Materia Help -- Materia System Needs Overhaul, seriously

[HaelseMikiro]

Hey there Zenfrodo. Sounds like you're learning how item levels and tool tips work still. If you look at a materia, let's say your Heavens Eye III for example, there will be text on the items description that says "Base Item - Item Level 45".

This means the equipment you put it in must be item level 45 or higher. Looking at Toadskin Duckbills, they have an item level of 35. So Grade III materia are too powerful for those boots, even if they would be able to handle +6 accuracy. This is mostly because placing 5 grade III materias in it would put the boots way over budget on stats compared to a similar item level dungeon drop, with no materia slots. As for knowing exactly what you can meld into a piece of gear....that's a feature that's already been added to the game (by popular demand, we didn't always have it).
When you select a piece of gear and open the Melding screen for it, you'll see the current/maximum stats listed at the bottom

You can open this menu on any item even without having any materia, so you'll always know what you can do with it before making any purchases. I've already melded my boots with 4 Spell Speed and 2 Fire Resist. Resistances will generally not be displayed on gear until you try to meld them. And a major note also is that you can only meld main stat materia (Vit/Dex/Int etc) into the default 100% slots.


Edit: I needed to make the picture bigger ><
Also listing all of the available stats on the default item window would just be TOO much information, and clutter the window unnecessarily, IMO. Counting all the types of resistances and stats that you COULD meld but wouldn't (like skill speed on caster gear, unless you're just doing it to promote spiritbonding and the materia was just the cheapest on the Marketboard) you'd be looking at ~15 extra stats being listed for no reason.
Sorry if the screenshot seemed unnecessary, but it really is always useful to look at it. Seems like you just had an incorrect belief about what the filled circles meant.