Heh, I played through the whole game and still didn't really 'get' quickenings.

I got chains going, sometimes (though usually it's shuffle-shuffle-shuffle-BZZT time out and the character does one quickening for about 10 HP) but they never seem to do much damage considering the fact it uses the entire MP of every single party member if they all get involved. Too much of a gamble, IMO, and I've never had much of a return for the MP investment.

Drives me nuts when I burn an entire bar of the character's MP only for the timer to whiz by, nothing happens, and I do less damage than pressing 'attack'.