I agree, it's pretty awesome, and it doesn't give you that dried out easy JRPG feel either. In fact, it's actually quite sadistic. 32 hours in, floor 16, yeah!
If you think the main game is sadistic, wait until the postgame content. It's like Star Ocean: TTEoT, except you can't have Maria, Fayt and Cliff with ridiculously broken custom weapons break the game for you.
Actually, I kind of think of it like FFX with a different skill system (everyone has a set skillpool, but your stat accumulations are up to you), except they take away everything that makes FFX easy - Aeons, Overdrives (especially Mix), Items, customizable weapons, the ability to revive your characters, speed being king (sorta), scan, sensor, poison (to an extent), etc.
For example, an example of what I mean -
Reimu is sorta like Yuna without summons, and she's learned all of her spells at the beginning. She heals, handles buffing, and can attack for Spirit damage. Well, except Yuna's Holy >>> Reimu's Fantasy Seal.