonus, and there is even something in the game that will let you exceed the natural limits of the Soul Gauge.
The Soul Gauge is a new resource that differs from the TP or CC of past games. Each character starts battle with three souls that equate to 30 soul points per soul. Linking arts will consume soul points, and using arts when the gauge is depleted will greatly weaken them (but they are still usable). Souls regenerate over time, or can be restored by fulfilling certain conditions in battle. For example, dodging an attack with quickstep will generate a soul on the battlefield for you to pick up, as will killing an enemy. You can also steal souls from enemies, but they can do the same to you, so watch out! Other elements of battle such as guarding, quickstep, and of course regular attacks will also be important.
Tales of Berseria comes out in Japan on the PS3 and PS4 this year, and a Western release is planned on PS4 and PC on an undisclosed date. Check out the updated gallery for a full sense of the game's new characters, world, and combat.
