Soldato
Until you get to Ultimecia Castle and you have to get all your items back. Its was fine if you used a guide or took time to learn and play the card game.
Keeping your level as low as possible by not grinding mobs made the game too easy. Many grinded in Final Fantasy which is why they made the change with 8. When we took advantage of this new system it didn't make it more fun, it introduced a new efficient way of playing a game extremely quickly, and easily. It's not exactly great design modelling when looking at the bigger picture.