Once thing I noticed in FF7 was that if you get attacked from behind, your characters will be facing the opposite direction. A few things that I've never bothered to test came into mind though...

I heard sources say that if you press R1+L1 (which is to run), you'll face the right way... but if you don't press it, does it mean you get more damage done to you? Not entirely sure on that... I thought Back Attacks just have your timer at Zero when you start the battle?

Can anyone shine some light on this?

The only battle I can remember that starts with a back attack is the one against the Motorball thing at the end of Midgar. And it hits you to start off with to get you all facing the right way. I haven't tried running in battle (it's against my philosophy) but I guess it would make sense to reverse direction and run INTO the bad guys... But also it should be easier to escape because you're halfway there...

Plus as battles are "active" so to speak, you can begin running right away no matter how full your ATB meter thingo is...

Yeah its true, when you are in reverse direction if the enemy attack you , you will get more damage. And your attack is more weak when you get a back attack than when you get a normal fight.

Originally posted by Nanaki Claws
Yeah its true, when you are in reverse direction if the enemy attack you , you will get more damage. And your attack is more weak when you get a back attack than when you get a normal fight.

This is true, but if you switch the rows of your party, so that they move from the back row to the front row, does damage return to normal? Or is it still a little bit lower than what it would normally be?

Sorry, but I don't have the game available to check myself. :(

Yeah your stats will revert back to normal. But if you are surrounded it will not work.

If you get back-attacked, enemies take twice as much damage from you as normal. And, when you are back-attacked, you only take away half the damage to enemies that you originally do.

ya u guys are very confusing when you are back attacked you take double damage if you are attack while your back is turned and if you tap the shoulder buttons to run and then let them go you will turn around and return to normal and not take double damage

You're just as confusing bud......Hanh it is true just tap em together and you'll face around but the stats will be altered.

uhh yeah.. all is confusing... so here goes... when you enter a battle where you find your characters being back attacked, just press L1 + R1 for a second, and they'll begin to run away (same direction they start out facing) and then switch to fae the enemy, nullifying the double damage factor... but whoever was in the back row will now be in the front, and vice-versa... to fix this, before you fight motorball you can reverse your party in the menu, or if you don't see it coming (random encounter) you can either deal with it, or if it's gonna take a while, spend the first turn using the 'change' function (by holding left [i think] on the battle menu when there's nothing to the left... it will show the change funtion and you can select it) hope that helps!
oh yeah, before i forget... in side attack battles, in which you can't escape, you can hold the run buttons, and it will say 'can't escape' but your characters will all face the opposite direction they currently face... this doesn't prevent double damage, because when they get hit, they'll face the original way to take damage, and if that happens to be away from the enemy, then double damage will get ya! and then you'll face the other way... be careful if you try to experiment with this, because if you defeat all enemies on one side, then you will be able to escape, and might do it on accident, with no exp as a reward!