Yaaay! I got my Dissidia and PSP! -has picture-

Guarding is tricky to master for this game. I wouldn't say I'm amazing at it, but when you start getting the hang of it you can easily turn a battle in your favor with a well-timed block. First off, you can't block any HP attack with a normal guard. So if you see the bar appear at the top of the screen, prepare to dodge. Most brave attacks can be easy to see coming, simply watch the person's weapon/movements. If you see it start to move and there's no name give at the top, guard. WoL and Cloud are good to practice on, because all they got is their swords. Watch their swords, and when their weapons start to move guard. They'll stagger if you block their hit, and that's your chance to hit them. If you do a brave attack, there's a 50% chance that a hit will crit, and when combined with Riposte practically every attack will crit. Combined with the right accessories you can break them fairly easily with just a single counter. If you follow up with an HP attack, as long as it doesn't have a huge start up time, it will connect.

For projectiles, it's usually best to just dash through them then beat the crap out of the caster. However, if you do block a projectile, or any attack at all for that matter, you can use another guard without having to wait for the lag following a guard that didn't block anything. So if you're about to get hit with a multi-hit projectile, like Kefka's scatter spray Blizzaga or Ultimecia's swords, if you block the first hit, keep tapping R so that you block each hit after that.

If you find yourself having trouble guarding against a certain character, play as that character for a bit and learn their moves. When using the move, watch how the CPU reacts, then go try it for yourself on your main.

Oh, and another thing I found out is if you guard when someone dashes into you, it staggers them. So when they grind a rail or do a Quickmove over as a jump, get right in front of them and guard.