Um alright here's the thing...
The controls are kinda the same as the Smash Bros series and a little bit of Dissidia too. You press a button and a direction to attack with different moves. Circle button is regular attacks, X button is the special moves. You jump by pressing up. You can only move your character with your D-pad. The Analog Stick changes attack mode (a little text thingy shows up in the corner of the screen). You can change all the moves and gain stat upgrades if you first level up a little bit and then head to a mode called EDIT (エディット). You can have 4 different moves. You can also buy things in the SHOP (ショップ) when they are available, but I think you need to level up first.
At the top-left of the main menu is the YGGDRASIL BATTLE (ユグドラシルバトル) and that's the main story mode of the game. You will be able to pick between 4 different teams with 2 characters each (from different Tales games). Then you will chat and stuff and then a fight starts. When you are on the World Map later, there will be a flag on some spots. If you go there, you will be able to capture a flag and advance the story a little bit (I guess >v<). There are other kinds of battles too, and side-events.
The battles themselves work like this: You have your regular HP and your magic points. Right at the top of those, a big number, that's your lives/stock/points, similar to the Stock Battle in Smash Bros. In this game, it's commonly known as a POINT BATTLE. If you don't have anymore stock, you lost the fight, so if your opponent has 3 stock, you have to beat them up 3 times. You can pick up items that randomly show up and then use them with the Triangle button.
The controls and movements of the characters feels a little too stiff most of the time. The characters are slow, and they don't do their special moves or attacks as quick as say the Smash Bros characters does. It's a different kind of game mechanic here, a bit slower than other fighting games. It's still a good game, just that reaction time to perform moves and avoiding attacks is different here, a little slower, than other games.