In every early FF game that had ATB and the option to disable ATB, I disabled ATB almost immediately. In the games where you couldn't disable ATB, I was usually surly about it.
Now, years later, when most RPGs are action-RPGs with real-time battle, and I'm far more used to reacting on the fly and not having my leisure to think tactically and screw around in menus forever, I still think ATB is the worst of all possible systems. It's straddling halfway between two extremes and being worse than either. It's the same thing I disliked about how they handled mechanics in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Menu-based games should never be ATB (see also, why I don't play RTS games). Either lean entirely into tactical combat and tons of action options via menus, or flip the other way and go for more fluid action and constant activity but streamline your system inputs (Kingdom Hearts actually handled that pretty well).