I spurred myself to finally play through Final Fantasy V (fan-translated SNES ROM, I own the PSX version but fuck that). The last couple of times I ended up quitting because I couldn't get enough ABP to seriously level my jobs early on (around clearing the ancient library the first time) and got bored. This time I just said "fuck it, I'm just going to get enough job levels to be viable and go with it" and that ended up working. It was nice to actually have a challenge for once (the last RPG I played was Ar Tonelico which, although pretty good, is about as hard as melted ice cream), although I didn't bother trying to kill the optional bosses because seriously, fuck that noise. I still think the game is nowhere near as good as 6 and a bit below 4, but I no longer think of the game as being just plain terrible.
One thing that really fucking ticks me off, though, is that later in the game one of your members who is mostly geared towards fighting and challenge and might is replaced by another who is basically a speedy caster. What. The. Fuck. She starts with all the skills and equipment the other guy had, but if you're like me then you trained the first guy to be a front row fighting guy, while new girl is better suited to casting from the back, which means Faris would be better off taking a front line fighting spot, except I always put her on casting duty alongside Lenna (because you really need 2 casters, especially once you start getting the good time magic spells and red magic is no longer really viable), and ARHGRHGRHRBRHRRBRGHGHBR. Of course it's possible to retool both characters, but by then you've already grinded a lot of ABP and it's much easier to just say "fuck it, I'll just go with it". You could just train the first guy as a mage from the start, of course, but then you're saddled with a subpar caster for like 2/3rds of the damn game. All in all, just a poor design decision. If you're going to replace my big burly fighter character, then MAKE THE REPLACEMENT ANOTHER BIG BURLY FIGHTER CHARACTER. It's just common sense!
Also, Xfight doesn't work with Magic Sword. Boo. I suppose Flare Sword x 8 (Xfight + 2 weapons) would have broken the game, but, well, I like breaking games. Shove me down the yellow brick road and call me a munchkin!