The system of the battling

Ok, I know it's been awhile, and I'm sure everyone is just achingly, horribly consumed in bittersweet anticipation of what wondrous improvements, bug-fixes, and upgrades we will provide this time. As you know, I have been working on the battle system since the end of the previous semester. So far, I have implemented the following:

The game loop is functional, and supports moving/attacking.
The main character can move within a sphere defined by his movement radius.
The main character can choose a target (buggy, but somewhat functional)
Enemy/Character attributes are loaded from a file when a battle commences

Now, I'll go over (briefly) what I hope to accomplish, and how the battle system is to ultimately work. I have always thought of it as a hybrid between Final Fantasy Tactics and Shadow Hearts. Combat is turn-based, with skills requiring a certain charge before executing (for instance, an attack with a charge of 1/4 will charge in 4 turns, thenwill execute. There is a bonus for chaining these types of attacks. If another character--on the subsequent turn-- uses a skill that has a charge of 1/3, and they both hit their targets, more damage will be dealt.) Every attack/skill/item will have a radius/area that describes the type of attack. Some are spherical attacks that can hit multiple targets, others will be rays, and some still, may hit enemies and allies alike. Strategically planning attacks will be the key to winning battles, as we hope to make the battles challenging, but fun. I am currently working on a damage formula, as well as the display for when a character is actually attacked, rather, the displaying of the integer that floats above the character for a bit after sustaining damage. Hopefully, this makes the battle system, at least conceptually, a little more understandable. Hopefully, I'll have a screenshot or two for next time.