I thought this was pretty good for the most part. The last quarter was a little too frustrating though. I was way underleveled even after completing pretty much all side quests. I bumped it down to easy mode for a bit just to gain some mindless levels. It didn't feel good and I don't remember this being an issue in previous Tales games. It didn't seem to have enough content to provide a smooth leveling experience. Eventually I did beat the final boss and could shelve it but it wasn't the huge satisfying moment I was hoping for.
This was far from my favorite in the series but not terrible so give it a shot if it sounds like your thing but prepare to fiddle with the difficulty near the end.