Still, the arena combat is the main focus of the game, and even the battles you experience outside in the real world follow the same combat model. This is not a fast moving game. The fighting is turn-based and can be rather slow at times, especially when your enemies are far away from you. Every battlefield is essentially a grid, and characters only can move a certain amount of squares per turn. There are some fighting skills to be learned though, as Gladius utilizes a swing meter to determine the strength and accuracy of the hit each character lands. This involves hitting the appropriate button at the right time, which is a little more difficult then it sounds. The more complicated attacks, such as combos, have more complicated button sequences, so there is a certain mastery to attain during combat.