Select controller:The Basics[edit]
The are two major types of battles: random and set. Random battles take place when you move around a dungeon or the world map and. You can fight as many of these as you want by wandering around areas where they can take place. Set battles, in contrast, only occur once. Usually, but not always, they involve a boss monster.
When a battle starts there is a swirling effect on the screen, the music changes, and the scene changes from a map view to a ground level view of the combatants. You enter battle commands through a menu that appears when one of your characters is free to act.
A gauge on the lower right side of the screen shows when you will be able to make your move, when the gauge fills up a menu appears. At first the only options on the menu are Attack and Item. Selecting Attack prompts you to select which enemy or ally to attack. After a bit of a delay, your attack will be executed. Item works similarly: you select which item you want to use, then which character you want to use it on if applicable. Each character in the party gets their own time gauge. Enemies have their own time gauges (not displayed) and will attack you while you are waiting for your turn. As your abilities grow, more options will be added to the menus and navigating them can get rather tricky.
There are some useful options that are not immediately obvious. Pressing 
causes the Row option to appear. It allows character to switch rows. Pressing 
causes the Defense option to appear. This is used to skip a turn and reduce incoming damage for one turn. Finally, holding down the 
and 
buttons allow the party to escape the battle after a few seconds. The downside is that enemies get free hits on them while attempting to escape. Escape is normally only possible in random battles.
There are three possible outcomes to a battle:
- If the entire party is knocked out (KOed) or petrified, the message "Wiped out..." is displayed and you will have to reload from your last saved game.
- If you escape you do not lose GP or gain GP, experience points (EXP), or ability battle points (ABP). HP. HP and MP are changed to the values when the character escaped the battle.
- If you defeat all the monsters then you gain GP, EXP, ABP, and potentially loot. After the battle EXP is divided evenly among the surviving members of the party and all fractions are rounded down to the nearest integer; boss battles typically do not provide EXP. EXP allows characters to gain levels which increases their stats. GP is used to buy items at the stores in towns. ABP is used to advance in Job levels to learn new abilities. Sometimes enemies may drop loot which can be collected on a separate screen after battle.
The most important numbers to track are hit points. These measure the current health of a character and the basic function of an attack is to drain hit points from the character being attacked. Both the party and enemies have hit points but only the party's can be observed directly. The rule is simple, you can fight until your hit points reach 0 and then you're KO'd. If the entire party are KO'd then your party is wiped out. You can use items and spells to restore the hit points of your characters; some are used to revive KOed characters. When an enemy's hit points reach 0 it is no longer able to fight and disappears from the screen. If this happens to all the monsters then you win the battle.
There are conditions besides being KO'd that can affect a character's ability to fight though, for example a character my be immobilized. Watch the appearance of your characters during battle, a change indicates a condition that you will want to be aware of. For example a character will sit down when in danger of running out of hit points.
Front row and back row[edit]
In a battle, the party and enemies are either in the front row or the back row. You can place your characters in the desired row either in the main menu screen when not in battle, or during battle using the Row menu option; doing this uses up a turn. Combatants in the front row inflict and sustain more physical damage, while those in the back row inflict and take less physical damage. Using Defend in battle nullifies the monsters' front row advantage; in effect it puts the character in the back row until the next move. There is no front row advantage for magical attacks so it is recommended keep mages in the back row where enemies will do less damage to them. On the other hand, melee Jobs like Knights should be kept in the front row where their attacks will have more effect. They should also have the best armor equipped to counter the additional damage they take there. When all the enemies in the front row are defeated, their back row is moved up in effect to become the front row.
Preemptive strikes and back attacks[edit]
A certain percentage of random battles start with a preemptive strike, where the party manages to surprise the enemy. You start with all your time gauges at maximum so you can attack the monsters right away while they have to wait. Similarly, other random battles start with a back attack when the party is ambushed; enemies appear on the right while the party appears on the left. The enemies' gauges start at maximum so they get to attack you while you have to wait. In addition, the monsters attack from behind which reverses character rows. You may notice that in Back Attack battles the monsters are on the right side of the screen rather than on the left as usual. Depending on how long a battle you expect, it may be a good idea to use the Row option to move your characters into a better position when facing a back attack. Thieves passively reduce the chances of a back attack while Ninjas increase the chance of a preemptive strike.
Magical attacks[edit]
Magic attack spells (e.g., Fire, Ice, Bolt) do not change in damage output between the front row and back row. The effect of magical attacks is reduced by Magic Defense rather than Defense, so only armor that has this attribute is effective against magic. If the monster is weak against the spell used, then the monster's Magic Defense is reduced to 0 and the damage is doubled, so it is a good idea to learn which monsters are weak against which attacks with abilities like !Check, !View, or the White Magic spell Scan.
Magical attacks can be directed at all enemies instead of just one. All enemies take damage but the attack strength is halved. Taking Magic Defense into account the actual damage of the attack can be reduced significantly. If the enemies are weak enough that they can be wiped out by one or two reduced magic attacks then it works to your advantage, but otherwise it is better to direct the attack at one enemy at a time.