I don't know about everyone else, but I find it's a lot easier to enjoy FFIX if you go into it with the outlook that it is a bag of everything that made games what they were at the time. Tropes and cliches and all. A lot of people loved that about it. That it referenced everything and represented everything they loved even though it wasn't doing much on its own. That's how it is "the love letter to fans" and whatnot

I've played a lot of games with cliches and tropes, and when done well they don't really bother me. Sadly FFIX was not one of those games. I've explained it to the best of my ability in other threads. There's just something about the pastel colors and low-key music that just made me bored with the whole time. Nothing gripped me about any of the characters or plot or anything

But it's a great game for what it was. I appreciate its existence. It's just not for me