The player character travels through dungeons, towns, and an overworld map, battling in random encounters. In case of a battle, the game switches to first person, similar to the Dragon Warrior games. The battles are turn-based. Increasing a character's speed increases the chances of acting earlier within a turn, but does not change how frequently that character's turns come about. From each battle, characters accrue experience points, which eventually lead to higher levels, and better attributes. During battle, use of healing items usually, but not always, takes priority and occurs before the enemy can strike.
The magic system has no form of MP for the characters. Instead, characters cast spells by spending their own HP. Only one spell directly heals HP, and using it kills the caster in order to heal the rest of the party.
Instead of learning spells individually, characters unlock spells by learning to wield the powers of eight "spirits": Fire, Earth, Water, Air, Sphere, Sky, Heart and Light. Each individual spirit provides a single spell, each unique pair of spirits provides an additional spell, and learning all eight unlocks an additional spell, for a total of 37. So, for example, a character who knows the "Fire", "Sphere", and "Light" spirits would know six spells: one each of the three spirits and one for each of the three spirit combinations ("Fire+Light", "Fire+Sphere" and "Sphere+Light"). There is no statistic which universally enhances spellcasting ability. Instead, characters gain experience in each spirit as they cast related spells; a combination spell's power is based on both spirits it uses.
Items cannot be used from battle unless they are equipped, traditional healing spells are nonexistent, and extra healing items cannot be purchased. The primary healing items are healing "bottles", which are good for nine uses each. These bottles can be refilled cheaply at most towns. The only other healing items are certain pieces of equipment which can be used as an unlimited healing item, but can only heal the wearer, and cannot be used outside of battle.
The player controls a party of up to four characters: up to two main characters, while the rest of the party slots can be filled by mercenaries. Although the player controls a mercenary's actions in battle, the player has no control over the equipment they wear and cannot purchase spirits for them. Many mercenaries have spirits not yet available to the player, and so have spells not yet available to the main characters. Some mercenaries lack a healing bottle, making them unable to do any healing in battle. New, stronger mercenaries become available as the player progresses through the story (usually for a price), but it is up to the player whether to continue by leveling their old mercenaries, or hiring new ones. All mercenaries may be rehired, with the exception of a single mercenary tied to a story event.
