It's difficult to get a firm grip on a deep strategy game like Hoshigami in the limited time one has at E3, but the few missions we played offered a promising glimpse of the game's unique take on the strategy formula. One pleasant change is that you actually place your seven troops on the battle map before combat, rather than on a separate screen. Enemies are even visible during this initial set-up. On the whole, the interface seems to be addressing some of the problems of past strategy games. For instance, a line of character portraits at the top of the screen is always present to help players keep track of the turn order.
Characters begin their turns with an empty RAP gauge.
Any action - attacking, moving, casting a spell, etc. When the meter is full no more actions can be taken, but any combination of actions can used to fill the meter. For example, it's possible to move, attack, and move again, or attack several times without ever moving. If characters have part of their gauge left at the end of the turn, the remainder can be used for defense or to ready a Session Attack. The Session system is Hoshigami's other new gameplay conceit.