If attacking wound up being your best command it's because you used it more. Try playing a game with a character who does nothing but cast fire. Soon you'll be wondering why your attacks are so weak. There's a LOT of weird little tweaks you can do in this game that don't get explained. For example, putting mages in the back row makes them about twice as effective and makes your fighters about twice as resiliant. The system in FFVIII has a massively steep learning curve, but once you get it, it requires no thought at all. Everything you do in battle in FFII has an effect on how that chatacter fights. The only thing that FFVIII has over FFII is that in FFVIII you can make your characters insanely cheap within 10 minutes of starting the game. In FFII you CAN'T make your characters cheap. However, you really don't need to. There aren't any bosses that are so tough that they require you to summon Eden and then do 2 limit breaks every turn. In fact, if you figure out the system, the game gets insanely easy. You'll find yourself wondering why the FAQs tell you to get so over levelled.