I think the hate the story is getting is obstructing how terrible the rest of the game is.
Let's go through this example.
Lower floors of (dungeon name spoiler, and dungeon gameplay spoilers throughout)
The name of the game is interacting with extremely slow moving walls and floors. There's no puzzle here, just waiting, waiting, waiting for the floors to move in the blandest environment. It's so dull, but this is what passes for interaction in FFXV. I hit the bottom floor, fight a red giant. Tough enemy, but I beat it. Long elevator ride up to the top. So slow - why?
Next set of floors... takes me to the same place. Now two red giants spawn. It's hard because they both spam gravity wave and you can't get out of it without easily because the run button and attack button are the same (why) and it's impossible to know if you're hardlocked while the camera is spinning around during that attack (and if you're hardlocked you won't warp out of the attack, but into the attacker), but in the end it's doable. Okay, beat them. Once more onto the ridiculously slow elevator.
Same thing
again. Moving floors, walls, dull and tedious, been in here two hours, want to get out. Desperately want to save, but you can't in a dungeon (why) so return to the entrance before doing this next set. Okay, I actually can't leave because it's daytime and the door is shut (why). (Or I can using a tile but I won't get back in and it's morning so I'd have to wait forever because there's no wait feature in the open world - why.) Terrible, terrible game design all around, but fuck it, I'll just return to the bottom and beat this thing and then save. More sliding walls. Brings me back to the
same place, and now three red giants and a naga (and 20 flans and some goblins - total clusterfuck).
At this stage the battle system and camera, which had struggled all dungeon long, break down entirely. It's impossible to see what's what, who's where etc. Camera is spinning around wildly with any attempt to lock on. Red polygons and effects fill the screen, no sign of Noct in all this chaos. The amount of effects starts to cause bugs, and Prompto and Gladio disappear, though their weapons remain. The naga spams toad and petrify, and you can't see anything so you can't avoid it. The red giants spam gravity so you can't escape and give yourself some room to see. There is quite simply nothing to do in this bullshit but hope a summon shows up.
The summon doesn't show up.
Because you don't control summons I'm just praying to the RNG at this stage. That's what the game has boiled down to. Surviving bugs and the camera issues by spamming endless healing items and praying RNJesus bails me out. (And I had just used a summon - that might have affected said RNG.)
Unfortunately, I have 20+ megaphoenixes and 20+ megalixers. So while I can't see what's happening nor have any control over the situation, I CAN stay alive. And I do so... for what I reckon was 40 minutes. I even kill one of the giants. But eventually my items run out, I die, and lose three hours of progress to the camera, visual bugs and a battle encounter that was blatantly never playtested in the slightest.
And this is a dungeon - the GOOD part of the game! Nah, this shit is the worst. Fuck this game.
EDIT: I was upset enough at this that I saved the video. This will be FFXV's legacy for me in video form.