Phantasy Star 3's Techniques ?

[Nate556]

Hi. I decided to take a short break from PS4 to play a little PS3, and I was wondering... My 1st run through, I never bothered to mess with the Techniques. However, this time, I decided to mess with them, and I don't quite understand it.

So, you got the box, and how you position the thing in the middle changes the powers of the spells... i got that.
What I don't get, is which way makes them stronger, and which way makes them weaker ? Does the more of those little icons make the spell stronger ? or does less of them make them stronger ?
Why does it seem like about 80% of the techniques are pointless ? I only ever used, Res, Gires, Rever, Anti, and Fanbi. Maybe I'll use them more playing Maya's children.

[BenoitRen]

The more icons, the stronger the Technique is. Each icon corresponds to one level. So if Foi has six icons, it's a Foi LV6 Technique.

Most Techniques seem pretty pointless. The attacking Techniques are only useful if used by Lyle. Apart from the healing Techniques, Fanbi and Shu are useful. They increase attack and defense power, respectively. They also stack.

[Nate556]

I wondred why Wren even got attacking techs, when his intel is only 25 at level 39.