15 Hours in and I'm done...

I purchased Octopath Traveler 1 over 3 years ago, and after clearing some other games from my backlog, I decided to finally tackle it. I've been wanting a good RPG to sink my teeth into, and I'm just....am I missing something?

5 hours in I was getting bored, but a friend told me that chapter 2 stories were where people started meeting each other and things picked up, so I pushed myself through, got Alfyn as my last (Started with Primrose) and at that point I had hit the 12 hour mark. Granted, I did a bit of extra grinding because I do enjoy the combat. I'm starting on Chapter 2 stuff, starting with Therion (because he's on the way to Chapter 2 Primrose) And I haven't felt that Spark yet, that Spark that drives me onward to see what the next thing is, who the next bad guy will be, etc. Everyone and everything just feels so...disconnected. When I think of turn based RPG, I think imaginative storytelling, immersive storylines, character and party dynamics, a group of people who interact with each other, and so far, OT hasn't had any of that. The closest I got was the end of Cyrus' chapter 1, when one of the Crow Men from Prim's story showed up for about 3 seconds.

It's getting to the point where I find myself actively falling asleep when I boot up the game, and I don't mean to disparage what is clearly a labor of love here but... I just feel like I'm missing something.