(no subject)

There was a particularly mean FOE on B8F that didn't seem to care about Provoke (it had a single-target attack that went off 2-3 times at random, and I guess as long as one of those hit Samuel then he was free to murder whoever he wanted with the other 1-2.) Simone was just hurt enough that being hit with that move again would have killed her, and even though I ordered Rachael to heal her, I wasn't sure that she could go first and do so before the FOE struck again. Thus, I had Samuel (who was still under the influence of his own Provoke) use Bodyguard (a straightforward cover-type move; targets one ally and is one of those priority moves that automatically goes first, then, if any enemy tries to take a swing at that ally that round, they automatically take a swing at Samuel instead) on Simone.

Sure enough, the FOE went first and used that damned move. Sure enough, its first hit would have been Simone. Instead, it went to Samuel, where it was completely negated because Magic Parry happened to activate. The second hit actually targeted Samuel directly (probably due to Provoke) and that one went through, but he's tough and can take it. I mean, he has Guardian (passive damage reduction, he just plain takes something like 40-45% or so less damage at max level) maxed out at this point. He'll be fine.

I won that battle because Hoplites are awesome. Well, okay, my entire team is awesome, but without my Hoplite, the only member of my party capable of actually doing decent damage to FOEs and bosses would have been slaughtered, so hey.