Controversial opinion on the final dungeon and boss

I just finished the game last night and was going to start a thread with a bunch of questions, but you hit on some of the things I wanted to talk about. I was hoping to get your thoughts, but also provide the hosts with some questions to answer.

Final Dungeon:
I No Encounters-ed it. I did not realize how much of what you said was true until I walked though it to the final boss. Usually I grind in here, so it feels much longer. One reason I used No Encounters is because it was late, I wanted to finish the game, and I remember the last dungeon feeling massive. But the credits took longer to finish then the last dungeon did.

The Last Bosses.
On my replay last year I only played the main story and had no trouble with the bosses at all. But then, no monsters (optional bosses aside) posed any real challenge. If you use the right character, then most monsters are meant to be one-hit-one-kill for most of the game. Usually (and on this latest replay) I play in the arena for a while, so most bosses go down in the first three turns. I double ultima and copycat or just punch the crap out of bosses.

In addition to Shinryu's questions, I wanted to ask the following:

Gil, do you use it?
I found that I could play the entire game without spending a single gil. Did any of you find yourself buying ANYTHING in the game? I think the only time I needed gil was when I bought the services of Yojimbo. I did not have enough to get the teleport spheres, but then I don't think they are really necessary. I did buy a few pieces of tetra armor from Wantz, but even that ended up being a waste.

Teleport Spheres?
What are your thoughts on these? When you find a few in the beginning of the game, they are pretty rad. But later on, I don't find them worth the effort. I found myself activating black/white magic spheres and then using a Return Sphere to warp across the board. Return Spheres are super cheap and easy to get. I found myself with 9 Black Magic spheres begging to be used.

99 Warp Spheres?
On my first playthrough, I bent over backwards to get the 99 Warp Spheres in the Omega Ruins. But I found getting multiple Level 4 spheres to be much more useful. How do you approach the Omega treasure puzzle?

Ultima? Kill or Bribe?

Omega? More like Oh, Meh, Gah...
I beat him on the PS2 and felt satisfied. Knowing that he has 10 times as much HP in the HD version made me turn around and walk away. I did not feel the need to beat him again.

Break HP Limit? Do you?
I found this unnecessary and potentially counterintuitive considering that the Celestial Weapons damage is based on how much HP you have.

Which Celestial Weapon is the easiest to get (including fully activating)?
I find it hard not to get Rikku's. Its just there with really no effort. I find Yuna's the next easiest to get, with Auron bringing up the third. I usually just get these 3 and go on my way through the game. I find Tidus's the hardest to get for me. I have never been able to finish that race with a time of zero. Everytime I try, I cannot convince myself to keep doing it.

Besides the Celestial Weapons and Armor you can customize, does equipment seem to serve any purpose in this game? What about when compared to other FF games? What is your opinion on characters not being able to share equipment, like in all the earlier FF games?

Who was your best character?
Mine was Yuna. She can do everything that everyone else can, but can Summon as well. Her magic score is just ridiculous at the end of the game.

Whose grid section do you tend to finish first, and then where do you take them?
I usually wrap up Auron first, and then send him over to Rikku's side so that he can Mug and build up speed.

Strength Vs. Magic?
Which one do you use or think is the most useful? I always thought magic was the end until this recent play. Double-casting Ultima just seemed awesome. But at the end of the game, I found it easier to just slap the aeons once and they would go down. High Accuracy needed for this. But then Strength and Accuracy spheres seem much easier to get then farming Magic from Jumbo Flan.