Wasn't even interested enough to download the demo, but wanted to support third party AAA titles coming to Game Pass day one and chucked it a download.
Wouldn't say I'm hooked, but I'm enjoying it well enough. I agree that the first hour was an absolute slog, but then I used the first power I accessed and it was like "ah, here's the game. This is what's so fun about it." If you're not at least at that point when you decide it's not for you, I'd suggest keeping with it.
I'm playing it on and off with Octopath Traveller and, while the latter is probably my favourite JRPG since FFX, this is 'just' a solid game that has way more depth than I'm ever going to use. If I had to review it right this second, I'd give it a 7, but I know that'll probably go up the more time I put into it.