I'm an hour and 33 minutes in, does this get better? I'm not saying its bad, I think its fine...

yeah, the pacing gets fucked once you get to the world map and the story seems to randomly jump between events

I'm actually hoping they'll get rid of the world map completely in the remake and focus on creating consecutive hub areas

Give V a try if you enjoyed III.

Those are good choices. So's V. I like all of the 2D ones but II, honestly.

The early game is hard to sit through because you dont really have many spells or abilities. So its usually just "Attack" or some level 1 spell.

Once you break out into the world and get across to the other continent, you are able to strategize better and the combat actually becomes somewhat engaging.

I'd try to stick to it til you leave Midgar. Its seems like a big chunk of the game but its more like 10%.

You can probably do it within 8 hours easy.

At least get out of Midgar and then decide if you want to continue.

VIII is my favorite. The only ff I dislike was XIII. I played it when it first released but hated the battle system. I’ve been wanting to give it another shot lately just for completion sake.