A little late to this party, but I have a question re: A game that I'm never going to play:
Storebought Suikoden Runes: Do they start with all of their respective skills?
Or do they only have a starting skill and others learned over time, ala FF7 Materia?
(As a point of fact, I would be in favor of allowing any FF7 PC any storebought materia at 0 AP. (Aeris would only have storeboughts as of Temple of Ancients. Also, some game-breaking exceptions may apply, i.e. that mega-spell Materia you get in Mideel if it's storebought. Also, probably would not allow most "Independent" Materia (Purple), no Summons are Storebought, and the only "Support" (Blue) Materia that is storebought is "All", IIRC.) Currently allowed Materia would be allowed at full strength. Of course, most Materia have Stat changes that balance their use; the stat changes would have to be documented...)
If Suiko runes are like Materia in the aspect that you have to gain AP to unlock skills, we could limit storebought runes to their base level. If not... well...
Quick Note Regarding Pokemon: Allowing Surf would give Water Starters an attack for longer fights with the same equivalent damage. (Most healers can outlast Hydro Pump's clip of 5 attacks.) Allowing Strength gives Pikachu an actual Physical Damage option which would not only not have Thunderbolt's Stab+Light Ball's SAtk Bonus, but also loses First Strike (vs QA)