Games

Disc 1 is by far the best part of FFVII anyway. The game opens with you playing as a gang of ecoterrorists who blow up a power plant and literally nothing they do later in the game can live up to it.

I'm here with JRPGs and I've only recently reflected that I think it comes down to presentation. Their plots usually touch on much deeper philosophical ideas and have so many interesting mythological/religious and historical references, like Xenosaga. Under most circumstances, I would eat that right up and beg for more.

But I find the presentation of most JRPGs, especially older ones beloved ones from the PSX/PS2 era to be very boring. Even in many newer JRPGs trying to mimic that older style, NPCs just stand still in one spot waiting for you to talk to them for whatever fluff dialogue they have. Characters are very often melodramatic. A lot of the cool stuff happens in cutscenes instead of being initiated by you through any sort of choice because ultimately the story is being told to you, not trying to make you feel part of it like many Western RPGs have done. There's usually a lot of mandatory filler content between the big acts, whereas other RPGs will put that as optional side content and you can rush from one exciting story plot point to the next. This really kills the pacing. I don't think they justify their ridiculous length because so much of it is this kind of uninteresting padding.

I have played and enjoyed a few of them, like FFX International, but every time I try to go back and play anything else, I give up partway through because it just doesn't hold my interest.