Guard Condition
If you have played any Final Fantasy from FF4 back on the Super Nintendo, you know that RPGs enjoy a front row/back row system to combat. Typically the way it works is that the guys in the front row do more damage and receive more damage than the guys in the back. This means you put your squishy characters, like mages, in the back where they are better protected.
Lost Odyssey is no exception, but it throws in a new twist. The actual defense applied to the back row depends on strong the front row is. If everyone is dead in the front row, the back row loses any defense bonus they enjoyed. Also, if there's only one guy in the front and two in the back, the two in the back are less protected than if there had been two in front and one in back.
The whole system is called Guard Condition, and is shown via meters in the top corners during battle. Your Guard Condition is shown in the top-right, and the enemies' in the top-left. That's correct: it's not just you taking advantage of the row differences.
Guard Condition applies to both physical and magical defense. Casters on your team are warned not to be throwing spells into the enemy's back row if the enemy GC is high, unless you want to waste MP.
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