Can anyone consistently pull it off? I could never do it. Its been a while since I placed this (2012) but I don't ever remember being able to do 2 in succession. Please note I was using the original CD in a laptop running Vista and not the GOG.com version. The manuals states:

"When the symbol appears over Joseph’s head, click the right mouse button to begin the Chain Attack. For each additional attack, click the right mouse button until you are unable to continue. With each successive Chain Attack, your timing needs to be more precise in order to continue the chain. If you click the right mouse button too quickly or are unable to press it in time, the Chain Attack fails and the text TOO FAST or TOO SLOW is displayed on the screen. Try to adjust your timing to master the Chain Attack."

Ok sounds simple enough, but the TOO FAST always comes up no matter how long I delay clicking the mouse until eventually I get the TOO SLOW sign. It may be an issue with an original game running on Vista, but everything else in the game seems to work as it should. I've tried watching online vids but to no avail and the online guides don't help either. Can someone explain exacty how to time it, or is the system broken?

I can consistently pull off 3 with Joseph, after that it becomes mostly a gamble. His push attack regularly throws of my timing. I remember later in the game you can select which attacks should be used via holding alt, shift or strg. So you can concentrate on chaining the attacks you are most comfortable with. But generally it's mostly a matter of learning the different attacks in a chain and their timings. I found it best to click a bit early, when the chain icon has just appeared, maybe a bit earlier than that.

My best in this playthrough is 14

EDIT: The trick with them, especially push, is not to try to time it like a beat, instead rely on the visual act being performed. The chain time is when the character is physically hitting the other character. So push is severely delayed as it's a longer move. It's harder when you get skills like revive, as they don't strike. As a result I take them out, they take too long anyway, and the advantage of chain attacks is not that you're getting the benefit of it, it's that the enemy is not able to hit you, while your party is busy killing them.

Mend (for Jekhar) is particularly screwed up because it happens very late, but then the next attack happens almost immediately after.

Slight correction: You can assign chain attacks right away. They are in your skills list in the character screen. To the right of them you see which key you have to hold while pressing the right mouse button. These can be changed around of course. So when i concentrated on the three attacks other than "push", my chains became much, much longer. Give it a try!

I've been trying to time this things but it's impossible, I mix and I try some specific and I change between Joseph and Fleece just to get some variation. My record is 3 I believe but on average I manage 1 or 2. I've a huge problem with timing (as in I don't like them) so I doubt I'll learn but is there anything else anyone has learned? Neither relying on a beat or the visual act seems to help me.

Also, is it possible to pull them off for more than one character? It seems like a weird system if you start with 4 chain attacks and then you gain more and more characters yet you can only control one to perform one chain attack at a time or am I missing something?

Only your currently selected character can pull them off. So it's best to use the character who is under attack and thus keep the enemy from attacking. The trick to pulling off chain attacks is to look for the moment your weapon connects with the enemy, as wpegg suggested. Buff and healing chain attacks also have a definitive moment in their animations where the next attacks has to be chained. So the best way is to memorize all attacks and their animations. You know you can trigger certain attacks by holding caps, shift, strg or alt with right click, right? When you start to alternate just two attacks (you can't chain the same attack you just did) you should learn their patterns pretty soon.

I'm not talking about the regular heal magic spell. When you are using chain attacks regularly you can unlock new chain attacks for your character. Joseph get's one later on that can heal the entire party (but only for a small amount of HPs), but i can't recall the name. Jekhar get's "Mend", also a heal chain attack, but this one only heals him.

Joseph gets Revive, that as has beensaid - heals all the party a bit. He also gets drain life, which is a good one to choose as it's easy to chain, and when combined with Mind Drain (steals APs) it means you don't lose too many AP doing chain attacks.

Sorry to hear you're having trouble timing them. My record now for this playthrough is 21, so they are possible. As I said, the key point is that you don't try a consistent period, instead watch the character's sword. As it's about to strike the enemy, hit the mouse button. I think the sweet spot is actually when you see a little flash as you hit them (but clicking takes time, so go a bit before this). It's easier once you get to drop Push out of the order, but even with that one, once again, look for when he is about to actually strike with the push.

Revive and Mend are hardest as there is no actual strike.

Thanks for the contributions guys, its been an interesting read. I think I understand now, before I relied too heavily on the overhead symbols. However I won't be booting this game up anytime soon just to test out my chain attacks. How are you progressing with the chain attacks so far?

Unfortunately I've been busy but I'll try soon enough.