If you take the proper steps and are familiar with a final fantasy game you know your supposed to level up, when I played my first FF game VIII, I sorta had a grasp on that you had to level up your characters and weapons and such but i didnt fully understand the system, it was easy though until i got to Ultimecia and she whooped my rear end, so I started back over and did it right and crushed the game.

8 year olds could be IX, X is probably the hardest out of the later generation of games, but to truly beat final fantasy I feel you have to beat the weapons, and i dont care what anybody says, they are definitley hard and if you say they arent your a damn lie, if you go into the Emerald and Ruby fights relying on just "skill" and no KOTR or mime materia, be prepared to get you your hind parts handed to ya on a regular bases.