this game makes me feel old

[Slothy]

Should I have concentrated my magickers into one particular magick type or should I have kept them general?

I kept all of my characters in specific classes, but mostly because I didn't want every character to play exactly the same. It's personal preference and there are benefits to both, but it's up to you. Neither is really better than the other.

Should I even bother with Technicks?

There aren't that many that are really useful, but you'll want telekinesis, steal and charge for sure.

And how many weapons do you usually specialize in?

I have each character master two types. Again, I didn't want them all playing the same. Same deal for armour.

Do all characters need to be the same level or can I get away with only using three the entire game?

I only used three the whole game. At the end the others were so low in level that the best they could do is try to revive everyone else before getting slaughtered if my main party died. Only happened once or twice, but I didn't want to take the time to level six characters for the whole game.

Is a conventional "class restriction" a la FFT better or worse for this game?

Like I said before, not really better or worse. I prefer classes since it gives some variety to the characters. I hate having jack of all trades characters. It just makes things boring for me. But when you white mage gets killed by a boss and you're scrambling to heal them before someone else gets killed it's pretty exciting. And since I focused on three characters, I didn't get enough license points throughout the game to do any more of the license board than necessary to complete their self imposed class abilities. I think that sort of helped me stick to it. I could have had characters who could do a little of everything, or excel with certain magicks and weapons. I found the latter worked best for me.