When you said "sidequests are not as interesting as other FF games", I'd assume it's the rewards. Because story wise there's a lot going on if you do sidequests. Yes sidequests doesn't provide you with good rewards, or even, game breaking. If you're expecting some ULTIMATE weapon obtain or anything crazy like FFX or FF7, you'll be met with disappointment. Because what's rewarding in sidequests are mostly its experience in this game. For savage & ultimate & extremes, it's the climb experience. For some, storytelling (hildibrand for example).

If you wanted challenges however, by your experience description I think you missed a few challenging parts. I think most of it, even. It's actually better to skip a story than leveling if you find something tedious. Because you'll skip the necessary quests to unlock all the dungeons, trials, or raids.