Quote Originally Posted by Kawaii Ryűkishi View Post
I love the Materia system. The sheer flexibility it allows in terms of combining and augmenting skills is an unparalleled joy to explore.
This. And since the more powerful Materia weaken certain stats, it's not just a matter of piling more abilities onto a character to strengthen them. That limitation, plus the limited number of slots available, means you've got to focus on balance or role-specialisation, especially when there's only a limited range of materia and equipment available.

Having specific jobs for each character is neat, too, as long as you don't end up with one or two characters who're obsolete and never get used. Having the flexibility to go a little beyond the default job is also neat in these cases.