Tales of Zestiria

Tales of Zestiria Producer Hideo Baba has spilled the guts in an interview with Famitsu, translated by Siliconera, on the most recent game in his long-running RPG series, diving into new story elements and the nature of the game's protagonist.

It's a girl's tale as players will take the role of Alicia, the youngest princess and last person in line to take the throne. Her low rank nobility gives her the freedom to enjoy being a knight, protecting her people on the front line rather than from a throne. Stoic, serious, and always willing to serve, she serves as the opposite of the free-spirit lead male, Slay.

Baba also revealed that dragons will take a major role in the story, a first for the Tales series. He wouldn't specify though if they would be good or evil, just the fact that they were major.

The staff currently wrapped up writing and fleshing out the characters, and the next step is getting the cutscenes finished using both in-game graphics and anime.

On the gameplay front, the battles are bound to be the same intense combat the series always brings along. Baba says there will be a strong combination of sword and magic attacks. The new system will be an evolution of the currently games, and there will even be a big surprise for long time fans.

Tales of Zestiria was confirmed by Baba to be a worldwide release exclusively on the PlayStation 3 before the end of 2014.