It really all depends on what kind of games you play along with FF, I started out wit FPS games, so I started out fast paced. I started out with FF IV somewhere during that, I had to up the time gauge a little bit till it was perfect. X was my next FF and it was confusing at first, but I could move at the pace I needed, which was AWESOME!
I watched a battle on XIII and it was confusing, probably cause it was in Japanese, but I haven't read a description on the battle system yet. I agree that it's fast paced, though. lol