The
gameplay is divided into three main
areas: the
overworld map, the
towns and
dungeons, and
battles. When in the overworld map, the
player directs their
characters to different locations in the game. Towns contain the prerequisite
shops and
villagers who offer information, while dungeons are
mazelike affairs where
random enemy encounters may occur. These battles may also strike on the overworld map and follow a typical
RPG pattern: the player makes
choices for their characters (such as whether to fight, cast a
magic spell, or run away), and then the enemy
takes a turn. This pattern repeats until the characters on one side all run out of
hit points and die. There are 15 turns, accounting for each of the 15 days. Whereas most
console RPGs give the player access to a limited number of precreated spells, it allows the player nearly total creative freedom. The player can enter various
magic words (called
kotodama (言霊,ことだま) in the original) into their
grimoire. Every one will have some effect, although most are not useful. There is an underlying framework to the system, however, which is based on the gameworld's elements. A complete
mantra generally consists of a
prefix, elemental core, and
suffix, although the core alone is enough to produce an effect. There are eight elements (plus
healing), and of these, six are arranged in mutually antagonistic pairings:
fire vs.
water,
wind vs.
electricity, and
light vs
dark. The remaining two offensive elements,
earth and
void, have no strengths or weaknesses. Since spells are formed from letters, there are specific patterns corresponding to each element. Certain spells that use the root word
tou for example, will produce lightning-based attacks, while those containing
aqu will create water-based effects. Additionally, there are prefixes and suffixes that can be added onto the base elements to change their attributes. Most of these influence the base power and cost to use the spell, but others add abnormal
status effects (for example,
poisoning the target) or change the mantra's range so that it only targets a single enemy instead of multiple ones or vice versa. Prefixes and suffixes with similar effects can be used in tandem to produce amplified effects. Other mantras consist of unique words, many of them in English, that create certain effects and skip the naming system entirely. Many of these strange words are learned from in-game characters or by reading books. For example,
geo is an earth-related mantra, and
kingcoast is a water spell. Adding prefixes or suffixes to these usually makes something completely different (and often useless). This use of spelled-out mantras allows the player to learn magic from even their enemies. When an enemy uses magic, the player has but to write down the spells used and then to enter them into his or her own grimoire after the battle in order to have access to them. Some of these enemy spells are extremely powerful, although many are not as cost-efficient as the basic spells described above. Some are more space-efficient versions of regular spells. ==Plot==