Apologies if I missed a thread on this, but I've searched through half this forum and didn't (or failed to) see one.

I tried playing this game, but I soon stopped because I got to the point where I could choose my party members from a pool. This is when Terra goes into rampaging Esper form, so this is very early game material. But I suddenly became overwhelmed by this decision because I felt I was bound to mess this up.

Let me explain. My first Final Fantasy game was FFX. When I had a choice of forming my party, I pretty much ignored Kimahri. That turned out to be a mistake late game when I had to fight a boss with just Kimahri. I had to spend so much time leveling him up like mad just to scrape through. That experience haunted me (over-dramatic, I know) then and still does now.

With FFVI having the most playable characters in the series, I'm seriously hesitating about continuing through the game. Can anyone give me tips on how to manage so many characters? Is it necessary to work up every character in every location? Is this like FFIV where unused characters still level up with you? Or is this like FFX where they don't and I could potentially screw myself over again... and again... and again?

(I'm also bummed that choosing the wrong party can cost me some story scenes, but this isn't necessary right now.)

This is why I'm also hesitant about playing FFVII onwards. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Like, immensely, sincerely appreciated!