so going back to WhiteRose's drawing:
1. The action window (attack/item/magic/etc.) does not show all the time. That leaves us with an awkward empty space in the corner. Do we extend the help window underneath it, use the command window as a secondary help window instead of making it go away, or arrange stuff differently?
EDIT: by using it as a secondary help window, we could use it to display stuff like
QuoteGhost uses Haunt! Critical Hit! William takes 23 damage
Or since we are using timed hits, we can indicate when and what to press graphically.
EDIT2: to do this, we could have a little circle and the outline of a target. The circle is programmed to move around differently for each attack/skill, but if you press it when it is in contact with the target outline, you get the timed hit. If you press it when it is exactly in the center of the target (1 frame), it will critical. For defense, in contact would be a normal block, in the center would be a perfect block (0 damage). Thoughts?
EDIT3: in case anybody is still reading this topic, I'm just going to formally declare that I am working on a prototype of the battle system. It is going to use the layout as depicted in WhiteRose's mockup and use the timed hits indicator I mentioned above.