I actually think FFVI gave you a little TOO much freedom in customizing your characters, since you could raise their stats... FFV was just restrictive enough over what you could do (until the end when you could have your characters learn whatever jobs they hadn't in like twenty minutes, but bleh) that it still provided a challenge. Plus, the enemies weren't total wusses.

FFV's story doesn't make any sense until you replay the game, really. Then it makes perfect sense.