I do not care for random encounters and I never will. I've never beat FF4 because the random encounter rate was ridiculous at the end and most of the mobs were like boss fights (I had the hard version and had no problems until I got to the end dungeon.) One part I especially hated was I think the first time you go to Academia? Nothing about that zone is enjoyable at all. It's actually kinda ridiculous how that zone works with how huge it is.
There were times where the game gave you no indication where important things were and what makes it more irritating is that these zones aren't even that big. So my frustration was akin to losing my keys in my room and spending 20 mins trying to find them only to realize that they're in yesterday's pants.
The little puzzle mini-games were actually pretty cool cept for the very last set of clock puzzles (I used the clock puzzle website to figure them out because I didn't really care to solve it on my own anymore at that point.)
I felt like the battle system was almost exactly the same as FF13 so I don't know why people say it was better. If anything, I felt it was slightly more restrictive unless you knew which monsters excel at what. I did my run with no knowledge of any of the broken monsters and had no reason to experiment until towards the end of the game when I needed higher level monsters to stay alive.
I guess I kinda preferred FF13's pacing because I'm older and don't really care to explore every nook and cranny of RPGs anymore simply because I don't really have the patience for it like I did when I was a kid. It could also be because I've not played any RPGs that's really blown me away in a long time so my expectations are low to begin with.
Also, I didn't care for Noel at all and found his character straight up annoying. Teenage angst was only "cool" in FF8 and atleast Squall had a reason that was reasonably understandable when you really analyze it. Noel's reason is legit but the way it is executed is awkward and did the opposite of making me feel any sympathy for him. Lightning was way more pitiable and you barely get to see her at all in the game. If I had the choice to leave Noel in the coma, I would've left his ass there.
Also Caius is baller as fuck. Terrible character but baller villain.