thanks a lot for that, i just kept doing what i was doing and gained 25 levels all across, as well as several mastered Materia. i hadn't yet found that little sideplace on the left path that has the Movers and Magic Pots when i posted this. oh, and i was surprised nobody mentioned that ALL of the monsters in the crashed Gelnika morph into some kind of stat-boosting Source (Power, Guard, Speed, Magic). that came in handy too.
even still, i restarted. i'm going to play through slow this time, and do it right.