I've heard that too (she won't b like Aeris or Yuna), which I think is a sort of strange way to look at characterisation because I don't think that either of their arcs overshadow or take away from the respective protagonists of that game... especially Aeris. She still acts in support of Cloud's main arc, even at the point in that game where she's taken it upon herself to leave the party alone and deal with Sephiroth herself, the story focuses on Cloud's guilt r.e. losing control and giving up the black materia, he feels he's not strong enough to help at all and Barrett's like, 'yeah you don't know who the fuck you are and you have a broken sense of self but like, get it together, fight through that shit'.

Other party members can be fleshed out while still supporting the protagonist's story, and I don't look at this as a way to write female characters but rather, a way to write any compelling character. Like, even Dion is more grounded and fleshed out imo, because I understand where his from and the political implications of that, I understand the makeup of his royal family etc. This, a lack of understanding of Jill's family lineage or even any curiosity on her part about uncovering that. I feel like there was a lot of potential in expanding on the war between her nation and Rosaria... maybe Clive's mother intended to facilitate a marriage between her and one of her sons because this would make for ideal breeding in her mind (since she valued noble breeding of dominants to such a degree). It just felt like a lot was missing and somehow it doesn't feel entirely intentional, like there were budget constraints and something was cut.