Torment: Tides of Numenera Combat Tidbits

VG247 has published some more tidbits of their upcoming Torment: Tides of Numenera interview, this time concerning combat. Apparently the team is leaning towards phase-based, though ultimately they're system agnostic and will let the backers decide:
McComb explained, (What we're favouring for combat is a phase-based combat system. But how we've approached it is we want it to be a stronger combat system than Planescape: Torment had. We've defined the main characteristics, so we want there to be strategic elements.

(By '˜strategic' I mean the customisation of your character outside of combat, like your choices in terms of what class you are, what capabilities you have and what equipment you're using. Within combat we want tactical decisions that are planned.

What you do away from the battlefield will also have a profound impact on how characters behave in combat, similar to Obsidian's Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer.

(We also want a tie-in with the narrative,) McComb continued. (There will be aspects from the creative side that influence the gamplay. One example of this is what we did for Mask of the Betrayer, with you being the Spirit Eater, and having powers that had effects on combat that changed depending on what you did outside of combat.