I know that we all (including myself) have a fondess for stroking our own egos about how great we are at Final Fantasy.
So, to balance things out, what were the rookie mistakes you made when you first encountered the franchise? Or when you played one of them specifically for the first time?
I have a very long list:
FF7: I didn't bother to change their initial equip and kept running away from battles. Then I wondered why I couldn't get past Materia Keeper at Nibelheim XD. I also once decided to chase Emerald Weapon for fun and ending up getting severely burned.
FF8: I think SE got up one morning and thought "Let's screw with Midgar Mist's mind". So the list of mistakes is still way too long, and out of all that I played this is the one I'm still a rookie at. Its gameplay shall probably continue to confuse and frustrate me forever.
FF9: Steiner was still on Level 3 while Zidane and Vivi coasted on the zenith of level 11. I remember hating Gizamaluke with such passion that my only answer was to grind those characters up until I sent him crying to his Mama.
I was so naïve to think that all FF games levelled their inactive characters at a half rate, just cause 7 did.
FF10: I'm still a rookie when it comes to Blitzball and Cloister of Trials, but by this time I guess I had loads of online walkthroughs to fall back on due to the internet being a bigass dude. I allowed a walkthrough to dupe me into believing that Braska's Final Aeon is difficult. The writer of it obviously didn't use The Magus Sisters in Overdrive in that case.
I don't think its possible for a seasoned pro to make a lot of mistakes in 10-2. But those a half generation down from me possibly see that differently.
I guess with anything else I could mention, like 5 or 6 I just cheated and looked stuff up. I refer you to Midgar Mist and FF6 if you want to witness me leaning on a bunch of FF6 Pros. I was shameless XD.