My Firion has 16-99 unarmed with 99 Str, and I still prefer him with a sword – but at hthe later stages of the game you get some pretty potent weaponry soooo thats understandable.
thats not altogether true. i understand your "better safe than sorry" approach to the game but compare it to FF1, where some of the fighter classes cant even learn magic (or do so late in the game), but that doesnt mean youre gonna get rocked by the baddies. i mean most FFs have 1 or more characters or classes that are straight up melee and utilize no magic. in alot of cases a strong fighter’s damage can equal or surpass that of a mage (not to mention enemies that are resistant to magic or certain types of magic).
my party in FF2 is set up so one character is a complete powerhouse, one is basically like a paladin (good fighting, but has healing and buff spells), and one is a very powerful BLM/WHM combo. im not "asking for trouble" because the physical character is going to be doing so much damamge, compareable to what a BLM would do with a spell. plus the PLD like character will back up heal if need be. on top of the good party dynamics, i always lvl between bosses, so i pretty much kill low enemies in 1 hit and kill bosses in a few hits anyways. giving my fighter a bunch of spells i wont use would just waste time and take away from lvling his physical attributes, which this unique fighting system is dependent on; lvling certain aspect of a character to your liking. its all about customization, and there no real right way to do it. its supposed to fit your own style of playing.
basically think about it. another FF game that utilizes a customizable magic system is FF6. use Sabin (why wouldnt you, hehe) and give him all the spells (which i did). but are you really gonna use them? no, youre gonna be Bum Rushing all the time. and if your healer and back up healer cant keep everyone alive so you have to use Sabin as a healer or nuker, somethings wrong with your party dynamics.
in my opinion, if you encounter an enemy that kills more than one of your characters in your party, your party was not prepared for that battle (with the exception of kills from spells like "Doom" or "Fallen One").
bottom line, my fighter is going to take the bosses down hard and fast, and if something goes wrong my PLD-like character can heal/ life while my main fighter is dishing out the pain. thats how i play. you can say it sucks, but i dont die in these games and i take bosses out in just a few physical/ magic attacks, so really does it?
but to each his own. this game is meant to be played anyway you want to, due to its dynamic lvling system. ive just found a good way that is different than yours.