Pride
Rosalith Castle
After a short bit of dialogue between Clive, his siblings, and Lord Commander Murdoch, you will get your first bit of exposure to the battle system for Final Fantasy XVI.
Lord Commander Murdoch will teach you how to:
- Melee attack using the
button - Cast magic using the
button - Evade an enemy’s attacks using the
button - Use Eikonic Feats using the
button - Use consumable items, such as
Potions and High Potions, to heal yourself with the Directional Pad (
)
You will also learn how to “Break the Opponent’s Will,” which involves breaking their spirit by landing attacks to deplete their “Will Gauge”. This is the small yellow bar that will appear under an enemy combatant’s health bar, as shown in the example screenshot in the tutorial:
Getting the “Will Gauge” down to the 50% point will briefly stun and/or interrupt a target, whereas depleting it down to 0% will stagger the target. Staggered enemies will take increased damage, so you should save up powerful attacks, like 
Rising Flames, to use when an enemy is Staggered.
The prologue will give you plenty of opportunities to practice all of these combat basics, and this guide will provide additional tips along the way, so don’t be discouraged if you have trouble dodging all of the attacks at the beginning or if you struggle with the Stagger meter. It is not necessary to navigate to the sections below just yet, but they are there if you would like to do some additional reading:
Combat Tutorial
Tips and Tricks
Going over the finer points of melee attack combos, how to effectively utilize the Will Gauge, and how to get used to the game’s dodge mechanics.
Eikonic Abilities
Helpful Hint
As the tutorial mentions, you can use Eikonic Abilities by holding the 
button and pressing . These powerful attacks should be used when an enemy is staggered, so try to keep an eye on the Will Gauge. However, make sure you get in the habit of using them frequently.
Most Eikonic Abilities recharge quickly, and you can track the recharge time by looking at the slowly filling circle in the bottom-right portion of the screen. During this fight, you should be able to use Rising Flames early, and one more time when Lord Commander Murdoch is staggered.
Several cutscenes will play after the training session is concluded. Afterward, you will find yourself in control of Clive.