Unfortunately they did a terrible job of explaining the battle system in this game, but once you learn how to chain your techniques (I think it's called a Combo?) then it gets a little more fun. I really liked the story and most of the characters I but wasn't a fan of the backtracking to old villages/whatever.

Also you're going to lose your mind once you get to Disc 2 because the game goes from like, a regular RPG, to basically a slideshow with Gear battles in-between. But don't let it scare you away cause the story is still pretty good, just presented poorly!