Yea but there are still people how love the story and play for it, especially Japan.
Like, this was last year's famitsu poll..
It really is a frustration that people can't accept that their anecdotal "
I don't care or know anyone who does" bubble doesn't account for every single one of the millions of people who play these games. There are so many people who
do care about the story, and
do follow it just fine. The games have been story heavy since Chain of Memories. It's been 14 years of lore-laden sequels and they've made no bones about it even once.
Like, if you're just playing for the gameplay and movie adaptations, that's fine and more power to you, but after almost 15 years it's time to embrace the idea that the 'mess of a story' has plenty of fans and isn't the superfluous, unwanted feature you make it out to be.