Quote Originally Posted by Jinko View Post
Hmm that's pretty stupid really, oh well.

Common sense would suggest that it should be

Tier I is 1+
Tier II is 21+.
Tier III is 31+
Tier IV is 41+

But then common sense is not SE's forte
It makes more sense the way it is as far as the game is in my opinion. Your suggestion only makes sense from a purely numerical correlation standpoint.

Levels between 1 and 30 are very fast and gear isn't worth much investment, thus low level materia is all that's needed and still unused.

Levels from 31-40 are like a transition, and worth a bit better materia.

Levels 41+ are meant to take the most time and thus get a higher grade of materia that people do actively invest in for gear.

Tier IV is meant to be a pure tier, the best quality of materia, and thus isn't limited to it's own level zone but treated as essentially being powerful even to single meld.

A lot of the stats on various uncommon drops are balanced around single tier III melds.