How can I win in combat?

These hints cover only general hand-to-hand combat.  Some opponents can only
be defeated by more clever means -- you'll have to read individual questions
on them to figure out what to do in those cases.

First of all, I'd recommend staying in easy mode.  There's really not much
point that I can see in playing on harder modes, unless you're really a big
arcade fan or a glutton for punishment.

The first thing you need to learn is how to deal with the different camera
angles and figure out how to tell where your character is pointing.  This is
really a matter of practice more than it is anything that I can explain in
hints.