Quote Originally Posted by Madotsuki View Post
There's always spirit-binding. It may not always net the materia you desire, but it really can help avoid costs (can sell off unwanted ones too). I collected most of my novus materia from spirit-binding along with my friend. Granted, it's not for everyone since there's a fair amount of patience (and luck) involved.
It still represents potentially millions of gil you could have made by just selling the tier IV materia and buying Tier I/II of some other stat that's almost as good. Especially for a tank where secondary stats beyond hitting the accuracy cap aren't really powerful enough that having 11 more of one stat vs. another is going to make a real noticeable difference.