Bandai Namco sent in a press release with a brand new batch of 1080p screenshots and info of the upcoming Tales of Berseria, that will launch on August 18th in Japan for PS4 and PS3, and in early 2017 in the west for PS4 and PC.

First of all, we get to meet Artorius Collbrande and Seres:

Artorius Collbrande

  • Gender: Male
  • Age: 32 year old
  • Height: 187 cm
  • Weapon: Long sword
  • Title: Head of Exorcists
  • Race: Human
  • Japanese voice actor: Kenyu Horiuchi

Artorius is the most powerful exorcist and the head of their organization. Three years ago, he appeared with a group of Malaks and defeated a group of Daemons that the army couldn’t deal with.

He became the saviour, bringing world peace without causing a disaster. He was not only supported by the people, but also by the kings and churches.

For him, Reason and Will are more important than Emotions when fighting. He used to be close to Velvet, however they broke ties since the events 3 years ago.

Seres

  • Gender: Female
  • Age: Unknown
  • Height: 170 cm
  • Weapon: Charms
  • Fighting style: Malak Mage
  • Race: Malak
  • Japanese voice actor: Satomi Arai

Seres is a Malak, and former partner of Artorius Collbrande. She used to follow Artorius’ orders at all times up until the events 3 years ago where she regained her own free will.

Since then, she has felt uncomfortable and became suspicious of Artorius’ actions thus move away from him. She later sneaks into the prison island to help Velvet escape.

We also take a look at a few new feature, like Potentites, which are items that can grant additional abilities during battle. For instance Priest’s Ventite gives you the "Soul Charge" ability, that lets you recover a soul by guarding for more than 1.5 seconds.

Another new feature is Code Red Daemon Hunting, that lets you hunt and fight powerful enemies and earn rewards like potentites. A special quest giver lets you access this feature.

Wandering enemies are even more powerful than Code Red Daemons, and they appear when certain conditions are met in battle, accompanied by additional monsters.

New minigames are also showcased: the serving game is basically the old waiter and waitress minigame making a comeback. Geoboard races lets you race against time on your geoboard in two different modes, "Coin Getter" and "Flag Checker."