Tales of Berseria

Tales of Berseria (テイルズ オブ ベルセリア) is an upcoming Mothership Title in the Tales series. The title was announced on June 6, 2015 during the Tales of Festival 2015, while the localization was confirmed on December 21, 2015. Ufotable is set to produce the animated cutscenes for the game. The main motif of the game is a conflict between emotion and reason. Tales of Berseria is a distant prequel to Tales of Zestiria. Its characteristic genre is "RPG of Discovering Your Own Reasons to Live" (君が君らしく生きるためのＲＰＧ).

Story
The game is set in the Wasteland, ruled by the Holy Midgand Empire, with a continent in its center becoming known as Glenwood in the distant future. The game's world focuses heavily on the building of ships and ship technology. The Wasteland is home to many large lands and islands, with its northern and southern hemisphere temperatures ranging from enduring winters to everlasting summers. There exist Malak (聖隷), which act as slaves to humans. Daemon (業魔) are the humans turned into monsters via an illness known as Daemonblight (業魔病), which reduces a person to a violent state and makes them eager to attack others, although some people are able to maintain their sense of reason. There is also an event called Scarlet Night (緋の夜), where at night, the moon turns a brilliant red, which is hinted to have a connection with Daemonblight. There also exists a "savior" who will bring order back to the world.

Playable Characters

 * Velvet Crowe (ベルベット・クラウ) – The main protagonist, who is a 19-year-old female. Her life changed due to an incident that occurred three years prior to the events of the story, during the Scarlet Night. She fights with a blade mounted on her right-hand gauntlet, feet, and the demonic left arm. At some point, she joins Aifread's pirate team to face a common enemy.
 * Laphicet (ライフィセット) – A 10-year-old boy of the Malak race who is considered to be the "light" to Velvet's "darkness". He possess a compass that is a key item in the story, as it points the boy to the places that will help his mind and heart grow. He fights using paper sheets, similarly to Lailah.
 * Rokurou Rangetsu (ロクロウ・ランゲツ) – A black-haired man wearing samurai garb who, despite turning into a Daemon, has retained his sense of reason. He follows Velvet to pay a debt to her and fights with twin daggers.
 * Eleanor Hume (エレノア・ヒューム) – A compassionate, caring woman. Eleanor is an Exorcist (対魔士) from the Abbey, a group that keeps the world safe from daemons. After a certain event, Eleanor joins Velvet and her team to discover the truth behind this world.
 * Eizen (アイゼン) – A man who, despite his appearance, is actually about 1,000-years-old. Eizen is Edna's brother. Known as the "Reaper", he is the skipper of Aifread's pirates, who is on a search for his missing captain, Van Aifread, on the ship called the Van Eltia. Eizen joins forces with Velvet against their common enemy, the Abbey and its exorcists.
 * Magilou (マギルゥ) – A mysterious woman who introduces herself as a "great sorceress" and the "Head of Menagerie", Magilou is an extroverted and chatty woman on the outside, but there is something sinister about her.

Non-playable Characters

 * Bienfu (ビエンフー) – A peculiar Malak donning a unique hat, Bienfu stands out among his kind with his own will and thoughts. Despite his feeble appearance, he thrives on adversity and appears to know Magilou, but the circumstances of their meetings seem to not be of a friendly sort. His favorite words include "bien" and "bad!"
 * Oscar Dragonia (オスカー・ドラゴニア) – A strong, praetor-rank Exorcist from the Dragonia family, a major aristocracy from the Empire. He fights against Velvet as she flees Titania, the prison island where she was held captive.
 * Teresa Linares (テレサ・リナレス) – Also a praetor-rank Exorcist from the Abbey and Oscar's half-sister. She governs Hellawes, the northern area of the Holy Midgand Empire. She has gained the title of "Frozen Queen" because of her stoic and cold personality, but she dotes on Oscar and shows her kindness only to him. She calls Laphicet "Number Two" (「二号」) and uses him for his Malak artes.
 * Shigure Rangetsu (シグレ・ランゲツ) - A legate from the Abbey. He is Rokurou's older brother and the head of their family. They use a unique fighting style in their aims to become the strongest warriors. Though a legate, he has a free-spirited attitude unappreciated by the serious-minded Exorcists. He justifies his carefree behavior with his battle prowess. His sole joy is to fight tough opponents and seems to enjoy it when his opponent is stronger. He will never turn down a new challenge whenever it arises.
 * Melchior (メルキオル) - A legate elder from the Abbey who is well-versed in the ancient legends and a master in alchemy. His years of experience places him as an adviser for Artorius, the head of the Exorcists. He recognizes the importance of the Exorcists' missions and that they cannot always be accomplished through good deeds, and to that point, is willing to do unpleasant deeds. Though mostly a support to the organization with strategy and resources, he himself is a powerful arte-wielder.
 * Seres (シアリーズ) – A Malak woman with power over fire, Seres is Artorius's subordinate who began to question his motives after the incident from three years ago when she started to regain her mind. She sneaks into the prison island Titania in order to free Velvet.
 * Artorius Collbrande (アルトリウス・コールブランド) – Real name "Arthur", he is the head Exorcist at the Abbey and considered to be a savior by the populace, as three years ago, he appeared with a large number of Malaks and, with their help, exterminated a large number of daemons that threatened the world. Despite being called "brother" by Velvet, they are not siblings.

Battle Gameplay
Known as Liberation-LMBS, Linear Motion Battle System will retain smooth transition to battle similarly to Tales of Zestiria. It will also have several changes made to its standard controls, including default Free Run, a freely-rotating camera, and the possibility to assign multiple artes to the "Triangle", "Square" , "Circle" , and "X" buttons, allowing different artes to be linked together in a variety of combinations. The number of artes that can be executed in a single streak is dependent on the character's Soul Gauge (SG). Every battle starts with 3 SG, while defeating an enemy grants one more SG unit.

Trivia

 * Tales of Berseria is the only Mothership Title in the series to feature a lone female central protagonist, as Milla Maxwell shared the central protagonist role with Jude Mathis in Tales of Xillia.