Fynn's Final Fantasy Fmarathon

[Fynn]

Okay, so yesterday I made it all the way to the Gate, so I'm going pretty fast. Terra got her Ultimate Weapon so all is right in the world

Except now the airship's crashed and we need to walk to Vector...

When it comes to building characters, I've been focusing on stats instead of spells, aside from Terra and Celes, who get to learn as many spells as they can. Will probably do the same for Relm. So I have a question - does it pay off in any way to leave escorts on characters not in your active party? Will they still get the stat boosts on level up?

Also, I've been using Gau more that ever this time around. I never really liked him but decided to give him a shot, especially since I'm doing a kind of limited-magic run. Any tips on how to get him good and which rages are worth it? So far Zaghrem and Belmodar seem cool