With Final Fantasy 8 my first run against Ultimecia took about 3 hours. I had all the wrong spells and effects slotted and I paid for it. When I picked up the game again a few years later I was up against her again and settled in for the long haul. This time, I noticed one of my characters, Irvine, had Water slotted in to his attack and he was shredding her HP right off the counter. A quick reboot and reslot, not one of my party died and I killed Ultimecia in about 30 minutes.