The Legend of Dragoon/Combat

When you run into an enemy, you'll enter the combat mode. During combat you'll have several options to choose from:
 * 1: Attack
 * 2: Guard
 * 3: Items
 * 4: Run (disabled during boss fights)
 * 5: Dragoon
 * 6: Special

Attack
Choosing the attack option will bring up enemies to target. Press psx: X to attack the selected opponent. With the exception of Shana and Miranda, the character will run towards the selected opponent and two squares will appear. The squares will gradually come together until they overlap. When they overlap press psx: X to continue the attack; this is called an addition. The length of the attack depends on the addition. These can range from two strikes to seven. Enemies can also counterattack. Instead of pressing psx: X, press psx: C to counter the counter attack and keep your addition going. If you fail, the addition will end prematurely and the character will take damage.

Guard
If you guard you will end your turn and gain 10% of your character's maximum HP. Guarding only lasts for one turn. If an enemy attacks the guarded character the incoming damage is halved. Guarding also nullifies most status effects.

Items
Items can heal your party, inflict damage upon the enemy, or boost some of your stats. Most attack and all healing items disappear after you use them, but some items reappear are repeatable and will appear in the next battle after being used. There are two sorts of attack items: items that do a certain amount of damage (e.g., Down Burst) and items that can "multiply" their damage, where you must press psx: X as fast as possible to inflict more damage. All attack items are considered magical attacks.

Run
If you select run you have a 50% change of succeeding. If you fail the turn ends. Running applies to the entire party.

Dragoon
If a character has a Dragoon Spirit and at least 100 SP, then that character can turn into a Dragoon. As a Dragoon characters receive stat boosts and are immune to status effects.

Any incomplete SP bars are removed during transformation (e.g., transforming between but not including 100 to 200 SP is considered transforming at 100 SP). The time spent as a Dragoon is determined by the amount of remaining SP. 100 SP is consumed after each turn.

When you're a Dragoon you have two options, D-Attacks and Magic. D-Attacking will bring up a dial with an arrow. The arrow will spins around; as it passes the top press psx: X; this can be done for up to 5 rotations. The speed at which the arrow turns keeps increasing.

Using magical attacks in the Dragoon form requires MP. Every magical attack is unique to the character. Every character starts with one Magic attack. As characters accumulate SP they gain Dragoon levels which increases their maximum SP and MP. A new magic attack is learned at each level (except at Dragoon level 4 for all characters, and at Dragoon level 2 for Kongol.

Special
If all characters have maxed out SP bars, the Special command will appear on the action bar. When selected, all party members will transform into Dragoons and the background changes. The character who started the Special gains more stat boosts and will automatically complete their D-Attacks.