Ultima X: Odyssey Dev Diary #2

GameSpy has posted their second Ultima X: Odyssey developer diary, in which lead designer Jon "Calandryll" Hanna talks about the new combat system and how it came about. An excerpt to follow:
It became apparent to us that we had an opportunity not just to design combat tactics, but to design a system that would encourage players to create their own tactics. Earlier we talked about momentum and performing special ability combos. While this was fun, it was too linear. Again, there is no strategy when there is only one option for every situation. In order to give you more control over combat, we have to make sure we give you choices within the system. So in addition to creating combos, we added the ability to increase the effectiveness of your abilities by spending momentum. Now, you get to make a choice . do you spend your momentum to enhance the ability, giving you a more powerful attack but delaying the attack until you are done charging up your momentum, or do you perform the attack immediately, hoping to gain a combo chance that allows you to use even more special abilities at a faster rate?