Read it while it's hot! We got fresh info about Tales of Symphonia: Knight of Ratatosk.

Bandai Namco's sequel to the popular Gamecube RPG Tales of Symphonia is on its way and some details surfaced today. The battle system will be an enhanced version of the one used in Tales of the Abyss for PS2 (called the Flex Range Linear Motion Battle system). The engine allows up to four players, the controls will also have a more classic option with shortcuts to the special attacks in addition to the motion controls, which can be turned off.

Each area has an affinity with 8 elements: earth, water, fire, wind, ice, lightning, light and darkness and this affinity will affect the combat, techniques and spells. At the end of battles, the player can invite a monster to join the party, but only if he has certain character traits. These traits also change over time after he joins you depending on the outcome of the battles.

Spoilers: Storyline details follow - only read on if you don't mind hearing plot details detailing the beginning of the title!

One of the new characters is Richter Abend who is searching for the Ratatosk Core to achieve an unknown objective. Richter is a bitter and cynical man, but he still teams up with the other character, Emil.

After the uniting of both worlds in Tales of Symphonia the environment is unstable and dangerous and a powerful slumbering spirit named Ratatosk is causing problems. A group has been formed to fight the Church of Martel: the Vanguard. When the Church attacks a Vanguard meeting in Palmacosta, they wipe out the city killing many innocents. It seems that suspicion is shed on the original game's main character Lloyd.

Those lucky devils in Japan get Tales of Symphonia: Knight of Ratatosk sometime this Spring.