How can we get more in depth character customization?

[Ameela]

Not comparable, 7's materia is vastly superior to 14's as it directly gave spells and abilities so when you chose gear for a massive materia slot list you are giving yourself greater coverage and magical power at the cost of weapon power or physical defense.

14 offers no such thing.

Unfortunately you can't really do what VII did in a game like XIV. Imagine if tanks needed to equip specific gear or materia to get Rampart lol