Yea the side quests were a real shame. They were written well and about half had good, even great plotlines, but they all employ the same brain-dead, hand-holding mechanic of: go to person with green exclamation mark, go to spot with yellow exclamation mark, go back to the guy with the green exclamation mark. The older FFs had you discovering or chancing upon side quests on your own, by talking to people and exploring the map then figuring out where to go and what to do - that would have been so much better.
Yea the side quests were a real shame. They were written well and about half had good, even great plotlines, but they all employ the same brain-dead, hand-holding mechanic of: go to person with green exclamation mark, go to spot with yellow exclamation mark, go back to the guy with the green exclamation mark. The older FFs had you discovering or chancing upon side quests on your own, by talking to people and exploring the map then figuring out where to go and what to do - that would have been so much better.