"the action-based role-playing"

Does this mean another level-skills-as-you-use-them system? Because I'll be very disappointed if that's the case.

At least half the appeal of the first two was that you could pick a character type from your imagination, develop your character along that path for the entire course of the game, and actually be successful. You could play the game as Billy the Kid, or Bruce Lee, or Bugs Bunny, and beat it.

The two examples I can think of that use a use-to-level system are Dungeon Siege and Elder Scrolls. Both actually punish the player for experimenting with their character in the game.

In Dungeon Siege, if you touch a bow after spending some time meleeing, you were retarding your character's growth down the melee path, effectively creating a mediocre ranged/mediocre melee character, instead of a strong character in one of the two paths. Since it's a party game, everyone just plays with a full party of characters who each do one thing.

In Oblivion it's a little more complex (and a little better, to be honest), but they obscure the levelling process behind so much bullshit in the name of creating a cinematic experience that you're basically in the same place. I want to level my stealth, so I have to sneak constantly. I want to level my melee, so I don't dare kill something with a bow, because I might end up with less points to put into my primary skill.

Of course, it's actually more forgiving than that, but because they hide your advancement from you until the time you level up, many players just grind certain skills until they get the "you should rest" message. It makes for really boring character development, and makes the game feel more like a medieval FPS than an actual RPG.

They really need to put actual character sheets in the game, and allow the players direct control over the advancement of their characters, or else it will lose a lot of the flavor of the original games.

At this point it's too late for them to change anything, but I haven't actually read anything concrete about what happens when you level up in this game. I hope it's more like the original games and a lot less like Oblivion.

More power to them if they've found a way to address my concerns, but based on existing games, I'm not at all convinced that it's possible to have interesting character development in a game using this type of system. I'm looking forward to the game despite my reservations.