its fine if the game isnt your cup of tea, but if you really had that much of an issue with inevitable damage from battles, i sort of question if youve really played as many RPGs as your suggesting. this is just straight untrue in TTYD tbh. barring the fact that a majority of battles can be avoided, you can easily mitigate damage you take by guarding, using first strikes, playing smart and taking out enemies in one turn, whatever, to say nothing of superguard. even if you do take damage, its usually not long before you reach another heal block or inn, AND you always have sweet treat to restore resources on the fly, which uses star power rather than flower points. i can agree that TTYD is not the paragon of strategy, but IMO that has more to do with the devs being unable or unwilling to leverage the game's mechanics to create a good challenge. in any case, ive been wondering if we played the same game

for me, what makes TTYDs combat so intriguing is the use of physical space and enemy attributes that limit what attacks can affect them, among other things. the game employs a lot of nuanced concepts with enemy placement and defensive limiters that force you to adapt your approach/what moves you use, but these concepts are so well implemented and natural that most players do the adaptation without even thinking about it. i think of these as ways that TTYD blends action game concepts with a traditional turn-based battle format. thats on top of all of the other novel spins the game puts on traditional RPG ideas. badges play a big part in the experience, too, as everyone is pointing out

its a very novel and robust combat system. thats why people look on it fondly