I am ready to live stream a big piece of the game (including Story Mode) when I get back. ^^
A quick tutorial: The white number above your HP is your Bravery Point and shows how much damage you deal to your opponent when you perform a special attack with the Square button. You can also raise this number with normal attacks (Circle button). When you hit someone, you will gain Bravery Points, while your opponent loses some. If you move the Analog Pad in a different direction and press either of the buttons, you can perform a different move than a regular one (you can set these yourself and you gain new ones when you level up your character). Different moves applies while you're air-borne too. The Circle button attacks are also Guard Break moves, so if you deal enough hits with that, the screen suddenly turns white and you will earn an extra 1000 to your damage meter, which means that next time you attack with Square attacks, it will be very dangerous for your opponents. You can also perform dodge moves by pressing R+Cross and a direction. This works in air too. R is the guard button, but only for regular attacks.
On the far edge of the screen is the Mana meter (purple color). When it's full, you can start EX Mode by pressing R+Square. It casts Regen on you, so you recover a bit of HP. Now, when you successfully hit your opponent at this point (before the mana meter runs out), you can perform the Super Special move by waiting for a big Square button to show up on the screen. From there, you perform your character's trademark "Limit Break"-style button sequence to deal big damage. Cloud's Super asks you to mash the Circle button to fill up the Limit Break counter. Squall's Super asks you to press R-trigger at the right moments. Warrior of Light has D-pad sequences. And so on. If you played FFX, you know how Tidus's Super works. >v<
You gain Gil to later spend them for items on the game's Main Menu shop. The shop gets unlocked later in the game.
You also gain PP points. That's the game's currency for unlocking characters and extra features.
I explain more when I get into it further.
I also like the theme song "Cosmos". It actually fits great in a fight. ^^