Tales of Arise reveals the main characters' Mystic Arts and the first support member
Bandai Namco has published more new screenshots and trailers for Tales of Arise. The new assets cover more details on both gameplay segments and story backgrounds. Other than showing the main characters' Mystic Arts, the screenshots showed more snippets from the game's event cutscenes. Also introduced in this coverage is the first support character who can actually fight with the main party during certain story points.
Tales of Arise's gameplay system will let a playable character have up to 12 assignable moves—3 single-button and 3 multi-button inputs on ground and mid-air. A new official trailer for the game also showcases Mystic Arts for the four main characters:
- Alphen, the protagonist who would embark on a journey to liberate the entire planet Dahna by beating the Renan rulers and tearing down region-separating walls after meeting Shionne.
- Shionne, the heroine from planet Rena who is being marked by her brethren as a traitor. Her true intentions for betraying her planet and aiding Dahna's liberation efforts are still unknown.
- Rinwell, the Dahnan girl whose family is infamous for their ability to use magic—originally believed to be only usable by Renans. Because of that, she hides from not only Renans but also fellow Dahnans. However, her intense hatred of Renans gives her conflicting feelings when she has to travel with Shionne.
- Law, the Dahnan martial artist who initially betrayed his brethren by working in the Renan secret police group Serpent's Eye. Despite this introduction, Law's frequent appearances in the exclusive bonus costumes and the reveal of his Mystic Art all but confirms he will eventually join the party.
The coverage also went more in-depth in explaining how Rena managed to colonize Dahna for 300 years. The Renans invaded the originally lush planet all of a sudden. The invading soldiers are even able to employ monsters. After colonizing the planet, they segregated the regions with walls, install a Renan ruler on each region, and enslave the native Dahnans to extract the planet's natural resources to the point of changing the region's nature and atmosphere.
Some of the Dahnans have formed resistance groups in each region. When Alphen's party visits the region, the resistance group will offer their support to help beat the corresponding Renan ruler. However, not all Dahnans are pleased by the existence of these groups, as their activities cause the Renans to tighten their iron grip on the regions.
Today's coverage is concluded by introducing Zephyr (Zilva in Japanese version) as the first character who can help Alphen's party as a support member. As the leader of the Calaglian resistance group Crimson Crows, he is deeply trusted by his subordinates for both his powerful strength and the ability to calmly assess situations and command other members.
When Zilva agrees to help Alphen and Shionne beat Calagria's Renan ruler Balseph (a.k.a. Viezo), he will actually participate in battles and overwhelm the Renan soldiers and their monsters.
Tales of Arise will be available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC via Steam on September 10. Japan and Asia will get the console releases one day earlier on September 9.