Tales of Berseria got a new trailer today, showcasing a scene from the first half hour of the game with the English voice acting.

Watching the scene, it's immediately apparent that it's not like what we saw in the Japanese version of the game. If you don't want to read or see any spoiler, don't go on further, but this is probably a scene that you have seen in many promotional videos before.

The original scene involves a child being run through by a sword. It doesn't show much detail due to the positioning against the red moon, but it's definitely quite clear.

In the English version, the sword doesn't physically touch the body of the kid, but it runs trough a seal, causing energy to kill the victim.

This isn't simply a quick and dirty cut either, the scene has been fully redesigned from the ground up, and it's actually longer in English, with 30 seconds of extra footage.

As a funny detail, the position in which the character falls at the end of the scene is also different, and in the English version it gives the wound in his stomach much more visibility. It also makes more sense with the body's position shown in the previous camera angle.

While at the moment there is no further information on which markets this new scene will apply to (the trailer was released for the European market only), it appears that the development team took the chance to also correct some inconsistencies that appear in the original scene.

No specific announcement has been made by Bandai Namco yet, even if the reason for the decision probably lays in keeping the game within its current PEGI 16 rating.

Of course, that doesn't change the fact that the scene has been changed from its original form, and that appears to conflict with what Producer Yasuhiro Fukaya said in an earlier interview with DualShockers.

"I believe that those who support the Tales series like to have exactly the same content as the Japanese version. We believe it’s ideal and the best option to bring exactly the same game experience and design to the western countries. I promise that Velvet is still Velvet in the western version."

To be fair to Fukaya-san, at that time we were talking about Velvet's outfits, even if his discourse appears to be on a more general point. That said, this kind of decision is normally taken well above a Producer's level.

We reached out to Bandai Namco, to try and get more information on the reason behind the redesign of this scene, and on whether anything else will be changed. We'll keep you posted if we learn anything relevant.

In the meanwhile, you can watch the two scenes compared in the video below.

Update: Bandai Namco addressed the changed scene, and you can read the full answer here.