I thought the game was super forgiving in its mechanics for people new to the genre, which allowed my gf to tackle it for a bit. I didn't think the gameplay was "shitty" but it definitely could be simplistic, and you could put your characters into op territory by capturing and training the proper creatures.
Bosses were a bit of a pushover but some of the more powerful non-boss creatures, and some of those Solosseum (battle arena) fights were a legit challenge, the S Rank in particular.
And I'm with ya, music and visuals were top notch. One of my favorite PS3 RPGs. Very much looking forward to the sequel.