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The Battle System

Ok, I suppose the first I should expain is the battle system. First, you gotta get into a battle. To do this, simply run into an enemy on the map. There are no random encounters. (To build up experience, you... Well, I'll go into that later...) The battle system itself composed of three parts: stamina, physical attacks (power and hit percentage), and elements (character alignment, field color, element grids, and types of elements). All the characters have 7 stamina points. They are drained as you attack. Normal attacks use 1 to 3 stamina points, while elements use up 7. When you have 0 (or negative) stamina points, you can't attack. Don't worry. It builds back up over time. I think there are two ways to do this. 1. Have the other characters attack. 2. Have the other characters defend. If everyone defends, everyone's stamina jumps back up to 7. But it leaves you open to enemy attack. One last thing regarding stamina: if everyone's stamina drops below 0 (due to using elements), the game will automatically skip ahead to a point where everyone's stamina bars are full. Of course, this lets the enemy get a turn in...

Next up is physical attacks. Physical attacks have a power level (1 to 3) and a hit percentage. It all breaks up something like this: 1 stamina point-Weak (least power, but most accurate) 2 stamina points-Strong (less accurate than Weak blows, but a little more powerful) 3 stamina points-Fierce (the most powerful attack, but it's also the most likely to miss). Most of the time, you'll want to attack in the Strong-Fierce range. But then again, you may miss and waste your stamina points. The solution? Whenever you connect with an attack, your next attack will be a little more accurate. So all you have to do is start out with a couple weak attacks to build accuracy, then let loose a couple of more powerful attacks. Try to find a combination of attacks to suit your fighting style. Personally, I start off with one Weak attack and follow up with two Fierce attacks. There's a pretty decent chance that at least one of the Fierce would connect (particularly with some accuracy increasing items such as Dragoon's Honor or Sight Scope equiped), and if the first Fierce attack connects the second would almost certainly will. You may argue that all the attacks might add up to roughly the same amount of damage, but a critical Fierce attack does a lot more damage than a critical Weak attack. It's generally a good idea to use Fierce attacks when their hit percentage is about 80%-90%. A final note: if an enemy attacks you between the your attacks (which they almost certainly will), your hit percentage returns to its original value. Quite irritating, particularly if you've got a Fierce attack with the maximum 99% accuracy only to get hit and have it reset to about 75%.

The final thing you have to know about is the Element system. Elements, put simply, are the spellsThere are six elemental colors, or three sets of opposing element colors: Red and Blue, Yellow and Green, and Black and White. Every character (and enemy) has an Innate Element color. For example, Serge's Innate Element is White and Kid's is Red. When you use an element that matches the character's color, it does more damage to the enemy. Also, if you use an element that the enemy is weak against (such as Yellow element on a Green enemy), it does more damage. This also applies to physical attacks by characters of opposing elements as well. For example, if Kid (whose Innate Element is Red) casts Volcano (a Red element) on a Blue enemy (Blue Innate Element, not color), it will do a TON of damage. But be careful, because it's a two way street. If the Blue enemy casts a Blue spell on Kid, she's in for some major damage. The oval in the upper left corner is the field color. It starts out as three elements found naturally in the area, but it will change as elements are casts. Basically, it will be the last three elements cast (with the oldest element on the outside). I suppose I have to tell you that whenever you cast an new element, it bumps the oldest element off the field and changes the other colors accordingly. The field color is similar to Innate Element color, because it powers up elements of the same color and decreases the effectiveness of opposing elements.

