Taito and Nintendo are cooking up a real-time RPG exclusive to the Wii with a decent control system and possible online play. http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/previewArt.cfm?artid=18235 Takt of Magic is a Wii exclusive action RPG developed by Taito in collaboration with Nintendo. That information alone seems to be enough to get people interested in this title, and with good reason.
The game uses a real-time battle and exploration system. For example, players can use magic to affect the environment, solve puzzles, and kill enemies while walking around the overworld.
During battles, players must cast spells, lay traps, and avoid danger by using the Wii Remote pointer. Managing all the characters' actions at the same time seems to be very streamlined and simple to perform with a system of simple points and clicks.
There will apparently be 100 magic spells in the game; however, the only ones currently known are ones based around the fire, water, earth and wind elements. With the press of a button, an on overlay appears on the screen with the main character's arms brandishing a magic staff, which moves in real-time with the pointer.
Simple shapes are then drawn on the screen which will be recognised and instantly turned into spells for the player to use. Examples shown so far were a zigzag line, which created a wall of earth to shield from arrows shooting across a path, and a circular shape that produced wind and put out a burning house. Others include shooting fireballs with downward strikes to attack, and a water spell to heal the group.
The status of the hero characters will be shown by smiley or frowning faces above their heads, so players can easily see who is in need of healing. Up to four teammates can be selected to fight alongside you. Final details about multiplayer are not known at this point, but a Nintendo Wi-Fi logo can be clearly seen on the official website. We can all hope that this will turn out to be online cooperative play.
Takt of Magic will be released on May 21 in Japan. There is currently no word yet on a release in any other region.