Tales of Berseria

**NA** January 24, 2017 **PS4, PC**

Kousuke Fujishima

Minoru Iwamoto

**Tales of Berseria** (テイルズ オブ ベルセリア, *Teiruzu obu Beruseria*?) is the fourteenth main mothership title in the *Tales of* series. The game was developed for the PlayStation 3 ,PlayStation 4 and Steam. It is the sixteenth main entry overall in the *Tales of* series, developed by Namco Tales Studio and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The game title was announced on June 6, 2015 during the Tales of Festival 2015 and had its own website opened. The theme of the game was initially referred to as *Emotion versus Reason*,and its characteristic genre is titled **RPG of Discovering your Own Reason to Live** (君が君らしく生きるためのRPG, *Kimi ga kimirashiku ikiru tame no RPG*?). The game received animated scenes from incorporate, Ufotable studio. The game is a pre-sequel to *Tales of Zestiria*; set in the distant past. The opening theme song ｢BURN｣ is composed by FLOW.

It released in Japan on August 18, 2016 for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. The game released on January 24, 2017 for North America and January 27, 2017 for Europe.

## Story and Plot

The game's world of Wasteland is shared with *Tales of Zestiria*, although the events of *Berseria* occur centuries—in the distant past of *Zestiria*. Wasteland's continent comes to later be known as Glenwood (Greenwood) in *Zestiria*. As the player searches the world of Wasteland, they will find fragments of history and truth that never made it to the future era. The game will have everlasting winter glaciers and auroras as well as exotic summer heat and beaches.

The game takes place on the continent of Midgand; an archipelago, a holy land and focuses on many aspects of life such as warfare and spiritual culture and references. It is often referred to as the **Holy Midgand Empire**. Areas of land and islands in the game are divided into "territories". The game will feature technologically advanced Kingdoms, ships and boats, as well as coexistent seasonal differences among locales despite being the prequel to *Zestiria*, the future. Similar to real life, the game has its equator with both hemispheres being polar opposites in temperature and culture. The game will also have a multitude of warrior groups, such as, Pirates, Samurais, Knights and the re-occurring beast transformations when a being is effected.

The aspect of Spiritual beings seen in many past *Tales of* games is brought back in concept, featuring **Malak** (聖隷?, "Holy Servants", **Seirei**), a tribe that uses the power of nature for their Artes. Many of them are lacking selfhood, as they’re used as familiars of humans.Also depicted in the story is an illness of corruption known as **Daemonblight**, a disease that transforms humans into monsters. While many that have the sickness lose themselves and begin to act violently and attack humans, there are some humans with Daemonlight that keep their sense of reason. The Daemonblight results in most carriers to become **Daemon** which is later known as **Hellion** (憑魔, *Hyouma*?, lit. "Possessed Evil") in *Zestiria*. Ones who carry the disease and have lost their humanity will turn into a Gouma on the event called **Scarlet Night** (緋の夜, *Hi no Yoru*?), which is when the moon shines a crimson-red.

## Characters

### Main Characters

This is a list of the main characters featured in *Tales of Berseria*.

**Velvet Crowe** (ベルベット・クラウ, *Berubetto Kurau*?) *-* The leading main protagonist and heroine, being the first female in the series to be the main focus and take on the leader role. She is a 19-year-old woman who is said to be a being to be feared by the world. Three years prior, she was said to be involved in an incident which cost many lives of friends and family, since then her world turned around and she became a dark and cold character from the loving one she was once before. Her left arm is currently a vessel, which takes the form of a werewolf hand and claw that she imbued onto and bandages up. She is depicted in the game's logo. Character Voice: Rina Satou, Character Designer: Mutsumi Inomata.

**Laphicet** (ライフィセット, *Raifisetto*?) - The leading and main male character as well as being the second playable character announced. He is a 10-year-old boy and comes from a race of spirits called Malak. Taking on the appearance of a mage, skilled at paper incantations and is the opposite of Velvet. He is first introduced when Velvet saves him and he realises the condition he was in, later deciding to join her in her journey. He is seen as a character of "light" who contrasts and brings light to Velvet's "darkness". Character Voice: Azumi Asakura, Character Designer: Minoru Iwamoto.

