Magic materia suck

[Raistlin]

I have absolutely no idea wtf I was thinking when I put Manipulate in there. Obviously some Enemy Skills need Manipulate to get, and I guess thinking about Enemy Skills just resulted in my fingers typing it.

Also, Ultima blows. It does suck for the time in the game you finally get it. If it cost less MP it might be usable, but as is there are far better alternatives.

[Kyros]

I never cared for the E skill materia, but when I did bother with getting most of the stuff on it with my last playthrough it wasnt that bad. It was pretty bad at the end of the game though as was magic materia too so w/e. The only materia I was still using at the end of the game out of all of these would just be the revive and restore materias for life3 and regen.

[Mercen-X]

The failure of VII's extreme multiple choice battle-style is most likely what led to future installments returning to character class battle mechanics.

[qwertysaur]

True masters of materia use both to great effect.

[Loony BoB]

My thoughts are pretty much in line with Kishi's. As for actual usage, sure, you will always find some magic that you prefer to use than others, that's inevitable. However, there are always some enemies that you can use green materia against to great effect.

EDIT: As for "nearly as much damage" - put Ultima alongside a 4x cast (or whatever it was, I forget) and then we'll talk. I can't remember if 4x cast works with enemy skill magic, however even if it does, if you ever find yourself in a position where you need quick damage regardless of the cost of the spell, then it would make sense to use the more powerful spell.

EDIT2: As for wanting a mastered enemy skills materia over the full set of magic materia - well, duh. That goes without saying. But mastering an enemy skill materia will require using the magic materia, and a buttload of time and information in order to pull off.

[Kyros]

True masters of materia use both to great effect.

I see it as more of being a master is using the best ones, which involves not casting it hardly ever.

[Raistlin]

EDIT: As for "nearly as much damage" - put Ultima alongside a 4x cast (or whatever it was, I forget) and then we'll talk. I can't remember if 4x cast works with enemy skill magic, however even if it does, if you ever find yourself in a position where you need quick damage regardless of the cost of the spell, then it would make sense to use the more powerful spell.

Quadra Magic, and no, it doesn't. I would still prefer Comet to Ultima.

EDIT2: As for wanting a mastered enemy skills materia over the full set of magic materia - well, duh. That goes without saying. But mastering an enemy skill materia will require using the magic materia, and a buttload of time and information in order to pull off.

Every Enemy Skill, yeah, it takes a lot of time. The useful, relevant ones? Not so much. I don't give a crap about Chocobuckle, etc. Big Guard, White Wind, Trine, and Beta are all readily available on the first disc (Beta can be somewhat challenging to get, depending on your level) and are among the most useful Enemy Skills.

[qwertysaur]

White Wind is godly

[BG-57]

You can take out Icicles in one hit with Beta.

[Jiro]

Enemy Skills are extremely useful. A little costly, but worth it. I was just never motivated enough.

[MJN SEIFER]

The only "Bad" thing about Ultima is that you can't use it straight away, it's like Level 1 is nothing and Level 2 is Ultima, if that makes sense, on or two other materias do that (Full Cure is one).

[Loony BoB]

Yeah, that always sucked, I gotta say. Why not just make it so that they're harder to get instead of making us wander around with them for eternity?