The Last Story Battle System Somewhat Described

Attention, or better put your enemy’s attention, appears to play an important role in The Last Story. “Producing order from chaos. Or dragging ordered enemies into chaos,” the director opens. Enemies have a clear line of focus identified with a pointer. The pointer’s direction tells you if they are targeting your mages while they are preparing a spell. The color of the pointer identifies the class of soldier such as warrior or wizard.

Players can disrupt this order with a command called gathering. When you use gathering an enemy’s focus changes from their target to you. This way you protect your, presumably weaker, mages.

Storyboards offer a visual explanation of the pointer/gathering system. A sword bearing character dashes into the open to draw attention while a mage infuses his sword with magic.