SIV's main redeeming feature is that it's quick and easy. True, the world map is unbearable to traverse, and the writing is near nonsensical at times, but the gameplay is fairly enjoyable, and it's the easiest game in the series. Almost absurdly so, between how ridiculously powerful some characters are and the support characters which can basically auto-heal your party after every battle. And up until the final dungeon, the largest dungeon in the game is like 3 screens and takes all of 2 minutes to traverse (though it is annoying if you have to go through it 4 times in a row for a certain character...).

It's still a decent game by itself, but it certainly deserves its reputation for being the worst in the series.