#also malak artes are just “derivative = bigger spell” which is useful and easy to remember

[dravidious]

Just unlocked this thing in Tales of Berseria. "Allows the use" of martial arte "derivatives" under "certain conditions". Whatever the FUCK that means. I know what it means, and it's no thanks to this awful description, so I'm gonna rant about it and fix it because I'm frustrated at this display of incompetence

First a little fairness. While a martial arte "derivative" is a total nonsense term, it's easy to figure out by looking at the "Set Artes" screen. Each arte has a derivative arte, which is just some other arte from that character's moveset chosen pretty much arbitrarily. The name is awful, as the derivative arte isn't really derived from the arte at all, but it's not a major issue.

More of an issue is "certain conditions". I hate when video games say stuff like "certain condition" or "specific items" and then refuse to actually explain it. The worst part is, there AREN'T any conditions to using arte derivatives, unless you count "knowing the arte" and "having enough SG to use the arte" as conditions. This is confusing, but doesn't really hinder your ability to use arte derivatives.

Another minor problem is that it says "martial artes" but it actually works for hidden artes too. You can figure it out really quick by seeing arte derivatives listed for hidden artes, but the fact that the description is seriously just lying to you is just sloppy.

The core issue: How do you use arte derivatives? The game does not tell you. At all. In any way. You do it by keeping the arte button held down, and then the arte derivative will be used after the current arte. I have no idea how they expected anyone to figure this out without so much as a HINT. Nothing in the description, not in the tutorial menu, absolutely nothing about holding down the arte button.

Here's my rewrite:

"Allows the use of martial and hidden arte successors by keeping the arte button held down.

An arte's successor arte is listed at the bottom-right of the description in the "Set Artes" screen."

You might notice that the first paragraph is longer, but it'll still fit. They had room for more text to explain but they chose not to use it. Anyway a few minor changes; clarifying that it works with hidden artes, and specifying "an arte's successor arte" instead of just "it" in the second paragraph. Then of course TELLING THE PLAYER HOW TO ACTUALLY USE THE DAMN THING!! It's not that hard!

I also changed "derivative" to "successor". An arte is followed by its derivative, so successor is a more fitting name. There could be a better name, successor is just what I came up with after 10 seconds of thinking about what to call them. Because why the fuck would you call them derivatives.

Anyway there's another related potentite called Wizard's Ventite so when I get that I'll reblog this post with a follow-up.