After the Tales of Arise release date trailer and gameplay footage, there were still a lot of questions, but a recent interview in Weekly Famitsu has revealed more information.

Translated here by Frontline Gaming Japan, producer Yusuke Tomizawa goes into more detail about the combat system in this interview.

A new feature in battles is the Boost Attack, a support action party members will use when you reach certain conditions. There are also Boost Strikes, powerful finishing moves performed by two characters.

It sounds like working together with party members is going to be a big part of combat, and so is dodging. It’s a fast-paced combat system that encourages the player to watch for enemy tells, dodge the attack, and counter. They’ve included difficulty modes and auto-battle options to help fans who aren’t as good at action games.

Traditional combat elements will also return, including Mystic Artes, although they’re activated in a new way.

Now, when the combat footage was revealed, the lack of victory screens (and therefore victory screen banter) stirred some fans up. Here, Tomizawa makes it clear that post-battle conversations occur on the field after the battle, so it really sounds like the usual banter is still present, just not on a distinct screen.

Another thing fans have been wondering about is the presence of skits. Skits are confirmed to be returning, but “in another form.”

I’m not really sure what that means or why they can’t be revealed yet. Are they going to be field conversations? Animated scenes? The party member conversations in skits are a big part of Tales, so I hope they still feel like skits in whatever form they take.

Tales of Arise also has more anime cutscenes than any previous Tales game.

The interview also confirms Hootle as the game’s mascot and a sign of the lighter elements the series usually has, and repeats the fact that there are still party members who haven’t been revealed yet.

Tales of Arise’s themes deal with division and friction between races and the two worlds of Dahna and Rena, which personally makes me think about Tales of Symphonia, so that’s a plus. The characteristic genre name for Tales of Arise is “an RPG to speak of the dawn of the heart.”

I’m really looking forward to Tales of Arise, and I have high hopes for it! I’m currently playing Tales of the Abyss, but I should be able to finish that without getting too close to Arise’s September 10 release date.

(Meanwhile, I’m also pretty excited about those new Final Fantasy rumors, but now I’m trying to avoid reading too much about rumors and supposed leaks ahead of E3, since surprises are often the most fun part.)

Anyway, what do you think about the latest Tales of Arise details? Are you looking forward to it?

At Microsoft’s E3 press conference, the next mainline Tales game was announced.

Since then, more details about Tales of Arise have been revealed (as well as the awesome art pictured here).

In an interview with Famitsu, translated here by Abyssal Chronicles, producer Yusuke Tomizawa answered questions about Tales of Arise.

Tales of Arise is aiming for a unique watercolor graphics style using Unreal Engine 4, as well as realistic character movements and expressions. They’re trying to increase immersion in many ways, including with more intimidating monster designs.

(Although he also suggests there might still be a mascot character, so here’s hoping its not as annoying as Bienfu or Teepo.)

Meanwhile, in an interview with Game Informer, Tomizawa clarified a few points that might have had fans worried.

Tales of Arise is not open world, but instead has a similar structure to past Tales games. And while the short glimpses of combat made fans concerned the gameplay would be dramatically different, the core formula of the Linear Motion Battle System will be intact.

And yes, there will be party members. I don’t know why people jumped to the conclusion that the two characters shown in the trailer would be the only playable characters, but the interview also confirms that Tales of Arise should have the sort of party size you’d expect from the series.

June 15-16 was also the Tales festival, where we got an extended trailer.

Following the trailer, the producer updated his blog with more information, which has been translated here by Abyssal Chronicles.

In it, he discusses the main characters, Alphen and Shionne. Alphen is a slave from Dahna, while Shionne is a woman from Rena who meets Alphen while on the run. Shionne suffers from a curse where anyone she touches feels pain, and she ends up working with Alphen because they unlock a special power when they’re together.

That’s all the new information we have about Tales of Arise. I’m pretty excited about it, and I can’t wait to learn more. The world/story setup sounds like it has a lot of potential.

What do you think about Tales of Arise so far?