Tired of all the new screenshots and character updates for Tales of Zesteria? Well, too bad! Namco Bandai has released more screenshots as well as information that gives a deeper understanding of one of the more recently announced characters, Dezel. They also give insight to some of the new locations players will be able to explore in this upcoming RPG.
New Character
Dezel (voiced by: Daisuke Ono)
Gender: Male
Height: 185 cm (6’1″)“I’ll say this much: you’d better stay out of my way. I don’t care if you’re a doshi, I won’t tolerate your interference.”
Possessing something of an outlaw-like vibe to him in comparison to his fellow members of the Family of Heaven, Dezel can perform wind-element Heaven Echo Artes, able to use the movements of the air to finely intuit the situation around him. Having once spent a long stretch of time around human mercenary bands, his experience in combat in plentiful and as such relies on two pendulums that he expertly wields like whips, often playing around with his enemies before subsequently overwhelming them. Rarely one to exhibit emotions, he’s a lone wolf that rarely ever converses with others. Nonetheless, he harbors great anger deep down towards a Hyouma who took his friend, searching for it in order to exact revenge and living in the shadows of human society. Still, despite his emotions, he has yet to be corrupted by this drive and his key to that is apparently a special secret.
On Chief Spirits and Sub Spirits
Members of the same clan within the Family of Heaven cam form pacts amongst themselves to bring out special powers. The main recipients of such contracts are known as “Chief Spirits,” while those operating below them are called “Sub Spirits.” Sub Spirits are obliged to cooperate with their Main Spirit, but in return, everyone involved in the pact gains access to unique powers that they can all utilize. Mikurio and Edna, for instance, are tied up with Lailah and are therefore her Sub Spirits. While few members of the Family of Heaven have their own Sub Spirits, in the distant past, it wasn’t so unusual for some to have hundreds of followers at their command, essentially acting not unlike proper gods in their own right.Locations
Leddie Lake
Leddie Lake is the capitol city of Highland Kingdom, sitting above a lake, as per the name. With its water flowing out to the Lake Pirow plateau, as well as having extensive water and sewer systems, waterwheel-driven manufacturing plants, and gorgeous waterfalls, it’s known as the “City of Water” for a reason. It also has time-honored traditions related to the doshi a plenty, ranging from the legend of the lake’s shrine maidens to the Holy Sword Festival. While its beauty is envied all throughout the land, Lake Leddie has in recent times seen a deterioration in its safety and image, a sinister air lurking within its borders that wasn’t always there in years past. Sensing impending danger, Alicia sets off in a journey in search of a way to face these threats befalling the city.Damnonia Art Museum
Residing in the scholarly city of Marind, Damnonia Art Museum once held an extensive collection, but having gotten swept up in the ongoing trouble of the times, almost the entirety of its art is long gone. Criminal activity is believed to be behind the disappearances of the works, but with the nation as a whole in a state of chaos, there’s hardly any way to figure out the truth of it all, let alone come up with a way to get everything back. With its visitors having dwindled to nothing after becoming a pile of rubble, the only thing keeping watch over the darkness within its halls are the few works of art still standing.
Combat Systems
Spirit Chain Gauge
Spells and techniques used in combat in Tales of Zestiria take up a certain amount of Spirit Chain Points that are subtracted from the Spirit Chain Gauge every time they’re executed. Topping out at a maximum of 100 points, this gauge appears during battle as the blue bar in the lower portion of the screen. While you can normally only land four hits during your attacks, in the event that you still have a portion of your Spirit Chain Gauge left over after performing a combo, you can carry on into the next series of chained attacks. While waiting around on stand by will fill the gauge back up quickly enough, it’ll go even faster if you go on the defensive or successfully evade enemy attacks, with especially skilled players able to refill it in an instant and can even continuously link attacks together without ever exhausting the gauge!
Blast Gauge
The Blast Gauge is another type of gauge featured in Tales of Zestiria, one that fills up primarily by performing defensive moves and evading enemy hits. It’s signified by the light blue number with a circle around it. By spending some of your gauge, you can trigger effects that will prove useful to you in combat during both offense and defense. Such effects include healing up the Spirit Chain Gauge and blasting enemies away from you, among other things. While you can fire them off in single uses, with good timing and an eye for the right effects, the Blast Gauge can also be used to take fights to a whole other level altogether.
Around Step
Around Steps are an evasive technique you can pull off that, with good timing, will trigger a “Reflexive Evasion,” allowing you to not only get out of the way enemy attacks unscratched, but will also make enemies falter, bring your Spirit Chain Gauge back up, and incur various other benefits that exceed those attained through standard evasions. If you can get yourself to avoid vertical attacks by moving laterally and horizontal attacks by stepping forwards and backwards, you’ll be well on your way to pulling off this speedy technique!
Lailah’s Combat Style
Lailah is able to manipulate fire by way of scattering her special paper strips that are imbued with spiritual energy, using them as a medium. Highly proficient at binding enemies, she has a knack for being a good attacker even after her combos are wrapped up. Naturally, her main element with it comes to Heaven Echo Artes is fire and she’s especially good at close quarter combat in tandem with her powerful magic.
Dezel’s Combat Style
Dezel controls the power of wind and has a fighting style that revolves around his decorative pendulums, which, like Lailah’s paper strips, are rich in spiritual energy. Able to twist and turn his pendulums like whips, he can cover a wide area and with clever footwork can fill for time quite well. His main element with respect to Heaven Echo Artes is wind and has at his disposal spells that can be dispensed in straight lines both vertically and horizontally. Used effectively, he can hold his own and then some against large groups of enemies all on his own.
Tales of Zestiria will be coming to the PlayStation 3 worldwide. Also, the Tales of Festival is coming May 31 to June 1. Hopefully, the trailer being shown at the event will provide some context for the great looking screenshots below.
