AS has been mentioned here, I always tend to hold on to any rare single use items in games. I always think there will be a better time to use them but never recognize when that time comes around, even when I'm struggling with a boss/sequence, I refuse to consume those items.

I really don't like this mechanic, and it's one major issue I have with FF6 and FF9.

(Incidentally, I don't think it's as much of an issue in FF8 due to the existence of stat seed items that are farmable, as well as an ability that can be used to get permanent stat boosts. I also don't mind the personality system of Dragon Quest 3 remakes, as seeds are available and farmable in that game (I've found it useful to farm intelligence seeds for the main character; this would give them a lot of MP at the next level up *as long as you aren't playing the original Famicom/NES version, where they actually hurt MP growth instead*).)

I remember you could learn skills by having specific summons on people and then rotate, that's fine. But for stat boosts in FF8 you're best micromanaging in order to get any good results.

Reminds me a bit of playing Valkyrie Profile, where you got bonus XP you could just give to characters, and i'd use that only to level them up if they were close so i could rotate items to give them more skills that only work when put on when leveling up. Hmmm...

Reminded of something similar for Chrono Trigger where you could dual charm monsters at the end dungeons to get 1 stat boost item. No it shouldn't be quite that hard as it just adds grinding time and not good gameplay.

If I have a reliable way of getting them (e.g. P3F with the arcade, P4G with stats cards in Yukiko's Castle 1F and FFX with the Monster Arena rewards), I spend them right away and in the party member who has the lowest stats. Now, if the items are limited or at least very hard to get, I tend to keep them in my inventory unless having it there is a problem (e.g. Parasite Eve due to the limited inventory space).

Sounds like a thing you'd just dump into one character if they aren't player made. If the game has a player created party, I'd probably distribute it mostly evenly.