I thought Squall met the younger Edea after receiving Ultimecia’s powers. I only remembered the fact that Squall implanted the idea of SeeD into Edea, but I couldn’t remember how exactly it happened.

As for Rinoa, back when I first played the game, I was a bit younger than Squall is, and Rinoa annoyed the hell out of me—far more than I got annoyed with Selphie, supposedly the annoying one. Younger me would have preferred if Squall fell in love with someone else, heck, even Seifer would have been a better love interest for Squall as far as younger me was concerned. I guess then, their love story worked nicely, and younger me was just too stubbornly edgy to appreciate that.

I think Laguna and Raine’s love story resonated with me far better because it’s far less “abrasive” and in-your-face. It might be a more bland and ordinary love story, but it’s a nice foil to the main love story between Squall and Rinoa.

I saw Ultimecia as more of a tragic character than someone who really wanted power for its own sake, which is why I don’t really see her as wanting to be a god. She just wanted a way out of the time loop. As you’ve said: she went mad from repeated (?) failure.

Coincidentally, I thought Squall, at the very end, could have had ended the time loop. In that cutscene after Ultimecia’s defeat, as he was wandering back to his own time, he met a much younger Edea, who has then just inherited Ultimecia’s power. He could have chosen not to tell Edea about SeeD at this point, but I don’t think he’s aware he was talking to that Edea he knew (even though I think the surroundings should have sufficiently clued him in).

I found Squall falling in love with the daughter of Laguna’s first crush to be a nice little thing. I also liked Laguna far better as a character, and his love story with Raine a far superior love story than the main one. I think he really fell in love with Raine, but his fatherly love for Ellone far outweighed it.

Was Ultimecia characterized as (a) god, or wanting to be one?

I think Ultimecia wanted a world that consists of only her, hence she could be considered a god in her own world. She succeeded until the power of friendship and love defeated her but …