At the time I was something of a fan boy for final fantasy, but ff9 was the first one I didn’t finish. I played through all the way to the beginning of the end… and then decided I didn’t care and that I was forcing myself to play a game I didn’t enjoy.
I don’t remember having the technical issues you mentioned, but I just didn’t click with the characters and the world felt meh to me. I can’t recall a single song that I enjoyed from 9 either.
X was probably the last FF I finished before the series lost its magic to me. (FFXIV was fun but a bit too costly)