Path of Radiance was cool, but I still need to finish Radiant Dawn. Like he said, the random number generator can screw you out, on one playthrough a character will be good but on the next he or she can suck. It's all a part of the game. Same with Shining Force on Sega but in Shining Force II they got rid of random level ups, which I though was weird but that's the alternative I suppose.
Instead all the characters get the same level ups so you can basically use any character you want. Takes away the individuality from all the characters. Shining Force is basically FE except the turns are different, based off speed instead of one team going first then the next, so enemies move intermixed with the player. Makes it a little more fast paced. Also in PoR the random level ups make it harder to kill the Black Knight near the end I guess, if they weren't random wouldn't it be a little easier?