Sphere Grid was absolutely broken and I loved it. I stole a ton of Key Spheres from Biran and Yenke, and unlocked Demi for everyone in the party, cause I also had stockpiled Warp Spheres. The entire party became magic users at that point
Sphere Grid was FFX though (and I loved it too). The junction system in FF8 had you "drawing" magic from monsters and certain points in the game world, which you could then couple with your characters' attributes to make them stronger. It was an interesting idea but also felt wonky, because it made not using magic the optimal way to play.
I had 0 problem with junctioning, and I loved that level scaling meant a much more open world. It's not like the magic you drew (and junctioned) didn't also go up as the enemies level did.
Ff8 was the best, most complete, final fantasy, besides the bat shit story (which I want to see expanded so much)
I don't think I ever got past the first disc because you can break the game almost immediately. I can't remember what the details are, but you draw 99 of some spells and it gives you a 99% chance to hit, so then you can just spam sleep or confuse or whatever and cheese every battle.
Once I figured that out I lost any interest. "Oh look, I'm instantly the most powerful thing around by far, and the game has barely started." The whole appeal of those games for me is watching your power grow.
The only problem with the junction system is the boosts you get on level-up that incentivize under levelling until late-game. Other than that it's perfect.
Jokes on you, in my favourite Final Fantasy, you're a dream, trying to stop your dad from killing your hyper religious, brainwashed girlfriend who needs to dance whenever dad commits genocide.