Looking at the battle screens, I don't see an alphabet soup, and no wheels. It looks like a more normal turn based style with action elements in battle. Apparently entering battles will be seamless, and you can switch around the leader in realtime. There's the command system for ordering your allies, and you can link attacks to create combos with the Chain System. The environments will be varied, and will affect how battles work (I'm thinking status/hazard type stuff).