Yeah, I'm also wondering why they didn't try to advance the interface at least a little bit. It wouldn't be too hard to offer a couple different control options to cater to those who want to point and those who want to D-pad. 

The grid and characters are far too small to use effectively for the pointer, so you'd have to either :

A) Zoom in and out constantly
B) Bigger characters and grid with fewer units
C) Get rid of the grid setup and use a cancel-capable distance-range system like Phantom Brave (PS2) that was not well received within the SRPG community.

I am gonna get this game, looks cool. But can someone tell me exactly how the battling system works?

The english voice acting makes me want to vomit.

Other than that, this is a must-buy for this year. Moreso than Brawl, Galaxy, RE:UC, etc...

Its a tactical RPG, you pretty much have characters who fight and can level up. Its similar to final fantasy style combat in the sense that you are picking your actions and the game shows what happens but its very different from that in the sense that abilities will have a range that they can hit and you will have to position your characters on the levels and you will be able to use terrain and battlefield position to your advantage as well as the enemy who will also be able to use it to their advantage.

Another thing to note is that iirc this is a game where characters that die are dead for good. No reviving them. This is one of the aspects I LOVE about this game. Too many tactical RPGs have absolutely no consequence for failing to come up with good strategies. This game seems to have a very steep penalty for players who might of been willing to sacrifice party members in other similar games.

So in my mind this game makes tactics not just into an advantage you can have to do better but a necessity if you want to beat the game without letting anybody die (which will probably be very difficult). Should be a very interesting game to play.

This looks like the same game as the last several Fire Emblem games.

The killing off your characters "feature" is my least favorite part of this Tactics RPG. IMO it severely limits the gameplay and adds an unnecessary element of frustration.

Nooob.... Sorry :P.

I mean, come on. that's what makes the game challenging. Specially in the hardest level

wow... this is looking great, and fun

I've played other Tactics RPGs that were plenty challenging without resorting to this feature, and the gameplay was more interesting and less frustrating.  Maybe you want to use a unit as cannon fodder to lure your enemies into a carefully designed trap and blow them to smithereens.  Maybe the game designers want to put you up against an opposing force so powerful, you can't help but take a few losses, but while doing so, you can ensure that the enemy's losses are far greater.  This is what I mean by "limiting" gameplay.

Seriously, though, your first response (noob) is the only retort I've seen anyone make when defending Fire Emblem, and it completely misses the point.  There are other ways to make a Tactics RPG difficult without making it annoying.

In most other strategy RPG's you can recruit characters to use as cannon fodder also, this is not something that Fire Emblem does. Story characters only. :)

I also find it frustrating but I tolerate it because, to me, it gives meaning to keeping your team alive, something that other srpg's are too lenient with. In every other Srpg you only have to worry about keeping your main character or a specific target alive and nothing else matters.

Btw, Entroper, I'm curious as to what you think of the far less leniant and less difficult Soul Nomad (PS2) that was just released? (I just beat it myself)