Anime Expo 2016 hosted an exclusive “Tales of Panel” with Tales of Berseria producer Yasuhiro Fukaya. This panel was especially exciting because it was the first time the company discussed a Tales game with the West during Japanese development.
Tales of Berseria promises to bring together classic and new Tales of fans by emotionally involving them in the story and characters. Also, a finer tuned battle system will give players new ways to deliver deadly combo attacks. Fukaya stated that this will be the first game in the Tales series with a singular female lead, Velvet. He continued to address some of Velvet’s features. She has a bandage on her left hand that holds unusual power. This left hand is not only a key in the story, but also contributes to the battle system.
The ship in the game is named Van Eltia. This was a name given to a ship in a previous Tales game, Tales of Eternia. However, Fukaya says this is the only comparison. The Van Eltia in Berseria will play a vital roll in the game’s story.
The meaning of Berseria comes from the word “Berserker”. Through out the game, Fukaya wants to show how characters deal with “Emotion vs Reason”. This will play a huge part in not only the story of the game, but the battles as well. It seems, certain characters in the game act only on reason, rather than emotion. Velvet is often torn to decide which path to take. Character Magilou does not have a care in the world, and she is quite clumsy. Her reasons for being in the party have not yet been announced, but she holds something against Velvet. Maybe this could be where emotion will come in when their friendship is put to the test.
Tales of Berseria promises to engage players with an emotionally-action driven story. Bandai Namco is currently working on both the Japanese and Western versions of the game to minimize the time between releases.
Tales of Berseria is coming to PlayStation 4 and PC in early 2017.
