The game is split between a world area, a battle area and a world map.[7] The player controls Rush Sykes, as he travels around the world screen within an area, with the camera floating behind and slightly above him. Within the world screen, the player can talk to anyone, enter buildings and other areas, or exit to the map screen. The map allows instant travel between different cities and areas, or between different areas within the city. On the battle screen, the game has a three-dimensional area like the world screen with a setting reminiscent of the location, where every character and enemy appear. Instead of random encounters, players enter the separated battle when they touch an enemy on the main world screen. The player can enter a battle with multiple enemies at once, by using a "time-shift" system, which slows the time for Rush to provoke them.[7]
The game features a battle system labeled by Hiroshi Takai as a "turn-based, command-based system using symbol encounters".[8] During a battle, each enemy from the world screen is represented by a group, or "union", of enemies ranging from one to five individual units; similarly the player's forces are composed of multiple unions of three to five units each. The skills of the units in the player's unions, which include both story characters and hireable units not appearing outside of battle, vary according to different parameters.[7] One such parameter is the "morale" bar, which is affected by the events in battle and can have positive or negative effects on the battle forces.[9] Each unit can also learn different attacks, which are divided into categories such as blade attacks and healing magic. At the beginning of each turn the player selects from a group of choices what attack types each union will perform; the player is unable to select the individual attack of each unit. Special attacks require "action points", which continually accrue during each battle.[7] The player selects at the beginning of each turn which enemy union each of their unions will attack. As the enemy makes their selections at the same time, it is possible for a union to be "deadlocked", or forced to fight a different union than the player or enemy had selected. When multiple unions are deadlocked onto the same enemy, some unions can flank the enemy or attack from the rear for more damage.[10]