honestly... when as a ff game hard? or challening to explore? I beat ff7 in a week. 8 in 2 weeks. 10 in a mnth. x2 in a week. 9 in a mnth. never beat 12 i got bored after i maxed out my character before the first fight. 13 meh, hope annoys me.

honestly ff was never really about exploration or adventure. Most of them consisted of linear maps with random battles. The games I mostly played for exploration were Zelda and mostly elder scrolls. Elder scrolls are the game to do adventuring in. Since that is how you level. Exploration and gaining points in your skills.
Personally i just want a fun game to play. A game that can keep ppl joining all day every day. ppl stop joining ffxi after WoW launched.
I'm not that picky on how the game is. I just want to play and have fun. And other have fun also. Games were never meant to be work, as work is never fun. It is just for entertainment only. If a game isn't entertaining you then don't play.