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Game Freak explains Little Town Hero's unique battle system
Little Town Hero is Game Freak's latest RPG effort, but it certainly doesn't play like a traditional RPG. Game Freak is trying something different with Little Town Hero, and in an interview with Nintendo Life, director Masao Taya explains how the system works.
The battle system uses something like Digital CCGs (Digital Collectible Card Games) as a base. In those games, your units face off, and you need to select characters carefully to put yourself in an advantageous position to win. It’s the same in Little Town Hero— if you don’t get yourself into advantageous position, you won’t be able to chip away at your opponent’s HP.
If you compare other turn-based systems to CCGs, the actions are simple and the number of enemies you face off against at once is limited. (Pokémon is a little different because I painstakingly worked the system so you can face off against a huge number of enemies and go through great hardships… The fun kind of hardship though!)
So unlike other turn-based RPGs you can’t beat the higher-level enemies by just using your strongest move over and over, or simply choosing the best units for the job. You must think about the moves you make.