One thing that I really like about the Final Fantasy series is that, at least in the ones that I can remember, you never have to worry about leveling up people who aren’t in your party at the time.
Example:
For those of you who know FF2, I just retrieved the Crystal of Earth and I’m about ready to go face down Golbez in the Tower of Zot. At the end of that area, I’ll lose one party member (Tellah) and gain two others (Kain & Rosa). Now, I’ve spent the last couple of hours leveling my current party because I’m in a really good place to do so, however when this party shift does take place in a bit, Kain & Rosa will join my party with roughly the same levels as everyone else.
Leveling can often times be tedious as it is, so I like the idea that I don’t have to think, “Ok, now these three are at level 30, but when the others join, we’ll need to go back and get them up to a reasonable level, too.” It’s all just done for me, as if to assume that everyone else isn’t just sitting around watching TV while we’re out fighting monsters.
LOL — that would be why I’ve been trying to level them all up, just outside of the final Golbez battle, um… for… six years now?
Well, yeah – you still have to do it … I just like that they level people not in your party so that new members that you find later aren’t way behind!
And are you stuck outside the final, final battle on the moon, or a different one? I know you aren’t technically fighting *spoiler* against Golbez when you finally catch up with him on the moon, but I just can’t remember when your last actual face-to-face battle with him is. Does he show up inside the Giant of Bab-il???