itch.io

great update!

Probably some of the best art I've ever seen.

I haven't done much ranged combat, so I couldn't tell you about that, but the way melee works as far as I can tell is as follows:

When you attack, it has a height/area it targets. For example, a lot of the attacks target the torso of the opponent. Dealing damage makes their armor (if they have any) take the damage first. Armor is eventually broken, allowing you to deal damage to their health.

There are certain effects that bypass armor (sundering), so you can deal some damage directly to the enemy's health. Certain melee attacks do this, but magic damage also generally works from what I can tell.

Your current "stance" (dictated by the picture next to the ability/action that you are going to take) influences what abilities you can use. You can look in the skills menu to see what each ability requires.

You can see the enemy's stance next to their name, as well as I think the move they plan on using, allowing you to plan in advance the move/stance you would like to use.

Your stamina is the resource used to use combat abilities. Lowering your stamina too low will reduce your stats, so keeping some available is important.  Some abilities restore your stamina, like the guard ability.

Your stability is your character's footing. Some abilities cause instability, which lowers it. Too low, and your character might fall over.

The easiest way to practice imo is to play a warrior or a paladin and practice beating people up. You could also play an enchanter and go for seduction victories, but that's a whole 'nother can of worms to open in terms of how that system functions, and to be honest, I don't understand it as well as I do the fighting system (and I'm certainly no expert on this either lol.)