New Tales of Xillia Scans Have Some Detailed Info On The Battle System

Two new magazine scans for Tales of Xillia have surfaced, revealing more information about the previously announced character, Alvin, and new features of the battle system. 

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First off, more information on Alvin. It seems we still don't have the official romanization for his name.

|| Alvin
Age: 26
Height: 182 cm
- A competent mercenary that has been wandering many places around the world. He is quite sociable with everyone and constantly displays such a mature composure. He can deliver what is needed of him, though he doesn't talk much about himself and can easily hide his feelings effectively. Though it seems that he only acts for himself at times, he can be in fact pretty calculating.

A new feature of the battle system is called ?? (literally "Special Characteristic") and is a particular feature each individual character gets. For Jude, it's ???? (literally "Integration Evasion") wherein he is able to back step in order to avoid frontal attacks, and in turn do something like an around step to go to the enemy's rear. This can be done as many times as wanted. Milla gets ?? (literally "Magi") wherein shortly pressing the artes button will let Milla perform a spell without casting. In example, the normal Fireball spell gets converted into Flare Bomb and cause an explosion. For Alvin, he gets Charge, wherein by holding a particular button (not sure which at the moment), he combines his sword from his right hand and his gun from his left to perform a charge on any arte to be performed, changing it. As he levels up, the number of instances he can use the Charge also increases.

Also mentioned in the scan is Map Action. I'm unsure if it's referring to a world map or the usual dungeon field map, but apparently you can use the circle button for action commands for climbing ladders, crouching and the like in order to reach hard to reach places.

UPDATE - February 1, 2011 - Here's a little update on the game's opening moments: As we had mentioned before, Jude is off to investigate some change in spirits at a military laboratory. There, he meets Milla. As they investigate, they encounter some unfamiliar weapons and some containers people can fit in, along with one of the biggest secrets of the military. It is also here that they get attacked by some mysterious girl.

Anyway, since the two found out about the big military secret, the soldiers are now after them. Though they successfully escape the lab, Milla finds that she is suddenly unable to summon any of her spirits. The two reach the city harbor, only to be cornered by the soldiers. There, Alvin comes in and rescues them. The party heads off to Milla's shrine in order to have her redo a summoning ritual, and in doing so, regaining her power to summon her spirits.

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A745 (or Abby, as most people call her) is the founder of Abyssal Chronicles. She is currently a doctor, but that doesn't stop her from showing her love for the Tales of Series. She loves potato chips. A lot.