I think the issue is that "simply drawing magic as it comes" has a wide range of definitions for different levels of OCD and differences in tolerance for the draw system can create a very large power gap. When I first played FFVIII, I basically ignored the Draw system (it doesn't do damage!?!? useless!) and the game was fairly difficult (but not unplayable).
The design flaw imop is twofold:
1) drawing is boring
2) junctioning high level magic really really matters, even more than levels
It is normal for character strength to be gated by boredom in a JRPG, but FFVIII is somewhat unique in that it lets you make that trade at almost the beginning of the game.