If I had a chance to see the original SE, I might be able to give better advice. Are all these weapons going to be melee weapons like in ZC, or will the battles be more like the sideview ones from FF4 & FF6?

I'm good at spriting, but I still need to know more about SE and how it works, even if just testing an older copy or something. I don't know how similar palette usage is in SE compared to ZC.

BTW, have you considered Chrono's "Rainbow" sword from Chrono Trigger, or one of those huge swords that Cloud has from FF7?