Quote Originally Posted by NekoMataMata View Post
I'd like something in between where they still matter but not overwhelmingly so, and without any sort of awful overmelding system.
I can't speak much to gathering, but when it comes to crafting - melding materia matters, but only so far as the trade-off you wish to make.

Either pentameld to hit certain stats so you can HQ from NQ ingredients while using food/draughts... or pocket that money and spend more time making HQ leathers, ingots, cloths, etc so you can HQ from HQ materials. In that way, it is fairly balanced. The cost of melding the guaranteed slots and the first overmeld isn't so bad. Across one gearset, that's 17 materia for the guaranteed slots and probably 70 for the first overmeld. If a player were to use those slots wisely, they'll probably get near the max CP possible and some craft/control boosts that can help them 100% HQ the materials needed to then 100% HQ the final products.