*****The Begining of....Final(?) Fantasy...*****
In the over world and in dungeons, your party will encounter monsters of various nature. You will have to defeat the monsters using various combative skills that the members of your party wield.
Battles are turn based; various attacks are performed via a menu system. Enemies and your party members will perform moves at different times based on each character's speed statistic. Damage dealt during battles is measured numerically, each character and enemy have a certain number of hit points. Once all hit points have been exhausted, the character can no longer fight in battle. Your party members improve their skills through experience, the more experience gained, the more damage they will deal to enemies.
Cities and towns differ from the over world and dungeon areas. There is no combat in towns and cities. While in towns and cities you will mainly do two things: talk to townsfolk and purchase goods from shopkeepers. While talking to people, you will gain valuable information that helps you to progress through the game. Weapons, armour and other items can be purchased in towns to improve the skills of your party.
All of this combines to create an engrossing, epic game play experience.