i, personally, enjoy the game play. it's taking a while to get used to it, but i think it's a good system. i guess i'm not an intense gamer because i enjoy leveling up and the "tedious" aspects of it. i find it really fun and rewarding to work hard/for a while to achieve goals and get good items/abilities. i can see how people would write the game off based on game play, but to someone who has played a lot of final fantasy, or just rpg's in general, it is reminiscent of rpg systems and has some nice throw backs to old final fantasy game play.
all in all, i see your point, tofu, but i, for one, really love the game, and that's just me ^.^
just to add in, i love that all the characters have different attributes and different things they excel at. it's fun to play with zidane because he's quick, unlike cloud who is slower, but has heavier attacks, which is nice too >.O i have yet to play with everyone though