**Rokurou Rangetsu** (ロクロウ・ランゲツ, *Rokurou Rangetsu*?) - He is a 22 year-old, free and happy-go-lucky young samurai, who is actually a Daemon (those affected by the Daemonblight diseases that transforms them into monsters) but still maintains his sense of reason. He was also seen during the second trailer. He follows Velvet due to a debt he owes her. Character Voice: Daisuke Kishio, Character Designer: Daigo Okumura.

**Magilou** (マギルゥ, *Magirū*?) - She is an unidentified woman also known as the **False Witch**. While she is described as mood maker, she also has a dark-ominous side. She claims to be the head of an of an organisation called Menagirie. Despite being human, Magilou has lived an extremely long life and when asked the question, she simply avoids answering it. Character Voice: Satomi Satou, Character Designer: Daigo Okumura.

**Eleanor Hume** (エレノア・ヒューム, *Erenoa Hyūmu*?) - She is a member of **Exorcist**, a subsidiary branch of The Abbey. She is naturally very friendly with everyone, but is callous towards those who snare at the Abbey. Throughout her time in the organisation, she has been searching for those effected by the Daemonblight - have become Daemons and exterminating them to return the world back to its previous state. Character Voice: Ami Koshimizu, Character Designer: Kosuke Fujishima.

**Eizen** (アイゼン, *Aizen*?) - He is the rival of Velvet and the brother of Edna from *Tales of Zestiria*. He is said to occasionally leave home so that he could go on journeys. He is a follower and subordinate of a pirate crew run by a Captain called Van Aifread. In search of his captain, he encounters Velvet during his journey and boards the Van Eltia pirate ship. He is also the one who teaches Laphicet about having a will.. Character Voice: Toshiyuki Morikawa, Character Designer: Minoru Iwamoto.

**Bienfu** (ビエンフー, *Bienfū*?) - He is a unique, hat-wearing Malak who has formed a contract with Eleanor and is also the mascot character of the game. Bienfu is different from other Malaks, as he is very expressive, a trait that this quite unusual to his kind. His favourite phrases are "Bien" meaning *good* and "Bad" and also tends to add "Fu" at the end. Character Voice: Naomi Nagasawa, Character Designer: Daigo Okumura.

#### Supporting Non-player Characters

**Oscar Dragonia** (オスカー・ドラゴニア, *Osukaa Doragonia*?) - He is a expert-level praetor of Abbey who fights against Velvet as she tries to flee from Titania, the prison island. He is also the younger half-sibling brother of Teresa Linares. Character Voice: Maeno Tomoaki, Character Designer: Minoru Iwamoto.

**Teresa Linares** (テレサ・リナレス, *Teresa Rinaresu*?) - She is an expert-level praetor of Abbey, an organisation of the Exorcists. who governs Hellawes, the north town in Midgand Holy Empire. She initially calls Laphicet “Number Two” and has tethered him to use his Malak artes. She also dotes on her younger half-brother Oscar Dragonia in a caring and loving manner. Character Voice: Yui Horie, Character Designer: Minoru Iwamoto.

**Shigure Rangetsu** (シグレ・ランゲツ, *Shigure Rangetsu*?) - He is a Legate from The Abbey, an organisation of Exorcists. He is Rokurou’s brother and is the head of the Rangetsu family. They employ a unique fighting style in order to be the strongest warriors. Even if he is a Legate, he has a freewheeling attitude unappreciated by serious-minded exorcists. However, he justifies his carefree behaviour with his prowess in battle. Character Voice: Kazuya Nakai.

**Melchior** (メルキオル, *Merukioru*?) - A Legate elder versed in the ancient legends and a master in alchemy from The Abbey. His years of experience places him as an advisor for Artorius Collbrande, the head of the exorcists. He recognises the importance of the exorcists’ missions and that they cannot always be accomplished through good deeds. He is willing to take on the unpleasant tasks.
Even though his main role is to support the organisation with strategy and resources, he is a powerful arte-wielder. Character Voice: Nobuo Tobita.

**Artorius Collbrande** (アルトリウス・コールブランド, *Arutoriusu Kōruburando*?) - He is the supreme leader of The Abbey, an organisation of the Exorcists. He is initially called "Brother Arthur" (アーサー 兄さん, *Āsā niisan*?) by Velvet many years prior to the events of the main game. He later becomes known as a saviour to the world and becomes a Shepherd. Character Voice: Kenyu Horiuchi.

**Seres** (シアリーズ, *Shiarīzu*?) - She is a Malak who once served under the leader of The Abbey, Artorius Collbrande. She is seen accompanying him during Scarlet Night and later defects from him on search of her own path. She aids Velvet during her escape from the prison island and passes her both her will and powers. Character Voice: Satomi Arai.

