Its still tedious since Rinoa is so unlikable and Squall is a bit too center of the universe for my tastes.
But yeah, VI did a hell of a lot better in terms of developing your party overall compared to VII where the first disk post Midgar was broken up into character specific regions (i.e. North Corel for Barret, Gongaga for a bit of Zack+Aeris, Cosmo Canyon for Red XIII, Nibelheim for Vincent/Cloud+Zack, Rocket Town for Cid, Wutai for Yuffie, the Temple of the Ancients sequence for Cait Sith, Icicle Inn for Aeris) whereas FFVI had a few designated backstory places for some characters (Figaro for Edgar+Sabin, South Figaro/Sabin’s House for Sabin, The House on the Veldt for Gau, Doma for Cyan, Kohlingen for Locke, Zozo for Terra/the Espers, Jidoor for Setzer, Maranda/Vector for Celes, and Thamasa for Relm/Strago) but also had some character development scattered about outside of characters’ designated development locations (like Cyan getting some on Mt Zozo, Shadow getting some at random inns, Setzer from Kohlingen and Daril’s Tomb, and Celes and Terra getting some all over the place). The “Its a small world” ride like feel to VII locals didn’t help matters either.