Almost to the last area now.
Current impressions about the mini-games.
-The mini games and exploration are nowhere near as bad as people are making out. They've paced most of the side content out rather well given how much there is. It's not like western open worlds where you do a tutorial area and then the whole world opens up.
-The issue with some of the mini-games is that they need just a bit more QA as the controls or animations don't convey well enough the response of the player. Which can be frustrating if you don't feel like you are in control of your success.
I see quite a few people say this, but there's just no way I could ever convince myself that FF16 was a better game.
I barely made in to the halfway point getting worn out on the monotony of the boring ass side quests and NPCs and the repetitive af combat. Had to push myself after taking a week off to slog through the third act.
I probably already have more hours in FF7 Rebirth and don't find it a slog at all even doing all the side content.
There must be some core appeal of the game that is not vibing with you that 16 had, which is fair enough. You can't force someone who prefers Coke to love Pepsi.
If it's the combat, I get it. FF7 Rebirth will never be a proper single player action game as it is doing it's best to hold on to conventions of the OG.
For me personally I find it much better and engaging than Remake and 16. 16 just felt like dodging all the time and comboing ad nauseum enemies with large health pools. In that regard, I found Devil May Cry V a lot more interesting tbh.
But different folks, different strokes, eh?