Bandai Namco Introduces Tales Of Berseria NPCs, Cooking, And More Mystic Arts

Bandai Namco has provided a cavalcade of information on Tales of Berseria today. It’s latest posts on the Official Tales of Blog go over features like cooking, customization, and minigames as well as some new NPC characters and party members’ Mystic Artes.

To start, cooking returns. As Velvet’s party travels, they’ll learn recipes from different places they’ve visited. Each character’s cooking level can level up, and they’ll have different skills that influence a dish. Once you prepare an item, you’ll be able to decide which effect is applied to it.

Three of Tales of Berseria’s minigames were also detailed. Jump, Bienfu! has players sending Bienfu off of a pier, seeing how far he can leap to earn points. There’s also a balloon popping minigame called Chamballoon 2, where you attempt to attack and destroy them as quickly as possible. There is also a collectible character card game that appears to resemble a Hanafuda card game, where players pair portraits of Tales series characters to earn points.

There are also multiple means of finding items in Tales of Berseria. One is by sending out a scouting vessel to a predetermined area. It’ll be deployed to zones you discover as you play the game for a set amount of time, then return with things like materials, recipes, and treasures. There are also Katz Box treasure chests with items and accessories in the world, which can be opened if you’ve found Katz Spirits to unlock them. People will also be able to ride Rare Boards to otherwise unreachable areas in the field.

Three new Tales of Berseria NPCs were introduced today too. Here are the official descriptions from Bandai Namco.

Shigure Rangetsu

Gender: Male
Age: 31 year old
Height: 185 cm
Weapon: Long Blade
Fighting style: Legate
Tribe: Human
Japanese voice actor: Kazuya Nakai
Shigure is a Legate from The Abbey, an organization 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 behavior with his prowess in battle.
His sole source of joy is to fight tough opponents and can’t help but laugh when his opponent is stronger than him. Thus, he will never turn down a new challenge if the opportunity presents itself.

 

Melchior

Gender: Male
Age: Unknown
Height: 165 cm
Weapon: Orb
Fighting style: Legate
Tribe: Human
Japanese voice actor: Nobuo Tobita
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, the head of the exorcists.
He recognizes 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 organization with strategy and resources, he is a powerful arte-wielder.

 

Benwick

You may remember the Aifread Pirates in search for their Captain from a previous article. Benwick is a young pirate part of this crew and will allow you to board a ship when you speak with him in the game!

Finally, screenshots from Eizen, Magilou, and Rokurou’s Mystic Artes have been released.

Eizen’s Perfect Mayhem

Magilou’s Ascending Angel

Rokurou’s From Zero: Void

Tales of Berseria will come to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in Japan on August 18, 2016. It will come to the PlayStation 4 and Windows PC in North America and Europe in early 2017.