OCTOPATH TRAVELER CotC battle basics.

Battles are fought on a turn by turn basis. First, select the command the character will carry out, then press attack to start their turn. Turn order is decided by a character's speed. Once all actions are over, the next turn begins. Turn order for both enemies and allies is displayed in the top left of the screen.
Front and back rows: up to eight characters can participate in a single battle: four in the front row near the enemy and four in the back row. Those in the front row can attack enemies, but are also vulnerable to being hit themselves. Those in the back row recover 10% of their HP and SP per turn. You can swap characters between rows when choosing a command. When a character in the front row become incapacitated, they are automaticall y moved to the back row.

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Front row: characters in the front are subject to enemy attack, but can also attack and use battle skills. Back row - characters in the back are generally safe enemy attack and recover HP and SP with every turn. They also switch to the front row whenever one of thos characters becomes incapacitated. When a character's HP is reduced to 0, they are incapacitated and moved to the back row. When all characters in both rows become incapacitated, you will lose the battle. If you choose not to continue, you will be returned to the inn of the last town you visited.

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After being defeated, you can use rubies to continue. If you do, your party's HP, SP, and BP will all be completely restored and you can pick up where you left off.
Overkill - some enemies can use special attacks that deal enough damage to incapacitate you. When this happens, the word 'overkill' will appear above the damage count. Overkill attacks are not effected by damage reducing status effects. However, if a character has a skill that prevents being incapacitated via damage, then they will not be incapacitated despite the word "overkill" appearing.
Result screen: after you defeat all enemies and win the battle, you will see the results screen. Your party members will receive EXP, and you can see the leaves and items you won from battle here.