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2 New Characters Unveiled for Tales of Zestiria PS3 Game

This year's 46th issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump will announce two new Tales of Zestiria characters on Monday. Takehito Koyasu will play Lunarre (pictured in image, right), a cold-blooded assassin who shadows Alisha, and Hiromi Igarashi will play Symonne (pictured in image insert), a mysterious Seraph who treats Sorey with cold-hearted cynicism.

The PlayStation 3 game will be released on January 22 in Japan. Pre-orders of the game will include a product code to download a "Limited Premium Hidden Artes," as well as one of four premium rubber straps designed to look like Sorey, Mikleo, Alisha, and Edna. The game will sell for the suggested retail price of 8,070 yen (about US$80).

Namco Bandai Studio's Daigo Okumura designed the character Alisha, while Kousuke Fujishima designed Sorey. Mutsumi Inomata is also returning to contribute character designs along with Minoru Iwamoto. The anime studio ufotable is once again contributing animation for cut scenes and the opening for the game under studio founder and producer Hikaru Kondo. Motoi Sakuraba and Gō Shiina are composing the soundtrack, and Superfly is performing the game's theme song, "White Light."

The full battle system, titled "Fusonic Chain-LMBS" (with LMBS standing for "Linear Motion Battle System), renews the franchise's real-time battle system, and adds a gauge that lets characters freely battle as long as there is stock in it. By using the gauge, effects such as healing and blowing away the enemy will be usable. The game will also include a new battle feature called "Kamui" that allows for a human and a heavenly being to fuse. In the game, Sorey will be able to fuse with Heavenly Beings such as Lailah, changing his form and allowing him to use Lailah's attributes to attack.

An anime special, Tales of Zestiria: Dōshi no Yoake (Tales of Zestiria: Dawn of the Fon Master), will air on Tokyo MX on December 30 and 31 at 9:00 p.m. JST, and on December 31 on BS11 at 9:00 p.m. JST. ufotable (Tales of Symphonia the Animation, Tales of Xillia in-game cutscenes) will animate the special, as well as the in-game animated cutscenes for the game. The anime special will also be included on the game's disc.

[Via Kazu]