I found that Final Fantasy IX's story more involved than others, so I took extra time to complete everything I could. Granted, I haven't fully completed the game, because I have a few side quests I've yet to complete (finding Stellazio coins, all 100 cards, coffee, Mognet quest, etc.).

I know that I spent at least 20 hours just on Disc 1. My characters were at least Level 15, with Steiner being around 22 before he left with Dagger (Level Up Ability was used).

Maybe you should go for a few of the side quests, or perhaps just go back to places you hadn't been in a while. NPCs offer different information as well, so you may want to go back to catch up with some of them.