RC19: Ran through sealed cave with Terra/Edgar/Gau/Sabin in that order, after sealed cave, gau adopted interceptor. (This might have been to a save editor to fix Shadows MP, Will return to this on a fresh RC in the future).
Balance thoughts:
~RC11
Nashe to Returners Hideout
Everything was pretty simple. Edgar ACBs, terra heals/fires, Locke stabs, Sabin Flexes. No weird wipes that I can remember to countering. No damage seemed really off.
Split Scenarios
Sabin's scenario damage felt maybe a tad high? Considering Sabin and Shadow can be pretty paper early they can get hit with good damage against enemy groups that have more offensive set ups or stronger counters. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing, the player at this point should be realizing counters/AI changes without ever being told about them.
I don't remember any such difficulty in Locke's and Terra's scenarios. Both seemed easier than Sabins by a good margin. Might be worth looking into.
Narshe to zozo
Game starts picking up a bit here giving you some choices. I tried using chars I don't typically use, and it paid off. Gau might actually need a small nerf on some of his rages. Leafer makes most battles pretty trivial. Gold starts becoming a major concern for a hoarder like me. I'd pretty consistently turn off xp for a bit to get my gold up just to grab extra stuff. I think it could get buffed up a bit without making it too overabundant. Zozo was pretty simple. Using Gau and Locke to clear/steal supplies, Celes for healing, Sabin to finish up anything. Dadaluma seems to be in a good place.
~RC 16/19
Opera to Cranes
Cyan, Gau, Locke, Celes. Gau carries, Cyan thous, Locke steals/dual wields, Celes supports. Visited both towns before going to vector for some supplies and equipment. Farmed some GP with xp off to afford just about 1 of everything. Had to be a bit conservative with certain enemy combos. Would generally take a battle or two to feel out counters/ais and go from there. Factory might feel a tad easier than over world battles as mentioned by someone in I believe the discord. Shiva/Ifrit weren't bad at all. N.24 wasn't bad with abusing his human weakness. Minecart and boss was a tad annoying. Cranes were much easier than I remember way back when.
Sealed Cave to Thamasa
Terra, Gau, Edgar, Sabin. Gau teams up with Sabin and Edgar for clear. Terra supports. Gau finally starts to feel balanced a bit here. Sabin starts to really come into his own. In the future I'll probably run someone else instead of Edgar here. Hardest part was the "boss battle" added. Thamasa was no issue at all. Overworld feels about as hard as the burning house and mountain. Had no issues at Ultros. Health could maybe come down a small bit to not over extend the fight.
Air battle / FC
Celes, Gau, Sabin + Shadow
The gauntlet getting up wasn't too bad. Ultros and Chupon were IMO harder than the air boss. FC is a mixed bag. Every single enemy has the chance to down you if you're not prepared for this or play lazily. I personally like it, the game suddenly feels like it's letting you know "This is the challenge, this is where the game starts. The gloves are off, figure it out!" Maybe it was my party, equip, esper levels, but that's how it felt. Having said that, everything has some kind of counter. Statuses suddenly become very effective now that there's challenge and your party isn't quickly wiping out encounters. Atma weapon was bugged during my attempt of it, causing the whole party to get multi statused badly. As I was writing this out that's been fixed. Even with the statuses with some save stating was able to just barely squeak out a victory.
That'll be all for now. Been collecting people in WoR and haven't had any big issues so far, will try to wrap that up before the weekend and then will attempt another play through with different set ups and taking more comprehensive notes.