Well I've made it to the vile peaks (ch.4 ?).
The game is definitely more enjoyable once you get over the 2 hour hump, the fact that there is a hump of that length is a bit absurd but it's pretty much a giant cutscene as far as I'm concerned , you pretty much won't die, battles serve no real purpose as you can't earn experience and none of the story makes a lick of sense until after you finish the 3rd chapter.
I can certainly see what square was going for, big start and then ease the player into every gameplay aspect but it's got pretty much the longest introduction of any game in the series, 7 felt like I was accomplishing something as soon as I finished blowing mako #8, 8 got going as soon as you finished the ifrit cave and even 9 which also had a rather slow introduction still had you aware of 90% of the games concepts by the time you fight the first real boss.
Again though, so far these are minor nitpicks in an enjoyable bit of interactive entertainment.