how in the heck do you do a timed hit or whatever it's called in this game?  like when the circle thing goes over the enemy i keep getting "bad."  what should i do?

thanks!

I have no idea, but this reminds me of timed hits in Beyond the Beyond.

Didn't Legend of Dragoon have these, too?

I want to hear more about this... I imagine it's quite similar to the Shadow Hearts combat, seeing as it's mostly the same people and all.

Yes, and it was really annoying in that game.  I think in Lost Odyssey, if your timing is bad, you are not doomed in battle.  It's an extra rather than a mandatory aspect of battle.  In Legend of Dragoon, this was "mandatory."  It was essential to get the timings right, or you could never do a reasonable amount of damage.

Shadow Hearts uses a roulette-style ring.  Lost Odyssey's ring is closer to Legend of Dragoon's ring system.

It took me a while to get used to this as well. Hold the trigger down until the outer ring touches the inner ring, then release (I find I get more perfects if I release like a half a second after it reaches the inner ring, go figure).

Yep, took me some time to get the hang of it too, but the most important thing is that you keep the right trigger down from BEFORE the attack starts, and then release it when the big ring enters the smaller inner ring.
If you're like me in the beginning, you'll probably press the trigger when the ring appears on screen, but you'll already be too late at that point.