CCM'S PROFILE

That's really interesting, thanks for the in-depth explanation and I totally get where you're coming from re: wanting more interesting interaction with mechanics in the game. If those are indeed mechanics implemented in the game, I would have really liked some sort of indicator that they were happening, because a lot of them just seemed like powerful attacks that came out at random. I'll have a more exhaustive list when I finish the game and draft out my review, but even just something like naming it "Counter Pentagram," or having the boss call out the first time you use ice and make fun of you for using an obvious strategy; some kind of signposting.

(The fiend of wind was extremely tedious when I fought her, as Draekor had a two handed weapon at the time and I ended up having to restart and do the fight over with a spear because it was just implausible to do it without the single dispel the party has access to.)

That...what?

He punishes using the game system against him, and incentivizes slowly grinding through his HP when you have a party member whose explicit use is targeting elemental weaknesses??

That is a baffling decision.

e: Yup, I got to the liquid flame and he VERY explicitly counters water attacks for the exact amount of damage he took. What a confusing decision, why else is Vetu there but to hit (fairly rare) elemental weaknesses? It's not like he can use status effects against bosses.

Is there documentation of people's unique abilities anywhere? Most of them are self explanatory if you've played other FF games, but some of them are a little unclear.

Karina's Runic: Absorbs the next spell cast on your party (including healing spells!) and Karina gains its MP cost in MP.
Kaayu's Trance: Appears to be an attack boost?
Ashiiee's Rage: You lose control of Ash, and she gains an attack boost. She appears to use her abilities at random during this, so with her painfully low MP you can't really afford that. I used this once earlygame and have not since.
Cassie's Pray: Small, free HP recovery to the party.
Doiden's Study: Hit an enemy for piddly damage and learn any Blue Magic they have.
Fievel's Focus: Charge up, and then attack twice.
Miko's Rawr: Miko is one of my party mainstays and I honestly have no idea what this does. By the icon I'd guess a magic defense boost?
Abelia's Bluff: Recovers a tiny bit of Abelia's HP and MP, and boosts her next spell.
Azran's Jump: Jump off screen for the charge time, then come crashing down for pretty big damage.

At least, that's what I've been able to gather.

Oh, no, gil is pretty well balanced, especially with all the adventurer guild quests giving plenty of it. I just wanted to see how other people deal with it, whether their solution is "only equip a core party of 4/5/6" or "rotate party members" or whatnot. I didn't think to sell elixirs, though, which should alleviate that. I just got to Aquaria.

A note to anyone wondering why Cassie seems so worthless: you CAN multi-target (certain?) spells! It just doesn't work like in mainline FF games, by pressing back against the back of the party. There's a different key for it (RB/LB in my case, on a 360 controller.). This game's weird nonstandard controls keep messing me up, since they don't seem to be documented, but otherwise I'm really enjoying it so far.