If you pick Magus, you are a loser

[RedPouch]

So at Lv 80 Crono would have to have consumed a whopping 17 magic tabs to break even with Dark Matter.

That isn't a lot, though. The game is overly filled with them. I always pumped a lot of tabs into Crono because his output makes the most use out of them. Somehow I feel that calculation of yours is off though, because my Luminaire generally does 3.9k and Crono's Magic is only 55 if I recall.

I also don't think this is very relevant because like I said, you get tabs like crazy, so it's silly to make sure nobody else progresses just to keep Magus ahead of everyone. In the end, everyone's stats will get crazy high up because tabs are pumped into your inventory like a gumball machine. And it's even more of a joke once you get a character to 99 and you start fighting Spekkio in his pink Nu form [nice, 10 of each tab type for his defeat].

That is twice as much damage Magus is doing with his Lightning 2 spell over Crono.

Yes, I know that. I don't mean to sound rude, but I've already covered this twice. My point was - who cares if his tier 2 magic is better than everyone else's? Most tier 2 magic is a waste of time unless it's Marle's case or something.

You could compare him to a caster like Lucca, and his magical damage is more in line (negligibly more on Dark Matter and only 40% more damage on Fire 2.), but he has more HP/Defense/Physical Attack strength.

I don't even consider his physical attack strength to be relevant. He has no physical techs, so having him attack is pretty useless. Same with Lucca and Marle.

As mentioned he lacks the Utility of double and triple tecs, but I think it evens it out.

I don't think so. In the end, his magic damage output isn't going to be impressive in comparison to everyone else's, to the point where his value is pretty much equal to some of the other party members. Being as such, his lack of versatility and cohesion does not get evened out in my opinion. And I don't know if it's just me, but I actually find Robo a hell of a lot more useful than Magus gameplay-wise.

I also didn't find Dual/Triple techs nearly as effective in the late game as they were through it, though I don't think this is a thread to get into that mechanic. Suffice to say that the lack of dual techs isn't too much of a handicap to me. (It would be completely debilitating in the earlier stages of the game.)

Well it depends. Triple techs in almost all cases are always inferior to three single techs, or one dual and one single. One dual tech and one single in some cases can actually prove somewhat more efficient, it just depends.

So in conclusion is he the complete do everything package? No, of course not. He is balanced just like any other character. (Well, I think Crono is a little on the overpowered side when equipped with the Rainbow.)

Give Crono the Rainbow Sword and Prism Specs and he's ridiculously overpowered. I solo'd the pink Nu Spekkio using Crono with level 50 stats. Of course, you could do that with any character I'm sure, but I found it to be especially easy with Crono. However, he is a main hero type, so I don't really find it unusual that they gave him a lot of potential for power. I felt the same way about the main hero for DQ IV for the NES [for those that didn't play it, he's extremely strong, equips the most powerful armours and weapons in the game, has amazing healing magic, and devastating offensive magic, not to mention a spell that has small chances to wreak total destruction in various ways].

Usually to me 'development' of a character like Magus means turn him into a sissy character (for lack of better word) I hate.

Aw, a sissy? Why does development have to mean turning someone into a sissy? Everyone has a backstory. Is someone a sissy because they might have actual thoughts and serious foundation for their motivations? I'm just the opposite, in the sense that seeing a guy that tries way too hard to be an apathetic badass really irritates me and doesn't impress me in the slightest. It strikes me as a very typical, bland, McCafé-coffee type character that I just see way too often, and it makes me roll my eyes and think "great, another one of these". I feel that it's the tall-tale sign of a poorly written character by a writer that falls back on a weak cliche to try and impress people [which seems to work on a great many people, this type of character is generally popular with western culture people, especially Americans].

Aside from that, having a lot more dialogue lines and actually displaying some interaction would've given him more personality that might have made me think I was wrong to prejudge him based on his initial attitude or looks. However, this wasn't the case, and even though this is an old game, this cliche was still very prevalent back then in many anime/manga.