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Mami Koyama Voices Maltran in Tales of Zestiria PS3 Game

This year's 33rd issue of Shueisha's Shonen Jump magazine is announcing on Monday that Mami Koyama (Dr. Slump's Arale, Mobile Suit Gundam's Kycilia) will play a character named Maltran in Tales of Zestiria, Bandai Namco Games' newest installment in the Tales of series for the PlayStation 3. The character is a female knight known as the "Blue Valkyrie," and is the teacher of Aleesha who taught her all of the fighting techniques she knows. Maltran will play a large role in the fate of the Highland Kingdom.

The magazine is also revealing that enemies on the field will be encountered using the "real map battle" feature, with which players fight against enemies immediately in the current setting they are in. Various geographical features on the map may come in handy in fights, with slight ramps affecting the tides of the battle. In addition, the game will have various "map actions" that the player can use to affect the experience on the world map. Two of the map actions are the "Cloak of Ghost Fog," which grants the players a barrier of invisibility and the power to go unnoticed by enemies, and "Chief's Wrist," which allows players to break boulders that are in the way.

The game is classified as an "RPG in which passion lights up the world," and the official tagline for the game will be, "Tradition will one day become 'hope.'"

Namco Bandai Studio's Daigo Okumura designed 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. An anime special inspired by the game is set to premiere before the game is released.

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 Lailah, changing his form and allowing him to use Lailah's attributes to attack.

Namco Bandai Games will release the game on the PlayStation 3 worldwide.