In FF4 you automatically learn it as you level up.

In FF6 you learn it from “espers” – special magic crystals you can equip. You cannot buy espers.

In FF7 you get it from Materia.(But you can buy Materia, too!)

In FF8 you draw it from enemies.

In FF9 you learn it from items.(You can buy those, too!)

I don’t know abot FF10, FF10-2 and FF11.

aproximately 10-12 hours playtime is what i needed before “everything” was going smooth and i had my rythm – but then it is well balanced.

at aprox. 20h playtime i think the game starts running in full motion – actually i only played 7-10 hours more and then went out of time (and interest?).

btw, krystian: can you tell which final fantasy episodes had the player buying new spells and what other methods (receiving, leveling up, etc.) exist in the ff line of games to get new spells?

Also, I remember similar problems in FF7 and FF8. You get introduced to a system (Materia / GF Junction) but you can’t do any important choices in that system with the tokens you have at that point.