>>712490340 (OP)
I'm inclined to believe that FFVIII probably had the best side content along FFVII among the first 9 games. Looking for secret GFs was fun, Deep Sea Research Center is decent, Triple Triad is both fun and useful for refining, Shumi Village and Winhill were chill af, Omega was a decent extra boss as well and getting your commands back by killing bosses in Ultimecia's Castle as well as the dungeon itself were fun. No 0 seconds chocobo race, jumping ropes, dodging thunders, etc.