Battle Basics (2)

Movement: Unlike previous Tales games, Tales of Berseria features constant free-run movement, removing the 2D plane lock. You can evade attacks easily and position yourself efficiently. Master moving in combat while rotating the camera to spot enemies attacking from behind.

Health & KO: Characters have Health Points (HP) that decrease from enemy damage. If HP reaches zero, a character is KO'd and unusable until revived or the end of combat, where all KO'd characters are restored to 1 HP. Restore HP with consumable gels (in or out of battle) or healing artes (in battle).

Attacking & Artes: There are three types of attacks: Martial Artes (melee, damage based on Attack vs. Defense), Hidden Artes (powerful melee, consume more SG, damage based on Attack/Arte Attack vs. Defense/Arte Defense), and Malak Artes (spells, offensive or defensive, require casting time, damage based on Arte Attack vs. Arte Defense). Each character has a unique arte set programmable via the arte tree. Non-controlled characters use artes turned On in their arte table (accessed via the Artes tab in the main menu or during combat). Chaining artes well and exploiting enemy weaknesses or weak points leads to quick victories with power hits combos.

Guarding & Quicksteps: Hold L1 to guard and take less damage. Use the Left Analog stick to quickstep in any direction. Properly evaded attacks yield a soul on the field (collectible if carrying less than 5 souls), enabling counterattacks.

Charge Abilities (Guard): After guarding for an extended period, you can unlock charge abilities:

• Sharpshooter's Ventite: Guard for 1 second to double the chance of inflicting a status ailment on the next attack.

Paladin's Ventite: Guard for 1.5 seconds to regain 30 SG.

Guardbreaker's Ventite: Guard for 2 seconds to increase the chance of inflicting a status ailment on the next attack, which cannot be blocked.

Soul Gauge & Break Souls: The Soul Gauge (SG) represents attacking ability, with SG consumed per arte. You start with 3 Souls (30 SG each), with a maximum of 5 available. Gain a soul when an enemy receives a status ailment, is defeated, or a Mystic Arte is performed. Lose a soul when you receive a status ailment. Souls are dropped when evading an attack just before it hits via quickstep or upon a character's death. Attacking with empty SG makes attacks less effective, more easily blocked or counterattacked. With 3 or more souls, you can perform a Break Soul ability, consuming one soul to ignore chain limits and heal HP/status ailments. Using Break Soul grants the enemy an additional soul. Each character has a different Break Soul ability.

Blast Gauge & Mystic Artes: The Blast Gauge (BG) allows characters to unleash hidden abilities and perform Mystic Artes. Each character regains a small amount of BG at battle start based on arte usage, and BG can be earned by performing Break Souls. When BG reaches 3, any character with a Mystic Arte can perform an ultimate attack by holding L2 during a combo, provided the combo attacks are not blocked by the enemy. Using a Mystic Arte consumes 3 BG.

Dire Foes: After obtaining the Daredevil's Ventite, Dire Foes may appear after an initial battle, based on grade obtained and consecutive battles on a single map. These powerful enemies spawn after an initial fight with two invincible standard enemies. Future encounters with the same Dire Foe become harder. They offer significant grade for Master gear and have associated trophies.

Code Red Hunts: After reaching a certain point in the game, you will be informed of special enemies that appear on different maps.