By the way, what is everyone's party setup? Mine consists of the original three, Cloud, Barrett and Tifa. Cloud is the all arounder, focusing on melee, and of course he has some attack magic like Lightning and summon. Barrett is my tank, and I give him Cover as well as Enemy Skill. Later on in the game I usually set him up with some really high HP increasing Materia as well as Ribbon or whatever will give him negative stat defense. He is my true tank. Tifa is of course a fighter, but she also gets some healing magic. I actually share the healing magic between her and Cloud. One thing about FF VII that I like, that I never used to pay attention to, is how much you can customize Materia and each character's role in battle.
I like to use certain people in certain areas for story purposes, or just keep them in because it felt righ again for general story stuff. So I used to use Aeris and Tifa. Aeris back row magic and Tifa physical and Cloud hybrid spellsword. Don't need a tank in this game since it's so easy
But in the end characters are all very similar bar limits and ultimate weapons. Tifa was one of my favourites because if you were good at her Limit (is it me or is Tifa's limit harder to do in the PS4 version?) it did the best single target damage out of everyone
by far until you eventually got Omnislash and/or Highwind. Well at least until you hit the cap at 9999. Tifa's problem is Premium Heart is pretty bad and unlike other FF games you can't use stuff like 4-Cut or whatever when the Limit bar is active. So yeah Tifa is important and I find the best character until end game where she promptly gets shot. Sure God Hand + Deathblow + Added Cut is nice, but the lack of slots hampers her and she still isn't as powerful as other party member's weapons.
Yuffie is a nice character to use. Long range weapons are nice and her limits are pretty good for most of the game. Bloodfest and later Doom of the Living work really well. It's a shame her final Limit All Creation is really bad by simply being a single hit. Powerful maybe, but only 1 hit. I usually learn All Creation and leave her on Lv 3 and use Doom of the Living. What makes her good is she has the best final weapon in the game. not only is it more powerful depending on the strength of the enemy, it's vital for the Morph ability since unlike everyone else she doesn't take out massively reduced damage. I'd hate to try and get additional Ribbon's without her weapon, and she makes ridiculously easy Power Source farming if you feel so inclined (1 every 15 seconds with 3x speed!). Also her weapon is one of the ones you just simply use. No faffing around with healing HP/MP, maintaining limit gauges or equipping high AP Materia and so on. Just equip it and done
Cid is the only other character I seriously use. He has a bit of an unfair advantage over the other's in that not only does he get a Triple Weapon, but he also get a powerful double weapon with more slots than other people as well. His weapon is strong and MP is easy to maintain. Not a fan of his limits at first but Highwind is awesome once you learn it. It's why I usually use Tifa until later in the game when he takes over.
So Tifa and Yuffie, then swap Cid in for Tifa later. The other characters:
Vincent is a good character overall stat wise. he gets good weapons, his final weapon is actually the strongest if you decide to max it out. But his Limits are beyond awful since you lose control of him. instant deal breaker and shot straightaway.
Barret is pretty good. He's physically strong and makes the best "Tank" in the game if you want to go that route since he can also drop back, but that isn't really necessary. He gets a good AoE limit early on and Angermax is pretty good (no longer Ungarmax. Didn't notice straightaway!) I can't be bothered setting up his weapon for the max damage so I never really use him late on.
Red is pretty good at first. It's his limits I find that hold him back later on. Howling Moon can be a life safer if you keep him alive against a strong boss and you're not sure how to set up properly. But ultimately Cosmo Memory is just as bad as Yuffie's All Creation but he lacks her weapon capapbility. he has the Same weapon as Cid, but lacks his Limit capability. he doesn't quite cut it.
Despite playing this game numerous times, I don't think I've ever used Cait Sith ever more than I have to. His weapon is the same as Clouds so he might be powerful. never took him seriously though.
Ultimately you can use whoever. FFVII like most Final Fantasy games are pretty easy. It's also very friendly in how the other characters level up so you can swap in people whenever you want unlike a lot of other games where you might feel reluctant to use someone else since they are so many levels behind. So generally just use the party members you like or swap anyone in for story purposes. But for an optimal party multiple hits is key. A very powerful single hit is still only one hit. That's why Limits such as Cloud's Meteorain is really good before getting replaced by the absurd Omnislash, why Tifa's Limit Break with all Yeah's is miles more powerful than anything until you get either Ultimate Weapons or Omnislash (you can even afford to miss a few or get normals), Highwind, Angermax and Doom of the Living are so good. You only need enough power to hit the cap, and then it's just a matter of who or what hit's more times.
But use who you want
