Although you can have everybody run around like a chicken with its head cut off, the smarter move is to position the characters where they'll be the most effective. You do this through the Strategy menu either during or before battle.

Not only can you control the movement of a party member, you control what enemy they attack, how often they use their skills and where they position themselves in relation to an enemy's movement. It shouldn't take a degree from MIT to figure out you want your strike attackers on the front line and your spell-casters away from the action.

The real gem in the Strategy section is deciding how frequently do you want an AI-controlled character to use its skills. You can command your characters to do as they wish. However, the smarter choice is to make them keep a reserve of Tech Points.

Remember that you can change your strategy at any time during battle. You can order your crew to Keep Reserve, which means they stop using Tech Attacks when only 25% of their Tech Points remain. When you have a boss on the ropes, change the Strategy to At Once. This forces your party members to pound the boss with Tech Attacks. However, if you've got an enemy down and your crew has nothing left in the tank, you're in big trouble.

You also can change the strategy for your whole group during battle. Press the R Button to bring up the targeting screen. In the bottom left you'll notice a highlighted section that lets you change your orders to All Out, Reserve or Guard. Change from one order to another by pressing a direction on the Control Pad.