Alright, I have a mini update.
In terms of game content, I incorporated everyone's materia (Still working on the learning tree, but it goes something like this:
Zyzz
8AP - Dia
40AP - Tera
100AP - Cover and Counter Attack (10%)
200AP - HP and Defence Up
700AP - Strength and MP Up
1100AP - Cover and Counter Attack Up (30%)
1200AP - HP and Defence Up
1700AP - Strength and MP Up
2100AP - Cover and Counter Attack Up (50%)
2200AP - HP and Defence Up
2700AP - Strength and MP Up
3100AP - Cover and Counter Attack Up (70%)
3200AP - HP and Defence Up
3700AP - Strength and MP Up
5000AP - Cover and Counter Attack Up (30%)
5000AP - HP and Defence Up
5000AP - Strength and MP Up
In short, All i really worked out was when we get new stat increases, it's difficult to properly calibrate when we get new abilities because I don't want them too early, but not too late, and the way I'm calibrating them basically requires you to exclusively use said character up until that point.
Also, while I'm making the game harder, I'm also making AP MUCH harder to get, used to be that we get say... 2AP or 6AP per enemy, in most cases, it's down to 1 or 2 AP, except for bosses, which are always a steady 100AP, so you really need to consider who you want to take part in each boss, in terms of who is lacking in abilities, as well as what the boss is weak against.
for instance, we might have a long range encounter, so straight off, you'd consider Zyzz, Barret and Gazz, however, the boss is weak against Fire, so we want Nanaki in the fight, and the boss himself is strong against Lightning, with armoured defenses, so we can make the team something like this: Zyzz, Nanaki and Vincent.
Zyzz because he needs to be there, and he is built like a tank; able to defend from physical attacks and punish the enemies, he can get double or quadruple attacks (2 or 4 physical, or 1 magic and 1 physical) as well as offering basic healing spells makes him a valuable party member in any circumstance.
Nanaki has fire, which is good for the enemy, but some of his attacks have the chance of breaking through the armoured enemies, as well as having a unique spell called Bloodlust, which puts him in a stat where he has Haste, Shell, Protect and Berserk on himself, the effects of this lasts for around 3 minutes or until it's healed, but it can only be used on himself. (When berserked, he cuts through armoured enemies.)
Vincent has dark magic, which allows him to inflict heavy damage and blind enemies (...Which I think is bugged and doesn't actually change accuracy?) as well as having spells that are guaranteed to break through defences, coupled with his gun, making him long distance.
Although, if Yuffie wasn't used much and she's around 120 or so before getting her next ability, it might be good to use her, because most bosses have either respawning enemies, or have enemies leading up to them.
Also, you likely didn't notice this from the video...
But the first battle is also a 'test', you have no spells, no special abilities, armed with 3 potions and 1 grenade, and you're up against 2 wolves, 1 MP in the back row and a Soldier 3rd Class in the front row.
However, the enemy placement made the Soldier be the LAST one on the list, so if you just hold down the attack button, he'll be the last one to even be hit, and the wolves are able to howl to completely revive it's fallen wolf brother, which is done 3 turns later, so you want to carefully manage the fight, if you don't kill the wolves quick enough, they'll infinitely respawn, and I set them up to take 4 hits to die.
So you want to get them both down to either 1 or 2 hits, but if you neglect to take care of the Soldier 3rd class, he WILL mess you up, he has (weakened) 2nd tier spells, which can take around 1/5 to 1/3 of your HP, and the MP in the back row will continue to just shoot yo every turn, it doesn't hit that hard, but it adds up.
So you want to handle that fight by killing the Soldier 3rd class (1 grenade and 1 attack will kill him, otherwise you need 5 normal attacks, which point will leave you completely massacred) and then weaken the wolves and kill them, before finishing the MP off.
At which point, you'll learn the Dia spell, which will heal you for around 70% HP at early levels, so it's invaluable to have, but Zyzz doesn't get alot of MP until around level 12.
And I set it up so that the first time you fight the boss, all you really have is Dia and (maybe) a few grenades if you got lucky and they dropped from enemies and anything you were able to buy from Wedge just before the boss.
I strategically placed the shop there y'know.
However, the save point isn't until AFTER said boss, so that itself is aother test, but if you can pass him, then you have earned the first elemental spell, which makes the early portion much easier, but you'll also have to choose carefully between healing and using offensive spells, since you cannot buy anything to restore MP at all, and you really need all the MP you can get for the boss.
I may add a tent to his stock so you can be at full strength for the real boss, and this by itself is harder by the fact you're solo as opposed to having both Cloud and Barret at this point.