Indeed.Sick or sickening? I can't tell if you're thinking positive or positively negative...Those games were sick.
Maybe not the Pilgrimage itself, but there were battles between the Guado and (seemably) the rest of Spira. There is also a battle between Yevonite soldiers and the Al Bhed. The fact is that there are usually factions in every game that contain unique and powerful characters within (like Star Wars: Battlefront 2 featured Han Solo versus Boba Fett at certain points). Star Wars also had a Heroes/Villains arena which allowed you to play as specifically the "Heroes" and "Villains" rather than earning the privelege by playing as grunts. Imagine seeing (probably no more than) three Clouds or Shadows on the screen at once. I admit I didn't add any pre-VII titles to the list, but that's only because I'm naive as to the factions that existed within those titles.
I really wish they would make a game like this. It's like combining Tactics with Dissidia. In VII, you'd get to ride around on Cloud's Fenrir or the Buggy and on Chocobos and probably battle aboard the Highwind. Chocobos would undoubtedly be the major mode of high-speed transportation for any one of these games.