## Gameplay

The Linear Motion Battle System of the game was also lightly touched on during the release. It has been titled **Liberation-LMBS** (リベレーション-LMBS, *Riberēshon-LMBS*?).The battle system will focus on Free-Run control & free moving camera. All face buttons (□ Square, △ Triangle, x Cross & ○ Cirlce) can be mapped to artes; allowing players to create various and complex combos.

* The player’s default control is free run
* The player can rotate the camera freely
* The player can assign multiple artes to any of the four buttons: allowing different artes to be linked together in attack combinations.

### New Features

The game reuses the **Blast Gauge** (**BG**) mechanic from *Tales of Zestiria*. The game also uses a new gauge mechanic called the **Soul Gauge** (**SG**) (ソウルゲージ, *Souru Gēji*?). It determines how much the player can link Artes based on the number of the soul on the gauge. This number increases after defeating enemies. Once the Soul Gauge fills up, it will allow a character to use **Break Soul** (ブレイクンウル, *Bureiku Souru*?). Break Soul enables a character to exceed the upper limit of artes in a combo and invoke a special effect.

When using Break Soul, the player can exceed the upper limit of performable artes in a combo. And each character can use their unique special action. These special actions are wildly different, depending on the character. The player can introduce more choices and greater strategic play by switching the controlled character during battle to react to the enemy and the situation. Break Soul has multiple levels and the player can unlock more abilities as they progress through the game. When a character has 3 Souls or more, the player can push the R2 button to consume one Soul and execute Break Soul. Characters must have 3 Souls or more to use their Break Soul. After using Break Soul, one of 3 out of the potential five souls from the Soul Gauge will be lost after its activation but will allow further increase in complex and max hit combos.

A game mechanic called **Switch Blast** can be executed by consuming soul. Switch Blast allows a controlled character to switch with a character who is not on the battlefield. The resulting switch will result in the summoned character to perform a special arte. Before once switches, the summoned sub-character will have one more soul. Each character has their own unique switch blast technique which can be linked into combos.

A few new features have been added to the game. The first is an item called Potentite—which grants additional effects and abilities during battle. A feature called **Code Red Daemon Hunting** has been introduced, which the player fights daemons called "Code Red" scattered around the world to earn powerful items such as potentites as reward; a player can meet a Code Red daemon even without speaking to the quest-giver first. The other feature is called **Wandering Enemies**. If a player meets a certain condition in battle, a specific daemon will appear which are more dangerous than Code Red daemon and appear with multiple enemies—they turn invincible for a limited amount of time which requires strategic battle plans.

Following *Tales of Zestiria*, the game makes use of the Katz. Throughout the game there are opaque flames called "Katz Spirits" which can be collected and with enough of them, they will allow the player to open Katz Box—which are special items such as equipment and accessories scattered across the continent. *Tales of Berseria* is the first game to allow multiple DLC costume colours, as well as posing characters in the accessory menu screen.

The game introduces cooking levels for each character from when they cook a dish, as well as being able to level up in their skills and efficiency. A new form of transportation called the **Geoboard** (レアボード, *Reaōdo*?, Rheaboard) which is a land-based version of the Rheabird. It is can be customised just as character appearance. The game also reintroduces mini-games which have been absent in the prequel, *Tales of Zestiria*. These mini-games include: Jump, Bienfu!, Chamballoon 2, Playing with character cards, Serving mini-game and Geoboard Racing.

## Gallery

Tales of Berseria (PS4 Cover)Tales of Berseria (PS3 Cover)Original Background Art
## Development

Bandai Namco Entertainment had filed a trademark for the title, along with two other titles, on April 20, 2015.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 would animate the cutscenes. The game was described as the final part of the company's 20th anniversary celebrations for the *Tales of* series.

The same character designers for *Tales of Zestiria* — Mutsumi Inomata, Kosuke Fujishima, Daigo Okumura, and Minoru Iwamoto — return as the character designers for *Tales of Berseria.*

## Trivia

* The word ***Berseria*** may be derived from the Indonesian word *Berseri*, which means to either shine or radiate. The name has been said to be based off of the word *Berserker*, an powerful warrior with uncontrollable strength.

## External Website Links

* **[JP]** Tales of Berseria Official Website
* **[JP]** Tales Channel +