alright so i just got to belias and ive been trying to kill him but every time i get close he uses this spell and basically kills my whole party and then it just goes downhill from there. ive tried several methods wiht different characters everytime and i just dont know what im doing wrong...any tips?

p.s. i dont know how to use quicknings

He might be using a fire spell on characters with the status effect Oil. Use handkerchiefs to rid yourself of this immediately! Fire does a LOT more damage when Oil is in place.

If that's not the case...(wow, it's been too long since I've played so I can't really recall the whole list of possibilities) check out Agent0042's thread on Quickenings --> :) (Thread 34683)

You might want to level a little maybe 2 or 3 levels to help survive the attack. Or as soon as you see him starting the attack put in your weaker characters to take the blunt of it then switch to your main party. Another option is the equipment I think you get either an Axe or hammer first around that time and they have random damage so switch to a sword or dagger to which has a constant steady attack amount. A third option is to save your Mist charges till the point where he is almost to the point of using the attack then unleash your quickenings it may not kill him but it will come close.
Unfortuantely that is it for advice I can offer you since I was overleveled big time when I got to him so I killed him with little trouble sorry wish I could be more help.

ehh i think ill just run around the place and level a bunch

first post!

I didn't like Belias. I never use him, but then again I never use my summons, lol.

Sorry didn't see the don't know how to quicken part. To use quickenings first open them up on the LP board they each cost 50lp and when you use one it takes away from everyone elses board as in the slot is no longer there. There are 18 slots so don't worry about not having enough because everyone only gets 3 each so you do have enough. They are located usually on the edge the closest one I think is near the accesories look around and it will say quickening on the tile with the question marks when ready to be used it has a flame design that turns to a shot of the character you used for it when you get it.
Now the nice thing about this is quickenings boost your magic points not the first one but the second gives you twice as much. To use a quickening go to your character with it select MIST above gambit you will then get a screen with quickening then a name with an O forlevel one an OO for level 2 and so forth. The O's indicate how many mist charges you use for the attack. When you have full Mp and a quickening the blue bar underneath the Mp turns gold that is a Mist charge if it is blue it is not you can have a grand total of 3 mist charges.
When you use Quickening in battle you will get a special screen with a timer your party names. If your party is in white then you can either mist charge or use a quickening. If gray you can't. You can press R2 I think to shuffle the mist and maybe get a character with an attack going you have limited time so you have to hop to it. Do it well and you can get quite a combo my Max is 15 with an Ark Blast finish. After the quickening if you have used a mist charge all the MP that makes the Mist charge is gone so if you have 2 Mist charges and used a level 2 quickening you will have no MP while if you used a level one you will.
The Third great thing about quickenings is the concurrence or as I like to call it finish move. Depending on the number of Quickenings you used and their level you will get an attack that is elemently that ignores elemently defense don't know why they had that but they do. So if you get Ark Blast which is lighting on a storm element don't worry it will still hurt it.
Now the last thing you need to know is while they can be powerful early on they become more a powerful hit then a IWIN button unless if you can do well to string the combo along my usually is a 10% to 20% health hit for bosses but I stink at the combo control and will often get several level ones. As well if a Boss pulls up a Pailing which makes them invurnable to Physical Damage and sometimes Magic depending on the boss quickenings are considered physical damage so don't waste them on it just wait out the pailing before you use.
The greatest time to use a quickening is when the boss is about to die because attacks for some reason become less effective so having a mass attack where the oppenet has to sit there and take it can be really nice.
And that is all you need to know the rest is practice and expermantion.

It can be tough to fiqure out how to use quickenings to their full potential-depends on the enemy.

I don't like how Belias doesn't heal himself when he becomes critical-he becomes such a waste, lol. I don't remember how I beat him, just straight forward attacking was my best approach. I'm not being a big help, am I? lol