The Last Story Wii Update No.7

Nintendo has updated the official blog for The Last Story on Wii once more, this time offering hints towards the gameplay aspect of the adventure in a post called "Chaos and Order," one that goes over ground that head of Mistwalker, Hironobu Sakaguchi, the father of Final Fantasy, covered in Mistwalker's own blog.

The Director of The Last Story comments,

Making order from chaos. Or, pulling the enemies who were in order into chaos. Using one of the main character's skills called 'Gathering,' we wanted to make a system that would let you control that type of situation.

[ During battle, the current focus of the enemy is marked with a line, called a "Pointer." ] This is probably the most special feature when you see this game. The pointer's colour can be used for strategy, as it will indicate enemy type, such as soldier, mage, or archer who attempts to disrupt your own mage's magic chants. The gathering skill is used to steal the focus of an enemy. Execute the gathering skill, and you make the enemy turn his focus on to you. One example of this system's use is in a situation where enemies are focusing their sights on your mage. You can use gathering to turn their sights on to you, assisting your mage in chanting his magic.

Controlling chaos and order on the battle field ties in to victory.

How the gathering and pointer systems work can be seen in the new pieces of art that have been added to the game's media folder. The process goes from the start of a battle, through to the main character gaining the enemy's attention in order to grant more time for the mage in the party to successfully cast a spell that makes his sword more powerful before striking the final blow.

With details of the gameplay side now coming out, with any luck actual screenshots will be next on the cards...