Control of your monster is much different than say fighting in Tekken or Soul Blade. The battles are basically fought on a 2D plain. The R1 and L1 buttons move the monster right and left. The directional pad has two functions. When on the offensive, it scrolls through your various techniques and when on the defensive it will move your monster back, up or down.
Techniques differ in the range of their attacks.
Some are long range while some are medium and others short. Selecting the proper technique depending on your proximity from the monster and the amount of Will you have to execute it is critical to your success in making contact. Each monster starts a battle with 50 Will points. Each technique uses a different amount of Will to execute it. Will points are recovered by each monster type at different rates.