I recently tried to replay this game and it feels like such a chore. I wouldn't say the game is exactly the worst thing I've played but it seems very "bleh" to me every time I play it.

I find that The characters are very boring. Vaan can be a little engergetic and enthusiastic but comes off as too much of a baby with his blind wonder. Vaans painted on abs/chest also scare me. Fran is downright boring, Panelo is just Vaans boring girl sidekick. Ashe dosn't fit in with the rest, like why is she there? (I know why she originally went with them but now its like they are uninterested bodyguards with no lasting connection to her). Basch and Balthier are the only actual characters that feel Final fantasy-like to me and I like their personalities (mostly Balthiers, Basch just looks cool)

The maps in the game seem very endless and while the destination is shown, I either get really board or lost before I'm halfway through them.

The battles seem incredibly slow, Quickenings and summons are weak, Quickenings destroy your MP (making them only useful as a fairly weak finisher without chaining them past 15), levels/experience seem useless compared to LP

Lastly, maybe I haven't taken an invested interest in the story but it seems very loose and not so urgent. Some rulers have sized power and there are "judges" running around supposedly doing bad things but I have yet to see any major destruction beside possibly the battle where Reks died (that I can remember.

I'm not sure how far I am but I just beat Cid for the first time (I heard you fight him again).

I love most of the other Final Fantasys. It's bewildering to me that this game got such high reviews.

So This is kinda a two part question:
Am I missing some major reason why people like the game? (Am I not far enough to see anything cool? Am I playing it wrong? Is there actually any further character development so that I don't feel so bored with them? or is whole whole heavy politics thing in the game not my cup of tea?)

and, What makes the game a good? especially compared to other final fantasys? (in their time of coarse, just don't say "it's a new way of things", that answer doesn't really satisfy me... Just because a game/style is old now doesn't mean it wasn't original or great in it's time or that it's bad now)