that's some valuable feedback! thank you for playing both games and sharing your thoughts. i think you're right about the physical/magical split - i think it's kinda like the black mage problem where if one character can do it all, the complexity is collapsed to "just use the right one". if i revisit the concept in a future game (and i'd like to) i'll have to do some things differently.
i haven't played any etrian odyssey games in earnest yet, but folks are always pointing me toward them, so it'll happen one of these days. i'll be curious to see how the hexer plays - i generally find "debuff specialist" as a class concept doesn't click with me, but from what i know of EO, i trust the series to execute on it in an interesting way. i'll keep an eye out for it.