The entire goal while fighting in this game is to actually knock every single enemy over so you can pull off an "All Out Attack."Every enemy in the game has a weakness, and by exploiting that weakness you will knock them over, and gain an extra turn

Like typical RPGs enemies are weak and strong against elements, but figuring out which enemy is weak is where this game challenges you

The difficulty curve is a little harsh to begin with, especially if you play on a higher difficulty, and the random chance of a TPK from a lucky enemy power is still possible, but apart from that increasingly rare occurance as you level and improve, this game is easily worth the 60-70 hours you can dump into even a single playthrough, all of it worth the effort and even the few tears this game can ellicit.

Now you have to try each different form of attack in order to find out an enemy's weakness

and you heal the enemy and attack your teammates

While the easiest mode lets you retry battles you die (your characters are revived with full health while the enemy retains the damage they received), the hardest mode is there to really push you and give you a challenge

The combat is turn-based, but you can get extra turns for a character on your team if you land a critical hit or strike an enemy's weak point

As you fight and kill enemies, your character (Yu) will level up, but so will the persona he has equip at the time

and you heal the enemy and attack your teammates

Although you can simply hit "attack" to bash an enemy with your weapon (Yu's is a sword), this isn't always the best option

You can attack regularly, but your Personas have elements that can be used to weaken enemies and deal more damage

Because you have 7 fighters to choose from, sometimes randomly a character that you don't have equipped can assist you and knock down enemies or something

The combat is simple enough for anyone to understand and it's very satisfying to knock down your enemies then go in for a closing attack

See, every enemy in the game has strengths & weaknesses to specific types of attacks & your various Personas make defeating those enemies a bit easier to defeat (in fact there are even enemies that you literally can't defeat without the use of personas as they are immune to physical attacks)

By using Zio you'll be able to knock over an enemy, gain another turn, use Zio to knock over the second enemy, gain another turn, then use it gain for a final time to knock the last one down

Usually in the course of a battle you will try to find the enemy's weakness so that you can exploit it

By using Zio you'll be able to knock over an enemy, gain another turn, use Zio to knock over the second enemy, gain another turn, then use it gain for a final time to knock the last one down

Defeating the enemies takes some thinking on harder difficulties and it isn't a cake walk if you are playing on a more difficult setting than the medium one

and play!This is not a kids game and does carry a Mature "M" rating.