Yeah...
I guess it has been a while since I have played a JRPG. But coming off of Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 as my last two RPG's, this is almost unbearable. Every time a cutscene comes up (every 3.2 minutes), I wince.
The hologram-projecting bird and the dance on the water was the nail in the coffin for me. I find myself skipping cutscenes and just looking for the star on my map.
It is a shame, because I am having fun leveling my avatar, hunting down gear mats, and questing online.
Another byproduct of this type of setup is that I do not give a crap about any of the other characters at all. Most of them have tons of points unspent, outdated armor, etc. Cause I just dont care to spend the time on it. I am simply rushing through the game only to open up new quests for the online mode.
Speaking of which... how long is the single player campaign?