The new animations:
Back in the year old demo, the enemies had no animations, meaning that they'd be completely unpredictable regarding what types of attacks the player could feasably see coming and adapt. Now, whenever someone uses a skill, an animation will play and a simple indicator will display what kind of effect such a move does. You are able to see a glimpse of them in Here.
The New States:
The following three states are quite simple, they effectively do a particular thing that will be displayed in battle whenever you get it. They still existed in the year old demo, but they've been more refined so the player can have a better understanding of what actually will be going on.
Rush
Rush is a state that increases the growth of adrenaline each turn. It's simple and can be applied with any skills and items that produce the effect.
Adrenaline is pretty important for characters that rely on "Techniques" over "Attunements", with a few exception.
Growth
Growth is health recovery every turn. Useful in a pinch when you have a character that needs to tank a few hits or if you're lacking the necessary items to compensate.
Focus
Focus is essencially magic recovery per turn. Good for people who actually use their attunements, like the healer party member that you get early on in the prologue. With these far more identifiable in battle, I feel like the flow of combat will be far better and far more compreensible.