Now it's time to go into the casting of elements. Elements can be used at any time during the battle, providing of course that you have one or more stamina points and your current Element Level is greater or equal to the element you're going to use. When you equip an element in your character's element grid, it will start out at its default level. Depending on the element, you may be able to put it at a lower level (so you can use it sooner, though it will be less powerful) or at a higher level (to make it more powerful). Next to the element's name is its default level (say, Lvl 5) and the number of levels it can be moved (say, plus or minus 3). As you attack, your Element Level goes up. With each attack that connects, it goes up according to the strength of the attack (Weak=1 level, Strong=2 levels, and Fierce=3 levels). So when you reach the level you need, and when you have one or more stamina points you can cast it. But beware: it uses seven stamina points, and it doesn't restore a lot of stamina to other members, so don't use three elements in a row (unless you have to. I probably already said this, but when you cast an element it adds its color to the field effect (and bumps off the oldest).
Now for the types of elements:

Attack elements: They attack. Duh.
Healing elements: Heal your party or remove status ailments.
Consumable elements: Pretty much all healing elements. Can only be used once, but five can be allocated into one slot and can be used repeatedly. Also, the slot is automatically refilled after battle. But they are so weak that I usually only use them between battles.
Trap elements: Technically, they're consumable elements, but they are used to trap certain spells and summons. Each trap only catches the element with the same name and it only works if the enemy has and casts the spell. I *think* that only one enemy (besides a specific boss) has a summon and you might only be able to get one per game and all tne field colors are the same. The game doesn't explain how to use them well enough.
Summon elements: Now we're talking. Though they can only be used by a character of the same innate color and when all of the field effect is the said color and they use up a star level, they really pack a wallop. If a summon strikes the finishing blow in a battle, then you'll get a useful "shiny material" (the particular material changes depending on color) which can be used to forge Rainbow equipment near the end of the game. But more on that later (when you can actually do it...). There are two summons for each of the six colors. (That would be twelve, for the mathmatically challenged out there...) Incidently, the level 7 summons are harder to get than the level 8 ones. Oh well...
Tech elements: Basically, they are character specific special attacks that are assigned to specific levels and slots on a grid. Almost all level 3 and 5 Techs are learned automatically when your element grid increases, but you'll have to find most of the level 7 Techs. Usually this involves puting said character in your party and completing a specific event related to the character. Some characters, like Serge, learn their level 7 Techs automatically but they're the minority. Some characters can combine their techs into Double and Triple Techs. Despite the fact there are forty some characters, there are only a few Double Techs and only two Triple Techs... and there are special conditions for preforming both of them. You need both Tech Elements, both characters must have the proper element level to use their Techs, and they must both have at least one stamina point. And neither one can be frozen. (I don't know about how having one or more colors of elements sealed affects things, little help here?) The characters that use the Tech use up the stamina and element levels required. (Note: the new Tech may have a different color. X-Strike, though preformed by a white elemental and a green elemental, is a red elemental attack.)

Now for star levels and elemental grids. Whenever you beat a boss, you get a star. It increases all your character's stats (well, their "growth level" anyway) and the number of slots in their grids. When you reach * level 99, you stop growing. Of course, that won't happpen until your third time through the game. The shape of the grids depends on the character. Some are pyramidal, with about 7 or 8 elements on the first couple of levels and two or three slots for level 8 elements. Others are more bullet-shaped, with about 5 or 6 elements on each column (though the last level probably has only 4 or 5). Those are the basically the two main grid shapes. Don't worry that characters you recruit later will have fewer slots and lower stats because they'll join with stats relative to their * level. Fortunately, it's easy to allocate elements. Just pick "Auto Allocate" on the Allocate Element menu. I did this all the time, and I got through O.K..

Finally, after you win the battle, a menu will pop up showing what you've won and it gives you the option of healing your party using leftover healing elements/element levels or using consumeable elements. For goodness sake, do it! You can heal your party for free because you'll probably have a high element level, several unused healing elements, and only rarely will you need to use consumable elements to heal or rmove lingering status conditions.

Sorry for the long-winded explaination, but I still talked more about it than I wanted to. It's a lot to take in at once, but it helps to talk to Radius in Arni Village at the beginning of the game. If it's still to much, remeber that you can get through most battles by repeatedly hitting 'X' and healing when neccessary.