First, the developers showed off a trailer used to promote the game in Japan. The characters, which fit squarely into a recognizable anime style, are very cleanly depicted in the game's graphics, and are well animated in 3D. The game's graphics are also clean and good-looking. The newest version of the game features an all-new battle system based around a hexagonal grid. The trailer showed a combination attack featuring the main character and a female party member, lots of special effects in the spells and special attacks, including full FMV sequences for the summoned monsters. Characters can move from grid to grid, even sharing the same space on the grid. Attacks into one grid attack all enemies (or characters) in the same hex.
As far as dungeons go, action, such as jumping, climbing trees, or other platforming even more advanced than anything previously seen in Wild Arms is up for this latest sequel. The puzzle solving has evolved into full-on action gameplay during the dungeons. The main character has a double jump, and even a stomp attack he can perform from the maximum height of his jump. There was also puzzle solving finding bombs and unblocking obstructions, and a dungeon with moving platforms. A metal grill required hand-over-hand climbing to traverse -- though once he got to the edge, he could flip up on top of it and run, instead.
Once we were done taking a gander at these new gameplay features, the Q&A began. Of course, discussion immediately turned to the brand new hex-based battle system. One of the biggest features of the hex battle system is that within any hex, executing a command towards one hex will apply to all characters in it. The entire battlefield is made up of seven hexes ... traditional RPGs are based on characters, but in this case you have to look at all seven hexes and the strategy is based on which hex is going to be your next move. Rather than character based it's based more on the hex. This leads to both positives and negatives; for example, you can heal all your characters at once, but they can all be attacked. Different situations will require different positioning.
In the demo, the main character was able to pick up a sword and swing it on the map, attacking practice dummies. That sword is only used within a given map, and you cannot carry it outside of that map. Executing whatever item is picked up can be done with the Square button. That's more for the puzzle solving part of the game, not part of the action of the gameplay (such as jumping). These special attacks and actions can be used in the entire game, including the jump. There's also a Mega Man X style slide. Throw boxes and they break. There's a new special move called the accelerator; it speeds up your character, effectively slowing down time. They showed off how you can use it to cross a collapsing bridge, or break boxes in a time limit. There are white gems that only appear when you're in accelerator mode; if you grab them in order, the amount each is worth increases.
