If you make the grinding completely irrelevant for the sake of "tight" balance, then you'll end up with Paper Mario Sticker Star. Sure, that game might be more fun for YOU, but for a majority of people that liked the Thousand Year Door, who'd explore all the options and do all the things, it was a big slap in the face.
As I understand it, the goal of NT isn't to only service that narrow group of individuals that plays FF7 once or twice EVERY YEAR since the original release of the game, or that always goes for low-level runs with optimal strategy. It's also meant as an acceptable mod for first time players and people new to JRPGs, and that's why I like NT. It's what makes this mod special compared to all the other difficulty mods for FF7 (and JRPGs in general), and it always fills me with joy to find all the tactics Sega Chief has implemented in order to teach new players how to play a game that was originally "hold X to win"; all with that signature humor of his.
As long as there's a counterbalance in the system, like with the experimental Arrange materia values, equipment penalties, and element/status affinities, there's already plenty in place to consider before level and SP comes into play. So hopefully, if SP must be addressed, it will be easy to find a happy balance.
