Junction system

To start off with, a character will need something called a Guardian Force, or GF -- a "contained creature" in a way, that will impart to its bearer supernatural power in the form of magic. A character may possess and use more than one GF at a time, and also summon the GF in combat to execute a special attack as needed. However, to obtain magic to use in the junctioning process, a character will need to "Draw" spells from randomly encountered enemies (in essence, stealing spells from monsters). Once obtained, the character, through his/her GF, is able to "junction" these spells to his statistics. Naturally, the more powerful the spell and the amount of spells of that type stocked will warrant a larger increase -- 100 Ultima (the ultimate spell, as its name indicates) will obviously grant a greater boost than 14 or 15 Cures. Each GF by default will only allow junctions to a few select statistics.

As characters fight and win more battles, they will gain experience points and level up thusly. Likewise, a junctioned GF will also level up. Like a typical character, the GF will become more powerful with greater increases in level. Similar to a few other Final Fantasies, you will also expect to collect ability points, AP, after combat. Abilities, such as Card (a battle command which will allow you to turn an enemy into a special card used in the mini-game Triple Triad), SumMag+30% (increasing the power of a summoned GF's attack by 30 percent), among many others, will be learned as more AP is gained, further increasing the power of the GF's bearer.

Through the correct combination of junctioned spells, Guardian Forces, and abilities, you can concievably create the ultimate fighting machine. The system, however, is inherently confusing and almost non-sensical -- it is widely regarded as the worst magic/ability system in any Final Fantasy game.