Combat Tips

Many of the creatures you'll meet, especially at the beginning of the game,
are harmless, as long as you don't attack them first.  These typically aren't
worth any experience points anyway, so there's really no reason to fight them
in the first place.

Most of the rest generally have either good long-ranged attacks or good
close-up attacks, but not both.  You should learn very quickly from
experience which creatures fall into which categories.  Either stay away from
or run up to your opponents as appropriate.

In general, you can tell how well a particular weapon does by equipping it
and looking at your character's statistics.  Some weapons have special
attacks, which you can generally see from watching the viewport -- for
example, look for fire or ice coming from your weapon.

You can do the same with shields and other armor -- watch how they improve
your protection.