its been a long time since i've touched ff6. but i remember in the tutorial area there was some blurb about tri-something attacks indicating use of fire/ice/lightning. It led me to believe i could cook up tri attacks at some point or another. The only time I ever saw a tri anything was using an esper, and I didn't think thats what the hint could have been about since it didn't require any combining on my part.

Also - near death attacks.. i think i've played the game through 3 times an i'd only seen one of those. seemed like a gyp. a gyp i tell you!