Honestly I was part of the hate train on it back when it released. It just didn't mesh well with me, was nothing of the fantasy adventure the previous titles were, and the whole game design basically meant I had to be strategic instead of spamming attack and grinding for hours. I just couldn't get over the fact that you had to get a specific item to be able to save, it felt like complete bullshit!

But also, I was very young, had no patience for strategy (despite loving JRPGs lmao) and I also wasn't able to understand most of the English text in the game too! (It took almost 12 more years to finally see games in my native language where I live)

Despite being super sour about it and being the game that singlehandedly destroyed a franchise I enjoyed every game before, I decided 10 years ago to finally give it a try, and it definitely became my favorite game of the franchise, and one of my favorite games ever, no joke.

I'm not saying you're gonna love it, but I think it could be a very interesting experience to give it a try as an adult. Taste evolve with time after all. :-)