At top left, we have, of course, the selected character's name and portrait, but what about the rest of it? Read on...

The character's level. This provides a good general idea of how strong the character is. When not acquired from NPCs or events, spells are learned at or near certain preset levels. HP, MP, and basic attributes typically increase as level increases as well.

Ryu has a special item called the Dragon Tear that allows him to see how favorably other characters feel about him (similar to an "affection level" in relationship-based games). This value, popularly called "Mood" perhaps due to the resemblance to a mood ring, determines the color of the Dragon's Tear, which appears on character status screens. The gem on Ryu's status screen is always the orange neutral affection color, which may mean Ryu doesn't let his strengths go to his head, or may simply mean the gem doesn't work on its holder.

Note that while Ryu's status screen always displays a neutral orange Dragon's Tear, his actual Mood does change, just as it does for all the other characters. The practical upshot of this is that he'll almost certainly be able to cast Domega (Missile) if you decide to teach it to him for whatever reason.

The Dragon's Tear also appears during certain conversations, generally when someone is meaningfully interacting with Ryu or talking about him. When Mood changes during a conversation, the gem flashes and is accompanied by a noise... sort of a "shiny" sound for increase, and a "frustrated" sound for decrease. Mood for NPCs is, in theory, useful as an extra level of depth, allowing you to look past their words to how they really feel. In practice, though, I feel that the game doesn't use it nearly as effectively as it should. It's still an interesting concept regardless.

For party members, it has no known effect other than preventing the use of several high-end spells when it isn't high enough. However, it's easy enough to raise Mood that this doesn't usually matter. If the value is too low, just stick them in the party and go kill some monsters until it isn't.

The following chart shows the relationship between the internal Mood value, the appearance of the Dragon's Tear, and the margin colors and numbers I'm using to represent this in the transcript.

-6		Mood is 0 to 15 (0x00 through 0x0F).
-5		Mood is 16 to 31 (0x10 through 0x1F).
-4		Mood is 32 to 47 (0x20 through 0x2F).
-3		Mood is 48 to 63 (0x30 through 0x3F).
-2		Mood is 64 to 79 (0x40 through 0x4F).
-1		Mood is 80 to 95 (0x50 through 0x5F).
0		Mood is 96 to 111 (0x60 through 0x6F).
1		Mood is 112 to 127 (0x70 through 0x7F).
2		Mood is 128 to 145 (0x80 through 0x8F).
3		Mood is 144 to 159 (0x90 through 0x9F).
4		Mood is 160 to 175 (0xA0 through 0xAF). Player characters must have at least 175 Mood to use Valhalla (Bolt X) or Domega (Missile).
5		Mood is 176 to 191 (0xB0 through 0xBF)
6		Mood is 192 to 207 (0xC0 through 0xCF). Player characters must have at least 200 Mood to use Leefrest (Cure X).
7		Mood is 208 to 223 (0xD0 through 0xDF)
8		Mood is 224 to 239 (0xE0 through 0xEF)
9		Mood is 240 to 255 (0xF0 through 0xFF). Player characters must have at least 250 Mood to use Revalra (Renew X).
?	n/a	(in the transcript) Mood is unknown. I use this where the game displays the Dragon's Tear, but there's no way to be sure of what color it will be, since there have been too many opportunities for Mood to change.

Hit points. The measure of how much damage a character can withstand before becoming Incapacitated. Displayed as current/maximum.

Ability points. How much energy the character has to cast spells or use similar skills. Displayed as current/maximum.

How much combat experience the character has. Kill monsters to get more. Only characters in the active party gain experience. Experience points are not divided up between characters, so there's never any reason to fight with less than a full party unless the game forces you to.

The experience gain displayed after combat shows the total combined experience gained by all characters in the party. For example, if a party of three defeats a monster worth 150 exp, each of the three will gain 150 exp, and the message will say that the party gained 450 exp. If a party of two defeated that same monster, the message would indicate that the party only gained 300 exp, but each of the two would still gain 150 exp.

Additionally, characters who are at least five levels behind Ryu get a bonus to experience gain, using the following table:

Note that the amount of experience needed per level varies considerably between characters. In particular, Ryu needs more experience per level than any other character, but since he's nearly always required to be in the active party, he'll usually have the highest level regardless.

Adds to Attack Power. The maximum value is 255.

Adds to Defense Power. The maximum value is 255.

Adds to Mobility. The maximum value is 511.

Helps reduce damage taken from magic. The maximum value is 255.

Player character Wisdom is also believed to influence the chance of getting critical hits when casting offensive magic.

Monster Wisdom also determines the chance of success for spells that can fail, both when the monster casts the spell (higher Wisdom = more likely to work) and when the monster is the target of the spell (higher Wisdom = more likely to fail).

This is believed to influence various "random" results, such as selecting more favorable multipliers when using physical attacks. The maximum value is 255.

Literally "goodness of luck".

How hard the character hits. This opposes target Defense Power when calculating damage inflicted. Attack Power is Strength plus weapon attack and any bonuses or penalties, and has a maximum of 511 under normal circumstances.

How well the character fares when being hit. This opposes attacker Attack Power when determining physical damage taken. Defense Power is Stamina plus armor defense and any bonuses or penalties, and has a maximum of 511.

How quickly the character can act during any given round of combat. Also seems to affect success rate when trying to flee combat. Mobility is Agility plus any bonuses or penalties, capped at 511, minus armor weight (deducted after applying the cap).

This represents how the character is feeling, basically. It is believed to influence the chance of succeeding at various beneficial actions, such as dodging, counterattacking (if applicable), and getting critical hits. This displays as one of five text strings:

Most of these are pretty colloquial, so the translations are more approximate than usual.

Unlike other stats, Condition varies over time rather than increasing with level gains. It has a maximum of 255.

Since Guts have a maximum value of 255, this gives, at best, not quite a one in four chance for this to happen. Ryu gets more use out of Guts thanks to his special command, and conveniently has the best Guts stat of any character.

The status screen displays one flame for every 32 points of Guts, up to a possible seven flames.

The equipped weapon, if any.

The equipped shield, if any.

The equipped body armor, if any.

The equipped headgear, if any.

Anything else that's equipped.