I feel like this game is Squeenix's love letter to the OG FF7. They took the original open world section, which wasn't the most exciting either (I remember spending a lot of time grinding mobs) and reimagined it. Is clearing every tower and side quest the most exciting gameplay? Probably not, but as a longtime fan I enjoy the little things like seeing the Fort Condor mini game reimagined and learning about the lore of the world. As others have said you CAN skip a lot of the side quests and it does get more linear in parts (Chapter 3 and backend of Chapter 4 comes to mind).

The brain drain is real. Wonder how long before this boomer policy hurts Andy's precious shareholders.