So I borrowed this last night, hearing how groundbreaking it is, and I really wanna get into it. But some of the gameplay mechanics are a bit archaic nowadays, making it somewhat difficult to get into after being spoiled by modern games, I suppose. I suppose the big problems I'm having so far are:

How do I know where magic is going to hit? Is it anything on the square, and any surrounding square?

How am I meant to know if a weapon is an upgrade without writing down someones stats before hand? (There's no green up arrows for Gods sake!)

Is there any way to check what weapons and armor are good for a character/class, without doing it in the store?

Many thanks in advance friends!

@Matoya said:

How am I meant to know if a weapon is an upgrade without writing down someones stats before hand? (There's no green up arrows for Gods sake!)

I also had this problem.

So I borrowed this last night, hearing how groundbreaking it is, and I really wanna get into it. But some of the gameplay mechanics are a bit archaic nowadays, making it somewhat difficult to get into after being spoiled by modern games, I suppose. I suppose the big problems I'm having so far are:

How do I know where magic is going to hit? Is it anything on the square, and any surrounding square?

How am I meant to know if a weapon is an upgrade without writing down someones stats before hand? (There's no green up arrows for Gods sake!)

Is there any way to check what weapons and armor are good for a character/class, without doing it in the store?

Many thanks in advance friends!

@Matoya said:

So I borrowed this last night, hearing how groundbreaking it is, and I really wanna get into it. But some of the gameplay mechanics are a bit archaic nowadays, making it somewhat difficult to get into after being spoiled by modern games, I suppose. I suppose the big problems I'm having so far are:

How do I know where magic is going to hit? Is it anything on the square, and any surrounding square?

How am I meant to know if a weapon is an upgrade without writing down someones stats before hand? (There's no green up arrows for Gods sake!)

Is there any way to check what weapons and armor are good for a character/class, without doing it in the store?

Many thanks in advance friends!

You're doing it wrong. You equip a weapon because it teaches you a new skill, not because it ups your stats. But if you really must know if the equipment you wanna buy is an improvement stat-wise, just memorize how strong your current equipment is. The stats of the item are clearly listed on the shop screen. But no, you can't hit Select to see which classes can equip the item unless you're in a shop. You can, however, hit R to see which skills it teaches and to whom, which is what really matters.

You actually have it easy in the original FFTA. In the sequel they add another layer of micromanagement into the mix: item synthesis (the *only* way to gain new equipment, and consequently, skills, and consequently, jobs). It's virtually impossible to play the game without having 5 different FAQs open at once if you want your party to be as strong as it possibly can.

 As for figuring out where a spell is gonna hit... IIRC, there's no way to view the area of effect in the original FFTA, but I'm fairly sure all spells just work as a cross (5 squares) so it doesn't really matter.

@Matoya: Nah, the missions (most of which are optional) already provide enough cash, goods and exp. Also, one thing I should note is that rival clan member levels are based on the average of your own clan's levels. So if you do wanna use clan battles to gain some levels, I suggest you regularly kick out those low-level recruits you still have tucked away somewhere but never used otherwise you'll start running into clans that are 10 levels lower than yourself. There's very little reason to level more than 6 characters in this game anyway due to the job system.    You can't upgrade a White Mage to a Bishop so I'm just gonna assume you meant the White Monk instead. In which case, yes, the Bishop is one of two upgrades to the White Monk, but not necessarily an improvement seeing as it's basically the Bangaa's equivalent of a White Mage while the Templar is an anti-magic melee unit. So make sure you want this character to be a healer before you start leveling them as a Bishop. If you do wanna make them your main healer, you probably wanna combo their Bishop skillset with their White Monk skillset because only White Monks can revive other units.  Of course, you're not limited to the White Monk tree. You could also switch over to the Warrior family and turn them into some sort of Paladin by comboing Defender with Bishop for example. 

Ninjas and Fighters with Damage -> MP. 
You need nothing else.