I probably played it more straight than you did. I have personal OCD things I like to do such as refusing to use Magic and items unless I have to. Still, at max levels I never felt my advantage was really all that great. Hell my max levels were sadly an accident as I gained them from actually acquiring all the special summons for Rydia. :sweatdrop:

No, I did have a rough time up until ironically I started fighting nothing but Behemoths and Blue Dragons. I usually don't waste my time with the Zemus monsters in the last stretch. I just had this bad luck of running into groups of Dark Wizards and half the time they surprised me. Once I got full equipment in there, they weren't so bad but getting to the equipment was another story.