Battle Basics

Character Movement: Unlike previous Tales games, Tales of Berseria removes the 2D plane of movement, offering constant free-run. This allows for easier evasion and more efficient attack lining-up. You must 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. Reaching zero HP results in a KO, making the character unusable until revived or the battle ends. At the end of combat, all KO'd characters are restored to 1 HP. HP can be restored 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 unique artes 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: Damage mitigation is key. Hold L1 to guard and take less damage. Use the Left Analog stick to quickstep in any direction to evade attacks. Successfully evading an attack just before it hits results in a soul appearing on the field, which can be collected if the character has fewer than 5 souls, and allows for quick counterattacks.

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) determines attacking ability, with each arte consuming SG. Combat begins with 3 Souls (30 SG each), with a maximum of 5 available. Souls are gained by: inflicting a status ailment on an enemy, defeating an enemy, performing a Mystic Arte, or when an enemy receives a status ailment. Souls are lost when a character receives a status ailment. Souls are dropped on the field when evading an attack with a quickstep or upon a character's death. Unlike previous games, Tales of Berseria allows attacking even with diminished SG, though attacks with empty SG are more frequently blocked or counterattacked, making them less effective. When a character gains 3 or more souls, they can perform a Break Soul ability, consuming one soul to ignore chain limits and heal HP and status ailments. Using Break Soul causes the enemy to gain 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 the start of battle based on arte usage, incentivizing regular use of all artes. BG is also earned in combat by performing Break Souls. When the Blast Gauge 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. Performing a Mystic Arte consumes 3 BG.

Dire Foes: After obtaining the Daredevil's Ventite, there is a chance of encountering Dire Foes after an initial battle. Encounter chance is based on the amount of grade obtained and the number of consecutive battles on a single map. These powerful enemies always spawn after an initial fight and are accompanied by two invincible standard-type enemies. Future encounters with the same Dire Foe become harder. Dire Foes offer a large amount of grade for Master gear and each has an attached trophy.

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