I don't think Fuel is at all, and CodeIgniter is... but not really?

IMO Laravel is kind of the spiritual successor to CodeIgniter, although of course a lot has changed between V1 and V11

True true. I went back and forth so much in the early days of CodeIgniter, Rails, Fuel and Cake.

Eventually discovered just building stuff was going to bring me the most joy, no matter the tool. It's been a joy learning PHP again though, even if I do suck at it right now.