Type-0 is going to be a pretty hardcore action RPG based on what they've been saying about the development process of the game. The director and several key team members worked on The 3rd Birthday while developing Type-0, and with T3B they tried to make a very challenging action game where evasion, positioning, weapon types, weakpoints, etc really matter. They weren't sure if it would be well received, but comments were really favorable from most people who played it, so the director is pretty confident that he can make a challenging game out of Type-0 without frustrating gamers.
The main design objectives for the combat in Type-0 are:
a) An extremely fast ATB (invisible probably) based system, similar to FFX-2 and Crisis Core's system of interrupts, charge time, cool down animations, etc, but fused with a 3 person party.
b) Lots of action based mechanics, including evasion, use of the environment to gain an advantage (hiding in cover, height and range, etc), timing combos with different attacks, etc. The director also mentions that using range spells in the game would be similar to a third person shooter like T3B, in the sense that they have different behaviors based on input - weak rapid-fire shots, or holding down the button to charge for a stronger blast, etc. How the projectiles move is also determined by the environment and your placing, since you can destroy stuff in the environment, but enemies can also hide behind walls, and so on.
c) Nomura as the creative producer has specifically requested that the environments in the game be as complex as possible, especially in the battle areas. He does not want the game to feel like a flat environment where you just run around and kill enemies. Instead there should be detailed destructible parts of the environment, complex geometry including stairs, various vertical and horizontal stages creating a true 3D feel in movement and placement of enemies and objects, etc.
Also, it should be noted that the recent articles in Jump, Dengeki, and Famitsu all mention that the battles are meant to be strategic as different enemies with have weaknesses and vulnerabilities to different sort of attacks, so switching between the 3 characters in the active party to best fit the enemies you're facing is important.
