I don’t have huge amounts of spare time, probably one hour at a time a few times a week

Damn I don’t think I’d even bother with that kind of schedule, honestly. I’ve played most of them and I can’t think of any that I think I could’ve ‘properly enjoyed’ on that kind of schedule. Even the older games will take tens of hours and you’ll occasionally need to keep things in mind for later in the game (places to go check out, storyline bits, where tf to go next). I’ve restarted before because I couldn’t remember where to go next >.>

And these games are solid overall but they can have extended lulls and you’ll end up spending entire gaming sessions in boring parts lol

With that in mind?

Try FF13. It basically plays itself and by the time it gets involved you'll know if you're there for it. And it still looks pretty good now.
Or, weirdly, you can try World of Final Fnatasy. It's basically Final Fantasy Pokemon, but it's also the newest turn-based FF and it's one of the more casual, lightweight games in the series. It's cheating a bit, but it's there and it's underrated.

Cut scenes take like 10-20 minutes. Some can clock in at almost an hour and FF16 broke a record at 71 minutes. I think you're going to hate it if you're so limited in time. JRPGs usually demand a lot.