[quote name='J7.']I enjoyed FF8 more than 7. I liked the scaling system and wish other games did it because it keeps the game challenging. I hate battles when there's no strategy involved anymore because you're so much more powerful.[/QUOTE]
But at the same time you could argue that there's no real incentive to level up. I do admit that I maxed out pretty quickly in 8 to get the most challenge, so I guess if that was their intention for the system, they succeeded, but maybe it's just me being stuck in a JRPG rut where I like segmented areas. I know area 1 has monsters of x-y level. I guess the positive would be that it eliminates grinding.
So actually, I see a lot of merit in scaling, since it pretty much lets us decide how hard we want the game. But you GOTTA give me the Draw system
If level scaling eliminated the time-sink of level grinding, then the Draw system put it right back in with the time-sink of spell-drawing. And really, in a lot of ways the Draw system just did exactly what you were saying: it could make you really powerful. I remember grinding for a heck of a long time, and junctioning 99 Ultimas to all 3 characters on my front line, and they just became behemoths, along with junctioning a few GFs.
One interesting thing in relation to the whole FF7 disc stuff: Just for fun I looked on Amazon, Buy.com, and Radioshack. All of them offer new versions of every FF except Tactics and FF7. It's been a decade since FF9 was released and you can STILL easily find new copies from actual retailers instead of on eBay or any of the virtual marketplace stores.