You didn't think the last month of the year would go without one more Rays PV, did you? We finally get a look at the rest of December's events, so check them out here!
Bandai Namco's Youtube Channel updated with the new PV for December without warning! Check it out:
Just like usual, this PV was followed up by Producer's Letter Volume 46 which you can take a peek at here! Funnily enough, it starts off not with new info, but rather the producer gushing about Slayers and his experience reading the original novels and not being able to find the continuation in bookstores. He also shares the experience of developing Lina for Rays and how the battle director offered to include the entire chant for Dragon Slave as her Mirrage Arte. Of course the Slayers collaboration is still running as of the time of the producer's letter and even this article, so it makes sense that he'd take the time to share his excitement celebrating 30 years of Slayers and the opportunity to include it in Rays! He doesn't go on too long though, and eventually gets to actual news. We'll cover info from both the PV and the letter here.
The first announcement in the video is a brand new The Rays of Festival event! We only had one once before, but we were promised they'd come regularly every few months. The winners of the last event will have crossover Mirrage Artes released in this one, and we get a good look at their art too. They are Estelle and Phillia using Sacred Penance, Loni and Malik using Tremorous Celestial Sundering Shredding Light Of Cyclonic Butchery and finally Leia and Alisha using Soulstoke Celebration. We even get a good look at the animation for Leia and Alisha's! Look forward to the event to see what all of them look like in full, and remember that Crossover Mirrage Artes come with new skits as well!
The Producer's Letter has more details on this event. After taking feedback from the last one, the format will change this time, and the app will update to version 4.1.0 to enable these changes. Just like before the event will take place in two rounds, but instead of having one round for first and second place and another round for third place, the top 3 will be decided in the first half of the event. Instead, the second round will be dedicated to making the other 3 Crossover Mirrage Arte choices a reality. Players will be able to collectively earn points to reach thresholds to give the otherwise losing pairs a chance at getting Crossover Mirrage Artes. Also, instead of being a simple combo competition with 3 tries a day, players will have a choice of missions to complete with infinite tries in order to gain points, with the missions and enemies changing daily. We'll know more about how this works when the event comes!
Here are the 6 pairs chosen for the Crossover Mirrage Arte events. The theme this time is "Connected Fates", which makes sense to anyone who knows the story of each pair of characters. The pairs are Leon & Judas, Ion & Sync, Sophie & Little Queen, Kor & Creed, Milla Maxwell & Fractured Milla and finally Ludger & Victor. The event isn't running just yet, so use the time to decide who you'd like to win! Also, just like the last Rays of Festival, this one will give players 100 Free Pulls. That's 10 Multis!
The event following The Rays of Festival in December is a new Xillia themed Christmas event! And with it, the first (and only) new character this month: Ivar. Xillia fans know him well, but his inclusion is a surprise, as he was not playable in either of the two Xillia games. The producer's letter points out that his model was unlockable as a "costume" in Xillia 2, but Rays will be the first time the actual character with his own moveset and voice lines will be playable! The 3 returning featured characters are Rowen, Victor and the recently released Agria. The producer's letter goes on to state that the reason they decided on releasing Ivar in an Xillia themed Christmas was due to comments such as wanting to see Elle get a present from her father, and Santa Clause as a conductor. It's then mysteriously mentioned that the Christmas event will be focused on a foreign region where Santa is dressed in black instead of red...
The last event this month is a new batch of Spirit Gears! This time the focus is on Tales of Graces, which makes sense. Not only will this month have the 11th anniversary of Tales of Graces, it has the 10th anniversary of Tales of Graces f, the PS3 rerelease that added new content and actually made it over to the west! The characters chosen to have Spirit Gears this time are Asbel with Shadow, Cheria with water and Richard with Wind. They thought about giving Asbel Lambda, but since Lambda is not a spirit, he was given Shadow instead. Richard's Spirit Gear is based on his look in the Lineage and Legacies arc in Graces f, but with more armor.
That's it for news from the PV, but the producer's letter has a bit more to say about anniversaries. As many Tales fans may know, December this year will not only be the 10th anniversary of Graces f, but also the 15th anniversary of Abyss and the 25th anniversary of Phantasia, and therefore the series in general! As a result a lot of people speculated we'd be getting Abyss and/or Phantasia events this month, but the producer proposes a new idea.
Instead, the 25th anniversary will last a whole year, starting December 15th, which opens up a lot of opportunities of when to get new Phantasia and Abyss content to celebrate the anniversaries. There will also be more to announce on the 15th as well! He probably means during the general series anniversary stream, so look forward to that for Rays news as well. Finally, the Producer wishes us an early happy new year, as this will be the last producer's letter of 2020, and states that next month will be the one where he will finish the promise. This probably refers to the promise of introducing all playable party members by Rays' 4th anniversary, which will be early in 2021. There's 5 characters left, so this may actually be possible!
That's it for PV news. Since Version 4.1.0 will release soon, the version 4 overview we're working on will have info on the new Master Disciple system that will finally be introduced them. Until then, keep an eye out for more news very soon. The Slayers Event ends on the 10th after all, so a new event will likely come then!
Tales of the Rays is a Tales mobile game for the iOS and Android featuring characters designed by Hidenori Matsuraba and a new ADF-LMBS (Advanced Flick Linear Motion Battle System). The game tells the story of hero Ix Nieves and heroine Mileena Weiss in the world of Tir Na Nog. Characters from the previous Tales titles appear in this game. The game initially had an English version, but was short-lived and now currently runs exclusively in Japan.
