I haven't encountered many enemy spell casters. Aside from quests, giants, elementals, trolls or occasional demon I have seen no S/C from enemy factions. Confusion, rock slides, some inky black spell, dominate (not sure that even affected me), and once I encountered a flame spell.
If I cast a protect friend spell ( I haven't tried it because I seldom get attacked with spells), would that counter a confusion spell?
I don't mind so much but it seems that the game would more challenging if I had to choose between a defensive & offensive spell when facing a channeler from a different faction. Depending on level, shards, and intelligence---any of the elements could nullify/counter each other given a certain set of variables. Granted, I am only working through the hard level at this point. Does one encounter say--a Relias that throws stabs of ice or lighten strikes at higher levels?
I love having a variety to choose from & look forward to more; at the same time, I'd like the game to provide an arena to use them so that players are creatively challenged defensively & offensively.