I got a lot better at dodging with Terra thank you very much...

Anyway, I just finished Terra and can safely say she is probably one of my favorite characters in this game and its not just the inner fanboy talking (maybe a little...) but she is so different from the others and requires so many different strategies that I had a blast going through her story.

She's a bit like Cloud except way more versatile. She has high Brave damage so she can easily break opponents and her array of spells give her great coverage from short to long range. Her Tornado move alone is one of the best defensive abilities in the game since they actually parry enemy attacks. I think only Jecht or perhaps Mateus could knock her out of the spell animation. Her EX Burst leaves a bit to be desired but her EX Mode is just unfair... Overall, like Cecil, she requires you to learn her abilities and get yourself a bit of a rhythm for her before she suddenly becomes totally super special awesome.

I'm probably going to start Squall tonight and then move onto Bartz and Zidane and finish with WoL. After that, I'm debating about starting the next story part or playing through all the story modes to get 100% completion.

As for the item system. It doesn't completely bother me as I actually have quite a bit of cash now and I plan to put a good amount of time into this game so chances are the main item system will reward me.