People keep saying this game is too hard, but it's actually pretty easy... providing you cheat enough. All you need is cheat engine. SpoilerAL is not needed although clearly will also work.
As another poster pointed out, when shopping you can modify how much you are selling for to get pretty much infinite money. You can also modify how much you are buying things for so that they don't really cost anything. Now, equipment in this game isn't really good enough for you to be able to win easily with that alone, but that doesn't matter. Why? Because you can modify how many skill points you have available to use. Say you have 90 points in pyromancy. Search 90 points. You should have about 250 possible numbers show up. "Spend" 50 points on upgrading a pyromancy skill. Now search 40. You should have only one possible choice now. Undo the spending you just did on the skill and that number should pop back to 90 in cheat engine, but 90 is mostly useless so add a few zeros. Now you have enough to max out that skill. Rinse and repeat for all of the others and now you are completely OP.
I did this and was able to beat literally everything that I came across in my first play through. I was able to win the Queen's tournament the first time it popped up and every tower as soon as they were available as well. With cheat engine, the only hard part in the game is meeting the requirements to get the endings.
It's not that hard without cheating -- just tedious in places. I won the main tournament on my second playthrough. Just run the towers as frequently as possible until they offer no real rewards. Work as much as possible at seasonal jobs -- field hand is especially valuable.
Judicious talent purchase is expensive, but doable (Wizardry 15+, max defences (Defense, Reflexes, combat defenses, magic defense and some proofing), drain essence, heal, regeneration, a cheap summons (fire or air), a powerful summons (lightning or dark), a cheap/quick shot (aqua/flame), effusive light, and ice wall). Purchase a decent amount of mana capacity, constitution, speed, and mana recovery.
Turn off almost all powers in the combat list. I leave staff hit, flame hit, and flame snakes on "Use". Regeneration and Drain Essence on "Secret". When I want to clear a packed level fast, I swap effusive light for flame shot. When I need more healing than regen, I swap in Heal. When I need hard hitting summons instead of numbers, I swap in dark or static orb. When I'm fighting a large critter, I swap in Air Shot. Pretty much everything else stays permanently locked off. Note the swap. Give Celes no choices as to what to cast; choosing the style of combat chooses a specific spell to use.
Once you are clearing the towers and working almost all other time slots, cash stops being an issue. Collect 100K to open up the Tower of Towers. Then buy a great set of gear. Even without waiting for half-price deals, a weapon, armour, 3 charms is expensive, but not horrible.
