You do know SE is known for their story lines and music right? SQ are optional and offer large amounts of XP later on, however some are mandatory based on main story. GL if your starting out you have a lot more to go.
Printable View
Perhaps you should play something else? Final Fantasy games are known for a heavy focus on story, character interactions, world building and music. If you're frustrated by it then the game isn't for you.
Maybe something like Call of Duty or Fortnite that you can just pick up and play is more to your tastes and level of focus?
I would agree the story isn't quite as good as FF, but the single player campaign(for some of the games) is actually well done, and the story does have depth to it. The music, again, depends on the game and who produced it(CoD4:Modern Warfare was one of the better ones, same with WWII - imo).
If you're only coming back for Return to Ivalice, I would suggest just youtubing the plot. You will not enjoy Stormblood if you did not enjoy Heavensward, and the RtI content is not very long right now. 4.3 is projected to be bigger, but it will in no way be as satisfying to you as a full game if you don't enjoy everything else.